The woods near Linlithgow will stay dark for a second Christmas after a marketing exercise to promote the country parks found no-one willing to light up the season.
And this week it emerged the council is going to pay around £10,000 to outside consultants in a bid to sell the idea of the parks as year-round event spaces.
GC Live pulled out of a contract for festive lights show at Beecraigs last year following a difficult first year of its contract. Council officers launched a market exercise late last year to gauge interest from other potential outdoor event operators.
Local councillors expressed incredulity and anger at the train of events. It produced ill-tempered exchanges about the lack of costs, and “missed opportunities” to maximise income.
Linlithgow councillor Sally Pattle told the meeting: “I cannot see any figures in this report you are asking us to write a blank cheque. How much is it going to cost?”
Scott Hughes the Strategic Property Asset Manager said consultancy costs were expected to be around £10,000.
He added that officers shared the disappointment that the marketing exercise had produced no firm offers but bit out that the council has “limited experience” in the field of outdoor events.
A report to councillors detailed: “Council officers are keen to fully explore and exhaust any and all such opportunities, but the council does not have an events or marketing service, and it is recognised that the identification of opportunities and the delivery of commercial activities and events, particularly in a country park setting, is a specialist area.”
Asked by Councillor Pattle if there would be any Christmas event this year Mr Hughes said that had been the plan at the start of the consultation last December after the Bathgate firm which had the contract had decided to pull out.
The need to extend the marketing and engage consultants made it unlikely that any event could be staged this year, he told the meeting.
Councillor Pattle branded this a “massive, wasted opportunity” and said: “ I thought the last operator pulled out because of the damage done by Storm Eowyn. I know how hard NETS work”
Councillor Pauline Orr said: “There was a very successful operator at Beecraigs between 2019 and 2023 when the council chose to put it out to tender, something I still cannot get my head around.”
She added that in her experience from working in the Scottish Government agricultural sector contracts could be extended.
Tom Conn, Linlithgow’s Labour Councillor suggested it could be reasonable to assume that the storms would add to operators’ costs.
David Maule, head of Operational Services told the meeting: “That’s perhaps a valid point. By my reckoning there have been at least four storms in the last two years and operators would have to factor the weather into potential costs.”
Pauline Stafford, SNP group depute leader had earlier been told that 389,000 vehicles had used the country parks in the last year. That prompted comments from Councillor Pattle of missed chance to collect parking fees from visitors to boost income.
“There are some really easy wins here. I brought the Labour administration the suggestion of charging 50p per day if we talk about 1.2 m visitors to our parks in a year that would have been a very easy win.”
Councillors heard that plans for a tourism strategy are set to come before committee in June. Councillor Stafford pointed out that the SNP budget two years ago had proposed paying staff to develop a tourism strategy.
Opposition group leader Councillor Janet Campbell asked if the costs of hiring an external consultant had been identified in this year’s budget. Mr Maule said: “not specifically” but added it could be accommodated within the NETS budget for this year as a one-off expenditure which could produce savings in future.
Councillor Stafford branded the council’s position as one of “missed opportunities” and pointed to the success of neighbouring Falkirk council with its tourism strategy.
Councillor Conn said; “Officers now seem to be getting criticised for doing the job they are paid to do.” He suggested that market forces would determine whether operators were prepared to stage events, not council officers.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick praised the work of officers as an “excellent job”. He said the costs of an external consultant could be absorbed within the budget.
The Executive agreed to proposals that the consultation exercise should not be limited to autumn and winter events but should include a wider and more comprehensive review of commercial opportunities across country parks estate.
A report will come back to a future meeting of the Council Executive.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
