Big festival debate set for revival

A DEBATE on the future of Edinburgh’s festivals is set to be held again next summer after this year’s event was judged a success.

The Edinburgh Festivals Open Breakfast Debate was held in the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Spiegeltent last month and looked at the medium-to-long term position of the world’s leading festival city.

The panel included deputy council leader Steve Cardownie, Nick Barclay, director of the book festival, and Lucy Bird, chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh.

A questionnaire of people who attended found that 85 per cent said that the event was “good to excellent”.

Council officials have now recommended that approval is given to hold another debate in 2012, although councillors will be asked to make a final decision at a meeting of the city’s culture and leisure committee next Tuesday.