Although it began as a mobile event, visiting different locations around Scotland, it settled into its permanent Edinburgh home in 1958 and has since been held on the same site in Ingliston for four days each June. Yet due to the impending expansion of Edinburgh Airport, with plans to build a second runway, the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) is under pressure to move home and could be ousted as early as 2013.

The blow to the RHASS first came in the publication of the UK Government’s Future of Air Transport White Paper in December 2003, which was produced in conjunction with the Scottish Executive. It outlined the need for the relocation of the RHASS to allow the airport to grow in a way to meet the demands of its rapidly increasing passengers, which could rise to as many as 26 million a year by 2030. The airport’s £1 billion expansion could include a second runway and an enlarged terminal building.

The RHASS, who have owned the Ingliston site for nearly 50 years, are not keen to move in order to make way for airport parking. They point out that there are around 150 events at Ingliston that bring in 1.2 million visitors each year, a large proportion of which are undoubtedly attracted by the proximity to Edinburgh airport and the city centre. Another site would need to have an easily accessible location,

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