THE organisers of Gateways Festival which staged a multi-band festival recently has apologised for the mess they left behind.

Several live bands played in Aireville Park over the weekend of August 6 to 8, to the heavy rain and footfall, as well as areas of bleached grass where the stages had been, had left a mess.

The organisers put up a sign in the park saying they would make it right.

Craven District Council has accepted the damage. Chief executive Paul Shevlin said “We have liaised closely with the organisers throughout both the festival preparations and the post festival clean up. We were fully aware of the temporary damage to the park which given the weather conditions over the weekend was to be expected. The organisers have already made good their promise to begin remedial action to put this right. Gateways was a very positive event for Skipton especially after the last year. Aireville Park makes a fantastic outdoor event venue and we are already in discussions with the organisers about next year.”