Good piece of reporting here STV Video Here 17th November 2008
Edinburgh councillors claim they have been given assurance that the city's world heritage status is safe, following a visit from Unesco officials last week. But campaigners fighting the capital's most controversial developments have dismissed the announcement as premature and potentially dangerous. Unesco officials are alleged to have referred to Edinburgh during their three day visit last week as a city with heritage at its heart. Councillors are now content that the capital's World Heritage status is secure, and that all its contentious developments - other than a Haymarket Hotel
Royal Mile in Edinburgh- have been given the cautious thumbs up. But there are many who feel that Edinburgh Council is both missing the point and jumping the gun. The Unesco report on the city will not actually be published until early next year, and only then can we be certain about its contents. At any rate, Edinburgh's World Heritage status largely recognises bricks and mortar more than living, breathing communities. Some of these communities are demanding an end to what they see as council spin. Change is afoot for Edinburgh's world famous cityscape. To the south, Caltongate and SoCo are
Controversy over Caltongate planset to alter the face of the Old Town. To the north, the soaring towers of the Western Harbour project dominate the waterfront. To the west the brutalist St James Centre is set to be replaced by a development many feel could not be any worse. But it is not just the look of these buildings, it is their make-up, their inhabitants and their influence on their surroundings that need to be considered. No matter what Unesco decides, the council is still under immense pressure to approve the sort of heritage that future generations will want to inherit.
BBC Coverage
Edinburgh councillors claim they have been given assurance that the city's world heritage status is safe, following a visit from Unesco officials last week. But campaigners fighting the capital's most controversial developments have dismissed the announcement as premature and potentially dangerous. Unesco officials are alleged to have referred to Edinburgh during their three day visit last week as a city with heritage at its heart. Councillors are now content that the capital's World Heritage status is secure, and that all its contentious developments - other than a Haymarket Hotel
Royal Mile in Edinburgh- have been given the cautious thumbs up. But there are many who feel that Edinburgh Council is both missing the point and jumping the gun. The Unesco report on the city will not actually be published until early next year, and only then can we be certain about its contents. At any rate, Edinburgh's World Heritage status largely recognises bricks and mortar more than living, breathing communities. Some of these communities are demanding an end to what they see as council spin. Change is afoot for Edinburgh's world famous cityscape. To the south, Caltongate and SoCo are
Controversy over Caltongate planset to alter the face of the Old Town. To the north, the soaring towers of the Western Harbour project dominate the waterfront. To the west the brutalist St James Centre is set to be replaced by a development many feel could not be any worse. But it is not just the look of these buildings, it is their make-up, their inhabitants and their influence on their surroundings that need to be considered. No matter what Unesco decides, the council is still under immense pressure to approve the sort of heritage that future generations will want to inherit.
BBC Coverage
