THE 11th-hour decision to cancel the venue for this weekend's XTC Convention in Swindon has sparked anger. 

Swindon Borough Council told the organisers of the celebration they could no longer use STEAM due to the Queen's funeral on Monday.

Having been given a two-day notice period, the organisers had to quickly find a new place for fans of the Swindon rock band to gather.

It caused uproar against the council - not only from the organisers but from people across Swindon.

Jonathan Sheldrake wrote to the Adver, saying: "I would like to express my disgust at the XTC conference being cancelled at STEAM this weekend. 

"The council mentions the Radio 2 event as an excuse, but this was outdoors and just after the Queen's death. This event is more than a week afterwards. The council also talks about music and noise.

"The council has also clearly not considered the effect this will have in terms of lost revenue in nearby pubs and hospitality venues.

"The area nearby is one of the poorest in Swindon and desperately needed the money the conference attendees would spend. Now it is all going to Old Town which already has the Swindon shuffle and Open-door events going on there this weekend." 

"I fully understand that respect is due to the Queen after her long reign but the council using this as an excuse to stop this event and incidentally cancelling all scrutiny meetings this week using the same excuse is unacceptable. 

Adver columnist Graham Carter added: "Any fool could see [the Queen] not only had a genuine interest in all the events she attended but clearly took real delight in meeting people from all walks of life and bringing them together.

"And I fail to see how celebrating the achievements of local people can be considered disrespectful when surely that was something the Queen devoted much of her life to."

Michael Rivers also expressed his anger, writing: "Words (almost) fail me at the arrogance and stupidity of this decision, especially as they gave the organisers less than 48 hours' notice."

Sam Taylor on Facebook said: "Absolute jokes. This is one of the few events where people from outside of Swindon (let alone outside of the UK) decide to visit this town.

"The council's backwards parochial decision has effectively said: 'Swindon is not open, don't bother coming here' and frankly I'd be surprised if the people stung by this will ever bother coming back."

Anne Ray added: "This would be understandable if it was the day of the funeral but a ridiculous decision for the weekend before. What an unpleasant message to send out: not welcome at Swindon

Councillor Matty Courtliff, Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet member for culture, heritage, leisure and town centre experience, said: “This was not a decision we took lightly and was considered very carefully against the guidance for the national period of mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

“In light of many other music events being cancelled across the country and the huge outpouring of emotion currently being expressed at a time of local and national grief, we did not feel it was appropriate to host an event featuring live or recorded music up until midnight so close to the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen.

“I appreciate some people may find this decision disappointing and I regret any inconvenience that has arisen for the organisers, attendees and local businesses who were supporting the event.”