Christmas comes early for lawyers - John McLellan

Amid all the political turmoil, some things don’t change and with Christmas coming round every year, so too does trouble about arrangements for Edinburgh’s Winter Festival.

Edinburgh's contested Christmas festival

A contract to run the attractions was approved by Edinburgh Council’s finance committee on Tuesday, with councillors agreeing to sign off the bid from Unique Assembly Limited (UAL), a consortium including Assembly Festival Limited and Unique Events Limited.

They will run this year’s events in a three-year deal to run Edinburgh’s Christmas and Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, with options to extend.

But that’s not the end of the matter, because the other bidder, a company called GC Live, is now set to take the Council to court because of what it says was “bad faith” by senior officers in persuading them to tender, and claiming the successful consortium does not have the necessary financial or organisational stability the contract requires.

Challenging the procurement process, a letter from GC Live was circulated to councillors, making it clear that solicitors had already been instructed to raise an action in the Court of Session if the UAL bid was accepted.

Officers apparently believe all will be fine and the threat won’t materialise, briefing councillors ahead of Tuesday’s meeting to reassure them. Despite councillors sending the decision to the Governance and Risk Committee for further scrutiny, as of yesterday morning GC Live is still intent on taking up the legal cudgels.

There might be seven months to go before the market opens, but thanks to the Council Christmas is coming early for the lawyers.