A senior councillor claims his confidence in policing at T in the Park has been “dented” after a report revealed a dramatic rise in violence.
Alexander Stewart clashed with Chief Superintendent Eddie Smith over a Police Scotland dossier listing all offences recorded during last summer’s festival.
The statistics show there were more serious assaults during the 2015 show than the previous three years combined.
However, it also highlights a drop in overall crime, including drug offences.
The report went before members of Perth and Kinross Council’s community safety group on Wednesday.
At an earlier meeting in August, Mr Stewart, who is deputy leader of the local Conservative group, called for more transparency after police chiefs were blocked from speaking publicly about the festival’s debut year at Strathallan.
He said he was disappointed that the figures had taken so long to come to committee.
“Over recent months I have been asking for a full update on the policing of T in the Park,” he added.
“The event attracted between 60,000-70,000 people a day and there have been many press reports between the event and now which raised a number of concerns, so it was good that Police Scotland at least gave us some information, however I believe this committee deserves more.
“This event is a huge economic generator for Perth and Kinross, but we have to ensure that the behaviour of the patrons is law abiding and the event is safe. My confidence has certainly been dented with regard to both.”
He told the committee: “We have to go forward, to make sure our constituents feel confident about sending their friends and family to this event.
“Lessons must be learned by Perth and Kinross Council, Police Scotland and all the other agencies involved to ensure that the event in 2016 does not suffer from the same issues.”
Chief Supt Smith hit back at suggestions by Mr Stewart that the police should have submitted more than a “two-and-a-half page” report, which didn’t touch on traffic problems.
He pointed out that a fuller review of the festival was recently published by the council.
The 64-page paper revealed that the council is ready to pull the plug on future festivals unless organisers DF Concerts address a catalogue of issues, including traffic management problems.
Mr Smith said: “This isn’t a police event, it’s a Perth and Kinross Council and DF Concerts event. I can only speak about the police figures.”
A T in the Park spokeswoman later said: “All concerns raised at today’s meeting will be addressed in the licence application for T in the Park 2016 which will be presented to Perth and Kinross Council later this month.”
DF Concerts has recently installed a new head of security and said last week that safety was its highest priority.
A new traffic management plan will be in place for this year’s festival.