COMMUNITY groups across Southampton have expressed their sorrow and dismay that the city's balloon festival is being axed.

Yesterday, the Daily Echo exclusively revealed that the 60-year history of Southampton's festival had come to an end because of plummeting visitor numbers.

City leisure bosses decided to scrap the festival for

good after the number of people attending last year fell to just 75,000 - half the 150,000 who attended the event in the mid 1990s.

Leisure chiefs say that it has been impossible to find a sponsor for this year and can no longer justify its £60,000 price tag.

The decision has been condemned by Southampton Itchen MP John Denham.

He said: "This was a popular event and used to be entirely paid for by sponsorship and stallholders. Why has the council not been able to attract sufficient interest from sponsors?

"The council has already lost the Round the World Yacht Race and the British Steel Challenge. What is the use of talking about the Wow Factor in Southampton when the council has let all the air out of the balloon?"

The council also cited difficulties flying balloons in and around Southampton because of the increasing number of flights from the city's airport.

Neville Yeates, 82, a former chairman of the Royal Southampton Horticul-tural Society and a member of the City of Southampton Society, organised the floral elements of the show for 26 years until 2001.

He said: "At one time, we were bigger than the Hampton Court Flower Show. It is a sad day for Southampton."

Chris Morris vice-chair man of the Southampton Tenants' and Residents' Federation, added that the city council had axed the city's carnival, and had put on a poor show with its Christmas lights display.

She said: "We looked forward to the festival. It is always crowded.

"To me, the council's decisions never make sense."

Leisure boss Councillor Peter Wakeford said falling attendences, rising costs and changes in the way companies spend their budgets has meant is has been impossible to find a new sponsor.