Council says sorry over plans for Big Weekend.

Scone: Council says arrangements took longer to finalise than anticipated

Council bosses have apologised over their handling of controversial travel arrangements for the BBC’s Biggest Weekend.

Thousands of festival-goers are expected to descend on Perth tomorrow for two days of live music at Scone Palace.

The packed line-up features violinist Nigel Kennedy, former Oasis star Noel Gallagher and rock icons Simple Minds.

However, a traffic management plan produced by Perth and Kinross Council featuring a series of road closures has proved contentious.

Local businesses say it will prevent shoppers coming into the city centre, while there are also concerns about a lack of drop-off and pick-up zones near the festival site.

The council has now relaxed its plan following the backlash, pointing out the arrangements will not need to be as severe tomorrow as first thought.

Lib Dem councillor Lewis Simpson said the plan should have been better shared with locals, with letters only going out to affected households in the last few days.

He added: “I’m concerned there appears to have been no public or elected member engagement with the event, prior to the travel plan being made public last week. I can also foresee difficulties in relation to parking restrictions in Scone.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Unfortunately the travel plan took longer than anticipated to finalise and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“We have consulted with partners as well as taken into account the latest event ticket sales and bus and car parking ticket sales in order to ensure as little disruption as possible.

“We would like to thank everyone who has booked their travel in advance: this has allowed us to minimise road restrictions on the Friday, so that travel for people not attending the event will effectively be business as usual.”

There appears to have been no public or elected member engagement

The site being prepared at Scone Palace for the BBC’s Biggest Weekend event.