Edinburgh World Heritage on Youtube

"To view the time-lapse film for Edinburgh World Heritage go to Film on Youtube

The following article is in today`s Evening News By ADAM MORRIS
TWO movie-making brothers who scored an unlikely internet hit have finished their new film – for an online bid to attract visitors to the Capital.
Ewen and Al Meldrum spent two years producing a "time-lapse" film, sitting in one spot for hours to take hundreds of shots of the city. As the News revealed last year, it has since become one of the most viewed Edinburgh films on video sharing website, YouTube.Now the brothers have completed their highest-profile production so far, an eight-minute time-lapse film for Edinburgh World Heritage.It is expected to be linked to tourism websites such as VisitScotland, a favourite for millions of people thinking of booking a Scottish break.Health worker Ewen, 39, said he was overwhelmed at the prospect of the latest film being viewed around the world.He said: "As it stands, we put our stuff up on YouTube which is fine, but there's no advertising with that and you just rely upon people coming across it by chance or by word of mouth."The brothers, who spend a significant chunk of their free time sitting in remote corners of Edinburgh filming the city by day and night, have also been commissioned to work for a US cable channel which wants them to film the Scottish Highlands and Islands.And, a year on from their breakthrough production – Koya Moments – Ewen said they had both learned new techniques in the filming of time-lapse movies."Before we would spend months doing it, but we learned a few techniques that speed things up and we were able to finish the Edinburgh World Heritage film in around seven weeks," he said. "We were filming around the time when a lot of roadworks were coming in and bits of the city being dug up so it became problematic towards the end."The latest film focuses on the public spaces of Edinburgh and how peo
ple relate to them, mixed in with some beautiful shots of the Capital's famous landmarks. The brothers – who work under the name Meltec – completed the film in time for last week's World Heritage Day.David Hicks, communications manager for EWH, said it would be a huge asset for the organisation. He said: "It's a fantastic piece of work and shows Edinburgh in a wonderful light."The idea is to get across how public spaces are just as important to Edinburgh's World Heritage status as the landmarks, and how people react to public spaces and what they do in them. This film ties in perfectly with that."There is one scene in particular with a perfect crescent moon descending over the Castle which is my favourite."

World Heritage Day

Had a few days off the blog, as its been a very busy time organising The Canongate Project, more on that below.

Lets hope World Heritage Day today brings hope and real solutions, action to take - to those in rural environments, villages, towns, cities, and countries all over the world who`s very uniqueness, heritage, culture and communities are under enormous threat from the fearless march of progress in the name of regeneration and redevelopment, breathing new life, you know the stock phrases that are used time and time again to make vast profit for the very few at the expense of the many. More on the day here

Flags fly for World Heritage Day

on the BBC website

Flags will be flown from each level of the Scott Monument
Fifty flags of World Heritage Site countries are to be flown from the Scott Monument.
Friday's spectacle, to coincide with the firing of the One O'Clock Gun, marks World Heritage Day.
Volunteers will carry flags to the four levels of the monument and at the sound of the gun will display them from its viewing galleries. City culture leader Deidre Brock said: "The Scott Monument will be full of colour for 15 minutes." She added: "So it really will be worth stopping to look up right after the One O'Clock Gun. "Flags will fly from the bottom right to the top so people will be able to see from some distance, in fact it's worth a visit after the event because a climb to the top offers some of the best panoramic views in the city." The display will be followed by a public seminar at the Storytelling Centre on the value the World Heritage status brings to the city with speakers including director of Edinburgh World Heritage Adam Wilkinson, Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe and John Graham, chief executive of Historic Scotland.

Edinburgh World Heritage Trust Historic Scotland

Canongate Community Doing it for Themselves

Press Release 17/04/08

Canongate Community Forum is proud to present an innovative 6 week long project to document the historic heart of Edinburgh ’s Old Town , an area that is the focus of a hugely controversial re-development plan.

The launch of the programme on April 18th coincides with World Heritage Day, commemorated around the world which offers the opportunity to debate issues of world heritage and how it can be protected and conserved.

Full Programme Here in PDF

The Canongate Project has been made possible through a grant from the Scottish Communities Action Research Fund (SCARF) and features an in-depth documentation of the area and its people, seminar’s and talks from a range of bodies and individuals, community based activates such as banner making and a film festival, culminating in a street party on Saturday 28th June.

Scotland’s internationally renowned arts impresario Richard Demarco begins the programme with his talk “A Portrait of Edinburgh as a World Heritage Site” on Monday 5th May 2pm, booking is advised for this and all other talks and walks which will prove to be popular.

The Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, The Cockburn Association and other conservation and community focused organisations will be among other talks.

Common Good expert Andy Wightman is one of the many gathering for the Common Good Day Scotland on Saturday May 24th. Campaigners from all over the country will be discussing and making plans to continue the reclaiming of land and assets belonging to the people of Scotland .

Canongate Community Forum secretary and Save Our Old Town campaigner Sally Richardson said; “We are proud to be presenting a packed programme of events and activities as part of the Canongate Project. “During the 6 weeks Edinburgh ’s historic Old Town will have its life and people documented by the community along with activities everyone can get involved in.”

Canongate Community Forum Website

SOOT Fundraiser tonight 14th march

Get yourself along to The Canon`s Gait Cellar Bar tonight from 8pm til 1am. Map

Acts so far include ,Missing Cat , David McGinty
Andrew Gordon and Sabai

From Yesterdays Eve News
Caltongate
'a threat to world heritage status'
AN architectural historian who has demanded a European investigation into the £300 million Caltongate scheme has warned that losing the city's world heritage status is a "very real prospect". David Black has contacted the European Commission with allegations that the city council broke competition laws over the sale of land for the massive project. Mr Black has raised a number of concerns over the council's handling of the scheme.

As a result, campaigners have vowed to lobby Unesco's heritage arm in a bid to place the Capital on an "endangered" list. The international council on monuments and sites has also said it is "appropriate" for Unesco to examine the scheme. But developer Mountgrange has insisted there is no justification for an investigation, and has called the threat of losing status a "wild suggestion".

There is a poll on the article`s page to the right hand side which you can vote on which asks you -

Are you pleased that councillors have approved the Caltongate scheme?
Yes, Edinburgh has to change to survive and thrive
Yes, as long as the Royal Mile tenements are preserved
No, it’s architectural vandalism on a grand scale

There was bad news for the Save Meadowbank Campaigners as MEADOWBANK Stadium is to be demolished and a third of the site sold off to pay for a new £25 million centre following a vote by city councillors. The decision was reached last night, despite protests from campaigners battling to save the site. Read more Eve News

Someone has left the following comment on the Caltongate article

"Caltongate, the Waterfront, leisure facilities, wanton disregard for Common Good land and assets, parks and open spaces. Why dont all the groups get together and have a "Reclaim our City for the Citizens" movement? I'd join."

They have a point, what is the future for those who live in the capital all year round? Are we to go and be replaced by hotels, conference centres, office blocks and become a city who forgot its most important asset, her people?

The following letter in todays Eve News adds to this

YOUR article on figures released by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (Holyrood's £100,000 window cleaning bill, News, March 11) reveals the amount spent each year cleaning the windows of The Scottish Parliament.

It is obscene that this can happen in a city where the council has recently downgraded pensioners' meal provision from fresh food, to microwaved instant garbage, in order to save money.

If the building is still here in the year 6608 we will have spent what the building originally cost in just cleaning its damned windows! Not that the Scottish Parliament building will be here in 6608 . . . nor 2033 probably. Like anything else put up in Edinburgh these days it will be lucky to last 30 years before we pull it down before it falls down.

If the MSPs had been content with the debating chamber, offices and splendour of the Royal High, and the nearby working accommodation of old St Andrews House, the fabric of the buildings would outlast the institution of Parliament using them.

We desperately need architects and developers with the bravery to build for a long future, not Caltongate carpetbaggers who take the money and run. Mind you, as soon as the powers-that-be realise that the Parliament, Caltongate and the new council HQ, will be tottering wrecks when the old council building on the High Street will still have 200 years left in it, they'll probably knock that down too.

What is it about longevity in a building that offends the planner, architect and developer so?

Questions That Demand Answers

Save Our Old Town Campaign

After yesterdays misleading article, The Evening News has at least printed part of the other side, which isn`t fuelled by Mountgrange`s PR machine headed by former council leader Donald Anderson Calls continue for Caltongate public inquiry

But here are some of the questions that need to be raised and which could be answered at an Inquiry What You Can Do Here

1. Complaints have been made to both the Competition DG and the Internal market DG of the EU Commission, because of the extent that Mountgrange Caltongate Ltd may have been provided with privileged access and offered exclusive consideration in pursuance of its commercial objectives, it follows that competing bidders, both actual and potential, have been unlawfully discriminated against, and public resources unlawfully exposed to risk in this case. Caltongate Given A Black Mark

2. A clear breach of Article 7 of the applicable code of conduct as set by the Standards Commission (Scotland) in the case of Planning Committee convenor Jim Lowrie.
The code states that a breach has been committed where a planning committee member expresses a prior public view ahead of a decision being taken, or where a member has lobbied, either overtly or covertly, for a particular interest group or to the commercial benefit of a particular applicant. In Article 11th Oct 07 it says

“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."

Given the views expressed by Councillor Lowrie in the Edinburgh Evening News of 11th October 2007 there was clear evidence of such a breach in the public domain, and in the circumstances the convenor should have been removed from his office with immediate effect.

The Council’s failure to apply article 7 of the code in this instance would appear to call into question the validity of the vote and subsequent award of the planning consent to Mountgrange Caltongate Ltd, and should be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

The economic relationship between the council and the developer in this case has the characteristics of an institutionalised public-private partnership.


3. The recent report in The Times about Mountgrange`s donation to the Labour Party,
Mountgrange donate to Labour Party

which questions the fact that the Department of Trade and Industry, when it was being headed by the present Chancellor, Alistair Darling, assisted with the funding for an investigation into the project’s proposed heating system.


4. The statements of Historic Scotland chief inspector, Malcolm Cooper given his relationship with Mountgrange’s Mr Manish Chande Historic Scotland and Caltongate


5. The actions of Donald Anderson during his period as council leader should also be scrutinised, given his individual relationship with Mountgrange’s Mr Manish Chande.
Champagne Donation Under Fire


6. The very real prospect of the loss of World Heritage status for the city, see Dresden’s recent experience, arising from a proposal to build a bridge over the River Elbe.
More Here

7. And a question that so many people are asking - why is it that one architect, Allan Murray, seems to be involved with virtually every key project within the World Heritage Site, as well as Caltongate?
Caltongate or Edinburgh Must Die


8. The pro-active role of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce in promoting the development
Mountgrange`s Manish Chande is head of their property portfolio group see page 4 of their magazine
Chambers Magazine and in Evening News Today Ron Hewitt of Chambers Roots For Caltongate

Each daily blog we will try to highlight a campaign or two locally or nationally..

Todays campaign has my 5 year old son`s favourite car mad Jeremy Clarkson supporting the campaign to stop a demolition in Devon Brunel Builing Totnes

Where are the big names for Edinburgh when she needs them?

How You Can Stop The Wrecking Ball

Save Our Old Town Campaign

what would be lost

To Stop Caltongate individuals and organisations need to

1. Write to the following Scottish Ministers urging them that Caltongate be called in and determination sought through a public inquiry

Cabinet Secretary John Swinney Minister for - Finance & Sustainable Growth

Linda Fabiani - Minister for Europe, External Affairs Affairs & Culture

More on their responsibilities here Scottish Government

you can email them at this address marking your letters for the attention of each individual minister scottish.ministers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Write to them at
St Andrew`s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh EH1 3DG

2. You should also write to your constituency and regional MSPs find them here MSP FINDER by your postcode urging them that Caltongate should be called in and a Public Inquiry held.

3. You can also write to your MP and MEPS Find MP and MEPS (Scottish ones are listed even although it doesn’t say on home page, you just enter your postcode and they will appear)

4. You could also write to your local councillor(s) (although yours may be one of the planning committee that voted the plans through on the 6th Feb! (check here) asking them to write to The Scottish Government to press for for call in and determination through the Public Inquiry System.

All councillors emails or write to them C/O The City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ Find your councillors

Among points you could make are the following, do add your own and include any material you feel important, especially if you think it hasn`t been considered, and do let others know they can do this too.

It is understood that all the Caltongate Planning Applications must be sent to ministers under the Notification of Applications procedures for a number of reasons -

1. The council has a significant financial interest in the proposed applications and stands to receive financial payment on the delivery of planning consent.

2. The proposals ( in particular the demolition of structurally sound, in use buildings, both listed and unlisted in an Outstanding Conservation Area and World Heritage Site) conflict with key policies contained in the approved Structure and Local Plans and as such is a significant departure from the Development Plan.

3. There have been a significant level of objections received from community organisations and heritage groups in addition to the numerous individuals.

4. New legislation, policies, planning guidence is at a crucial stage and the proposals could set a dangerous precedent which would prejudice the effectiveness of these new policies.

5. The Caltongate Masterplan has been imbedded in the Finalised Local Plan for the area which has provoked many objections which have been requested to be heard at a LPI. The protection of listed and unlisted buildings, reference to the World Heritage Site, protection of housing and has yet to be tested through the Development Plan process.

6. The consultation process has been heavily critisised as not being inclusive, balanced or transparent and conflicts with new government guidance on growing community assets, partnership working, and community engagement.

7. The site lies in an area with international importance, a World Heritage Site.

8. This is a crucial time to send out the right message to developers.

9. The claimed economic benefits of the scheme could equally be made for a far more appropriate scheme, retaining homes and listed buildings, and with a far less detrimental impact on the WHS.

You should also write to ICOMOS UK as its ICOMOS who advises UNESCO

International Council on Monuments & Sites UK, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ

Email
admin@icomos-uk.org

You could also inform UNESCO

The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.

Edinburgh`s Inscription

Edinburgh World Heritage Trust

Private individuals, non-governmental organizations, or other groups can draw the World Heritage Committee's attention to existing threats. If the alert is justified and the problem serious enough, the Committee may consider including the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

To inform the World Heritage Committee about threats to sites, you may contact the Committee's Secretariat at:

E-mail: wh-info@unesco.org

World Heritage CentreUNESCO7, place de Fontenoy75352, Paris, 07 SPFrance

Prince Charles Says NO to Caltongate

5 days to go until planning decision on Caltongate http://www.eh8.org.uk/

Yesterday Prince Charles addressed a conference of architects and planners at St James’s Palace, some of what he said -

"Thus, in chasing the corporate tenant or the buy-to-let investor, we may not only be destroying our heritage, but killing the goose that lays the golden egg for we will destroy what makes our cities and towns so attractive to tourists in the process."

"There is a very real and urgent risk looming over us that in the drive to make historic cities like London and Edinburgh “world cities” in the commercial sense, we simply make them more like every other city in the world and in so doing dishonour and discredit their status, character and local distinctiveness.

In “A Vision of Britain,” I suggested that the impact of new buildings could be softened by an acceptance of the existing street rhythms and plot sizes and that the buildings in a city such as London, Edinburgh or even Bath or Ealing are the individual brushstrokes of a grand composition, which works because all the participants understood the basic rules and “grammar,” with harmony being the pleasing result.

This lesson is, I believe, still as relevant today as it was in the Enlightenment, when builders sought to remake their cities to compete on a new stage. For the past sixty years or so we have been conducting an experiment in social and environmental engineering that has gone disastrously wrong."

Corporate and residential towers are being proposed across London, and overshadowing World Heritage sites from Edinburgh to Bath – this audience will not need reminding of the fact that the World Heritage status of sites such as Edinburgh’s old city, the Tower of London and Westminster have all been challenged by U.N.E.S.C.O. due to new construction in recent years. And so they should be, as there is no point at all in having a World Heritage site unless it retains its unique integrity. There are, after all, other areas where such tall buildings could be accommodated within their own context.

"For some unaccountable reason we seem to be determined to vandalise these few remaining sites which retain the kind of human scale and timeless character that so attract people to them."

He said: 'We should surely be asking whether it is a natural prerequisite of "being modern" to display bad manners? Is it "being modern", for instance to vandalise the few remaining relatively unspoilt, beautiful areas of our cities, any more than it would be "modern" to mug defenceless elderly people? Can it not be modern to do unto others as you would have them do to you?'

See fullspeechhere

Back in May 2006 A Speech Prince Charles made at The World Heritage Cities Conference

EdinburghSpeech where he said - To achieve the delivery of these principles, an essential factor is, if at all possible, to allow those who will live in the community an opportunity to participate in the planning process for, as Patrick Geddes said, "town planning. . .must be folk-planning.".

The fightback begins read here what Malcolm Fraser he of the proposed carbuncle at Caltongate to the left - on carbuncles...

says about Prince Charles speech BDOnline

see articles Guardian

Times ArchitectsJournal

Read what one architect Chipperfield thinks, in an article The shame of British Architecture
“We are a country that values money and individualism. Architecture becomes glorified property development, not valued culture. Ten storeys? Try for 20. Squeeze in more bedrooms." Article

EdinburghLost

Edinburgh is a prosperous and expanding city, developed from a small community spawned on a narrow rock to become the Capital of Scotland. From its mean beginnings - 'wretched accommodation, no comfortable houses, no soft beds' visiting French knights complained in 1341 - it went on to attract some of the world's greatest architects to design and build and shape a unique city. But over the centuries many of those fine buildings have gone. Invasion and civil strife played their part. Some simply collapsed of old age and neglect, others were swept away in the 'improvements' of the nineteenth century. Yet more fell to the developers' swathe of destruction in the twentieth century. Few were immune as much of the medieval architectural history vanished in the Old Town; Georgian Squares were attacked; Princes Street ruined; old tenements razed in huge slum clearance drives, and once familiar and much loved buildings vanished. The changing pattern of industry, social habits, health service, housing and road systems all took their toll. Not even the city wall was immune. The buildings which stood in the way of what was deemed progress are the heritage of Lost Edinburgh., and its not slowing down.

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?

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

Man bites Dog - Developers greeting cause they cannae dae what they want

Crickey - you couldn't make it up. What a lot of nonsense Edinburgh would not be recognised by someone who hadn't been here for twenty years - Greenside, Leith, Tollcross, Quarter Mile, Morrison Street, Lothian Road, Fountain Bridge, South Gyle, Edinburgh Park, Kinning Park, Hermiston Gate etc etc etc etc (as the King of Siam would say)- development all over the place!! Edinburgh is a modern city and there is no point scare scaremongering over this. If there are developments to be done in the world heritage site then there have to be caveats, the Old Town and the New Town have always been evolving but we don't need to evolve into a steel and concrete monstrosity on the altar of the God of Profit, Greed and Modernity.

City fears strict planning rules will chase developers away

BRIAN FERGUSON (bferguson@scotsman.com )

A MAJOR review of Edinburgh's planning regulations has been ordered in the wake of fears the capital risks losing out on major investment to Glasgow.

Jenny Dawe, the council leader, pledged to ensure the city's vast number of listed buildings and its array of conservation areas did not "inhibit" its development and economic growth.

Developers believe the city's UNESCO World Heritage status is used as an excuse for the amount of time it takes to deliver major schemes - and the protracted negotiations involved.

Officials have been asked to look at loosening restrictions, particularly in the World Heritage site, to help speed through big developments.

Now councillors are to get special training in the needs of developers and the importance of the city's economic growth in a bid to prevent major schemes being held up or blocked on the personal whims of councillors.

The council is under pressure from both sides over schemes such as the Caltongate development off the Royal Mile, the creation of a hotel in the Haymarket area and the city's waterfront.

Heritage groups have condemned the approval of a number of big schemes in the city in recent years, including the redevelopment of the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the building of a new hotel on the Lawnmarket, because of their scale and design.

However, the property sector believes the city compares poorly with Glasgow, which promotes itself as "the most developer-friendly city in the UK".

Ms Dawe announced the capital's response to a gathering of the city's business community.

"Edinburgh faces the unique planning challenges of our World Heritage status, the huge number of listed buildings and several very large conservation areas," she said. "I've asked officers to review the raft of guidelines to ensure these do not inhibit progress and development in Edinburgh.

"We need to strike the correct balance between encouraging desirable development and protecting what makes Edinburgh so special."

Ron Hewitt, the chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "Manchester and Glasgow are both doing huge amounts of work to encourage development, and that's just not been happening in Edinburgh, where there's been a lack of vision and leadership.

"Glasgow is much more developer-friendly."

Cameron Stott, a director of the property firm Jones Lang LaSalle Edinburgh, said: "Edinburgh is a World Heritage site and we, quite rightly, must protect this status. However, there are plenty of examples around the world where a historic city embraces contemporary architecture and new development.

"If the new council does not encourage development, the city will not flourish."