Edinburgh's Christmas: Market to remain at city centre site

Edinburgh's controversial Christmas Market will remain in Princes Street Gardens for the next two years.

It follows calls for it to be moved to another location in the city after complaints it was taking over and damaging the city centre park.

The market will remain at the same site until operator Underbelly completes its contract in 2021/2022.

Officials said it would use feedback from a public consultation, held later in the year, for ideas on a new site.

The market was held this year without planning permission. Planning permission was obtained retrospectively.

City of Edinburgh Council's culture and communities committee considered a report by officials following a motion by Green councillor Alex Staniforth to investigate moving Underbelly's Christmas market from East Princes Street Gardens this year.

Hal Osler, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said: "We have gone into why it can't move elsewhere. But what is really fundamental is how are we going to protect the gardens, going forward.

"What guarantees are we going to be given residents that the issues that have obviously been very clearly highlighted are not going to be repeated in 20/21 and 21/22 going forward."

But the council's director of place, Paul Lawrence, confirmed that any future arrangements for the events will be informed by the public consultation.

He said: "The consultation is genuinely to start with a blank sheet of paper.

"What this report genuinely is to say, is there a way we could move the Christmas market in 2020, effectively under the existing contract. We don't think there's any obvious alternatives."

Mr Lawrence was also asked by city centre councillor Karen Doran if the rides and the market stalls for the 2020 event could be separated out and provided from two separate locations in a bid to soften the impact on the gardens.

He said: "If we could renegotiate the current contract to separate out the Christmas market and the rides, there would be no reason stopping us to do so. As this report sets out, there's not an immediately obvious alternative location.

"There's no contractual reason why they couldn't be separated, as long as they had agreed with the contractor because we're in a contract with them."