Vision to help safeguard city in face of tourism boom
● Deal on ‘heritage blueprint’ will protect capital for next five years
A landmark deal has been agreed to protect Edinburgh’s historic skyline, curb the “commercialisation” of public spaces in the city centre and reduce overcrowding problems during peak tourism periods.
The domination of “tartan tat” shops on key thoroughfares like the Royal Mile and a surge in Old Town properties being let out to holidaymakers are also expected to be tackled under a new blueprint to safeguard Edinburgh’s World Heritage status.
The Scottish Government’s heritage agency, the city council and the Edinburgh World Heritage trust – the main watchdog for the Old and New towns – have agreed to act on a host of long-running concerns about the stewardship of the capital’s historic heart.
It is hoped that the five-year management plan for the city centre, which is expected to influence a host of council policies in the run-up to 2022, will avoid the possibility of Edinburgh being put on a “danger list” of sites around the world.
Council leader Adam Mcvey said the blueprint tackled “many of the key concerns” raised by taxpayers in recent years and was aimed at ensuring that Edinburgh’s historic landscape was “enhanced and not put at risk”.
Campaigners have warned that the city’s World Heritage status was put in jeopardy by the handling of controversial developments like the new St James Quarter, the New Waverley scheme next to the
0 Edinburgh’s skyline is one of the key areas that will be protected in a new heritage status blueprint council’s own headquarters, and a bid to turn the old Royal High School on Calton Hill into a luxury hotel.
The new guidelines – which all future investors will be asked to abide by – warn that Edinburgh’s skyline is “vulnerable to unsympathetic development” and state that it is “essential” the city’s landscape is protected.
The blueprint acknowledges concerns that new developments “are not seen to be in keeping” with the architecture of the Old and New Towns. The council will now insist that new “place briefs” are drawn up for vacant sites and must be “rigidly” adhered to before planning applications are brought forward.
Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, said: “This plan is very much the starting point. It should give us all a locus to act and also urge changes in policy where it is needed.
“Having ‘place briefs’ in future will help change the dynamic in Edinburgh. In the UK, we have a very reactive planning system. By and large, developers get to build what they think is right for a site. Elsewhere in Europe, a city says, ‘This is what we want on this site.’
“Councils can dictate things, and decide what is needed. It allows for a much more proactive approach. It can be made very clear to developers from the outset what can and can’t be done. We can avoid some of the energy-sapping fights from the last few years.”