RSPB Scotland says it is “disappointed” by T in the Park organisers’ plans to protect wildlife at the festival’s planned new home but it won’t formally object.
Amid concerns about ospreys living on the Strathallan Castle estate, event organisers say they want to remove an existing nest on the site and build a new home for the birds on the 1,000-acre site.
RSPB Scotland said that it would not try to block the move, but stressed it was “disappointed” with DF Concerts’ strategy.
A spokeswoman for the charity said: “After detailed consideration of the proposals, we will not be objecting to the planning application.
“However, we remain disappointed with DF Concerts’ minimalist and rather last-minute approach to mitigating their impact on birds and wildlife.”
She said the plan to create a new nest had been done successfully before.
“It is probable that the ospreys will simply move to the new nest site,” she said. “But this isn’t a perfect solution and doesn’t completely remove the risk of disturbance.”
The RSPB spokeswoman said that the site is also used by breeding kingfishers, red kites and barn owls.
“We are sure that the thousands of T in the Park-goers would not want the festival to harm Scotland’s wildlife and the concert should be a model of best practice in this regard,” she said.
“We therefore look forward to hearing what additional measures DF Concerts will provide to offset any disruption that the concert itself, and the months of setting up, may cause.”
Meanwhile, Transport Scotland has similarly said it won’t object to the show, but has called for a robust traffic management plan to be put in place.
A spokeswoman for DF Concerts said: “We have been liaising with both RSPB and Transport Scotland amongst many other agencies. We’re pleased that this has been recognised and that neither objects to the event taking place at Strathallan or to our plans for ensuring that there is minimal disruption to wildlife or the roads during the festival.
“We’ve offered to start a working group with RSPB and SNH that would begin pre-festival to show that we have an open approach to taking their ongoing advice.”
She said a traffic management plan is being put together to meet Transport Scotland’s criteria.
”We should point out that although we provide options for drivers, we already operate a substantial park-and-ride system via our Citylink shuttle service,” she added. ”Almost half of our audience will arrive on these buses as usual.”