Exclusive:Edinburgh's Christmas: Council's handling of winter festival contract referred to Audit Scotland
Audit Scotland has been sent an official complaint, which has been backed by Alex Cole-Hamilton.
Edinburgh council’s handling of the city’s Christmas 2024 festival contract has been referred to Scotland’s public spending watchdog amid calls for the award to be retendered.
Events company GC Live Ltd claims the council has unfairly "handed exemptions" to organisers Unique Assembly Ltd, including site rental discounts, which it says were ruled out during tender.
It has emerged that a 50 per cent reduction was applied retrospectively to rental fees for the Princes Street Gardens, according to a new report due to be presented to committee on Tuesday.
GC Live Ltd says the quarter-of-a-million-pound discount for the hire of Princes Street Gardens could be in breach of public contract regulations.
The company, which was the sole rival bidder for the contract, has written to Audit Scotland raising “serious governance, procurement and enforcement concerns”.
GC Live Ltd managing director Geoff Crow has also asked Audit Scotland to investigate ‘waived’ parking charges, which were listed in the tender worth an estimated £780,000, but which the council now says are not due.
The three-year winter festivals contract was awarded in April 2024 to Unique Assembly Limited, a consortium owned by All in Hand Events Ltd and Assembly Wings Ltd.
Edinburgh’s Christmas 2024 was delivered by Unique Assembly Limited, with Hogmanay 2024/25 delivered by Unique Events Limited.
Council chiefs say a total of £668,595 due for Christmas has been paid, including site hire fees for East and West Princes Street Gardens of £258,750, reduced from £517,500.
It comes after councillors were told in June that no discounts had been applied to either Christmas or Hogmanay and bidders were advised no discounts would be applied.
Councillors approved a revised charging model in January that saw a discount applied to council-owned public events from April 2025 onwards.
But GC Live says the retrospective discount "conferred a significant advantage" to Unique and resulted in lost revenue to the council of a quarter of a million pounds.
Managing Director Geoff Crow said: “I am genuinely shocked that the council has admitted it retrospectively applied discount to site hire, contradicting previous statements to councillors. And potentially in breach of public contract regulations.
“The officer report confirms that charges published in the tender were waived or reduced post-award, conferring a financial advantage on the contractor. These revelations are deeply concerning, and demand urgent, independent investigation.
“I can’t see how this can be reconciled with the council’s statutory duty to achieve best value in the use of public funds.
“This is not a commercial dispute. It is a matter of public accountability. Councillors must demand independent scrutiny now or accept that public funds and the integrity of the city’s procurement system is compromised.”
Following the cancellation of the world-famous street party on Hogmanay, officers agreed a payment plan with Christmas organisers Unique Assembly Ltd, which saw final, late payments received in August.
Council chiefs said discussions with contractors over late payments was a "sensible commercial approach".
But GC Live claims the council failed to enforce the terms of the contract, after Freedom of Information notices confirmed no breach notices were sent.
The company has also hit out over unbilled parking charges worth £780,526, which were listed as mandatory on the tender.
But the council insists no parking compensation charges are due for Christmas because the approval of the parking charging structure was “incomplete at the time of the event”.
Parking charges, part of the wider Public Spaces Charges model, were approved on December 19, 2024 and have been charged to event organisers since April. Officers said parking charges would apply for winter festivals in 2025.
Councillors have received a confidential legal briefing from Brodies LLP, ahead of an open book audit on the winter festivals, which was due to go before committee this month, but has been delayed.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton wrote to Audit Scotland supporting GC Live's referral and is calling for a parliamentary investigation.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “The council handling of this contract highlights serious and potentially systemic failures in governance, procurement transparency, and contractual enforcement.
“If the tender process was not fair and lawful, then the contract should be cancelled and retendered. I will be pursuing this matter in Parliament.”
Councillor Margaret Graham, culture and communities convener, said: “The council is satisfied that all relevant payments for Edinburgh’s Christmas have been received and an update on this will be brought to this month’s meeting of GRBV committee.
“We are committed to full transparency and in addition, the council has committed to bring a report on the open book audit to a future meeting of GRBV committee.”
A spokesperson for Unique Assembly Ltd said: “Despite the weather cancellation of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2024 outdoor event programme, and the resulting delay to some payments being made, we have since settled last year’s account with City of Edinburgh Council. Plans are well underway for this year’s winter celebrations.”
Audit Scotland has been contacted for comment.
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