Christmas festival saga drags on - John McLellan

Edinburgh's Christmas festival is said to have attracted an overall audience of more than three million last year. Picture: Airborne Imagery UK/SWNS

The future of Edinburgh’s Christmas attractions is one controversy which won’t go away, and this year’s events are now under threat after a deputation raising concerns about the way a new contract was awarded was cut short.

At Tuesday’s Governance, Risk and Best Value committee, the City Council’s head of legal services Nick Smith stepped in to halt a presentation from GC Live, the company which lost out to Unique Assembly Ltd (UAL) for the right to run the events for the next three years.

Had the deputation proceeded, councillors would have heard a proposal to allow UAL to organise this year’s attractions but to reopen tendering for the following two years

At issue are apparent concerns about UAL’s financial stability which were circulated to councillors ahead of the meeting, with figures indicating the two companies behind UAL have liabilities of around £250,000 but next to no assets and less than £500 in the bank.

GC Live is continuing to consider taking the council to court over the way the contract was awarded and allegations about conflict of interest, and there is a real possibility that it will seek an interim interdict to prevent Unique Assembly operating the event until the matter is resolved.

With six months to go, that would put this year’s programme in jeopardy, but if GC Live want to win the contract, the dilemma is whether to be responsible for killing off the attractions for this year.

One way or another, it does nothing for the council’s business reputation.