People heading to Dundee’s biggest open-air free gala day, Westfest’s Big Sunday, will this year will be faced with two-metre-high fencing.
Revellers will also be prevented from bringing their own alcohol into the event, due to be held on June 4 at Magdalen Green, after a clampdown by police and council officials on the unlawful consumption of drink, which has grown in recent years.
As part of the licensing conditions to allow the festival to go ahead in 2017, organisers will now have to provide Herris Fencing to surround the event
and extra stewards will be on duty to man the entrances and prevent people
bringing in their own alcohol.
Stewards will also be patrolling inside the arena and will take action against
anyone found with their own alcohol.
This year, extra bars will be provided inside the arena to allow visitors to the
festival the chance to enjoy the stalls, attractions and the live music provided,
while still enjoying a few drinks.
Westfest has grown in size from a few hundred people in 2010 to more than
10,000 over the past few years, but has become a victim of its own success,
organisers say.
That success has seen an increase in the number of people consuming alcohol illegally, resulting in objections from Dundee City Council and Police
Scotland.
While acknowledging there have been no real problems caused by revellers
at Westfest, Police Scotland said they were unable to ignore thousands of
people breaching the local bylaw.
“It’s been a long slog to get to this compromise…
The city law bans the consumption of alcohol in open air unless a licence has
been granted, usually for beer gardens and pavements outside of licensed
premises.
The council was therefore unwilling to grant a licence for the festival under
the previous arrangements.
The volunteer committee of Westfest admitted it understood and shared some
of the concerns expressed and agreement has now been reached for
the entire event to be fenced off, allowing for the purchase and consumption of alcohol inside the fence as part of the licence.
Westfest chairman Ged Gourlay said: “It’s been a long slog to get to this compromise and it’s put the committee under a lot of pressure to achieve this
year’s event due to the short timescale now left.
“While we did not want to go down the route of fencing off the event, as we
feared it would change the dynamic and the community-friendly aspect of
Westfest, the committee voted overwhelmingly to continue with this
year’s event, even though it will result in some considerable costs to us.”
Mr Gourlay added that Dundee City Council has offered to help out with a financial contribution towards the fence.
West End councillor Fraser Macpherson added that, though he believed erecting fencing was not “ideal”, it was a “relief” that the festival could still go ahead.
