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."

What The Dickens??

"You`ve got to knock a building down or two"

Well, like we often say here, you just couldn`t make it up....Manish Chande (above left with Mark Cummings his spin doctor) yes the infamous, London based speculative property developer who emptied homes and businesses in the pursuit of his wealth, aided and abbetted by other greedy people commissioned the great, great, grand daughter of Charles Dickens to paint his skewed vision of Edinburgh and the area he wanted to destroy in the Old Town with the scheme that was known as "Caltongate"









see the paintings for sale or rent here , there is no sign of the one with Manish in front of his lost empire....remember this Caltongate King Heads for Victory, and yes Mr Chande, you blatently lied in this piece


a modern day Dickens Classic in the making



Lies, greed, deceipt, hypocrisy, double standards, treating those with less with contempt.. the list is endless..corruption, selling off the family silver.......to be continued..

Its snow more for Caltongate...

View yesterday over the Canongate Venture, you can see the New Street site to the right...and unfortunately you can see the mother ship of the cooncil to the left in the 2nd photo

See latest on the news that council are finally considering what the public have been saying for months...more snowy photos later...and great news here for Lancaster, check out the news on this blog.

Caltongate Hokey Cokey

Well you just could not make it up, you just couldn't.  After saying just last week "we've got a buyer - honestly, we really have", it turns out the council are looking at renting out their work/office space at Canongate Venture and their empty flats in the Canongate!  It's Caltongate Christmas Hokey Cokey - the council are "in - out - shake it all about - you do the hokey cokey then you turn around, that's what it's all about -see!"

Check out tonight's story in the Evening News here


However questions still need to be asked, why then last month did council high heid yins tell Old Town residents that the tenement flats were not loosing any money because they were on a "void account"?

Mr Lowrie's nose will be getting bigger - the council still owns the majority of the land, the buildings and the homes, they do not belong to the administrators.  They hope that voiding them will make the Bank of Scotland's gap site more attractive to a developer, and that is what DeLoitte the administrator hope too i.e. look at all the viable land/buildings around the gap site, what a lovely opportunity.


The council should admit that they made a terrible mistake to be taken in my confidence tricksters against the community and conservationists who tried every trick in the book to tell them that Caltongate was a dystopia and a con.



With hundreds of thousands of pounds spent every month on putting homeless people in bed and breakfast accommodation - putting the flats back into use even as temporary accommodation will be welcomed. Though in the longer term the Republic would like to see secure tenures in the Macrae tenements.

Caltongate Panto to return for the next decade

Yes, hold the front page...Jim Lowrie rings The Scotsman and hey presto his makey uppy story appears as if by magic, with no word from the others that Brian Ferguson had to ring to make it appear there was some truth in the story...well it is panto time, remember this panto dame from December 2006, oh another chair of the "we love our property developer pals" planning committee at the comedy city chambers...

So back for another season is the old favourite THE COUNCIL`S NEW MASTERPLAN

Get your panstick back out Trevor..

Twelve Days of Christmas 2009

It is almost that time of year once again, time for a trip down memory lane........or have they privatised that now???

A SENIOR city councillor has landed himself in hot water by making an obscene one-fingered gesture to carol-singing protesters.
Remember this from December 2006?
Full story here -Councillor in One Finger Salute

Below is one of the carols adapted and sung by a group of Save Our Old Town Campaigners as councillors, architects and other wanabees entered a champagne reception hosted by Caltongate Developers Mountgrange at The Fruitmarket Gallery on Market Street, close to the proposed development.

Mountgrange director Manish Chande, lied in the press in May 2008. He claimed that the wife of Trevor Davies had verbal abuse shouted at her from one of the carol singing campaingers . We are still awaiting a retraction of this blatent lie.Full story here

On the twelfth day of Christmas my council sent to me :

Twelve diggers digging

Eleven planners planning
Ten global chain stores
Nine builders building

Eight PR spinners Seven legal experts


Six cows a conning

A five star hotel
Four wrecking balls

Three cheap homes

Two office blocks

and Mountgrange now in admin....is...tra...tion

Silent Walk for Justice 4th Dec Royal Mile 3pm

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the late Annie Jansson who along with many others are taking part in the second year of The Silent Walk for Justice this Friday the 4 Dec 2009 , from St Giles to the Parliament. Assemble 3pm onwards.

We met Maria and Guje in May last year when one of the Common Good campaigners introduced them to us during The Canongate Project. It was important for them to meet people who live and or work in The Old Town, where Annie spent the last few months of her life.

Maria and Guje are campaining to find out the truth about what happened to Maria`s daughter Annie who was found dead on the shore in Prestwick 4 dec 2005. Annie worked at the Scottish Whisky Experience (at the Castle) during the summer 2005.

She loved the Old Town of Edinburgh . Her mother Maria and friend Guje know that Annie visited shops and restaurants etc along the Royal Mile and are convinced that there are people out there that Annie spoke with and we hope to find them since they can have very important information regarding Annies last days in life.

On Friday the 2nd Dec 2005 Annie visited some friends at the Whisky Experience, no one knows where Annie went after she left her friends at the Experience.

Hopefully some one will remember something.