Council 'should call in the receivers over £200k ice rink debt'

CALLS were made today to bring in the receivers and liquidate the company behind one of Edinburgh's best-known festival venues over debts owed to the city council.

• Karen Koren

GB Productions Limited, the company behind the popular Gilded Balloon venue, owes the council 201,633 in unpaid bills relating to its management of the festive ice rink that it set up on Princes Street Gardens.

The company, led by respected Fringe impressario Karen Koren, ran up the bills during the time that it had a contract with the council to manage the ice rink, which it set up in 1998, inspired by the famous attraction in New York's Central Park.

The Evening News has seen details of six separate unpaid invoices that stretch back as far as January 2009.

Two of the bills relate to separate 50,000 instalments the company was supposed to repay the council after it helped pay to set up the rink.

Other bills relate to rent, a service charge for operating the attraction, a 55,000 charge for management of services on site and the 33,000 cost of re-instating Princes Street Gardens.

The last bill was issued in April 2010.

Councillor Eric Barry has raised concerns with council finance chiefs about the unpaid debt, and been told attempts have been continuing since last October to get the money back. He said: "I want an explanation from the chief executive as to why we are so dilatory at chasing money.

"The council has got enough debt to sort out without bankrolling Ms Koren's company.

"If this has been going on since last October then that is awfully long. You could call in the receivers and liquidate the company for that sort of money.

"Legal action should have happened a long time ago."

The city council, which handed the contract to operate the ice rink to a new company for the 2010 Christmas, insists it is continuing to pursue legal action to recoup the money, although it is understood that issues around the financial position of GB Productions has made it difficult to get payment.

Councillor Gordon Munro, culture and leisure spokesman for the Labour group on the city council, said: "The total is more than ten times the loss on this year's Capital Christmas. The collection of this debt could be used to pay for community Christmas lights for parts of the city such as Leith, which also play a part in making Edinburgh sparkle at Christmas."

A city council spokeswoman said: "The council is still owed a significant sum by GB Productions Ltd. We cannot comment further while the matter is the subject of pending legal action."

Ms Koren was not available for comment. She has previously declined to talk in detail about the issue but insisted that she has had no subsidy to run the ice rink in the last few years.