Capital's New Year party to be scaled back as budget cut

Published on Thursday 17 September 2009 09:51

EDINBURGH'S Hogmanay street party is set to be scaled back this year after the budget for the event was slashed.

City council insiders were today reported saying the 100,000 capacity for the Princes Street celebrations was "almost certain" to be reduced – possibly by 20,000.

And stages at Waverley Bridge and the top of The Mound could be axed, along with the Boogie Wonderland disco introduced last year.

High-profile events on 30 December and 1 January – which were backed by the Scottish Government's festivals Expo and Homecoming funds last year – could also be scaled back.

The programme for the Hogmanay celebrations is normally announced in mid-September, but council officials said they were unable to confirm the capacity of the event or when tickets will go on sale.

Around 10,000 street party tickets were unsold for last year's event, which was spread over seven stages in the city centre.

And the Hogmanay festival as a whole went more than 500,000 over budget.

A major review of the festivities was ordered and the council's winter festivals team has already been scrapped to save cash.

Unique Events, which has a contract to produce the four-day Hogmanay festival, is understood to have been handed more responsibility, on condition it sticks to a reduced budget.

One source at the council was today quoted saying: "At the moment, it is almost certain the street party will be scaled back on previous years. The money is just not available, and the council can't afford the budget to overrun as much as it did last year. Demand for street party tickets isn't what it used to be, and it makes sense to cut our cloth this year. The budget has to be spent much more wisely."

There has also been speculation that the ongoing tram works in Princes Street could cause major problems for the Hogmanay party. Crowds were banned from the street for the Festival fireworks display earlier this month because of the tram project.

But tram bosses have insisted the work will be completed by then. Mandy Haeburn-Little, director of customer services and communications at TIE, said: "We would like to make it absolutely clear that the Edinburgh tram project will hand Princes Street back to the city by the end of November, as planned."

The council's festivals champion, Steve Cardownie, declined to comment on the scaling back of this year's event, other than to say he was awaiting a full briefing from officials.

A spokesman for the council said: "Plans for Hogmanay are currently being developed and details of the events to take place will be released in due course."

Unique Events director Pete Irvine, mastermind of the event since its launch, was unavailable for comment.