Oakham Town Council has been asked if to contribute £3,000 towards the Oakham Pride Festival on June 17.

Pride says that it is an important part of the town's calendar, bringing the LGBTQ+ community and allies together to promote inclusion, equality, and diversity. Read more about the upcoming 2023 event here.

Council members, however, seemed taken aback by a request for costs made at a recent meeting, which are predicted to be £3,000.

Cllr Adam Lowe said: "Oakham Pride sounds like it is a specific organisation, but I thought that they may have come under the umbrella of another 'Pride'.

"I don't recall how much they spent of their grant last year, but I know they were given free use of Oakham Castle; we've given them free use of Cutts Close this year.

"The amount they're asking for is an awful lot of money, when you consider that we don't spend anything like £3,000 when we put on the band concert.

"However, I would say that we're keen to support them, so what I might suggest is that even though the public toilets will be open on the day, we could maybe fund some additional portable loos.

"If they approached us with a specific request for portable loos, the town council would pay for those, up to £500, on production of a hire invoice.

"I'm just not keen for this council to give away thousands of pounds as a grant without detailed costings of what the money is to be used for."

Oakham Pride had provided Oakham Town Council with a breakdown of how the £3,000 would be used:

• £1,100 for performing acts and volunteer expenses
• £800 for health and safety and first aid
• £300 for prizes
• £500 for decorations, banners and advertising
• £300 for bins and toilets.

They said in their request: "We are asking if Oakham Town Council could help support this event by offering funding of up to £3,000 towards the cost of the event.

"We believe Pride reaches teenagers and young people in a way that most town events do not.

"We are also fundraising with a selection of smaller events including a tea party and a masquerade ball alongside online fundraising, charging for stalls and a repeat of the 'big raffle' we held last year."

Oakham Pride adds that one in five adults under 24 no longer identify as being their gender of birth or heterosexual and in small rural towns such as Oakham that do not have a thriving LGBTQ+ 'scene', an event like Pride is the only chance the community has to show support and celebrate sexuality and gender identity.

They added: "This is an opportunity for Oakham Town Council to support the teenagers of Oakham and show its commitment to diversity and community spirit and we welcome any support you can offer.

"Financially, we aim to use this year's event as a platform to be able to self-support moving forward and hope to raise sufficient funds this year to host next year's event."

Mayor of Oakham Sally-Anne Wadsworth added: "We don't pay £800 for health and safety, so I don't know where they're getting their quotes from, and I don't see anywhere that they are listed as a registered charity."

Coun David Romney said: "I would say that they need to go and find funding from somebody else for prizes and things like that, maybe another 'Pride' organisation, but to me I'm happy to support funding of some additional portable loos on the basis that a recognised hire company send us their invoice, and we'll pay it up to £500."

Members voted unanimously to reject the request for £3,000, but offered instead to fund up to £500 for additional portable loos for the Oakham Pride event on June 17.

This follows the council voting in favour of donating £5,000 towards the statue of HM Queen Elizabeth II, with the rest of the funds for the £100,000+ installation being raised through private donations.

It appears that Oakham Town Council may have to fund the upkeep of this installation, despite objections. Read more here.

In late 2022, Oakham Town Council also turned down a proposal to local a skate park in Oakham's Centenary Fields, which caused uproar locally.

Read more here.

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