Demolition Derby in The Pans

A photo of the Fowler`s building mid demolition yesterday.....

We have received this sad news from our friends in the Pans......there was no prior warning, this has made the republic very anxious for the buildings at risk here in the Old Town

See here for more on the Prestonpan`s Story

Lidls to build cheap homes at the expense of Prestonpan`s heritage....

What LIES behind Caltongate SOOT Meeting

7 days to go

Public Meeting: What LIES behind Caltongate.

Lies are being told about the canongate and Caltongate. We are in a 1984 Newspeak nightmare. They tell us demolishing council housing means improving social housing, demolishing listed buildings is sensitive to the historic area. There has been a community consultation!! All of it is lies, mistruths and confusion.

This will be the last SOOT meeting before the Planning Committee, please try and come. We need to plan what happens if the Planning Committee are fooled by Mountgrange adn their own Planning officials are minded to grant permission? What do we do? And what do we do if they refuse the planning permission for some or all of the demolitions and building? We need to put our heads together to come up with a plan.

Public Meeting is at Old St Paul's Church, Jeffrey Street at 7pm (for informal chat and cup of tea) the meeting will start at 7 pm prompt on Wednesday, 30th January 2008. We'll give an update and then we need everyone's ideas so get your thinking cap on and don't be fooled by their LIES!!!

Saving Edinburgh

9 days to go before Craltongate goes before planning committee http://www.eh8.org.uk/


The Royal Mile looking down towards the Canongate by Richard Demarco.

His fears about Edinburgh losing its world Heritage Status if Caltongate was to go ahead, were aired here in a recent HeraldArticle His views on the UNESCO designation here from2002 where he says

"As the 21st century begins, one thing is certain – Edinburgh does not need a Disneyland, a city of make-believe. Edinburgh, when seen as capital of a magical land, is the real thing; Camelot under the light of common day. "

Ron Hewitt chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
said this today in the TheScotsman "If we want a developing city that lives with the times, whilst caring for its citizens and workers and respecting its historical legacy, then we need to welcome organisations with the willingness and resources to invest in it." This is the same man who in this Article
" Hewitt moved house an astonishing 28 times in 30 years. " "I'd been working, waking up at 5.30am and getting home late for 30 years. I've got a family but they grew up with, much of the time, me not seeing them. I do regret that"
So this man knows all about what its like putting roots down, being involved in your local community and caring about your local environment.

Meanwhile in todays EveNews they have reported that Jim Lowrie the current planning leader of council is under investigation by the Standards Commission, see yesterdays post for more on this.

Remember come and make your voice heard at Wednesdays Stop The Demolitions Meeting in Old saint Pauls Church Hall, Jeffrey St. Doors open 7pm meeting starts 7.30pm mapanddirections

To mark Legos` 50th Birthday Allan Murray architects knocked up this Nightmare Vision called Caltongate, which if built wouldn`t even reach its 40th birthday. Spot what is real, what has been obliterated and if at all anything you can see that would stop World Heritage Status being withdrawn?

Chair of Planning Committee Compromised

9 days to go to Planning Committee

Who is going to Chair Controversial Caltongate Committee?

Save Our Old Town Campaigners are asking who is going to chair the imminent planning committee on the 6^th February. They say that as the Planning Leader Jim Lowrie is currently under investigation for remarks in an Evening News article of 11th October 2007, it is unlikely that he could be the chair. The article was one in which former Planning Leader Trevor Davies warned city chiefs they risked sending Edinburgh into years of "dereliction and decline" by appearing hostile to major developments.

Davies who famously stuck his middle finger up at carol singing campaigners in December 2006 was himself investigated by The Standards Commission, because he attended Caltongate developer’s Champagne Reception.

'City planning leader Cllr Jim Lowrie said: "I really don't feel that we are that far behind Glasgow in terms of the speed of the planning process, but the problem in Edinburgh is the number of historic buildings and the need to address heritage concerns.

"However, we don't want to fall behind and it's very important we listen to organisations like the chamber.

"We have to get big developments like Caltongate up and running as soon as we can."'

Article at this link here

World Heritage Sites at Risk

14 days to go until planning committee SaveOurOldTown

Below is the vision for Bath..its all gone a bit Caltongate!
Well its happening elsewhere, the blatent disregard for having World Heritage Status. The beautiful city of Bath is under threat of losing their status, at the hands of Property Developers
Crest Nicolson whose PR firm appears to be none other than infamous PPS who are the spindoctors for Caltongate Developers, Mountgrange see PPSClients

Read the Icomosobjection to the Bath plans. It all sounds depressingly familiar doesn`t it? Unesco are the body responsible for World Heritage Sites. bathpreservationtrust and bathheritagewatchdog are doing their best to protect their citys` heritage.

Here its the EdinburghWorldHeritageTrust and the CockburnAssociation along with concerned citizens.

Remember to come along to The Stop The Demolitions Meeting on Wednesday 30th January in Old Saint Pauls Church Hall, Jeffrey Street see mapanddirections Teas, coffees, information from 7pm, meeting starts 7.30pm read about the very busy successful lastmeeting

Old Town not Clone Town

16 days to go until Caltongate Plans go before Council Planning Committee on the 6th Feb `08

Will we be seeing an advertisement like this soon in the Edinburgh World Heritage Site?

After all, as Caltongate Developer has told us "Caltongate is a once in a generation opportunity" In many people`s eyes Caltongate would be something this generation would pass on with heads hanging in shame. But like the buildings in yesterday`s post it would only last a couple of generations before being knocked down and replaced.

Caltongates` main architect Allan Murray has now taken his vision of glass and concrete to Glasgow`s Merchant City see HeraldArticle. See what Architects over in Glasgow think here

Read clonetownthefightback about how communities are fighting back against this blanding of their town and cities by architects like Murray, developers like Mountgrange and councils who seem to can`t get enough of this anywhere architecture as economically they love it!

Of course getting the right PR team is crucial and you need one with a motto like Mountgrange`s choice of team to get Caltongate through...

"Call PPS if ...you need to undertake community consultation or if you feel your scheme may run into political or community opposition." hotlinehere

See some of those who are up currently against this infamous pr outfit

JerichoBoatyardOxford Council rejected plans Dec 07, but developers have lodged an appeal

maerhillsactiongroup

stopstanstedexpansion

Lets continue to fight for the best for Edinburgh, come The Stop The Demolitions Meeting which is to take place on Wednesday 30th January in Old Saint Pauls Church Hall, Jeffrey Street see mapanddirections Teas, coffees, information stall from 7pm, meeting starts 7.30pm read about the very busy successful lastmeeting

Build for Old Town, not Cumbernauld

20 days to go...www.eh8.org.uk

A Stop The Demolitions Meeting is to take place on Wednesday 30th January in Old Saint Pauls, Jeffrey Street
link for map and directions

Teas, coffees, information stall from 7pm, meeting starts 7.30pm read about the very busy successful lastmeeting

This letter appears in todays Evening News.

Build for Old Town, not Cumbernauld

WITH a political decision due soon on the Caltongate plan, it is vital that councillors realise the precedent that they are deciding. There is a long queue of controversial plans piled up behind this one. Developers are waiting to see if the new administration has the political courage to assert itself on behalf of the city as Jenny Dawe has suggested it might, or if they will roll over as compliantly as the last lot to have their tummies rubbed. The main point of contention is about what development is acceptable in a World Heritage Site, or more to the point, what is a WHS for?

Popular belief has it that it is to protect a few special places, to prevent inappropriate development and to ensure that the facades and streetscape of sympathetic developments do not strike a discordant note with the overall historic ambience of the area. If WHS status cannot do this, could someone please explain what other point it has?

The developer behind the Caltongate application has chosen a lead architect who is notoriously unsympathetic to historic context for this profoundly sensitive site, an architect who is indeed celebrated for brash, modern, glass blocks. Alan Murray has predictably produced a scheme of identikit concrete and glass structures, more fitting for replacing the centre of Cumbernauld than the missing pieces of the Old Town of Edinburgh.

Had Mountgrange engaged one of several practices in Scotland specialising in conservation or heritage work, it is inconceivable that they would be confronted now with such broad and determined opposition.

In the post war years planners and councillors allowed the architects to raze acres of viable Edwardian, Victorian, Georgian and Jacobean property, built to last indefinitely with reasonable maintenance. It was replaced with unsustainable buildings using new materials and techniques. These buildings, many of which won architectural prizes at the time, now top polls for the ugliest buildings ever. Having reached the end of their brief design life 40 years on, they are now being replaced. The materials used, glass, concrete, extruded metals and hydrocarbons consumed vast amounts of energy in manufacturing and are recyclable, if at all, only at enormous expense.

Why are we locked into repeating this? Instead of single-use snapshots of architectural fashion, could we not have adaptable buildings that might have several uses over a long life? Buildings that look as though they belong in the Old Town World Heritage Site?
Ken Smillie, Jackson's Close, Edinburgh
letter here where you can leave your comments

Yesterday Tuesday 15th this letter was in The Evening News

Mountgrange plan is height of bad taste

HISTORIC Scotland has said it finds Mountgrange's Caltongate plans for the Old Town "generally acceptable" Does that mean they are going to object to certain aspects of the plans in particular?

I do hope so because as one of the many existing Old Town residents who will be deprived of not only our view of the Calton Hill but of a considerable amount of daylight should Mountgrange be allowed to build high, we are particularly concerned about the detrimental affect these buildings are going to have on our quality of life.

Has Historic Scotland given any consideration to the impact these buildings will have on the REAR of the Canongate . . . overlooking the proposed development?

If the interests of the existing residents are of no consequence then Historic Scotland and the other concerned bodies should pay heed to what will be on offer to the tourists in the future if these buildings are allowed to be built to the height at present proposed by Mountgrange.

More akin to downtown Dallas than Old Town Edinburgh!

This monstrosity exterminates the view from the Canongate to the Calton Hill, a concern expressed by the Church of Scotland, and likewise the view from the Lower Regent Road to the spine of the Royal Mile. This should be of particular concern to Historic Scotland.

I have expressed my concerns to Historic Scotland. I await with particular interest their reply.
Helene de Battista, Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh

letter here where you can leave your comments