TICKETS to see the Lady Boys of Bangkok in the Meadows have already gone on sale – despite council plans to scrap all major events in the area this year.
It is understood that licence applications for two major events – the Chinese State Circus and the Lady Boys – have recently been submitted to the council.
No decision has yet been taken on the applications for the shows, which would last for 19 d
ays and 36 days respectively, with both running in August.
The city council had pledged to hold a moratorium of major events in the Meadows this year to give the park a chance to recover after the ground was churned up from overuse last year.
Several events, including the Taste Festival and the Moonwalk, have already been forced to relocate, but the council has yet to announce a detailed plan.
A spokeswoman said the events policy would go before councillors in spring.
The Save the Meadows campaign, being run by Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links, is lobbying the city council not to license any large events on the park this summer.
Chris Wigglesworth, convener of the Friends of the Meadows, said he was currently preparing an objection to the applications.
"Shorter events are not really a problem and even something like the protests held for the G8 summit, which saw around 300,000 people on the Meadows, did not cause much damage, as it was over within a few days and there was not any heavy equipment," he said.
"It is the events that are there for 20 or 30 days and which have huge infrastructure that need to be moved, as they have left the Meadows in such a state over the last two years.
"The council was supposed to have this events plan in place almost a year ago and the delays are disappointing. I believe it is down to a feeling from some groups that we need these events in the Meadows to keep bringing in the tourists, but if they continue it will ruin the Meadows."
The group has called for no events which use heavy vehicles or equipment to be allowed on the Meadows.
It also wants to see events which involve fenced-off areas and loss of public access lasting no more than five days, with at least a month between such events, and it also opposes installing an artificial events surface.
Asked about when the proposals for the Meadows would be agreed, a council spokesman said: "This is a complex report (that] requires very careful consideration. We anticipate that it will go to committee in late spring. In the meantime, interim actions have been taken to relocate several events."
No one from Urban Circus, which runs the big top where both the Chinese State Circus and the Lady Boys of Bangkok perform, could be contacted for comment.
