City in rough waters over yacht parties

A ROW has broken out over council plans to spend £55,000 on "parties" in places such as New York, San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro, linked to next year's Clipper round-the-world yacht race.

The city's economic development committee has approved the money for staging events in key ports along the route of the race, which they hope to use to target people aged 18-35 to come to Edinburgh.

But Labour economic development spokeswoman Norma Hart contrasted the funding of the Clipper events with the council's failure to find money for a youth and community centre in her ward.

She said: "Never mind the teenagers of Sydney, San Francisco or New York, what about teenagers in Edinburgh who are not going to have a summer programme?"

The Capital is entering the Clipper race for a second year after a mystery benefactor agreed to invest 1 million to help a relay team of transplant patients take part in the event, which attracts entries from major cities around the world.

• Is spending 55,000 on parties at Clipper yacht race ports a waste of money? Vote here

The race includes stopovers of six to eight days in 14 ports.

A report to the committee said the main focus should be the promotion of Edinburgh to under-35s, known as "Generation Y".

It said: "One idea is to target local night-time and other contemporary cultural and sporting venues as sponsors for a 'port activation party' on the main legs."

It added the Edinburgh "port activations" should be focused on up to five key ports, for example New York, San Francisco, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro or, alternatively, Singapore, the Netherlands or Australia/New Zealand."

Cllr Hart welcomed the anonymous sponsorship for the race, but she argued against the council's 55,000, which will be matched by Marketing Edinburgh and hopefully supplemented by 100,000 in private sponsorship.

She said Gracemount Youth and Community Centre, known locally as The Mansion, had effectively had to close for the want of 15,000 from the council.

But Labour's amendment was defeated by 11 votes to three.

Committee convener Tom Buchanan said: "Cllr Hart raised some very short-sighted concerns over the merits of promoting Edinburgh to the under-35s when this is precisely the market we should be targeting.

"The Clipper venture presents a fantastic and cost-effective opportunity to market Edinburgh."

A council spokesman said it intended to return The Mansion to "a fully-functioning youth centre".

Alan Johnston, chairman of Marketing Edinburgh, said: "The Clipper race offers a platform to promote Edinburgh to the rest of world in an original and awe-inspiring way."