Trouble in the pipeline for T in the Park

Feb 18 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

T IN THE PARK’S boss yesterday assured the PA that the event is safe and will remain at Balado.

DF Concerts chief executive Geoff Ellis was responding to a claim by the Health and Safety Executive that potentially up to 44,500 people could be killed in a worst-case scenario incident at the music festival.

Ever since it was first suggested in the mid-‘90s that Scotland’s biggest music festival should move from Strathclyde Park to Balado, HSE officers have been aware that the BP Forties oil pipeline runs under the land enroute from Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire to the Grangemouth oil refinery.

But now, after planning consent was sought by the owners of Balado Park – which is a relatively small part of the T in the Park site – for permanent use of 42 hectares of land for leisure activities, HSE has highlighted “safety issues of exceptional concern”.

It had accused Perth and Kinross Council – which gave consent to the bid submitted by park owners D and J Alexander last December – of imposing unacceptable planning conditions, sparking the involvement of Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government referred the application back to PKC asking it to reconsider the concerns.

HSE called for PKC, and subsequently Scottish Government ministers, to grant only temporary planning permission for this year for all activities at Balado Park under the imposition of a Section 75 agreement covering a number of issues including restricted access to pipeline zones.

Councillors were told by development quality manager Nick Brian that it was felt a way forward to allow events at Balado up to next year had been found at a high-level meeting in Edinburgh involving PKC, Government and HSE officers, applicant Douglas Alexander and DF Concerts.

But a HSE letter to PKC – sent on the eve of the Balado Park application going to a meeting of its development control meeting on Wednesday – stated: “We would urge that the potential severity of the consequences of pipeline failure, rather than the probability of them occurring, should be the dominant consideration.

“In the worst case scenario the maximum number of people that could be killed is 44,500.”

The HSE also asserts that this year’s T in the Park shall not take place until full details including the section 75 agreement have been approved by PKC in consultation with HSE – and that for future years a separate application for the whole 222-hectare site must be approved.

But Mr Brian said a section 75 agreement was not deliverable in the timescale involved.

Addressing the committee, Douglas Alexander said Tuesday’s intervention had come as a surprise: “HSE’s position seems to be at total odds with what has taken place since December.”

Cllr John Kellas queried: “Is it fair that for 20 years or so in the history of the pipeline, HSE never saw the potential consequences as so severe that it needed such stringent action?

“There is always a risk in everything we do. Do we stop football at Hampden Park because a plane might drop out of the sky on it?”

Development control convener Willie Wilson moved that the council approve the application with extensive conditions, including the restriction of activities and public access close to the pipeline, giving permanent consent for events attracting fewer than 5000 people.

Permission for large events would not be permitted after December 31 unless otherwise approved by the council with HSE’s agreement.

Cllr Wilson said: “Given the agreement reached at the meeting last week I also think there is inconsistency with this letter and the advice received from HSE officers.

“If HSE are so concerned at the level of risk then where have they been for the last 20 years or so?”

He considered the council had dealt with the application “properly and accurately” including obtaining evidence from BP and a reputable firm of consultants on the level of risk.

Councillors were unanimous in their support of the application and T in the Park being at Kinross.

Mr Ellis said: “We have seen democracy in action. In terms of our role as event organisers we have redesigned the site to accommodate HSE concerns, and they seemed to be comfortable with that so we are carrying on with our plans.

“It’s always been our feeling that common sense would prevail and we have seen that.

“T in the Park is not in jeopardy and the site re-design will not be detrimental to the event, which will remain as a very safe event and will remain at Kinross.”

Cllr Kellas proposed an amendment which was carried 9-4, that the clause about “with the agreement of HSE” be replaced by “following detailed considerations and evaluation of HSE and other statutory consultees”.

The application will now have to return to Scottish Ministers.