The man who saved the Glastonbury Festival from near collapse has told The Courier how he now plans to get T in the Park back on track.
Veteran promoter Melvin Benn was drafted in to secure the future of Scotland’s premier live music event after a spate of problems last summer.
The 61-year-old, who is CEO of Festival Republic – the company behind some of Europe’s best known festivals – has radically overhauled the site lay-out and transport arrangements for next month’s return to Strathallan Castle.
He has given assurances that the problems that plagued the 2015 show, which saw thousands of revellers left wondering along darkened country roads, had been addressed.
And he stressed that tougher security measures were already in place, as Met Police warn that UK music events and nightclubs could be a priority target for terrorists.
“I went up to Strathallan last year, on the Thursday night when the campers were arriving,” said Mr Benn. “I told (festival director) Geoff Ellis it was beautiful site, but I also expressed concerns about the lay-out.”
Since last summer’s event, Mr Benn has become a regular visitor to Strathallan, spending his time assessing the road network, speaking to locals and attempting to smooth things over with objectors.
“There is always going to be an impact on the community and there’s always going to be a bit of delay getting in and out of the site,” he said. “But last year was just unacceptable.”
He said he never had any concerns about the site itself. “Trust me, the Glastonbury Festival isn’t any easier to get to than Strathallan.
“For me, its never been an issue with the roads, it was an issue with the traffic plan itself. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have described what we had last year as a ‘plan’. The company involved really let us down.”
Amongst the biggest changes to the transport strategy are a large-scale bus station – similar to the one used for Glastonbury – and a single pick-up and drop-off point.
“After the weekend, Geoff called me up and said that things really hadn’t gone very well. He asked if I would consider coming up and being a partner on this in the future. I didn’t hesitate to get onboard.”
At the weekend, Neil Bassu, deputy assistant commissioner with the Metropolitian Police, was reported saying that music fans and clubbers could be the target of the next major terrorist attack in Britain.
Mr Benn, who believes Mr Bassu’s comments were taken out of context, said T in the Park already had a robust risk assessment in place, preparing for even the most extreme incidents.
“What he was talking about is something that we have been planning for, for an awful long time,” he said. “The reality is that the festival is not really much busier than your average city centre on a Saturday afternoon.
“But we have a range of measures in place, including bag checks, spotters, PNC (Police National Computer) checks and covert activities. And because of all of this, I would be very comfortable with my kids coming to T in the Park. I will be wondering about the site over the weekend as well, I’m not going to hide away in a secure bunker.”
He said: “The reality is there is no change to the security threat in the UK and the intelligence services here are, I think, significantly better than anywhere else in mainland Europe.
“We have an information sharing agreement with them and we have agreed to put in additional resources and additional plans, not as a result of what was reported at the weekend, but as a result of what we are doing already. This was already a part and parcel of our plan.”
