Objectors will this week make a last gasp attempt to block Scotland’s biggest music festival.
Licensing chiefs are just days away from ruling on T in the Park’s all-important public entertainment licence.
Big name acts including the Stone Roses and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers have already been confirmed the July event and tickets are selling well.
But the show can only go ahead if organisers DF Concerts secure a permit from Perth and Kinross Council.
The fate of this year’s event will be decided at a special meeting of the local authority’s licensing board on Friday.
The council has already said it will pull the plug on the festival unless DF Concerts can prove there won’t be a repeat of last year’s mayhem which saw major congestion problems and thousands of revellers forced to walk along darkened country roads.
It was the first time the show was held at its new home in the grounds of Strathallan Castle. The festival was forced to leave its traditional Balado base over fears about an underground pipeline.
T in the Park boss Geoff Ellis is expected to address this week’s committee and outline the huge changes made to this year’s security, campsite and traffic arrangements. He is hoping to secure a three-year licence.
Opponents will also get the chance to speak out. The council has received seven letters and e-mails calling on the committee to reject the application.
A dossier submitted by staunch objectors Mark and Kim Liddiard, who live on the edge of the Strathallan site, runs to nearly 100 pages.
Last year, the pair mounted a legal bid to halt the show. In their submission, the couple have urged councillors to “apply greater scrutiny than last year” to potential problems.
“If you are in any doubt that they (DF Concerts) can manage this event safely, responsibly and that Strathallan Estate is actually the right location for 85,000-plus people… then an option available to you might be to licence the event for 2016 with greatly reduced numbers, eg. 40,000,” the Liddiards wrote.
Melvin Benn, executive producer for T in the Park, said that significant alterations would be made this year. “I’m not tinkering with what happened last year, I’m changing it. It’s going to be quite different.”
He added: “The new arena layout gives more room, better stage positions and makes the most of the stunning site. The campsite will have lots of great entertainment and plenty of staff on hand to help. Security teams have been restructured and the on-site transport provisions improved. I cannot promise the weather, but I can promise everything else will be okay and T 2016 will be remembered for all the right reasons.”
