A CONTROVERSIAL decision by the Island's Council to award a five-year contract to pop promoters hoping to stage the Isle of Wight Festival has prompted calls for an independent inquiry.

Tory group leader Councillor Andy Sutton alleges the contract - signed with top rock promoters Solo - was completed by council officers without proper member scrutiny.

He hopes to call in the decision at the next meeting of the Island's full council.

The row surfaced at a meeting of the Island Council's executive on Tuesday when it emerged that the 2002 festival lost the council £330,000.

Top acts such as Ash and Led Zepplin's ex lead singer, Robert Plant, played at the event staged at Seaclose in Newport. But only around 10,000 of the expected 15,000-strong crowd turned up at the event.

A council spokesman ruled out an inquiry into the deal. He said: "There are proper procedures for raising grievances. If Councillor Sutton feels this merits it he has to follow those procedures."

Speaking after the debate, Cllr Sutton said that questions about how the contract was signed without the apparent knowledge of the executive needed answers.

He said: "They have locked themselves into a five-year contract and nobody has made a decision at member level. Nobody knew the detail.

"We will be looking for support to the Labour Group and we would hope to call in the decision. We need answers to our questions. We feel it needs an independent inquiry."

Members of the ruling "Island First" group on the council decided to provide the Seaclose site for future launch events and to allocate £44,000 for the community aspects of the festival.

But organisation of the main launch event - to include top names from the music industry - would be left to Solo.

The council would also receive 4,000 tickets for the launch which would be allocated to Islanders at a special discount rate.

Cllr Sutton said he had "serious concerns" about the contract signed with Solo.

He said: "It is taxpayers' money you are dealing with. You have to be confident you are spending it properly. It is my belief that the executive did not have any knowledge of locking itself into a five-year contract."

Speaking after the debate, executive spokeswoman for tourism and leisure, Councillor Peggy Jarman, said: "The details of the contract with Solo for the 2002 festival were put before the Executive on February 26 2002. It is acknowledged that the two-week festival, while successful in raising the profile of the Island with positive media coverage worth an estimated £6m and achieving social and cultural benefits, was not as financially successful as had been anticipated.

"The Executive on November 5 considered six, wide-ranging options for the future of the event, which included having no involvement in future festivals at all.

"The decision taken by the Executive was to negotiate a new agreement with Solo designed to secure the medium-term success of the launch event and seek to recover the council's investment in the 2002 Festival, while minimising any financial risk to the council from future events."