ORGANISERS of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations have insisted their format should not be changed despite them being called off last minute this week.
The Edinburgh Castle fireworks and street party were called off the day before Hogmanay due to severe weather before bosses released a statement just hours before the bells on Tuesday night urging revellers to stay away from the capital's city centre.
Unique Assembly, who runs Edinburgh Hogmanay on behalf of the local authority, made the “public safety announcement” amid a yellow weather warning for wind and heavy rain across Scotland.
The warning which told revellers to avoid the city centre unless they were attending indoor events was branded “crazy” by author Irvine Welsh, while SNP councillor Finlay McFarlane called it “outrageous”.
But producers behind the Hogmanay festival, which is said to be worth more than £50 million for the economy, claim the "centrepiece" of the festivities must remain intact to ensure the city retains its worldwide appeal.
They believe the new year celebrations have retained their popularity due to the global reach of images of the midnight fireworks above Edinburgh Castle.
But they have warned that entertainment, road closures and crowd control measures must be provided in the city centre to ensure public safety if a fireworks display was put on above the iconic landmark.
They have also suggested that putting alternative venues on standby on Hogmanay is unviable due to their limited budget and the number of tickets they sell in advance.
Unique director Al Thomson said: "Last year we had possibly the mildest, calmest weather we have ever had. It was relatively easy for us to put on and everyone loved it.
"We have the complete reversal of that this year with three of the worst days of weather we have ever had.
"The infrastructure that is put in place is robust enough to withstand suitable levels of weather. When you go beyond that, giant screens, temporary stages, and structures will not withstand that at any time of year.
“What has made Edinburgh's Hogmanay globally recognised is the unique location. The midnight fireworks from the castle have always been the focal point.
The street party of 45,000, an open-air concert headlined by Texas expected to attract up to 10,000 revellers to Princes Street Gardens, and a fireworks display due to run for six-and-a-half minutes were all abandoned on the afternoon of December 30 after strong winds and yellow weather warnings predicted gusts of up to 60 mph.
Organisers said that strong winds had impacted erecting the infrastructure for the outdoor events and cited safety concerns over the forecasted weather conditions for the evening.
An open-air concert has been staged in Princes Street Gardens since the first Hogmanay festival, while tickets were introduced for the street party several years later to address overcrowding concerns.
Producers Unique Events and Assembly were awarded a new city council contract to stage Edinburgh's Christmas and Hogmanay festivals for up to five more years in April.
Thomson said he was confident the festival could stage a full recovery from this year’s cancellations.
He said: “If there is to be a centrepiece and a midnight moment above Edinburgh Castle then people will descend on the city centre.
"As soon as you have that, you have to put in the infrastructure and events to keep people safe and keep people entertained. That's the formula that has worked for more than 30 years and is still keeping people coming here.
“It's been nearly 20 years since we last had any cancelled events due to bad weather. The festival had a three-year gap post-Covid. There were question marks over whether it would still be popular and whether people would still want to visit Edinburgh for Hogmanay.
“But since we brought it back visitors have been coming here in their tens of thousands and the festival is still as popular as ever. If we had had a good run of weather we would have had another sell out year."
A hastily-arranged indoor event was staged on Hogmanay at the Assembly Hall on The Mound, where Australian DJ Hot Dub Time Machine, who was due to perform at the street part, staged a four-hour show.
Thomson suggested it would not be practical to have venues across the city on standby in future.
"Even if we had indoor spaces on standby, we would only be able to cater for a very small percentage of the audience who have booked tickets,” he said.
"The logistics of doing that, let alone the finance and resources involved in having standby venues, are just not viable."
Thomson suggested the new year festival needed more help from the Scottish Government to secure the future of the city's festivities, with just £250,000 of funding provided for the programme of events.
"Edinburgh's Hogmanay costs more than £4m to put on. There is currently around £3m worth of risk involved in it and it is easily running at a loss of more than £250,000,” he said.
"We basically need more support to pay for this festival. That's the reality of it.”
