Just days before tickets for this year’s T in the Park festival go on sale, The Caledonian Mercury is able to reveal that the event is under threat due to “significant” health and safety concerns.
The 2011 edition of T in the Park – scheduled for 7–10 July – will be the eighteenth. The first three events were held in Strathclyde Park near Motherwell, since when it has been at Balado, a farm site near Kinross.
There are, however, unresolved safety concerns about the site, largely relating to the Forties pipeline which runs underneath. These concerns are such that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) believes that this year’s event should not go ahead at the site.
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“In HSE’s expert opinion, there are such significant potential safety concerns with this application that it should not be granted permission,” a HSE spokesperson said today. “We are inviting the Scottish ministers to call in this application to make sure that all advice has been appropriately and thoroughly considered before a decision is finally made. The responsibility for the final decision rests with Scottish ministers and Perth and Kinross Council.” The planning-permission process has already progressed some distance. Balado is part of the Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) area, and a report by the PKC development quality manager Nick Brian published on 16 February gives details of the current situation. The report can be found on the PKC website, under agenda item 4 (1) (ii). PKC initially approved the T in the Park application on 8 December, 2010, but the HSE objection meant that this had to be referred to the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. The ministerial recommendation, made on 9 February, is that PKC “considers making any consent temporary and requiring it to consider conditions to address the safety concerns of HSE”. In a further comment, a Scottish Government spokesman today said: “Having been notified by Perth and Kinross Council of this proposal, ministers considered all relevant issues, including the cultural and economic significance of events on the site, and submissions from the Health and Safety Executive, to determine whether any further examination of the proposal was necessary. “We believe it is appropriate that Perth and Kinross Council as planning authority determines the application, but it must ensure conditions are attached to the granting of planning consent which enable events to continue at Balado and which address issues raised by HSE. “Scottish Government planning officials have met both parties to emphasise this and stand ready to offer any appropriate advice or assistance in the process.” The HSE objections mainly relate to the pipeline itself, along with concerns that “much of the T in the Park site extends beyond the boundaries of the Balado park site and is therefore uncontrolled”. These concerns would require something called an S75 agreement in order to be resolved to the satisfaction of the HSE. PKC believes that such an S75 agreement “would be very difficult to achieve since it would involve a number of third parties who might have no or very little interest in such a voluntary agreement and in addition might make the operation of T in the Park extremely difficult, even for a temporary period”. Following discussion, the PKC committee has again approved the planning application, with a complex 23-point list of “revised conditions” restricting various parts of the site, performance times and overall attendance numbers. These revised conditions have been resubmitted to Scottish ministers, who will make the final decision on whether this year’s T in the Park can go ahead at Balado. As yet, there appears to be no definite timescale on this decision – although with acts having been booked, the official launch being held tomorrow and with tickets due to go on sale on Friday, there is a clear need for a fast decision to be made given the size and commercial importance of the Balado event. A spokesperson for T in the Park organisers DF Concerts said: “T in the Park has operated on the same site now for 14 years, the pipeline is buried under the ground and the site remains the same as in previous years. It is important to note that the pipeline runs down a significant length of Scotland under public buildings such as schools and Aberdeen Airport and is arguably at its safest during the weekend of T in the Park when it is managed and protected around the clock. “We plan to have T in the Park in Balado Perthshire in 2011 as we have for the past 14 years and look forward to formally announcing the line-up of great bands at our launch event tomorrow.”We need your support. Please donate to The Caledonian Mercury
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