If you live in the Strathallan area you may have received one of the 9,000 leaflets entitled “Stop T in the Park at Strathallan Estate.” A group called STAG (StrathallanTActionGroup) is doing all it can to stop Scotland’s best-loved music festival taking place.
In case you didn’t know, a planning application to stage the three-day event at Strathallan has been lodged with Perth and Kinross Council. A final decision is expected to be made in April, following a 28-day public consultation exercise.
The grounds of Strathallan Castle were chosen as the preferred location from more than 100 potential sites, from the north of England through central Scotland. When I spoke to T in the Park boss Geoff Ellis about it he was determined to keep the festival in the Perth & Kinross economy.
The promoters, DF Concerts (DFC), have been forced by the Health and Safety Executive to move T in the Park from its home due to safety issues associated with an oil pipeline at the existing site at Balado.
The campaign being mounted by STAG clearly has some people with money behind it, with a website and sizeable amounts of marketing materials including some rather dubious descriptions of the festival and its impact.
As someone who has been going to T in the Park for many years, I don’t recognise their depiction of the festival.
It’s straight out of a No campaign “Project Fear” manual, pronouncing there will be some sort of music festival apocalypse.
It seems they just don’t want the festival to happen. It’s an opinion they are perfectly entitled to.
A music festival isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. But if this minority group is successful they will be responsible for preventing the majority of people from benefiting from this iconic event.
It’s not just about the music, either. An independent economic assessment of the festival showed it generated £14.7 million at a national level and £2.4 million locally last year alone.
T in the Park has helped put Scotland on the international music map. Events like this are a key part of our tourism and tourism is a key component of our economy. The festival attracts people from outside Scotland: over 20% come from across the UK and further afield.
Regularly winning awards for the UK’s best festival, for green initiatives and its line-up, it’s a serious proposition.
You see, it’s not just a party, it’s important. Since its inception T in the Park has attracted worldwide stars such as Beyonc, REM, Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, Eminem, Coldplay, Oasis, and Green Day.
For many artists, T in the Park is a rite of passage and they consider it to have one of the best atmospheres in the world for performing.
And for young people in Scotland, T in the Park is one of their most important cultural milestones. That includes me, too, back in 1998, when I got to experience the best musical talent the world had to offer on my doorstep for the first time.
The vast majority of the T audience is made up of Scotland’s youth and they overwhelmingly come to the event to have fun with their friends and watch their favourite bands.
So, it’s disappointing to see this action group STAG brand T in the Park fans’ behaviour as consisting of “public urination, defecation, drunken and disorderly behaviour.” In fact, it’s irresponsible as for the vast majority this is not the case.
They are suggesting that this is what we should think about Scotland’s young people and music fans.
Yes, drunkenness and crime happen. It does at every major event; even fancy ones like the Ryder Cup. But the overwhelming majority of crimes committed are low level and the number of crimes committed is also low.
Police Scotland even praise T in the Park revellers’ behaviour year on year.
An overwhelming majority of locals attending meetings about the site change support it coming to Strathallan, as do the owners of Strathallan Castle who stress that hosting T in the Park in the grounds of their estate is crucial to generate capital for a major upgrade.
The fact of the matter is the festival has always been well managed in partnership with everyone you would imagine ranging from Police Scotland, to Perth and Kinross Council, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Fire Scotland, Traffic Scotland and SEPA.
If it were truly as bad as STAG suggests it is, it would never have been allowed to happen every year for the past 21 years.
The estate will get a much needed cash injection to preserve the castle for future generations, jobs will be created for locals, festival goers will spend in nearby shops and stay at the local hotels & B&Bs.
I can testify to that. My parents owned and ran a hotel in the Kinross community and T in the Park was their biggest weekend of the year. The whole hotel booked out a year in advance without fail. The atmosphere in the town was electric.
So, I say to the campaigners at STAG: give the festival and the fans a chance.
DF Concerts have an excellent reputation as event promoters and have proved with every T in the Park since 1994 why they deserve it. Perth & Kinross Council should award planning so the festival can go ahead.
Otherwise, they will go down in Scottish history as the ultimate party poopers.