The Great Calton & Gate Swindle continues

Yes, The Development that incriminates it`s fans..., is back this season with a new song for them "dig, dig, dig, dig digging, dig an escape route for me"

The story so far

and today`s Evening News has a piece questioning the development???

They are in a hole so keep digging!

Edinburgh Council Face Legal Action Over Caltongate

Edinburgh faces legal action over Caltongate developmentEuropean commission rules council illegally sold off area on Royal Mile at the heart of city's World Heritage site

remember these?


The Guardian 16th April 2010
Edinburgh council faces legal action after the European commission ruled it illegally sold land at the centre of an international row over the protection of the city's historic buildings, the Guardian can reveal.

The Scottish capital has already been criticised by Unesco, the United Nations culture agency, after the council approved plans for a £300m hotel and offices development at Caltongate on the medieval Royal Mile, which lies at the heart of the city's World Heritage site.

Senior council officials have been told that the European commission has decided it breached a number of European laws by selling the Caltongate site to the developer Mountgrange for £5m without putting the land – a former bus depot which sits next to Waverley station – out for sale on the open market.

In a letter passed to the Guardian, an official in the internal markets directorate discloses that the commission will start infringement proceedings for breaching regulations on public procurement, as well as breaking rules on equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency. Under European law the proceedings are formally taken against the UK government.

The action follows a complaint from an architectural writer and historian, David Black, a founder of the Old Town Trust. "The mismanagement of Edinburgh is becoming quite legendary," he said.

"Edinburgh's reputation is already being trashed by these people, they're just incompetent."

The Caltongate proposal has been bitterly opposed by residents, architectural heritage groups and politicians. They have complained about the demolition of listed buildings, the eviction of families in affected properties and the designs of planned hotel and businesses.

Unesco's World Heritage committee said in 2008 that it "deeply regrets" the council's decision to approve the project, warning that it would ruin the medieval area's unique streetscape, damaging the Old Town's "integrity". It sent inspectors to investigate the project and several other major developments in the city.

The site is now up for sale by HBOS after Mountgrange went into administration last year, owing the bank £73m. Six new developers are said to be competing to buy the site.

George Kerevan, a former Labour councillor who is standing in Edinburgh East for the Scottish National party, said the legal action should make the council and HBOS pause for thought, halt the sale and redesign the entire project.

"I was never happy with scheme: it ripped so much of the fabric of the Old Town away," he said. "This EU intervention allows us the chance to rethink the scheme in a way that involves the local community."

A council spokesman said: "The council has always paid due regard to its legal obligations but recognises the European commission's right to investigate the matter and is currently preparing a response. With the site currently in the hands of administrators we fully expect to enter into a new agreement once a preferred bidder has been announced."

Down Memory Lane

Yes, it was a year ago that the UNESCO delegation visited our fine city, in this weeks Guardian there is an article looking at Bath and her struggle to keep her outstanding universal values in the face of the onslaught of inappropriate development. Article here

The following is from the piece on Edinburgh

Dresden proves that Unesco has teeth; the city's loss of status may well affect tourist revenue and inward investment. And this year, a Unesco report on Edinburgh (its Old and New Towns have heritage status), has prompted the collapse of two new developments: a 17-storey hotel, and Caltongate, a complex incorporating a hotel, conference centre, 200 flats and offices, which would have entailed the demolition of listed buildings. True, the recession has played a part, too: the developer for Caltongate, Mountgrange Capital, has gone into receivership. But if the development has been knocked on the head, Unesco has played its part.

BBC piece here from March 2009 Caltongate Developers in administration

Unesco meet Seville

The World Heritage Committee is currently meeting for its 33rd session in Seville, Spain from 22-30 June. During the session, the Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List and examine the state of conservation of sites already inscribed on the List. The Committee is chaired by H. E. Mrs María Jesús San Segundo, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Spain to UNESCO.

The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, elected by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention.

Remember this headline from earlier this month....

Unesco insists Capital must scrap £300m Caltongate scheme

in The Scotsman from the piece -

"A £300 MILLION development in Edinburgh's historic Old Town has been thrown deeper into chaos after Unesco inspectors demanded council leaders have the whole scheme returned to the drawing board.

Councillors are set to face international condemnation at a world heritage summit in Seville next month after a damning report urged wholescale changes be made to the Caltongate scheme – even though it has received final approval from the Scottish Government."

" Leaked documents obtained by The Scotsman reveal that heritage inspectors are demanding a reprieve for two listed buildings threatened with demolition, the scrapping of a modern building which would have blocked views from Jeffrey Street, and a full review of how the development would impact on views from Calton Hill."

"The council is expected to face a major dilemma over the future of the site if Unesco's world heritage committee approves the report's recommendations, as expected. The local authority has had two other major developments called in for public inquiries within the past few months, as well as having to deal with a Unesco investigation triggered last summer."

Remember this after the Unesco delegation visit Unesco slam city on Caltongate

UNESCO yesterday criticised Edinburgh council's handling of the Caltongate development and said the demolition of two listed buildings could have been avoided, The Scotsman can reveal.

Its European heritage chief, Dr Mechtild Rössler, condemned the council for allowing the London developer Mountgrange to draw up the initial blueprint for the huge Old Town site, by Waverley Station."

"Jim Lowrie, Edinburgh city council's planning leader, admitted the local authority could be left in a "tricky position" if the council's handling of Mountgrange was strongly criticised and asked for a response."

"However, Mountgrange has launched an attack on Unesco, the world heritage body, branding it an "irrelevance" and saying it is not interested in its views on the £300 million development." (did he really say that?)

The firm said it has no intention of postponing the start of work until after next summer's World Heritage summit, in Seville, discusses Edinburgh.

A spokesman Mark Cummings of Never Beaten PR said a "dangerous precedent" would be set if a major developer had to wait until Unesco had delivered its judgment, and insisted that Mountgrange had no intention of changing its scheme, even if key criticisms were made by Unesco." Mountgrange in administration

They will be discussing Edinburgh either tomorrow or Thursday.

If only ..............

Unlike a city in China desperate to achieve World Heritage Status which is chopping the tops off skyscrapers, we have been spared this drastic action to preserve our status with the demise of Calotongate. The UNESCO report said to be damning of the proposed project and its handling by the City of Edinburgh Council will be published in a couple of months time.

Read this article written in August 2005 perhaps Caltongate developers Mountgrange should have read it before they arrived in the city the same year

From the article -

"And it isn’t just the residential market that will be in trouble. The commercial property sector also has an ominous feel about it. Speculative skyscrapers are going up as much because of their iconic appearance as for the economics of the tenanted sector, and more and more capital is being tied up in real estate rather than put to work in research and development. All over Europe too, money that should be funding the factories and infrastructure that would raise EU productivity is instead seeking out windfall gains in real estate. This will also end in tears and the net result will be the arrival of recession by 2010, something that may well be aggravated in Britain by a new ‘land tax’."

This great photographic website gives a good overall view of when Mountgrange appeared in 2005

UNESCO Slams City on Caltongate

Watch Jim Lowrie In Action Here

By Brian Ferguson The Scotsman Today Full Article Here

from the article -
"UNESCO yesterday criticised Edinburgh council's handling of the Caltongate development and said the demolition of two listed buildings could have been avoided, The Scotsman can reveal.

Its European heritage chief, Dr Mechtild Rössler, condemned the council for allowing the London developer Mountgrange to draw up the initial blueprint for the huge Old Town site, by Waverley Station."

"Jim Lowrie, Edinburgh city council's planning leader, admitted the local authority could be left in a "tricky position" if the council's handling of Mountgrange was strongly criticised and asked for a response."

"However, Mountgrange has launched an attack on Unesco, the world heritage body, branding it an "irrelevance" and saying it is not interested in its views on the £300 million development."

The firm said it has no intention of postponing the start of work until after next summer's World Heritage summit, in Seville, discusses Edinburgh.

A spokesman Mark Cummings of Never Beaten PR said a "dangerous precedent" would be set if a major developer had to wait until Unesco had delivered its judgment, and insisted that Mountgrange had no intention of changing its scheme, even if key criticisms were made by Unesco."

Also today Scotsman Burning Issue

Should Unesco be more in touch with modern urban planning reality? (odd question??)

Yes

RON HEWITT Chief executive, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce (remember Manish Chande, Caltongate Developer, is the chambers property portfolio Head!)

THE recent visit of the Unesco delegation was a welcome opportunity for the directors of the World Heritage Committee to assure themselves regarding the situation

on the ground. That Dr (Mechtild] Rössler, in summing up, saw no reason to report Edinburgh's World Heritage status being at risk is welcomed by the business community. The existing environment is a key reason why developers want to invest in our city. And if we want them to do so we must have attitudes that make investors welcome.We don't agree the city is in a polarised debate about the issue.

Whenever we meet with heritage groups we are able to have open conversations about a joint interest – preserving and developing one of the finest cities in Europe. Has this underlying commonality ruled the roost of the planning process? No! Should it? Yes! Do we need a better planning process to make applications run more smoothly? Yes! And it has arrived. It is called the Planning Act Scotland 2006 and it stipulates that community consultation should precede the hearing of applications in the council's planning committee.

It is interesting that Dr Rössler seemed unaware of these provisions. We explained the delays in bringing in regulations to implement the act are occasioned by a lengthy period of consultation – just what has been asked for all along. Dr Rössler told us Unesco has no interest in (or resources to deliver) vetting of planning applications in Edinburgh. Historic Scotland (legally) performs the function of overseeing our historic environment. We will continue to work with that organisation and other heritage bodies.

No

SALLY RICHARDSON spokeswoman, Save Our Old Town Campaign

WORLD Heritage status is awarded on consideration by the World Heritage Committee (a committee of member nations of Unesco) on the recommendation of the International Commission on Monuments and Sites. Nominations are put forward by national governments (in this case the UK government), often at the suggestion of a national institution (in this case, the City of Edinburgh Council). The World Heritage Centre is an admin body for the UN World Heritage Convention, to which the UK is a signatory.

Unesco was formed in a spirit of encouraging international understanding and peace, through co-operation in the realm of education, science and culture. World Heritage Sites are an important part of this, encouraging nations to understand the values that they share with others across the globe: what Edinburgh and, say, Peru's Machu Picchu have in common may not be obvious immediately, but then you begin to understand how another culture produced – or came to value – a site, and realise that how they value that place is not very different from us.

To say World Heritage Status is irrelevant to Edinburgh is to say that Edinburgh has no relevance to the rest of humanity and, if removed, that its outstanding universal value has been significantly reduced. At present, the site remains of huge international significance and interest – key to this is its juxtaposition of the organic medieval Old Town and the carefully planned and designed 18th and 19th century New Town. Those calling on World Heritage Status to be dropped, or just ignored, need to open their minds, and perhaps also their hearts, to everything that makes Edinburgh special."