Call for entry fee to £150,000 Highland New Year party issued due to the cost of living crisis

A LEADING councillor has called for a review of the £30,000-an-hour cost of Highland Council’s Red Hot Highland Fling amid the deepening cost-of-living crisis, arguing it could be time to charge a small entry fee.

Lib Dem group leader Alasdair Christie says that while he is not against a Hogmanay celebration the annual cost of £150,000 is steep and could be trimmed and used to better benefit locals.

The Inverness Common Good Fund is used to cover the costs and make it a free-to-attend spectacle which attracts up to 10,000 – but hasn’t been staged since 2019/20 due to the pandemic.

The event attracts revellers from across the Highlands and beyond.

One proposal from the Inverness Ness-side councillor is to repurpose the cash to do real good by helping people.

That would be enabled by having a cheaper event by using it as a showcase for local talent creating a “different vibe and community atmosphere” in place of the more established performers that traditionally appear.

High Life Highland is organising the event on behalf of Highland Council, as it did with the Inverness Highland Games in July which saw more than 7000 people attend, generating ticket income of £55,000.

“I’ve always advocated that this should be reviewed,” said Councillor Christie, who hinted at his thoughts on the topic during a special Inverness city committee meeting last Friday, which lasted just 17 minutes and was designed to discuss poverty alleviation measures.

“Paying £150,000 for five hours of entertainment – which is £30,000 an hour – is ridiculous when we have got people who can’t afford heating, people who are starving, people who are isolated and lonely.

“That could be paying salaries for people to go around checking up on old people in the city and the surrounding area. Check on their well-being, check on their heating situation, check on their health.”

The alternative, Cllr Christie suggests, is to stage an event more rooted in the north by engaging local schools and musicians and getting Eden Court involved to stage what would effectively be a Hogmanay festival.

He said: “I’m not opposed to celebrating Hogmanay but I think it probably should be on the basis of some pay coming from individuals that go to it, in which case it could actually be a better event.

“The other alternative to look at is some of the school children doing something on Hogmanay – what a brilliant thing for them to be doing, the parents would come to watch it and we would get a different vibe and community atmosphere.

“Young musicians could have a brilliant platform to go out, schools could work towards it, Eden Court could get involved putting on some dramatic stuff as well – it could be like a Hogmanay festival – maybe even some street stalls and craft all done for a lot less than £150,000 a year.

“I think we’re going to look at the number of people that are going to it, trimming down some things – I believe that the stage is £70,000 and then you’ve got artist fees on top of that – we could do something much simpler.

“It could be a free event, if schools are involved and young musicians are showcasing their talent, or we could do something with a partial charge. I think everything needs to be looked at but what we can’t have is an exorbitant charge if we’re doing an event at the moment but a contribution-type charge would be fine.”

Details of the upcoming Hogmanay celebration are still to be revealed. However, a free Christmas event in Bellfield Park last year – which replaced a previous annual event in Whin Park – will not take place, due to costs.

A council spokeswoman said: “The Highland Hogmanay event is part of the Inverness Events and Festivals programme which will be reported under the minutes of the Events and Festivals Working Group to the next meeting of the City of Inverness Area Committee when the minutes of the latest Events and Festivals Working Group are presented to the committee for members’ consideration.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.