We live in the capital city of Scotland and should act accordingly - Steve Cardownie

The Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens was opened to the public to show TV coverage of the Coronation of King Charles last year

I was delighted to learn that efforts were being made up in the city chambers to breathe some much-needed new life into the Ross Bandstand in the city’s West Princes Street Gardens.

If approved, the plan would be to allow the staging of eight weeks of events throughout the summer. It would be made available to all the city’s main summer festivals from this year and would offer a much-welcomed outdoor arena to showcase some of the best that the festivals have to offer.

In addition, local communities and groups should also be given the opportunity to utilise the venue and put on shows and events of their own making.

It has already been established that the vast majority of the Edinburgh public support the city’s festivals and events, and this development will hopefully whet their appetite. I was never in favour of the restrictions on the number of events that this venue was allowed to host, and any relaxation of these stringent conditions can only benefit the city and the people who live and visit here.

I would much rather that a coherent plan for the bandstand is put in place than an arbitrary figure being plucked out of the air and imposed on event promoters. We live in the capital city of Scotland and should act accordingly. The gardens are there to be used by the public, both young and old and there is more than enough room for people to avoid the bandstand and walk/sit/picnic elsewhere within the park if that is their want.