The council have tried blaming just about everyone and everything for the fiasco. The Olympics, the credit crunch, the thought that Eastbourne residents don't 'value' the event (unbelievable arrogance from the council last week).

Council Leader David Tutt has said he will hold an inquiry; this is a bog standard political response to any major cock-up. However, there's a need for something a little more fundamental than an inquiry to take place.

The simple facts are that as residents, visitors, traders, business people, and the political opposition told the council, charging for Airbourne was a disaster waiting to happen, and now it has, the very future of the show is in jeopardy.

I have said in this column several times that if the council wanted to make money from visitors there were at least three different ways of doing this that would not have upset the entire town in the process. All of this was ignored, and in their ignorance and arrogance, they ploughed ahead. And just as predicted, it was a disaster.

The Council used to be proud of Airbourne. How times have changed in the last couple of years. Just two or three years ago Eastbourne entertained a delegation from Bournemouth and showed them our wonderful show. I hear Bournemouth is now introducing its own four-day airshow – and yes, it's free of charge. What we now see as an inconvenience, they see as an asset. What we see as something making a loss, they see as an investment in their town.

When this council was elected one of its main planks was to 'invest in the economy of the town'. They had absolutely no mandate to charge for Airbourne. So I agree with Cllr Elkin, that one of the leading politicians who made this decision should consider their position and resign.

I still believe Airbourne can have a future, but it's going to take some creative thinking and boldness to pull it back from the brink now. So I offer the council my suggested way forward for the show.

1 – Without delay offer an apology to the people of Eastbourne, for bringing in the charge in the face of overwhelming opposition.
2 – Commit immediately to Airbourne 2009, that the event will go ahead without a charge.
3 – Get commitment from the RAF, the police, all the other authorities to revert back to how they used to resource the show, and ask them to do so again.
4 – Get a serious sponsor on board. This isn't easy, but perhaps by getting a professional to do this, rather than in house staff, they'll be more successful.
5 – Start to think again positively about the show. Not thinking of it as an inconvenience, but as an amazing asset to our town, and consider ways in which it can develop into the future.
6 – Draw up a 10 year business plan for the event, and bring in major new aspects to the show over the years, perhaps widening the scope of the show.
- Introduce a 'seabourne' aspect?
- Make Eastbourne Extreme part of the show?
- more related sports events, perhaps a community sports festival building up to the Olympics?
- and perhaps expanding into more of a cultural feel, by introducing the wonderful Eastbourne Cultural Festival?

If you had a business that had a yearly project that showed a loss in itself, but generated £20 million (Council figures) for the rest of your product market – would you be actively trying to bring it down? I don't think so – you'd be widening the scope of it, and protecting it's future, not jeopardising it.

Have a good week!