As the Ryder Cup moves on, attention shifts once again to Strathallan’s other behemoth event T in the Park.
Bosses have made their move to surmount the planning hurdle to staging next summer’s event at Strathallan Castle.
DF Concerts, who run the massive event, lodged “pre-application plan” documents with Perth and Kinross Council, having been instructed to do so by the Scottish Government.
They contain a basic outline of what work is required and what will be put in place on the site chosen to replace Balado as the home of Scotland’s biggest music festival.
Importantly, they also include details of the consultation process DF Concerts have been required to undertake after hugepressure from the local community and politicians.
Bosses have stressed that community consultation has been ongoing for some time, but two exhibitions will be held next month.
The first will take place at the Aytoun Hall in Auchterarder on ThursdayNovember 20, between 4pm and 8pm.
DF Concerts staff will be available todiscuss the event and traffic, noise andenvironmental matters in particular.
A second public consultation event and exhibition will take place at the Strathearn Community Campus in Crieff on Friday November 21, between 10am and 2pm.
The documents lodged with the council precede a full planning application, which will be submitted in the new year following the public consultation.
They state that the organisers will apply for permission to allow “engineering and other operations to facilitate the establishment and use of a venue for the purposes of holding a music event”.
These will include commissioning, decommissioning, ancillary excavations or engineering operations and formation, alteration, improvement and/or maintenance of roads and private means of access.
In addition, the document sets out that the organisers will ask for “the use ofexisting buildings and land in July each year” for the purposes of holding thefestival and associated activities.
These are listed as “a funfair, cinema, sale and consumption of hot and cold food and drink and alcohol, vehicle parking and temporary accommodation, including camping”.
Organisers will also have to submit an environmental impact assessment after the Scottish Government raised a number of environmental issues, including thepresence of ospreys nesting on the site.
They have already confirmed that the attendance at next year’s event will be the same as that of the past three years atBalado, commenting that there are“no plans” to increase the size of theaudience.
The papers also contain a map of theproposed site at Strathallan Castle,indicating the area of grounds required for the event.
Its size amply illustrates the scale of the event that is seeking to come to Strathallan next year, though a spokeswoman for T in the Park stressed that it was unlikely the full site would be required, describing parts as “contingency” only.