Organisers of Dundee Hogmanay street party says it's not to blame for move indoors

The event will now be held at Fat Sams nightclub after GMC Ventures failed to address safety conditions granted by the council's licensing committee

City Square
Author: Callum ClarkPublished 9th Dec 2019
Last updated 9th Dec 2019

The group behind a failed to bid to put on Dundee's first hogmanay street party in two decades says it's not to blame for the event being moved indoors.

Fat Sams nightclub will now host the celebrations - after organisers failed to address council concerns over policing and event control.

But Jill Gibson from GMC Ventures believes they did everything they could.

"I don't think it was poorly managed at all. The organisers we've got have worked on festivals and events all over Scotland for years and years," she said.

"They're all fully qualified. On our part it was managed with great detail.

Last week the Dundee City licensing committee gave the green light for the event to ahead with a number of conditions.

These were highlighted by the council's Dundee Safety Advisory group and include concerns over policing and event management.

Miss Gibson argues they weren't given enough time to make these changes.

"If these issues had been brought up in May then it wouldn't have been an issue, we could have had them resolved.

"The problems were all fixable but we got our licence granted with these conditions, which had to be signed off by December 20.

"Our aim was to have the hogmanay street party that Dundee's been waiting for but unfortunately due to the impossible demands of Dundee City Council it was either a change of venue where they weren't involved or pull it altogether."

The Safety Advisory Group examined seven elements of the outdoor plans, which were to be staged at City Square.

Claire Dow from the group said: "While the internal issues could be resolved by the organisers, the SAG are concerned with a lack of planning for the external event site in this final version of plans.

"It can be reasonably expected that a crowd will gather outside the event walls. There are stewards positioned in the space immediately outside the event, but there is no detail of their duties or approach.

"There is also an absence of any information regarding the management of the bus queues and area in Crichton Street.

"The Event Management Plans have many small errors and ambiguity in reading, the timings, the wording and many numbers are incorrect or contradictory – all of which undermines the overall documents and planning.

"Given the concerns above the group are not content that the plans as they stand will deliver a safe event."