Plans afoot to make Hogmanay party free

Published on Monday 26 October 2009 21:09

PROPOSALS to scrap the barriers and tickets for Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party to make it a free event are being mooted by councillors.

Steve Cardownie, Edinburgh City Council's festival and events champion, argues that security barriers are not used at similar events across the UK.

The council introduced a cordon in 1997 after safety fears over crowds of more than 300,000 people. The event has had a strict 100,000 capacity since the millennium, but will be cut to 75,000 this year after poor ticket sales for the 2008-9 event.

Initially Hogmanay tickets were free, but in 2004 officials introduced a fee of 2.50 – this year's cost is four times as much.

Mr Cardownie signalled that a security cordon and controversial charges could be lifted as early as next year following a major review of the event.

The idea has been rejected by Pete Irvine, who has produced the capital's celebrations since they were launched 16 years ago.

"If you were talking about having an unregulated event without any crowd restrictions then there are quite a few agencies who deal with health and safety who would have something to say about it," he said.