It’s mall over

The rise of online shopping and costly fixed lease deals may have contributed to a decline in footfall in Edinburgh department stores like Frasers and Debenhams, but there are other nails in the retail coffin. One of these is successive councils which, for almost half a century, have granted endless planning consents for out-of-town malls. These have sucked economic activity from the city centre.

More recently, there has been a severe distortion in East End-west End trading patterns in Princes Street and its surrounding areas. The most notorious case of all involved a subsidy from public revenues to a wholly owned subsidiary of North Carolinabased pension giant TIAA which focused on Edinburgh after its London Smithfield plans were thrown out. Scotland’s government and Edinburgh council foolishly compromised their planning independence by buying into the St James proposals with a £61.4 million “regeneration accelerator model” subsidy. Since TIAA has around $1 trillion under management state aid seems excessive. TIAA later sold 75 per cent of the St James development equity to Dutch fund manager APG.

Developer-led planning is visibly damaging Edinburgh’s economy. TIAA’S erstwhile subsidiary, TH Real Estate, is now making its subsidised presence felt. It has objected to the proposed nearby concert hall which, it seems, might encroach on views from (and of) its notorious “copper spiral” hotel . In 2016 it objected to a £150m film studio on the city outskirts on the pretext it might include a retail component. Consent was refused, and a cultural facility Scotland badly needs was lost.

Perhaps when Lord Hardie has finished with his tram report he will consider having a look at this scandal.

DAVID J BLACK

Glanville Place, Edinburgh