Car show won’t go on

By Sarah Schwager
THE Cranbourne Car and Bike Show will not run this year.
The winner of the City of Casey 2005 Event of the Year has informed the public that, due to a lack of time, the committee will not be organising a 2007 event.
Councillor Steve Beardon said a delay by the council in offering funding for this year’s event resulted from the committee’s failure to provide a breakdown of expenditure and address various compliance and legislative issues arising from last year’s event.
The event has been held in March every year since 2001 when Cranbourne Regional Uniting Church started it.
Last year the council threatened to withdraw funding after a report claimed traffic plans were insufficient.
Cr Beardon said organisers did not have time to present adequate traffic management plans in time to hold the show this year.
“Council did, a few months back after a presentation by the Car and Bike Show committee, once again offer sponsorship conditional upon various legislative requirements being met,” he said.
“To help meet the costs of a traffic management plan, I did offer $1000 on top of the $10,000 in sponsorship council committed for a 2007 show.”
He said he had had numerous discussions on how to facilitate the event and control the cost and logistics, yet the size of the event and its popularity has added to the time commitments of the few who were tasked with bringing it all together.