Plea to council to retain firm that organises Beecraigs Festive Forest

The council’s existing five-year commercial licence agreement with Rowen Events Limited for the annual winter-themed event, currently named Beecraigs Festive Forest, comes to an end on December 31, after this year’s programme.

Rowen Events will run this December’s event but, as all councils have a legal requirement to obtain “best value” when selling or leasing land and property assets, West Lothian will have to go to the open market next year – inviting a new bid from Rowen and other operators.

A robust campaign in Linlithgow culminated in an amendment put before the a meeting of the council executive on Tuesday, calling for Rowen Events’ lease to be extended until December 2024 to allow the operators to have a full five years.

The event was cancelled less than three weeks before it was due to start in December 2020 because of national Covid restrictions.

However, the council’s executive approved recommendations to openly advertise the commercial licence opportunity for the annual winter-themed event at Beecraigs from winter 2024 onwards.

The annual event will not be a council event, rather it will be a commercial one delivered by the licensee by agreement on council-owned land.

Tabling the amendment, SNP Linlithgow Councillor Pauline Orr, backed by the town’s LIb Dem councillor Sally Pattle, called for a deferral of the decision and more detailed reports on the legal duties, and nuances.

Councillor Orr told the meeting: “For the local individuals who conceived and made a success of this event this is completely unreasonable and undeserved.

“My understanding is that Rowen Events made it clear to the council that it was willing to negotiate terms to enable it to continue.”

Councillor Orr pointed to new community wealth building legislation which encourages local investment in communities. This focuses on local suppliers and the employment of local people.

She said: “Rowen Events employs 100 of its staff locally, 95 per cent of the suppliers are from constituency towns.

“In this cost of living crisis it is crucial for employment opportunities to stay within our communities. The event by Rowen Events generates an incalculable income for the constituency of West Lothian as a whole.”

Councillor Pattle said a Facebook post by the council about the re-tendering had caused a lot of confusion and anger. She added that the council had approached Rowen Events in October to ask them for “commercially sensitive information”.

Linlithgow’s Labour councillor Tom Conn questioned the amendment’s assertion of intellectual property belonging to Rowen Events, citing other winter forest festivals elsewhere in Scotland.

Labour Leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick, chairing the meeting, said: “There’s nothing underhand here, no decisions have been taken today. A report will be brought back when the marketing exercise is complete.

“The event for this year is not affected and the current operators will be able to submit a bid if they so wish.”