Residents in a South Lanarkshire town will warmly welcome in the New Year after a traditional annual event was given the green light by the local authority.
Organisers of the Biggar Bonfire are celebrating after a campaign to hold the Hogmanay bonfire in the town paid off.
The annual burning, which has its origins in pagan times – when it was thought the fire would ward off evil spirits – was in danger of being cancelled due to safety concerns.
Dating back centuries, it has taken place for decades outside the town’s Corn Exchange but South Lanarkshire Council claimed the site could be problematic due to the close proximity of a gas pipe.
However, organisers claimed the pipe has been in place for years and it has never before been an issue.
The Events Safety Advisory Group (ESAG), which is supported by Health and Safety Executive (HSE), had raised concerns about the location which could have resulted in the local authority refusing to grant a license due to safety reasons raised by Scottish Fire and Rescue, Police Scotland and Scottish Gas Networks.
Locals launched a campaign including a petition to ensure they could bring in the bells in traditional fashion and held a public meeting to Save Biggar’s Bonfire.
More than 3750 people signed the petition, despite Biggar having a population of just 2400.
Lesley Craise, chairwoman of the Biggar Bonfire Committee, insisted that there was always risk attached to the event which was the same as in previous years. Adding that had not changed, but instead the “management of the risk” had.
Gas safety workers were spotted carrying out excavations and checks at the site before the local authority met with organisers on Monday.
The bonfire will now go ahead with extra conditions attached. One is that it will be no bigger than 5m x 5m at its base and that organisers ensure it is extinguished on New Years Day.
Precautionary measures including testing for gas leaks 24 hours before the event and placing aggregate at the fire’s base which sits on a cobbled area were already in place.
While the bonfire has now been given the go-ahead by the local authority, another obstacle could still scupper the planned event for the second successive year.
“It’s going ahead although Omicron may stop it,” Lesley admits.
“It is a good victory. If the worst comes to the worst it will stand us in good stead for future years.
“It was always said locally that they [the gas pipes] were under concrete.”
Each year the event starts with a torch procession along the town’s High Street accompanied by pipers and drummers to the site outside the Corn Exchange where the oldest resident traditionally sets the bonfire alight, burning out the old year and welcoming in the New Year.
There have only been three years during the last century that the event hasn’t gone ahead, including last year because of the Covid pandemic.
During the Second World War years the bonfire was replaced by a candle in tin to prevent alerting enemy planes.
Geraldine McCann, Head of Administration and Legal Services at South Lanarkshire Council, said: “After hearing from the applicants and a range of interested parties, the council’s Licensing Committee agreed on Monday to approve the temporary public entertainment licence for the Biggar Hogmanay bonfire.
“The committee did so after attaching a number of conditions around the safety of the event reflecting comments from statutory consultees, including the size and location of the bonfire. In addition, a suitably qualified fire safety warden is to be appointed by the organisers to oversee the construction, burning and extinguishing of the bonfire.”