Chesterfield Borough Council is now seeking further compensation from the Chinese State Circus, in addition to a £1,000 pre-paid bond, after its vehicles left Queen's Park a muddy mess.

The council said large areas of the park have been left with muddy track marks, with some areas having more substantial damage when the ground was churned up by heavier vehicles.

Cllr Keith Morgan, leisure chief, said: "Having the Chinese State Circus visiting Chesterfield was a great attraction for the town and over 7,000 people attended the show.

"Ground conditions were fine when the circus set up last week, but the heavy rain we had over Friday and Saturday made the ground very soft and the trackways used by the circus vehicles were inadequate for the wet weather conditions that developed and more care should have been taken by the organisers.

"A clean-up of the hardstanding paths has already begun and repair work to the grass areas will begin this week."

A council spokeswoman said circus organisers were under a contractual obligation to cover the cost of any damage caused to the ground and CBC would be keeping a tally on what they spent repairing it.

Janet Murphy, from the Friends of Queen's Park, said they were disappointed with the outcome of an otherwise well attended event.
Only three years ago over £2m was spent revamping the park, including upgrading the entire site and its facilities.

Speaking on behalf of the circus, a spokesman said: "When we arrived it was quite reasonable. The ground was OK, but the circus wasn't expecting it to pour down as it did and they had to get off of there and they did it the best way they saw available at the time.

"They didn't want to cause the damage, no-one does. It wasn't done intentionally by any means."

The Festival of Light planned to take place in the park at the end of the month is still anticipated to go ahead.