CAMPAIGNERS fighting to secure the future of Basingstoke Live hope to make a big noise before councillors debate whether outsourcing the two-day event is a good idea.

As previously reported by The Gazette, Basing-stoke and Deane Borough Council is to undertake a soft marketing exercise to see if the running of events, including Basingstoke Live and Basingstoke Festival, could be outsourced to a private company.

A council report has stated that the borough council currently spends £481,000 per year on putting on events, but could save around £206,000 a year by getting an external organisation to run them.

Paul Midgley and Jason Knight, from the Drum Runners, who are members of the Basingstoke Live Forum which programmes the music festival, have organised a musical protest against the plans. They are hoping it will be similar to one that took place when the event was under threat before in December 2012.

The protest will take place from 5pm on Wednesday, November 26, before the meeting of the scrutiny committee who will consider the decision made by the borough council’s cabinet on October 28. The committee will recommend a way forward to Cabinet member for property, finance and commissioning, Councillor John Izett, who will consider their comments along with the findings of the soft marketing exercise at a future cabinet meeting.

Paul and Jason said: “We need hundreds more people to protest and to attend the meeting. Bring instruments if you have them, make a noise and save Basingstoke Live.

“This event is not to be missed if you want to be clear about what will happen to the creative and far- reaching events for Basingstoke.

“This (outsourcing) will destroy Basingstoke Live and other events, emptying the public’s pockets at ‘paid for’ only events in the future and taking away the community focus that has made them so successful.”

They added: “There are over a third of councillors within Basingstoke and Deane who do not agree with this and so they have called the decision into question.

“They want to investigate the commissioning process further and see how it has managed to come up with this and other recommendations.

“There are 60 Basingstoke and Deane borough councillors and only seven make up the Cabinet that have pushed through the recommendation to outsource events. This (committee) is the only chance to overturn their decision.”

Jack Cousens, Labour councillor for Brookvale and Kings Furlong, is a fierce supporter of Basingstoke Live, and told The Gazette: “I am one of the lead signatories in the call-in application and I will definitely be attending. I believe there is an anticipated 300 who have said they will be attending.

“I think it speaks for itself why people are angry and have taken the decision to protest. The event is at threat once again. It is not broken so why are we trying to fix it?”

Cllr Izett said: “We remain committed to Basingstoke Live. It is a fantastic event in our calendar. Our aim is to strengthen and develop it to give it a more sustainable future.”