A series of concerts in Edinburgh, featuring big name artists like Bob Dylan, Sting and Rod Stewart, have been cancelled amid fears for public safety. The concerts were due to take place at Edinburgh Castle at the heart of the Scottish capital. However Historic Scotland, the organisation which manages the castle, has said an increase in the number of tourists who visit the castle in the summer months means it is no longer able to accommodate the staging and technical kit that is placed on the Castle Esplanade for the concerts because during the day tourism bosses use that part of the Esplanade for queuing visitors.
Historic Scotland's Fiona Docherty told reporters: "When the concerts are on the stage takes up all the space where people normally queue. That is when we have difficulties, because they have to queue down the esplanade where there is traffic coming and going, and down [neighbouring road] Castle Hill, and it causes real concerns for health and safety." Bosses at the heritage organisation were keen to stress they see the decision as a temporary one and hope to find ways to stage concerts at the Castle again in 2006.
The decision has been criticised by the concerts' promoters and by city council bosses who see the cancellations as a big loss for the capital's economy. Barry Wright of Castle Concerts told reporters: "It is desperately disappointing to have to cancel these concerts. They attract 50,000 people in the summer to Edinburgh who enjoy concerts in one of the best venues in the world. Economically, too, this is a loss to the city. We will continue to work with Historic Scotland to make sure we get the concerts back on track for 2006. But it doesn't help missing out a year as it means momentum is lost and it might put off acts from coming to Edinburgh."
Edinburgh City Council's leader Donald Anderson added: "This is devastating news for Edinburgh. These concerts have been one of the highlights of the year for the city. We've been badly let down by Historic Scotland. They were concerned about catering for visitors to the castle and some health-and-safety issues, but suggestions were made to resolve these and with a bit of goodwill and better joint working it could have happened. I don't think there has been a meaningful attempt to do so. We need to ensure that these concerts happen next year, but there was a real opportunity to build up the castle as a world-class concert venue and that's now been lost."