Council bosses were right not to disclose how much taxpayers’ cash was spent bringing Peter Andre to Perth for last year’s Christmas Lights extravaganza, their own finance department has ruled.
The Courier revealed late last year that Perth and Kinross Council had refused to reveal the Mysterious Girl singer’s performance fee, after a Freedom of Information request.
It stated the cost of the star’s appearance was being withheld for fear of a “breach of confidence”.
A second attempt to get the council to disclose his fee has now been blocked.
A review of the original FOI query, carried out by the local authority’s finance department, has said that the local authority was right not to reveal the amount spent on Andre.
In his findings, head of finance and support services Alan Taylor said the original response was correct. “The relevant contracts contain clauses which specifically prevent the council from releasing the fees for performers,” he said.
Mr Taylor added that it would have been a breach of the confidentiality act, specifically the section that states that disclosure could be “actionable”.
Crowds flocked to Perth city centre to watch the pop star help switch on the Christmas lights. The line-up also featured four other acts, including disco survivors Boney M.
At its peak, there were nearly 30,000 people jostling for space on High Street and St John Street, a significant increase on the previous year’s numbers.
The council last night announced that the event, part of its Winter Festival programme, helped pump £1.9 million into the city economy, “vindicating” its decision to build on last year’s extravaganza.
Although the public’s reaction to the event was generally positive, many retailers said that their trade actually plummeted during the celebrations, despite an increased footfall in the area. They said the council should be forced to reveal the figures because it was public money.
Fashion designer Kairen Ruse, who runs the Blues and Browns store on South Street, objected to Andre’s involvement.
She said: “According to the council it was a roaring success. I think they need to sit up and take notice of the small businesses’ concerns that this was not the case.”
Others like John Bullough, who owns the McEwans department store, had spoken out in support of the show. “The future of our city centre is dependent on attracting footfall; it’s that simple,” he said.
A local authority spokesman said the cost of providing entertainment on the day was nearly £57,000, plus £4,500 for travel, accommodation and expenses but stopped short of providing a breakdown of performance fees.
A year ago, the council fully complied with a similar Freedom of Information request and revealed it had paid the Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright £7,000 for his brief appearance at the 2013 ceremony.
The payment was slammed by critics as a “scandalous” waste of money.