Tuesday was a big day for Perth and Kinross and Scotland’s music industry.
After a lengthy, sometimes fraught, high-profile planning application, councillors unanimously approved the plans to hold T in the Park at Strathallan Castle estate.
As part of the team who worked for DF Concerts preparing the planning application, I can tell you that while we were confident of our plans, when you’re dealing with nature and wildlife, things can be unpredictable.
A campaign to stop the festival at any cost, run by a few individuals calling themselves Stag, failed to stand up to scrutiny in the planning committee.
More than a million music fans have attended the festival since its inception 22 years ago. As director Geoff Ellis told councillors on Tuesday, it is the people’s festival.
Hundreds of people in the local community rallied behind the landowners to mount a campaign to bring this festival to the Roberts family’s estate.
The family have often been spotted with a brush and a tin of red paint, helping churn out the hundreds of home-made T signs made by the passionate local CommuniTitp campaign group and displayed on farm and fence gates all over the area.
Landowners often get a rough ride in the media but if you want to see a family who are 100 % committed to their estate benefiting the local community, look no further. They have stood firm against a media onslaught, working hand in hand with people across the community.
T in the Park may be bringing global stars to rural Perthshire but the Roberts family have brought the community to the very heart of their estate, which is also something to be celebrated.
Hopefully the few still to be convinced will come to embrace the festival in time, as the people of Balado did. Whether you’re a festival fan or not, the area will benefit economically.
So thanks to common sense prevailing and some good old-fashioned people power, a national treasure has been secured for the next three years.
Long live T in the Park.