Edinburgh Castle: Calls for Tattoo plane flyovers to be banned over 'emotional harm'

More than 200,000 people regularly attended one of the Capital’s biggest displays of pomp and pageantry each year. But some have started to question the environmental impact of the RAF planes which shoot past the castle.

Ahead of this year’s event, distress potentially caused to veterans, refugees and pets has been raised - but organisers say they want to keep holding the flypasts as they ‘showcase our military heritage and precision’.

During last year’s three-week run of the occasion, seven separate flypasts were held. Councillors have voted to express ‘regret’ for the ‘environmental damage and emotional harm’ associated, reports The Scotsman.

The RAF's Red Arrows soar over Edinburgh city centre. Picture: Scott Heppell/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Green councillor Dan Heap told the newspaper: “Tattoo flypasts are often raised by residents concerned about their impact on veterans, refugees and animals, as well as the environmental impact of unnecessary aircraft flights.

“Colleagues have consistently raised this question with the council leader [Cammy Day], who has raised it with the Tattoo and the RAF. Given recent agreements by the council to consider restricting firework use across the city, it is right that we also ask questions of other intrusive and environmentally damaging practices which benefit only a small handful of people.

“The culture and communities committee has expressed its regret about the continuation of the flypasts. The next logical step is to find out how the council can actually try to stop them from happening.”

Culture committee convener Val Walker said: "We’ll be further liaising with the Tattoo and RAF to see how we can better plan ahead for this August’s edition. I’m sure we can find a solution which is mutually beneficial.”

Tattoo chief executive Jason Barrett said: “We always take the environmental and social impacts of the Tattoo seriously and work very closely with our stakeholders across the city, as well as our colleagues at the Ministry of Defence, to ensure our event is safe and enjoyable.

"Flypasts are led by our partners at the RAF and we work to ensure our stakeholders are aware of the schedule in advance to keep disruption to a minimum. The flypasts are a showcase of our military heritage and precision, which the Tattoo is famed for.

“We’re proud to be part of the festival infrastructure in Edinburgh that contributes millions of pounds annually to the Scottish economy. We remain vigilant in our planning and execution of all elements of our event."

A spokesman for the RAF said: “We will proudly take part in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, as well as many other ceremonial flypasts this year, as our aircraft have done for decades.

“For all such events, flight safety remains our top priority. Flypasts are well publicised in advance to ensure that disturbance is kept to a minimum. We continue to welcome engagement from the public and local authorities to assist in this.”