Residents claim the ‘heart of Edinburgh’ is being ripped out by the development of public land in the Old Town, with the community – and the area’s world heritage status – under threat

As you jostle your way down Edinburgh’s busy Royal Mile, the iconic thoroughfare of the Scottish capital’s breathtaking Old Town, it’s easy to miss the symbolic heart of the city unless you happen to glance down.



The heart of Midlothian, a mosaic of cobbles under foot, marks the entrance of the Old Tolbooth, the former administrative centre and notorious jail where prisoners were executed up until the 19th century. It’s also a reminder that this is the historic centre of not only Edinburgh, but the nation.

Just around the corner is the Central Library, opened in 1890. Above its arched entrance is the motto: “Let there be light.”

But that light is now in jeopardy, according to campaigners. They are protesting against development plans for a 235-bedroom hotel, restaurant, bar and retail space that will take over a site at the back of the library, on the Old Town’s lower level street, the Cowgate.

Campaigners see the plans – which include no additional housing or community spaces – as further proof of the over-development and gentrification of this part of the city, already bristling with bars, restaurants, clubs and hotels, which make up a Unesco world heritage site.

The £65m development proposal includes the historic cluster known as India Buildings, which stretch around the corner of quaint Victoria Street, across from the Grassmarket. Developer Jansons Property argues the scheme will help attract millions of pounds in visitor spending and bring new jobs to the area. It will also bring the A-listed India Buildings themselves back into use for the first time in 10 years, as well as two other listed buildings. “There are many positive aspects to this project,” says Colin Smith, director of Turley, who acted as planning consultants on the project.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Let there be light’: Edinburgh Central Library. Photograph: John Lawson/Belhaven/Getty Images

But for locals it will mean the loss of land that was originally bequeathed to the city as space for a possible extension of the public library; one which many argue is badly needed. They claim the development, which reaches nine storeys at its highest point, will lower light levels within the library by as much as 80%, though developers say it will be far less.

The development will also see the closure of the Edinburgh Access Practice, a drop-in NHS GP practice for some of the city’s most marginalised communities, including homeless people and those with mental health problems and substance addictions. Though plans suggest another city centre location will be found, those working for and using the practice are uncertain about its future. One worker tells me the homeless people he works with are “voiceless” here.

But others are trying to raise their voices as loudly as possible. It’s a Saturday in late August, and across the road from the India Buildings, in a packed room at the Grassmarket Community Project, campaigners, locals and experts are gathered to discuss how best to make themselves heard. Though planning permission for the new hotel has been granted, they are trying to ensure the amenities remain in the hands of those who should benefit.



The event is part of Our Land – a Scotland-wide festival running until mid-September to raise awareness of the need for land reform. The agenda here is about ensuring available land is used for public good.

“There is a strong feeling among the Old Town community that there has been over-development – there are too many hotels,” says veteran land reformer and Green MSP Andy Wightman, who is one of the Our Land festival organisers. “It feels like this one is the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Simon Byrom, a member of the local community council who has lived on the fringes of the Old Town for most of his life, is one of six people camping out in the site in protest today. He says the heart of the area is slowly being ripped out.

Byrom is the last owner-occupier on his stairwell; others are Airbnb flats, second homes or student lets. “We are heading to a place where we have little in the way of community any more,” he says.

Locals suggested that the gap site could host a community centre and garden and have even looked at the possibility of crowdfunding a buyout. “But the council seems to only listen to commercial interests, not those of the local community,” he says.

“That land had been set aside for the Central Library,” Byrom explains. “The library was very specifically built with the intention of its extending. The motto ‘Let there be light’ tapped into the idea of the Enlightenment and the notion of the ‘common good’ land; the idea that you have a public space used for the good for humanity.”

In these times of austerity, Edinburgh is yet another heavily indebted council in the process of asset stripping, he says, leading local campaigners to talk about the city’s “Age of Endarkenment” in sharp contrast to its Enlightenment heritage.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Not another hideous heartbreak hotel’: local residents protest against the development. Photograph: Simon Byrom

Architect and fellow Old Town resident Neil Simpson claims the sale of publicly owned land has been mismanaged. He says there was no public consultation about the use of the site: “It’s land owned by the public and there at least should be some recognition of the need for that to determine what kind of development can happen.”

As a large site, Simpson suggests there would have been room for amenities that would benefit everyone. “Under these plans there is one user and there could have been several. It is big enough to accommodate a hotel, housing, a GP practice and other amenities.”

Simpson claims the very design of the library is threatened by the proposals. “They will cast a shadow on the library. The double height windows are fundamental to its design but this will steal that light and views.”

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A petition to safeguard the public land from development, which Byrom set up – titled Let there be light in Edinburgh’s Old Town – has attracted 2,609 signatures at the time of writing, and more than 5,500 have supported a vote of no confidence in the City of Edinburgh planning department. But he’s finding it hard to find political backing.

“The council promised to listen to local people but their promises have been utterly betrayed,” he says. “Underlying all this is a sense that we cannot access democracy. We feel completely marginalised by the process.”

According to Alessandro Froldi, of the Edinburgh Against Gentrification campaign, the plans are deeply shortsighted. “We understand that there might not be money just now for an extension of the library, but selling this off instead for a luxury hotel is deeply disempowering for the community. There has been a history of division in the city; when you look at the mapping those on lower incomes live outside of it. But it’s time to build bridges and build a city centre with social diversity.”

The row has moved past local protest. In February, Mechtild Rössler, director of heritage at Unesco, wrote to the UK government calling for an overhaul of Edinburgh’s planning system citing “strong concerns” about the pace of development.

It was thought seven of 12 proposed developments in city centre gap sites – the so-called Edinburgh 12 – were “deeply worrying”, renewing fears that its world heritage status was at risk. The India Buildings development was one of those that flagged concern. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Culture summit in August, Francesco Bandarin, Unesco’s assistant director-general for culture, claimed there was a lack of planning to protect the city’s historic heart.

Sean Bradley, chair of the Old Town Development Trust, moved to the Grassmarket in the 1970s with his family when it had reputation as a no-go area – a run down part of town populated by homeless hostels.

By the time the regeneration plans for the Grassmarket were put forward (by the late Robin Cook, then MP for Edinburgh Central), the population of the Old Town had fallen to about 3,500.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The popular destination of Victoria Street, where the India Buildings are located. Photograph: Alamy

“It’s a far more difficult place to live now than it ever was then,” he says. Though the Old Town has been his home for more than four decades, Bradley is thinking of quitting; he’s fed up with the lack of amenities for locals and the fact that their needs are not considered in the planning process. Not everyone has this option, though – those living in social housing are stuck with the disturbances, he notes.

Though the Old Town Development Trust is involved in some positive steps – including gardening projects to make the community more visible to tourists – he is far from convinced that it can influence anything of substance. “This city has a very cynical nature to taking people’s views,” Bradley adds.

Edinburgh City Council disagrees. In June it ran a public consultation seeking views on development in the Old Town along with information events, and has plans to be “more innovative” about the way it involves residents. It insists it takes its role in protecting Edinburgh’s heritage seriously.

“It is inevitable that new developments will be attracted to the centre, and this is important for the city to evolve,” says councillor Ian Perry. “We are committed to managing this process carefully and ensuring that the greatest consideration is given to its historic environment. Listening to the views of residents in the area is important to ensure the future success of the site.”

His stance is backed by the Scottish government, which also stresses that people must have an opportunity to “engage in development decisions that affect them” as part of the planning process.

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“What’s extremely clear is that if human rights were properly embedded in policy then the city should be planned around the needs of the people,” says Wightman. There have been positive developments in Scottish policy including the introduction of the Community Empowerment Act last year, which extends the community right to buy, making it simpler for them to take over public sector land and buildings, and aims to put community planning as a statutory obligation. But Wightman is among those who believe the Land Reform Act does not go far enough, and that planning reform is urgently needed.

City centre communities must be protected, he says. “It has to be a normal place to live. Places that are over-developed can become like an open-air museum – inauthentic and not interesting. The people need to make better demands of those who are representing them. Part of the fight back has to be to take control of the agenda.”

Back in the Cowgate, campaigners are trying to do just that. “Not another hideous heartbreak hotel” read the banners. The red heart they’ve drawn – much like an upside down Airbnb logo – has a crack drawn down the middle. It’s still holding together, for now.

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