UN World Heritage Committee - The Final Verdict On Edinburgh

Some of our readers might remember that last November the UN World Heritage Committee came to Edinburgh to investigate how the World Heritage Site was being managed. Various community groups were invited to meet the delegation and volunteers from Greener Leith were among them. Therefore we were interested to see the final verdict from the UN and we're pleased to see that some of the points we raised seem to have carried through into the final reports.

The UN visit was prompted by controversy surrounding a number of major regeneration projects planned in and around the World Heritage Site, including proposals for Haymarket, St James Centre, The Caltongate Project, and the Leith docks.

In what is described by the Scotsman as a 'damning report,' the UN mission identified a number of 'areas for improvement,' although they acknowledge that the World Heritage Site is not ultimately under threat.

Some of the areas where the city 'must try harder' were:

• The city should consider establishing a buffer zone around the formal World Heritage Site.
• More effort should be made by 'state parties' to coordinate management better.
• More effort should be made to involve stakeholders and ensure transparency and best practice in masterplanning.
• The city should adopt an 'holistic' approach to traffic management in the World Heritage Site and beyond.
• More use of open design competitions should be made for masterplanning significant developments.

The committee also came to some interesting conclusions about the specific major developments. On the Caltongate project, the committee supported the retention of the C-listed buildings, and argued that the developer led masterplanning process had not been the most effective way to ensure that public spaces serve the needs of local residents. According to the Evening News, now that the original developers of the Caltongate project have gone bust - the council still has the chance to alter the development plans for the site, and save the listed buildings. If there is an upturn in the property market, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this site.

We note that the Save Our Old Town campaign has galvanised locals to the point where they're on the cusp of setting up an Old Town Development Trust. It'll be interesting to see if the local community can come up with a better plan for the site that puts those listed buildings to good use.

On the subject of the proposals for Haymarket, the committee supports the campaign to reduce the ridiculous height of the proposed 'iconic' hotel, on the basis that a tall building on this site will be detrimental to the World Heritage Site. The Scottish government are currently mulling over this proposal. The report must add to the pressure on the planning authorities to reject the Haymarket proposal as it currently stands.

And whilst it's a relief to see that the UN agree with everyone else that the St James Centre must go, it's disappointing to read that they are ambivalent about tall buildings in the Leith Docks area - as they consider that the site is far enough away from the World Heritage Site.

Despite this, Greener Leith will continue to argue that the current approach that seeks only to conserve particular 'view corridors' through the docks is insufficient, and that good exciting architecture doesn't have to mean 'iconic skyscrapers.'

You can download the initial report, the response from the council, and the 'Final Decision' from the World Heritage Committee here:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/ukwhportal/publications/publications.htm

Comments

[James]

You're right on all counts. Sorry not to be contributing the a debate, but there we go.