A MONTH long big screen World Cup party in the heart of Southampton has been cancelled after police demanded at least £40,000 to marshal it.

Organisers say the extra costs have scuppered the planned festival which would have treated up to 7,000 footie fans with the largest outdoor TV screen in the south.

The huge TV was set to be the centrepiece of a World Cup village featuring food tents and bars on derelict land next to WestQuay shopping centre.

The 40 square metre screen would have dwarfed the 25 square metre Olympic screen in Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square.

Daily Echo: For a video of the top stories in today's Daily Echo, click the front page.

Portsmouth City Council spent around £100,000 to show the FA Cup final on a big screen on Southsea Common on Saturday. It attracted 10,000 people.

Event co-ordinator Paul Hingston from Poole-based Big Bear Events said he was disappointed the Southampton event had been pulled.

He said: “This event has gone the way of similar events throughout the country with regard to the police and security costs involved.

“We did have a number of sponsors who would have supported us but the additional costs proved too much and it became financially unviable.”

A police spokesman said they had a long meeting with the organisers and the council when the public safety aspects of holding such an event over a month, where alcohol would be for sale, were outlined. The spokesman said Big Bear Events reconsidered their proposal and then withdrew it.

He added they would have needed stewards, appropriate insurance, medical assistance, a traffic management plan, policing and a ticketing policy to restrict numbers, and confirmed the policing required under the rules for such events would have come in at least £40,000.

Southampton City Council, which owns the derelict West Quay site – set to be become Hammerson’s Watermark WestQuay development of shops, restaurants and bars – welcomed the proposals, but was not prepared to put up any public money. The World Cup starts on June 11.