IMPROVING access to the Hull's waterfront is the key to Hull staging successful major events in the future. Liz Pugh, who directed last weekend's Freedom Festival in and around the city's Fruit Market, said pedestrian access to the event via Castle Street needed to be addressed for future events.
Parking and bus services to and from the area were also issues which should be under consideration.
She said: "If Hull is going to continue staging events of the size and ambition of the Freedom Festival in the same area, access issues will be very important considerations. It's too early to say what needs to be done in detail.
"As a pedestrian, crossing Castle Street at the moment is very challenging and that needs to be improved."
Huge crowds queuing to cross Castle Street on Saturday night forced police to briefly stop traffic to allow people to get to the festival safely.
An iconic pedestrian land bridge as wide as a street between Princes Quay and the Marina as part of long-term plans to upgrade Castle Street are still under discussion.
If funding can be secured for the bridge, it is not likely to be in place until 2017 at the earliest.
The Highways Agency, which is responsible for Castle Street, also recently confirmed it is reviewing the idea of having another smaller-scale pedestrian footbridge linking Market Place with Queen Street as part of the £160m improvement scheme.
Design consultants are instead now looking at upgrading the existing pedestrian footpath to the Fruit Market under Myton Bridge – the same route followed by last Friday's spectacular torch-lit procession that launched Freedom.
Ms Pugh, the co-founder and producer of events company Walk The Plank, said she believed the firm's first Freedom Festival had been a success.
She said: "We have already had a great deal of positive feedback from partners, different local organisations that took part and, above all else, the people of Hull.
"From the torch-lit procession to the quality of the local bands playing in sorts of different venues, there were an awful lot of positives to take from the weekend."
The Salford events company was awarded the contract to deliver this year's festival earlier this year by a new-look board recruited to organise the event.
Ms Pugh said: "We were only given a contract for this year's festival. Would we be interested in coming back to Hull and doing it again next year? Certainly."
Mike Ibbotson, transport policy manager at Hull City Council, said there was a pressing need to include the proposed new land bridge in the early phase of the Castle Street improvement scheme.
"We need to get the land bridge programmed very early in the construction process.
"Getting it in place for these kind of events is vital. The rest of the disruption likely to be caused by the works in Castle Street is just something we will have to live with."
