Tramworks grind to a halt to make way for summer festivals

Published on Friday 19 March 2010 21:51

A BAN on tramworks in Edinburgh's most popular shopping street during the summer festivals season has been ordered after the capital faced six weeks of chaos last year.

The city council has reached agreement with its tram company to halt work in Princes Street by the end of July.

The go-ahead has been given to allow crowds to return to the famous thoroughfare to watch the annual Festival fireworks display from Edinburgh Castle.

The decision will come as a relief to such major venues as the National Gallery of Scotland and the Assembly Rooms, which protested last year at the council's decision to continue work throughout August.

But the traditional curtain-raiser, the Edinburgh Festivals Cavalcade, will be relocated to Holyrood Park for the second year in a row after the council warned it could not guarantee that its route would not be affected by tramworks and diversions.

The council's tram firm, TIE, yesterday insisted no work was planned within an officially designated "city centre" zone, which runs from Shandwick Place, in the West End, to Picardy Place. However, sources at the council said the cavalcade has had to be rerouted as a precaution in case work is still ongoing in areas such as the foot of Lothian Road.

The city's traditional embargo on roadworks during the summer festivals, which start with the jazz festival at the end of July, was suspended last year to help ensure tramworks were finished in time for Christmas. Plans to reopen part of Princes Street to allow tens of thousands of revellers to watch the fireworks were shelved at the 11th hour after Lothian and Borders Police raised safety concerns.

Work in and around Princes Street has been largely halted due to a bitter dispute between TIE and the German-led consortium building the tram network.

However, a TIE spokeswoman confirmed that any new timetable of work would not include the summer festivals period.

She added: "Activity on the length of Princes Street with tram tracks laid this year will include the completion of remedial works and the overhead line equipment, with no work taking place during the summer embargo period."

Steve Cardownie, the council's festivals and events champion, said: "We have been given an assurance by TIE that there will be no work on Princes Street during the festivals.

"We did what we could to limit the disruption last year but it will be a lot better without any work going on in over that period.

"It's great news, particularly as it will allow people to gather there to watch the fireworks display as normal."

BIG NAMES

BRITPOP icons Ocean Colour Scene are to top the bill at this year's Wickerman Festival in Dumfriesshire.

The English indie outfit will be joined by Irish rockers the Saw Doctors and the Undertones at the two-day event in July. Other acts include Codeine Velvet Club, as well as Futureheads, Sons and Daughters, and the Amphetameanies.

The Hebridean Celtic Festival, which is held in July in Stornoway, yesterday unveiled the Afro Celt Sound System as one of its main headliners. They rest of the line-up includes Runrig, Adrian Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds, and the Treacherous Orchestra.