Cliff Hague: Princes St gigs mean curtains for common good

Benches are off-limits for commercial reasons. Photograph: Juliet Wilson

Last year it was ugly black hoardings blocking the public off from views of views of Edinburgh Castle and West Princes Street Gardens for the two weeks of Summer Sessions pop concerts. After a public outcry, the hoardings disappeared.

This summer a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick was devised. Squeeze the pavement space on the south side of Princes St by cordoning off the bench seats there, so people cannot stand on them (or use them as seats!) and install a huge retractable curtain. However, drawing the curtains cannot hide the mess inflicted by this commercialisation of our “public good” gardens.

Last year we were told that the hoardings were necessary for public safety – nothing to do with selling tickets, of course. Granted a free view, crowds would be tempted to gather, and spill off the pavement into the busy roadway, creating an accident risk. This year’s “solution” reduces the pavement space available for pedestrian movement during the most crowded weeks of the year. Result? Where they can, people are walking on the road, exactly the hazard that the hoardings allegedly were devised to avoid.