Eastleigh Summer Music Festival - heralded as the biggest live music event in Hampshire this year - is facing an uncertain future.

Despite headline acts, including Pop Idol sensation Will Young and American legend Dionne Warwick, and £25,000 sponsorship from Eastleigh Council, the ten-day event at Fleming Park made a loss.

A report will go before the next meeting of the council's executive cabinet reflecting on this year's festival and dealing with a call from the council's resources scrutiny panel to consider approaching other potential event organisers.

This year's festival organiser, Peter Chegwyn, told the Daily Echo his Soundbass organisation would be very keen to run an event next year - probably for a shorter time than ten days and with a camping facility at Fleming Park to generate a festival atmosphere. He admitted: "It made a bit of a loss this year - but that came out of my pocket, not the council's.

"We have some ideas on how it will progress and we are hoping for a positive response that there will be another festival and that we will run it.

"It depends on the council and business sponsors being willing to support it. The benefits to Eastleigh are enormous."

This year's festival moved from the joint venues of the Leigh Road recreation ground in the town centre and the Manor Farm Country Park at Botley to Fleming Park.

While weekend events, particularly the Will Young concert, were very successful, gigs during the week - including the Dionne Warwick concert - had not worked so well.

Audience numbers were less than expected for some nights, but Mr Chegwyn said that reflected the trend for other outdoor events in the south during the summer.

He added that ten days was probably too long for the Fleming Park site, but that Soundbass would like to have the option for a camping facility to generate "more of a festival spirit" and to enable the festival to run during the day and not just evenings.

A council spokesman confirmed the borough put in a fixed £25,000 as sponsorship plus costs for some staff time but said the authority would not be making any further funds available for the 2004 event.

He added: "The council considered it to be a well-run event and the report which is being prepared for the next executive committee meeting will reflect on this and any event for next year.

"It is for the executive to decide whether it goes ahead."