Council made nothing on BBC fest tickets
Perth and Kinross Council received no payment for ticket sales for the BBC’s Biggest Weekend this summer, despite spending just over £140,000 on the event.
The popular music festival cost the Perth and Kinross taxpayers £140,729.61 when the show came to Scone Palace in May - that’s over half of the councils £250,000 events budget that was put aside by the council two years ago.
It has also been revealed, through an enquiry to Perth and Kinross Council, that they received no payment for the sale of tickets.
The massive event brought in around 8000 people from outside of the region to see the likes of Noel Gallagher, Emeli Sande and Simple Minds perform.
Despite the huge financial outlay it has also been revealed that the event pumped around £3 million into the area.
Councillor Murray Lyle, leader of Perth and Kinross Council, said:“BBC Biggest Weekend was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Perthshire to a national audience.
“It is extremely important that we do not underestimate the significance of Perth and Kinross being chosen to represent Scotland in the BBC’s biggest live music event of 2018.
“While the acts on the main stage were the stars of the show, the contribution played by council staff was essential to making sure this event happened.
“Our everyday skills were key to this working, and taking on the costs of this providing this was a relatively small investment in comparison to the benefits it brought.
“The economic assessment carried out on our behalf shows that the event brought a net additional economic impact for the area of £3m, a significant return on an investment of £140,000.
“This was a different partnership for us than the usual advisory and regulatory role we take in events, but this was a unique event with a publicly-funded body, and it required a unique approach.
“Visitors who had a fantastic time in a fabulous location, now have every reason to want to return time and time again. Importantly we proved once again that Perth and Kinross is perfect for major events.”