Safety of Edinburgh Festival crowds raised after Liverpool parade tragedy
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Counter-terror and public safety plans for Edinburgh's festivals will continue to be reviewed, councillors have been assured, after a tragic event in Liverpool saw a car driven into crowds.
More than 40 people were injured, some seriously, after after a car ploughed into the crowd at Liverpool FC's Premier League title victory parade.
Temporary barriers to stop 'hostile vehicles' are to be included in plans for securing the festivals, while closing Cowgate to eastbound traffic and reopening the northern footway on North Bridge are being considered.
SNP councillor Finlay McFarlane asked officers at Thursday's meeting of the Culture and Communities Committee: 'The tragic incident in Liverpool is at the top of my mind as we approach the busy festival.
'I'm wondering if we are revisiting and making sure we have robust traffic management policies in place for our busy season which is approaching.'
Claire Miller, a public safety officer for the council, said: 'We actually reviewed a recent event in Edinburgh as a result of that as well.
'It's constantly ongoing in terms of reviewing and making sure we're following police guidance and making sure that the appropriate streets are closed, and that we have rated equipment where we need it.
'We're working with our partners to make sure appropriate equipment is placed throughout the city.'
Council officers laid out a range of proposed actions during the meeting, all aimed at keeping the city running smoothly during the festivals.
Officers will now explore opening the northern footway on North Bridge to help with the high levels of pedestrian traffic expected on the route during the summer festivals.
In addition, they will explore closing Cowgate to eastbound car traffic during the festivals to open more space for pedestrians.
This was considered for the festivals last summer, but discounted by officers.
Officers will also aim to have contingency plans for terror attacks at the summer festivals completed by the end of this month.
Permanent anti-vehicle barriers exist in parts of the Old Town, but the council has also contracted a company to provide temporary ones at other sites in the city, as well as purchasing their own temporary barriers.
The report to councillors that contained the action plan also had data about how the summer festivals went last year.
According to the report, 3.91 million people attended the festivals last year, up from 3.45 million in 2023.
It also showed that the number of entertainment noise complaints had gone down, from 39 in 2023 to 28 in 2024.
Foot traffic on Princes Street in August increased by 100,000 from 2023, reaching 1.67 million in 2024.
Some 30,000 more people used the trams in August in 2024 than in 2023, for a total of 1.18 million riders last year.
However, the number of bus users went down, dropping from 370,000 per week in 2023 to 329,000 in 2024.
Labour councillor Margaret Graham, convener of the Culture and Communities Committee, said: 'Summer festivals have a huge impact on the city financially, the economy is driven to a significant degree by it.
'So we need to manage them, and I believe that Claire manages them [well]. I have one little gripe about the South Bridge, and I have some concerns about public safety there.
'But apart from that, I am happy to move the report.'
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Booze, wood-burners, Sunday roasts... as the list of everyday pleasures targeted by the SNP grows longer, have we EVER been subjected to a more censorious nanny state government?
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And, in 1907, a United Free Church minister assailed a new social phenomenon as 'perfect iniquities of Hell itself,' capped in Glasgow Corporation's 1909 roar about 'the great and increasing evil' it was doing to the city's young men and women. Business ventures 'owned by 'aliens and Roman Catholics,' touting an unnecessary product 'epitomising,' gasped one gentleman, 'the evil of luxury being smuggled into the souls of Glaswegians.' The target of such ire? Italian ice cream cafés. As if not to be outdone, the Free Presbyterian Magazine warned young Highland lasses, seeking urban employment, of the perils of the white-slave trade. They should not, for instance, accept sweets from strangers. Retreating from such past larks to the latest decrees from those with the rule over us, it is striking how few stand up to logical examination. Take the Scottish Climate Committee's clamour for less beef and fewer cows; the reduced bleating of sheep. This is presumably pegged to three core tenets of tree-hugging faith: that reduced upland grazing will in scant decades see the regeneration of much Scottish forest; that cattle-feed is a wildly inefficient use of grain; and that cows, naturally flatulent, are responsible for about 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gases. The precise figure is, in fact, disputed. But the Committee's lordly loftiness flies in the face of basic realities. For one, about 65 per cent of all the land in Britain can bear nothing but grass. Cows and sheep – hold the front page – eat grass. We cannot. Our cloven-hooved stock will, accordingly, be an essential part of our food economy till the end of time, and the beef industry in particular has for years been working hard to reduce its carbon footprint. For another, much of upland and coastal Scotland is too high – or too exposed to salted winds – to bear significant woodland. Life in somewhere like Lewis or Tiree is, as someone once said with feeling, like living on the deck of an aircraft-carrier. Snow can fall on Ben Nevis in any calendar month of the year. And, even were it otherwise, the Climate Change Committee seems to be blithely unaware of the real menace: deer. The deer population on Britain, as Patrick Galbraith details in his rather good book about Brit-ain's vanishing birds - In Search of One Last Song - is completely out of control: two million beasts on the trot, the highest in a thousand years. The ideal on a well-managed Scottish estate is five deer per square kilometre – on some, numbers are at an unsustainable twenty per kilometre. The depredations of muntjac alone have wiped out the nightingale in many parts of England. Deer threaten the survival, too, of black grouse, ptarmigan and the capercaillie. They are, additionally, responsible for many fatal road-accidents; and there is no more ferocious foe of forest than browsing Bambi. But households remain reluctant to buy and cook venison – and, absurdly, much of the venison for sale in Britain today is imported. In any event, most of us eat less red meat these days, not least because it is so expensive: you will struggle to buy a family-sized pot-roasting cut for less than a tenner. And in the Hebrides, well within living memory, it was a rare treat: fish and potatoes all week, with meat (and the related broth as the first course) on Sundays. There are other environmental realities that seem to have eluded the Climate Change Committee. Without cattle, as the Royal Agricultural Society of England has pointed out, 'there would be no dung, which would vastly reduce the presence of dung beetles in their habitat. 'As well as delivering a myriad of ecosystem benefits, such as sequestering carbon into the soil, dung beetle larvae are a key food source for ground-nesting birds. It is estimated that dung beetles save farmers in the UK £367 million per year…' Then we have that NHS Fife obsession: how big is your fish supper? In fact, fish and chips – cooked properly and well – is a remarkably healthy meal. There is, for instance, no added sugar. It is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B12 and D, and high-quality protein – and less fat than a typical serving of, say, chicken tikka masala or an oil-slicked Chinese takeaway. 'Typically,' assures one authority, 'fish and chips on average have 9.42 grams of fat per 100 grams, while the average pizza has 11, chicken korma 15.5 and a donner kebab a whopping 16.2…' We come to SWAC's vapourings about angling. One rather doubts such solicitude extends to every creature of the earth. Even the Commission's august personages doubtless prefer life without headlice, tapeworms and rats and most, presumably, vaccinate their children. It remains official NatureScot advice to smash dead any American signal crayfish you meet in our fresh waters and, for over two decades, it has been determinedly exterminating feral mink in the Western Isles. Where SWAC may have a point is the dubious practice of 'catch and release.' My own view is that you should only venture out with the rod for fish you can eat and, having caught your salmon and thumped it on the head, you head for home and the deep freeze, rather than hauling in fish after fish, weighing them, measuring them, taking a few snaps for social media and then returning them to the deep. Not forgetting a protracted chat about emotional experiences that really mattered to them. But, in coarse fishing, catch and release is the whole point: we might, perhaps, command barbless hooks, or even the soluble sort decreed in the pursuit of bluefin tuna. The wild Atlantic salmon may not always be with us; the typical Scottish political animal will add to the gaiety of nations for decades to come. Bossy, virtue-signalling, carefully picking its targets, and unconsciously living what Ronald Reagan once mocked as the prevalent tenets in modern statecraft. If it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it – and, if it stops moving, subsidise it.
Scotsman
10 hours ago
- Scotsman
Public safety during Edinburgh's festival period to be reviewed after Liverpool parade tragedy
Counter-terror and public safety plans for Edinburgh's festivals will continue to be reviewed, councillors have been assured, after a tragic event in Liverpool saw a car driven into crowds. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... More than 40 people were injured, some seriously, after after a car ploughed into the crowd at Liverpool FC's Premier League title victory parade. Temporary barriers to stop 'hostile vehicles' are to be included in plans for securing the festivals, while closing Cowgate to eastbound traffic and reopening the northern footway on North Bridge are being considered. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad SNP councillor Finlay McFarlane asked officers at Thursday's meeting of the Culture and Communities Committee: 'The tragic incident in Liverpool is at the top of my mind as we approach the busy festival. 'I'm wondering if we are revisiting and making sure we have robust traffic management policies in place for our busy season which is approaching.' Edinburgh council officers laid out a range of proposed actions during the meeting, all aimed at keeping the city running smoothly during the festivals. Claire Miller, a public safety officer for the council, said: 'We actually reviewed a recent event in Edinburgh as a result of that as well. 'It's constantly ongoing in terms of reviewing and making sure we're following police guidance and making sure that the appropriate streets are closed, and that we have rated equipment where we need it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We're working with our partners to make sure appropriate equipment is placed throughout the city.' Council officers laid out a range of proposed actions during the meeting, all aimed at keeping the city running smoothly during the festivals. Officers will now explore opening the northern footway on North Bridge to help with the high levels of pedestrian traffic expected on the route during the summer festivals. In addition, they will explore closing Cowgate to eastbound car traffic during the festivals to open more space for pedestrians. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This was considered for the festivals last summer, but discounted by officers. Officers will also aim to have contingency plans for terror attacks at the summer festivals completed by the end of this month. Permanent anti-vehicle barriers exist in parts of the Old Town, but the council has also contracted a company to provide temporary ones at other sites in the city, as well as purchasing their own temporary barriers. The report to councillors that contained the action plan also had data about how the summer festivals went last year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad According to the report, 3.91 million people attended the festivals last year, up from 3.45 million in 2023. It also showed that the number of entertainment noise complaints had gone down, from 39 in 2023 to 28 in 2024. Foot traffic on Princes Street in August increased by 100,000 from 2023, reaching 1.67 million in 2024. Some 30,000 more people used the trams in August in 2024 than in 2023, for a total of 1.18 million riders last year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However, the number of bus users went down, dropping from 370,000 per week in 2023 to 329,000 in 2024. Labour councillor Margaret Graham, convener of the Culture and Communities Committee, said: 'Summer festivals have a huge impact on the city financially, the economy is driven to a significant degree by it. 'So we need to manage them, and I believe that Claire manages them [well]. I have one little gripe about the South Bridge, and I have some concerns about public safety there. 'But apart from that, I am happy to move the report.' Labour councillor Margaret Graham, convener of the Culture and Communities committee, said: 'Edinburgh's summer festivals deliver significant benefits to the city, drawing millions of visitors, boosting the local economy and enriching the cultural scene. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'However, it's essential that we balance the festivals' successful delivery with the needs of local residents and businesses, and the scorecard helps us to understand the impact these events have. 'The scorecard and associated action plan focuses on a range of themes, including sustainability and the economy. As part of this we are constantly reviewing public safety measures, working with partners like Police Scotland on contingency planning and delivering initiatives like Summertime Streets, to make sure people can enjoy the summer's events safely.'
