BIDDING is underway to secure Bute as the host for an international festival of democracy next year.
Argyll MP Brendan O’Hara has been working behind the scenes on the project for many months and believes Bute is the natural fit for the programme.
If the bid is successful, it could bring thousands of visitors to the island, boosting business and jobs; and it could be the curtain-raiser to an annual people’s meeting that has the potential to grow year on year.
Based on a model delivered on the Danish island of Bornholm, the Folkemødet, or People’s Meeting, has expanded from small beginnings to a gathering of more than 100,000 citizens, politicians, NGOs, and businesses for open-air debates, workshops and speeches aimed at strengthening democratic dialogue and bringing decision-makers closer to the public.
Mr O’Hara told this newspaper his role is to advocate and help to facilitate the event on Bute.
I am hugely enthusiastic about it, he said. The people behind it asked me if I could suggest where they could do it in Scotland and I immediately said Bute.
It has everything the festival needs. It’s an island, like Bornholm. It’s got transport, it’s got hotels and guest houses and it is easy to get to from the Central Belt.
Mr O’Hara made a short video to champion Bute.
I made it on the rainiest, windiest, wildest day you could imagine, but it didn’t put them off, he said.
The MP for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber explained the festival would give opportunities to people across Bute and from all walks of life in Scotland and worldwide. Based on the Danish model, the festival would encourage business owners, citizens, politicians, volunteer groups, blue light services, churches and schools to come together to exchange points of view and debate.
I have a core belief in my politics, independence for Scotland. But I also have other policy ideas and thoughts. I’d be pretty lonely if I didn’t listen to other people with theirs.
Mr O’Hara sees the festival as an opportunity to face up to cynicism and instead of saying something can’t happen, actually make it happen then make it work.
I also want people to embrace what this festival could become. It is a collaboration of democracy and we could do it here on Bute where there is access, there’s space, it’s a great island, he said.
In February, this newspaper revealed early planning was under way to bring a People’s Meeting to Bute.
At that time, we raised concerns about the realities of island infrastructure, namely being able to accommodate, potentially, 2,000 participants.
Brendan O’Hara seized on that to call on Cowal to be a big part of the festival of democracy, saying Dunoon could provide accommodation and participants could use the Rhubodach ferry and special buses to shuttle between the island and the peninsula.
But it is not yet certain the festival will be awarded to Bute.
A competitive process is currently underway and Pitlochry has emerged as another potential site for the event. Brendan O’Hara sees that location as a non-starter as it doesn’t have the Bute effect.
You could travel to Pitlochry from Edinburgh in an hour, not much more from Glasgow. Bringing people to Bute would encourage them to become part of the island, part of Cowal, not just go back to the city at the end of the day.
Financing the festival is based on the Danish model of self-funding where it started small and grew over time. Argyll and Bute Council is presently involved in the process. If the organisers agree to come to Bute and the council agrees it can support it, that would be in the form of kind, not cash.
A paper will go to the council for consideration.
If the festival gets the green light, it is planned it would be timed to help extend the traditional summer season on Bute.
The event on Bornholm is regarded as informal, accessible, inclusive and is often described as a political folk festival.
