Invercharron Games' president's anger over red tape
THE head of a Sutherland Highland Games management committee has hit out at Highland Council over the “ridiculous” amount of red tape involved in securing permission to stage the event.
Michael Baird, president of Invercharron Highland Games, has said it is proving an arduous and time consuming task to procure an entertainments licence for the popular games, which are the last to be held in Scotland and this year take place on September 17.
Increasing numbers of visitors are attending the Invercharron event, with gate figures of up to 2000 in recent years.
Mr Baird has now made representations to local councillors and politicians and has even gone as far as to call for Scottish tourism secretary Fiona Hislop to become involved in a bid to make the process simpler and standardise it across Scotland.
And he said he feared for the future of Highland Games in the north if nothing was done.
He said: “It isn’t as if we are putting on a Rod Stewart concert or T in the Park – it is a small Highland Games.
“We are all just volunteers but it has come to the stage that a paid person is needed in order to deal with all the nitty-gritty that Highland Council is demanding.”
The games committee applied to the local authority for a renewal of its three-year entertainments licence earlier this year at a cost of £559.
The situation has been made more complicated by the fact the 2016 games will be held as usual at Balblair Farm, Bonar Bridge, but on an adjacent field to the one normally used. Some work is required to make the ground suitable.
Landowner Pete Campbell has said the normal games field is
being used on the date as an overnight camp for participants in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain bike ride.
Mr Baird claimed that since the licence application had been made, the committee had been drowning in paperwork.
He said: “For example, we’ve been asked to provide safety certification for all the generators used by trade stands; the wooden performance platforms; and the gas cylinders in the catering tent as well as the tents themselves – evidence is required that they are fireproof.
“We’ve also been asked for certification for a bouncy castle although there will not be one of those at the event.”
He added: “We are the last games to be held and most of our trade stands will already have been at other games so I do not know why the certification provided at the start of the season cannot suffice for all the games.”
Mr Baird claimed that other local authorities did not have the same stringent requirements and called for a standardisation across the country.
He has now raised the issue with local councillors; Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MSP Gail Ross and Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant.
He said: “I have asked our representatives to try to get some sense out of officials at council level and also to speak to tourism minister Fiona Hislop.”
Mr Baird is supported by Alasdair MacDonald, president of the Highland Area Highland Games Association (HAHGA) and Highland representative for the Scottish Highland Games Association (SHGA).
Mr MacDonald told the Northern Times: “The restrictions are getting tougher and the problem is that lay persons are not qualified or do not have the experience to overcome the obstacles put in their path. Games secretaries have had enough of all the red tape.”
MSP Rhoda Grant has written to Highland Council’s chief executive, Steve Barron, about the issue.
She said: “I sympathise with the organisers as running an event these days does come with a long list of safety and legal requirements. We’ve yet to receive a reply from the local authority but it is my sincere hope that the games will be able to continue for the future.”
However, North, West and Central Sutherland ward councillor George Farlow said that it is essential event organisers meet health and safety criteria.
He highlighted an incident in Harlaw earlier this year in which a seven-year-old girl died when the bouncy castle she was playing on blew away.
A Highland Council spokesman said: “Invercharron Highland Games recently applied to renew the public entertainment licence required for this event but certain details and important safety
certifications were omitted, so our environmental health service has asked for these.
“They have also asked for clarification for what is proposed by way of piping and dancing platforms.
“The health and safety standards which the council requires be met at such events are there to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the people attending.
“While we would not wish to lower safety standards for such events, the environmental health team has now agreed, in response to the concerns raised, to look again at the process for licensing smaller events to try to make it simpler for organisers in future.
“In the meantime, our environmental health team will be contacting the organiser of the Invercharron Highland Games directly to arrange to meet with him to talk through the outstanding issues in an effort to
assist him for this year’s event.”
