Climate change could be posing an unexpected threat to some of Perthshire’s finest traditional events.
For a number of years now, heavy rainfall has caused chaos on the annual calendar with agricultural shows and high-land games blighted and cancelled.
Perth Highland Games had its very existence threatened following four wash-outs in just eight years, while Perth Show has also been hit.
Only temporary moves from their traditional home on Perth’s Lesser South Inch kept them going and the show was forced to move again this year due to the state of the parklands.
The events attract thousands of visitors and are hugely important to the local economy and so the regular disruptions have been a constant worry for hard-pressed organisers.
Now it’s emerged that the very fabric of the events’ home and other parks across the region may need to be altered if a lasting solution to the problem is to be found.
Perth and Kinross Council staff will move in this month to tear up the surface of the Lesser South Inch and Blackford Park in a bid to address drainage problems.
“In recent years, wetter weather and changing ground conditions have affected the use of the parks,” the local authority said.
“The issues in these parks have been investigated with trial pits dug to assess the nature of the ground below areas of poor surface drainage and find out the potential for improving the situation.
“Works are now under way on the areas concerned in both parks in order to restore them to their former use.”
Though the events traditionally held on the Lesser South Inch have borne the brunt of the inclement weather, there has been near catastrophe for many annual favourites in recent years.
In 2012 the area’s summer calendar was thrown into chaos by incessant rainfall.
Perth Racecourse lost three valuable race days to cancellations while Braco Show was also cancelled and Perth Show lost its first day. Only hard work to clear surface water enabled the weekend activities to go ahead on a soggy Lesser South Inch.
The downpours that fell upon the Scone Palace Parklands, meanwhile, briefly threatened the very existence of its charitable organisers, the Scottish Game Conservation Trust.
In recent months it has also been revealed that repeated flooding could threaten one of the world’s oldest golf courses, the North Inch.
Though the weather has allowed many of the events to recover during 2013, that good fortune may not continue.
In its latest “Vulnerable Area” report, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) predicts an increase in rainfall across Perth and Kinross and assesses parts of Perth and the immediate vicinity at “very high” risk of future flooding.
The increased rainfall has left many of the region’s parks sodden year-round and as a result Perth and Kinross Council has decided that more than remedial steps are needed.
On Perth’s Lesser South Inch, the land has been treated to kill off the grass, prior to removing the turf. This will be followed by deep ploughing and the working in of sand to allow surface water to drain off more quickly.
The treated area will then be levelled, top-dressed and seeded and fenced off to allow new grass to develop.
The council has pledged that the works will not affect the annual fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Night, which will take place at the Lesser South Inch as usual.
The Blackford Highland Games meanwhile have been held on the village’s park since they were leased to the community by a local landowner in 1870.
The event has, however, been hit by heavy rainfall more than once in recent years. Drainage pipes will now be installed to remove surface water from the centre of the park.
Residents and visitors to both parks are advised there will be some disruption during the works, which are expected to be completed by the end of the month.