This weekend’s Doune the Rabbit Hole music festival is hanging in the balance after concerns were raised by emergency services and council officials.
Thousands of revellers, including families, are expected to descend upon Cardross Estate from tomorrow (Thursday) until Sunday to see dozens of acts including Patti Smith, Jabberwocky, Amy Macdonald, The Bluebells and Boney M.
At a meeting of Stirling Council’s planning and regulation panel on June 28 to consider the event’s temporary public entertainment licence, the organisers were given more time to iron out issues raised and complete necessary paperwork.
But the panel held an emergency meeting on Monday of this week after being told some matters were still outstanding.
If officials are satisfied following a site visit - expected to take place this afternoon - the licence will be granted.
If they are still unhappy, however, the panel will hold a further meeting to consider the licence this evening - with no guarantee that it will be approved.
Within the last few days the organisers are understood to have reduced capacity at the event from 15,000 to 10,000 in a bid to meet emergency service requirements.
At the June meeting, licensing team leader Stephanie Cameron said the application had been brought to the panel’s attention due to “significant concerns” raised through the safety advisory group by internal and external stakeholders.
As well as more detailed paperwork and other technical requirements, emergency services including police, fire and ambulance had wanted more assurances on access for emergency vehicles, stewarding and ratio of medical personnel.
However the organisers, who agreed to work closely with the organisations to resolve outstanding matters, suggested things could have been different had any concerns been raised with them at a far earlier stage.
Panel chair Councillor Neil Benny had told all concerned to “strain every sinew” to make sure it was a safe event for everyone involved, saying the festival was a “valued event” and suggesting no blame was being apportioned on any side for the situation as things stood.
He added: “I know the organisers are as keen to make this as safe an event as it can be.
“That’s as friendly a warning as we can possibly make it but with gravity attached to that.
“That being said, it’s important there’s give and take on both sides, but that public safety is met as fully as possible.”
At the meeting on Monday, however, the panel delegated authority to chief governance officer Julia McAfee to approve the application - subject to a host of conditions.
These include the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service being in receipt of a satisfactory Fire Risk Assessment, the Scottish Ambulance Service confirming satisfaction with the Medical Plan in light of the reduction in capacity of the event to 10,000, and Stirling Council’s environmental health service being in receipt of satisfactory water and electrification certificates and building control service receiving satisfactory health and safety, and engineering, plans.
All of the conditions will be subject to a visit by the relevant agencies to the site at 3pm this afternoon (Wednesday).
