Festivals face being scaled back due to council cuts
● Key elements of Christmas and Hogmanay events may be scaled back
Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals face being scaled back this year after city council chiefs decided to cut their backing for the events.
New contracts to run the official festivities, said to be worth more than £240 million to the economy, proposed swingeing cuts to programming budgets. Insiders said key elements of both events may have to be scaled back or dropped as a result of “bewildering” changes enforced in tenders issued to events companies.
The Hogmanay festival faces losing at least 40 per cent of its £1m budget.
Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals face being dramatically scaled back this year after city council chiefs decided to slash their backing for the events.
New contracts to run the official festivities, which are said to be worth more than £240 million to the economy, propose swingeing cuts to programming budgets.
Insiders say key elements of both events may have to be scaled back or dropped completely as a result of “bewildering” changes enforced in tenders which are being issued to events companies.
The three-day Hogmanay festival faces losing up to 50 per cent of its £1 million budget due to a cut in its current subsidy and a demand to foot policing and licensing costs.
This may lead to the capacity of its street party – which was first held in 1993 – being cut from 75,000 and stages being dropped from the event arena, which has been expanded to the Royal Mile in recent years.
Edinburgh’s Christmas festival, which has just reported record visitor numbers to the city centre, has been completely stripped of public funding for the first time since official events were staged in 1999.
Would-be producers may have to pay for the right to create popular rides and attractions in Princes Street Gardens and St Andrew Square.
It is thought the free “Street of Light” event, which has drawn more than half a million people to the Royal Mile and George Street over the last two years, may have to be axed.
The Christmas and Hogma-manay festivals have been run for the last four years under a joint £1.3M contract with two firms, Unique Events and Underbelly. Tender documents reveal the council would now put in just over £800,000, which would be ringfenced for Hogmanay, while a separate Christmas contract would be issued.
A council spokeswoman said: “While the reduced budget means that the format for Hogmanay and Christmas may require some reimagining, the industry is being asked to rise to these challenges and deliver a world-class programme for Edinburgh.”
Richard Lewis, the city’s festivals and events cham- pion, said: “Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations are world renowned, providing the city and Scotland with unrivalled promotion and a great economic boost.
“Over the last three years, they have gone from strength to strength but the costs of policing Hogmanay and pressure on the council’s budget has continued to increase.
“Our priority will be to ensure best value for the city while retaining Edinburgh’s position as a fantastic winter destination.”
If we think that a threat to the scale of Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh is just a little local difficulty with no significance for the rest of the country, it’s time to reconsider.
What the situation presents is an example of the consequences of austerity measures on the budgets of local authorities. And while few outside the capital city will shed any tears over the prospect of a smaller party taking place next winter, what this in effect means is that the economic boost which the area receives will be diminished.
As has been highlighted this week by job figures, Scotland’s economic growth is not improving, and while an economy can’t be built on a seasonal jamboree, it would be wrong to ignore the contribution that such events make to the revenue of shops, hotels, cafes and public transport.
When a local authority is forced to make hard decisions, it is inevitable that a festival will be hit before welfare services. A council’s first priority is to serve those who live in the area and pay council tax, not entertaining tourists. If provision of an important service can only be saved by scaling down a party, it’s an easy decision for anyone to make.
However, this demonstrates a contradiction in strategy when central government policy is to increase economic growth while tasking local government with cutting spending. By forcing a council to downsize a non-essential item of its expenditure, central government shoots itself in the foot by stifling growth.
This effect applies across the country, on different scales. Until there is joined-up thinking over the consequences of austerity, we will be caught in a dilemma which will result in dreaded economic stagnation.