Residents urged to give feedback on Appleby Horse Fair
Drop in Sessions are taking place in and around the town as plans start on next year's festival
Westmorland and Furness Council have organised a series of drop-in events to gather feedback on the Appleby Horse Fair.
According to the horse fair's website: "Appleby Horse Fair is an annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in the town of Appleby in Westmorland and Furness, which takes place over a week in early June, from a Thursday to the following Wednesday, but this is essentially a weekend event, the main days being the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
"Appleby Fair is unique in Europe and, as well as attracting around 10,000 Gypsies and Travellers, over 30,000 other visitors attend the Fair."
The event, however is controversial, with animal welfare concerns being raised in recent years.
It's things like that, as well as traffic, parking, disorder and business that the council are looking for feedback on.
Richard Scoffham is from Westmorland Council and helping organise the drop-ins, he said: "There's two events that have already happened, and we've a series of events coming up that provide a real opportunity for people to directly engage with an elected member on a face to face basis.
"We've run these previously whereby we've collected information, suggestions and guidance from the public that we then bring to a multi-agency group to consider.
"Every suggestion or complaint is documented and recorded. We keep a community issues log whereby we'll record that information and ensure that if anyone does take the time to speak to us we take the time to work with them and reassure them.
"If they have an issue, problem, suggestion or positivity in terms of the horse fair we'll take that on."