Jenny Dawe proves she is tough!

It's funny how the promise of 20% share of profits and £4.5 million can buy your opinions, isn't it Mrs Dawe? Last year you thought Caltongate was grotesque yet this year it proves that you and your council are tough. No it doesn't it means you fell for the spin from the developers and the council officials and the promise of 20% of £300 million once ALL the development is sold off. When will that be, if ever at all? Not a penny before though! £4.5 million for all that land in the council's city centre and world heritage site is pretty cheap don't you think considering some of it is common good (and not the council's to sell) and some of it is council housing (now lying empty and direlect when there is a housing crisis on, could it not have least been used for temporary housing in the meantime?) and you are gambling on the status of Edinburgh's world heritage.

And it was all sold off the table - it didn't go to the "open market" just to Mountgrange, who may or may not have been the highest bidder or offered the most of best value. Jenny, you sell yourself and the people of Edinburgh short. A tough decision would have been to reject Caltongate and to insist on something better for the Old Town not to accept what was on offer by one developer

Dawe praises 'tough' council

Friday 9th May 2008 in the Scotsman

COUNCIL leader Jenny Dawe today said that approval for the controversial Caltongate scheme proved that her administration can make tough decisions.

The £300 million plans for the Old Town have been backed by councillors on the planning committee and now await a response from Scottish ministers.

In a speech to mark the first anniversary of the Lib Dem/SNP coalition, Councillor Dawe said: "It had been suggested a coalition – particularly with such tight numbers – might lead to paralysis.

"This, quite simply, has proved untrue. We have shown ourselves ready to act properly and in the best interests of the city and to face up to the thorny issues and tough decisions which the previous administration ducked out of."See the article here


However last year she said - you can see the article in the Evening News here
"I'm not anti-development at all. However, I do believe that any development must respect the heritage of the city.
Malcolm Fraser is a very well known and respected architect and I was astounded to discover he was behind those images which appeared in the Evening News last week. The images were just grotesque and hideous. "I would've expected someone of his reputation to produce something a bit more sympathetic to its surroundings, but they were pretty gross."