A festival that was expected to attract 10,000 people has been cancelled after a council withdrew its support.

Waltham Forest Council has provided financial support to theatre company HighTides for its festival over the past two years but Stage magazine this week reported that it has now decided to stop its funding.

This year the festival’s third annual run was due to take place between September 17 and 29.

The council, which has been hosting the Mayor of London’s first ever Borough of Culture year, was due to put tens of thousands of pounds into the event.

HighTides confirmed 25 artists already had contracts signed and these contracts would have employed 70 people.

Organisers expected 10,000 people at the festival and not only will they miss out on the council’s funding, they will also lose the fundraising income normally generated during the event.

HighTides has promised to pay the artists already contracted.

No reason was given by Waltham Forest Council as to why the funding had been withdrawn.

A spokesman for the authority said: “Waltham Forest Council has been one of a numbers of funders of HighTide’s Walthamstow Festival for the past two years. Through London Borough of Culture 2019, we are delivering a diverse creative programme across the communities of Waltham Forest.

“This includes £550,000 of Fellowship Funding which has been awarded to hundreds of locally-rooted projects taking place in every corner of the borough.

“As a council, we remain committed to investing in culture and have supported more locally-based organisations and projects in 2019 than ever before.”