Planning starts for council's last Preston Guild

Plans are afoot to try to ensure the historic Preston Guild festival survives the abolition of the council responsible for staging it.

The event - which happens once every 20 years - dates back more than eight centuries and is next due to be staged in 2032 – four years after it is expected Preston City Council will have ceased to exist.

The authority – together with Lancashire's 14 other councils – will be replaced in a huge shake-up ordered by the government which will see the creation of a larger council covering a much wider and yet-to-be-defined area.

However Preston City Council is to begin the long process of organising the 2032 event in a bid to guarantee that it takes place, even though the authority may be abolished.

A city council meeting heard the usual lead-in time for the event is four and five years, which would coincide with the likely time of the authority's demise, the Local Democracy Reporting Service writes.

Councillors voted to establish the Guild Committee to oversee the festival development.

Deputy council leader Martyn Rawlinson, from Labour, said preparations could be made at this early stage but stressed the principle reason for the move was "to make a statement that Preston Guild must go ahead".

He added: "We want to respect the traditions and carry [them] on – that's 800 years of tradition.

The cross-party committee of five councillors has £500,000 but a separate budget group is usually established as the Guild draws closer to oversee the much larger overall delivery cost.

The total bill for the 10-day programme was £5.4m in 2012.

Half a percent share of council tax income is being set aside until 2032, although that arrangement's future will depend on Preston's successor council.

Councillor Rawlinson said more money is needed for a "bigger and better than ever before" Guild.

The first Preston Guild dates back to 1179 following King Henry II's decision to draw up a royal charter for the city and award it with the right to have a Guild Merchant.

They became once-in-two-decade affairs from 1542 and have been staged rigidly to that timetable ever since except for the Second World War.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.