Edinburgh community fairs and galas under threat from city council's extra charges, claim organisers

‘You think to yourself, this is just a money-making venture, or a tax on charities.’

Community fairs and galas in Edinburgh are under threat, organisers say, because of the increasing amount they are being charged by the council for licences and permits to stage the events.

The committees behind the events say they are used to the red tape involved in putting on the popular family summer gatherings, but were taken aback this year by being asked to pay up to £2,000 extra for safety checks on bouncy castles and trampolines – especially when no-one then turned up to carry out the checks.

Francesca Rennie, one of the organisers of Blackhall Sports Day, said they had applied for a public entertainment licence as normal, but had then been told about the "entertainment device" charge. "This was a new and unexpected charge we'd never had to pay before. It was for bouncy castles, climbing walls, trampolines and so on. We had six booked, but there was a set price for one to five which meant around an extra £1,200, then if you had between six and 20, it took you over £2,000. We wrote back and said this is prohibitive, it might mean we can't take this forward."

The trampoline was one of the attractions classed as an "entertainment device" at Blackhall sports day.

But there was no concession from the council. "We asked what is the new fee paying for, what are the qualifications of the person in the council who would be checking and what would the checks involve. We didn't get a straightforward answer. They said there would be specific checks on all devices and someone from the council would have to come and do that. But how can they say that to check six is the same cost as to check 20? You think to yourself, this is just a money-making venture, or a tax on charities."

The Blackhall organisers decided to reduce their "devices" to five and pay the money so the event could go ahead on Saturday, June 3. Ms Rennie said: "The sports day was to start at 12.15pm and it was organised the council person would come at 11am – that involved the bouncy castle man and the other operators arriving early, which was an inconvenience to them but luckily they were flexible with us. There were loads of emails confirming the arrangement and we were told a sports day must not go ahead without these safety inspections taking place.

"On the day itself, no-one from the council. turned up. We tried phoning, we couldn't get in touch. We got the operators to talk us through the safety features and what checks they have to do and took photos to satisfy ourselves it was safe. It was a good weather day so we weren't worried about winds. And just before it was to start we emailed them to say 'We've satisfied ourselves; you've not turned up; so we will be going ahead at 12.15 unless you contact us before then.'

“The day went ahead, there were no hiccups at all, no safety issues. We found out afterwards there was an email to us in the middle of the afternoon with profuse apologies to say there had been a mix-up and they hadn't managed to come, but they were satisfied with the risk assessments we'd shown them. So we thought what on earth is this £1,000 paying for?”

The council has given them a two-thirds refund, but they believe they should get all the money back. Ms Rennie said: “This is just like an extra tax, not a fee that pays for a service because there was no service.” She said the extra charges threatened the long-term future of the sports day. “It would cost a lot more money and so we’d have to look at whether we had the bouncy castles and so on. Yes, it's a sports day and the main thing is the races, but the bouncy castles are a massive pull, so it could change the event entirely and ultimately call its future into question.”

Balerno Children’s Gala took place on the same day as Blackhall Sports Day. They too had to pay the “entertainment devices” charge – over £2,000 in their case – and they too waited in vain for a council inspector to turn up to make the checks. Gala co-president Caitlin Boddy said: “When we applied for a public entertainment licence they looked at our field plan they said there are things on here you have to pay additional for – bouncy castles, miniature railway, anything that children went on to be entertained. We had about nine.

"We asked ‘What are we paying for?’ We'd hired a company which was coming in, setting it up and running it for us. The council said they had to come and insect for safety purposes. We fundraised purely to cover this cost, but no-one from the council even turned up.”

She said Edinburgh charged significantly more for the safety checks than any other council in Scotland. “West Lothian has a pot of money available to galas and they insure them as well. There’s lots of red tape in organising galas – we're used to that – but these extra costs this year were just horrendous.”

And she said the extra expense posed a serious threat to galas and fairs in the future. “Our community rallied round and raised the money for it, but we can’t expect them to do that every year. They absolutely stepped up. But if we're expecting to have to raise another £2,500 to put the event on, that means we have to do a lot of extra fundraising through the year. We don't have the capacity, so the events will end up getting scaled back more and more.

“The council needs to recognise that charities are not commercial events, but at the moment we're subject to the same levies. And I would like them to look at what other council areas in Scotland do, because there are obviously more reasonable policies in place elsewhere. We don't mind paying for a licence, but it's got to be realistic. Otherwise these events will just go."

Ewan Irvine, who is on the committee for the Corstorphine Fair, which happens every two years, said other council departments were proactively supportive of galas and fairs, but there always seemed to be a problem over licensing. "The charges being applied by the council have the potential to strangle community events and disable local attempts to create a sense of community cohesion and provide an opportunity for people to come together. In the coming months I will be preparing the licence application forms for Corstorphine Fair 2024, but I despair at what extra fees and conditions the council will impose.”

Neil Ross, convener of the council’s regulatory committee, said the council fully supported local community events like galas and sports days. He said: “Our licensing fee structure already includes substantial discounts towards the cost of public entertainment licences for charitable, religious and community group events.

"The discounted fee structure does not account for amusement devices which are considered to be commercial activities and have required a separate licence for many years. There has been no change to this fee structure since at least 2015. We do note some concerns arising from the return of these events this year and have committed to bringing a report to committee later in the year which will give councillors an opportunity to review the licensing arrangements for events.”