Street party shrinks as trams play havoc with Hogmanay plan

Published on Friday 25 September 2009 01:27

EDINBURGH'S Hogmanay street party is set to be reduced in capacity by 25 per cent and the launch of its Christmas festivities scaled back because of tramworks.

The Scotsman can reveal 25,000 tickets are expected to be held back from the city's celebrations because of funding problems and uncertainty over how much of the city centre will be available over New Year.

The move may have huge repercussions for the city's economy as the celebrations, which have had a 100,000 capacity since the Millennium, are usually worth more than 40 million.

It is not yet known whether the price of tickets – which cost up to 17 last year – will be raised to help make up the shortfall. More than 10,000 were left unsold last year.

The high-profile curtain raiser for the capital's Christmas celebrations, including the unveiling of its "winter wonderland" and giant ferris wheel, is also being put back to a weekend for the first time to allow roadworks to be completed.

Buses will not return to Princes Street until 5am on Sunday 29 November – much later than many retailers had been arguing for.

However the council, business organisations and marketing agencies are planning the city's biggest ever festive promotional drive in a bid to help it recover from the impact of the tramworks.

The "Edinburgh Sparkles" campaign will promote it as one of the UK's top festive destinations after a final decision to allow buses back on to Princes Street for Christmas was taken yesterday, after weeks of lobbying from businesses.

However buses will not be back as planned on 26 November because council officials and operator Lothian Buses, were nervous about introducing a major traffic shake-up during the week, after a similar move caused chaos last October.

The city council has been unable to announce any of its plans for the Christmas or Hogmanay seasons because of the tramworks on Princes Street, which started in February but were hit by delays when a long-running dispute with a German contractor flared up in March.

One source at yesterday's meeting said: "There was pretty unanimous support for getting the buses back on to Princes Street as soon as possible. There isn't going to be the usual launch of the city's Christmas events as Princes Street will not be ready until the weekend, but after the Sunday morning it should be business as usual. The vital thing is to get that message out around the country."

Businesses had hoped Princes Street would reopen by early November after calling for tramworks to continue through the city's summer festivals.

A council spokesman said full plans would be announced in the next few days.