The couple behind a legal challenge against moving the site of the T in the Park festival say they are willing to go all the way to the Court of Session.
Mark and Kim Liddiard, of North Mains Farm, Strathallan, have written to Scottish ministers asking for a review of the planning process, but are prepared to go to the Court of Session for a judicial review if their request is rejected.
T in the Park is moving to the 1,000-acre Strathallan Castle estate in Perthshire after safety fears were raised over a pipeline at Balado.
But the couple, along with other residents in the 30 homes on the estate, feel the festival’s move has been sprung on them and could have a major impact on local wildlife and cause roads chaos.
Mrs Liddiard said: “There’s real concern the Machany Water is going to get severely damaged. We’ve got nesting ospreys on the estate they would be disturbed by the concert.”
Festival organisers DF Concerts have not been required by Perth and Kinross Council to lodge a planning application for the event.
Any landowner can temporarily change the use of their land if it is for less than 28 days in a year without needing planning permission unless it has a “significant effect on the local environment”.
The Liddiards believe that Perth and Kinross Council has been wrong to not require planning permission and that is the basis of their first approach to the Scottish ministers.
The couple’s legal representative, Sandy Telfer, head of planning at DLA Piper Scotland, said there were two planning issues associated with the relocation.
“Can the site at Strathallan Estate be set up and taken down at this new location within 28 days when all the evidence from Balado suggests that there is at least a four-week lead-in and lead-out time on either side of the three-day event itself?” said Mr Telfer.
“Is it likely that an event involving extensive set up works and bringing over 90,000 people each day over three days (with 75,000 of them looking to camp out and have on-site facilities available) will have no significant effect on a quiet rural environment such as the one at Strathallan?”
DF Concerts will be carrying out extensive consultation including one-to-one meetings in the coming weeks and months.Legal move could mean long delays for organisersIf the approach to Scottish ministers to review the planning process is accepted it will mean delays for the organisers of T in the Park.
The Liddiards are asking the Scottish Government to direct that a formal assessment of the impact of the proposed relocation on the local air, water and land environment at Strathallan Estate is carried out in the context of a planning application.
Solicitor Sandy Telfer explained: “If the Scottish Government issue an opinion to that effect then it means that DFC will require to formally apply for planning permission, which in turn because of the scale of the development will require them to carry out at least three months of consultation with the public before they can even submit an application.
“This delay and uncertainty of outcome would cause problems but DFC have had three years to select another site.”