TWO popular Festival shows face a battle to perform at this year's Fringe after community leaders urged the council to save the Meadows from further damage.
The Lady Boys of Bangkok cabaret show and a circus big tent – this year hosting the Chinese State Circus – are a regular feature in the park every August.
But the Friends of the Meadows and two community councils have lodged objections with the co
uncil, claiming that the grass has barely recovered from last year's events.
The groups also said that noise from the shows disturbs local residents, and criticised the "excessive" number of vehicles and caravans parked on the Meadows.
City councillors will make a decision at a licensing committee next week.
The company behind the attractions, Urban Circus, said it wanted to be "a good neighbour" and said that 80 per cent of its customers live in the Capital.
But Bridget Stevens, chairwoman of Merchiston Community Council, said the Meadows are "unusable for many months" afterwards. "To permit a month-long takeover of this public park is unfair to both visitors to our city and local residents," she said.
Peng Lee Yap, chairman of Friends of the Meadows, said the grass was still badly damaged as late as March this year, "preventing users from playing games". "Severe long-term damage has been caused to the surface of the Meadows by Urban Circus," he said.
Jo Scott, licensing convener with Southside Community Council, has urged councillors to introduce a volume limit, and wants amplified noise to cease at 10pm.
Urban Circus wants to bring the Lady Boys – the best-selling Fringe event for five years until last year – to Edinburgh for four weeks between August 2 and 30.
If councillors give the go-ahead, it will be the tenth year that the dance troupe of transvestites and transsexuals from Thailand have performed in their tent.
Last year, Cirque Surreal was the main circus act in the big top, with the Moscow State Circus performing at the 2006 festival. The Chinese State Circus was last in the Capital in 2005.
Phillip Gandey, director and creator of the Lady Boys show, today defended his attractions.
"We pay the city council a huge bond, which is used to regenerate the grass," he said.
"We do want to be good neighbours, and offer the opportunity to local residents to come and talk to us if they have a problem."
A combination of several months of bad weather in 2007 and the impact of new events such as the Moonwalk and Taste of Edinburgh left the middle section of the Meadows in its worst state of disrepair for years.
Councillors recently ordered a report on how other parks and gardens in the city could be used to help relieve the pressure.
The full article contains 469 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
