Edinburgh Council to consider making Hogmanay free

Edinburgh council are considering proposals to make the city's Hogmanay street party free next year, with plans to get rid of barriers and tickets.

This year, tickets cost £10, four times the amount of 2004. However, according to local councillor Steve Cardownie, the council is evaluating the possibility of ending ticketing for the event: “We could spend more money on the entertainment without the costs of paying stewards and put up cordons,” said Cardownie.

He emphasised, however, that safety is paramount in their considerations, and if there was any indication that the event would be dangerous without the security, ticketing would remain.

Lothian and Borders said that they were in talks with the parties involved and would take it from there, but refused to comment upon whether it would be a contentious issue for them.

Beyond ticket sales, additional funding for the event comes from a mixture of sources, including from private sponsorship, grants and local taxpayers.

A spokesperson for the City of Edinburgh Council said: “Every year we review the Hogmanay Event on a number of different levels and one of the things we look at is pricing. We haven't started this process yet for 2010/11 because we are focussing our attention on making this year's Hogmanay a great event for the many thousands of revellers who come from all over the world."

300,000 people turned up for the events in 1996/7 but it was much more than the event could withstand and many people were injured in the crowds. As a result, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party became a ticketed event. This year, however, the more modest number of 80,000 people are expected.

Although it has been suggested that this is because of the wide variety of events available for partygoers to choose from all over the country, some believe that the issue of the trams and the chaos of Princes Street has been putting revellers off coming.

One local resident told The Journal: "Who wants to celebrate the new year surrounded by scaffolding, diggers and holes in the road?"