Council approves 'exciting' new chocolate festival

A council has given the go-ahead to a chocolate festival in North Yorkshire that will raise funds towards maintaining defibrillators.

The inaugural Whitby Chocolate Festival will be held in December, after Whitby Town Council backed the proposals at a meeting on Tuesday.

The Whitby Defibrillator Project (WDP), who put forward the idea, said money raised from the event would help fund the maintenance of 40 defibrillators in the town and surrounding area.

Bob Dalrymple, the town's mayor, said the idea had been "well received by the council".

Dalrymple said he and other councillors wished the organisers "every success in this exciting new proposal".

The festival's organisers told the meeting each defibrillator battery requires replacement every four years, or "sooner if a unit is used on a casualty", at a cost of about £165.

Funds raised from the festival through the participation of local businesses and donations from the public would help towards maintenance costs, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The town council has provided no direct financial support for the festival.

Organisers said participating businesses would be promoted as part of the festival's marketing campaign.

A proposal stated: "There would be a printed route map of all participating venues, these would be available in all venues as well as the Tourist Information Centre, The Library, social media etc., and we would also provide some venues with loose change collection boxes to further boost the WDP batteries funds."

Several businesses have already expressed an interest in supporting the event, the meeting was told.

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