THE Cowley Road Carnival looks set to return next year after its organisers revealed they want to restore the bash to “its natural home”.

The hugely popular carnival, which attracts more than 35,000 people and is Oxfordshire’s biggest community event, was cancelled this year and replaced by a smaller festival in South Park in July.

Now organisers have said they want to create the best of both worlds by returning the carnival to the Cowley Road and hosting some celebrations on the same day in the park.

Following three months of consultation with local traders and residents organisers said public opinion came out in favour of bringing back the Cowley Road Carnival.

The move is also being backed by families, schools, and traders from the wider East Oxford area and the rest of Oxford who wanted to retain a celebration in the park.

Spokesman Karen David said: “Ideally we would like to see an event on the Cowley Road to generate the excitement and the buzz and to link that with events in the park that brings in the wider community.

“But it depends on what resources and support we get.

“We can understand why people were frustrated it wasn’t on the road and we’d like to bring it back on the road, but we can only do, what we can do.”

A feasibility study is now set to be carried out to calculate how much cash would be needed to stage a duel event.

The organisers said no firm decision had yet been made, but consultation will begin with local residents, businesses and schools to see what they make of a carnival double header.

Chairman of the organising committee Paul Wolf said: “Carnival in the Park turned out to be very successful. However, public opinion makes it clear that the carnival was sorely missed on Cowley Road itself, and there is a lot of support to see it return.

“As Cowley Road is the natural home of Carnival, the charity is considering expanding the activities on the Cowley Road while holding linked events in South Park.”

The news has been cautiously welcomed by Erica Steinhauer, of the Plain Traders Association, who gathered signatures from 60 businesses for a petition to ensure the carnival returns to Oxford’s most colourful street next year.

Ms Steinhauer, who last year organised a fringe event on Cowley Road in the absence of the carnival, said: “This would be the perfect solution.

“If they are sure there are sufficient resources to do what amounts to two carnivals, this is fantastic.

“However, we loathe to get too excited after our massive disappointment last year and we hope this isn’t the lead-in to another letdown.”