News Archive
Edinburgh in heritage hot water with Unesco
Released on 11/07/2008
Unesco has launched an official investigation into Edinburgh’s World Heritage Status following the Scottish government’s approval of the controversial £300m Mountgrange Caltongate scheme in the Old Town.
The official inquiry was launched on July 6 at a summit of the world heritage committee in the Canadian city of Quebec, according to The Scotsman newspaper.
Unesco officials were particularly critical of the Scottish government’s decision to approve the scheme without consulting them over plans to demolish two listed buildings to make way for a luxury hotel. They were also worried that no public inquiry had been called despite 1,800 objections to the proposals.
A spokesman for Unesco’s world heritage told The Scotsman: “The committee voiced concern at the potential impact of the Caltongate development and were also deeply concerned that it was approved by the state government in June without complying with the operational guidelines for world heritage sites.”
According to the guidelines, Unesco must be consulted if new buildings in world heritage sites may “affect the outstanding universal value of the property”. The UN body insists that Caltongate falls into this category.
The inquiry will also examine the proposed redevelopment of Leith’s docklands over the next 20 years and the planned revamp of the St James Centre, The Scotsman said.
Unesco inspectors will assess Edinburgh’s “state of conservation” later this year and the Scottish government must submit a dossier in defence of its actions by February 2009. A decision will be made at the 2009 Unesco summit in Seville about whether Edinburgh is “at risk” of losing the world heritage status it won in 1995.
The situation is a tricky one for Edinburgh councilors. They are being pressurized by the city’s business leaders not to turn down developments which might otherwise go to Manchester or Glasgow. The Caltongate complex will boast a conference centre, 200 homes, a public square, an office blocks and a new arts quarter and create 2,000 jobs.
However, heritage and conservation groups claim that aesthetic concerns override business matters. They argue that “poor quality architecture” in sensitive areas is wreaking havoc on the world-renowned beauty of the Scottish capital.
Scotland’s culture minister Linda Fabiani, who is responsible for the agency, said: “I’m confident that when the Unesco mission visits our capital, it will see a vibrant, growing city which embraces its cultural and architectural heritage as well as managing an improvement in development that benefits Edinburgh as a whole.”
