SAVE OUR OLD TOWN CAMPAIGN
The Canongate Community Forum has been campaigning against plans to demolish listed buildings and people`s homes on the Canongate, the lower part of The Royal Mile in World Heritage Site October 2005. Caltongate is the name given to the controversial £300million project.
News June 21st 2008 **Sadly the Scottish Ministers have decided it is up to the City of Edinburgh Council to go ahead with this vandalism if they so wish. But it is far from over...lets all move forward together in securing a sustainable, caring, sharing future for all who live in the core of the capital, work in it and visit it. It can be done, we are living in an age of greed over need...but this can change, the will, is there in the hearts of the many, not in the wallets of the few.** Let us continue to let the council know that this will be their St James Centre
www.independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com
Architect Malcolm Fraser has designed the landmark building for Jeffrey St, as part of Caltongate, and the ubiqutous Allan Murray is also involved AllanMurrayHitsOutatCritics
Caltongate is to be built on the site of the former New Street Bus Station which London Developer Mountgrange own. But they also want to build on Council owned and Common Good Land. This would mean knocking down 18 homes, half of which are still council tenancies. MSP SNP Shirley Ann Sommerville spoke out on this
Historical buildings, 18 homes and 2 local businesses are earmarked for demolition. Mountgrange said they would only buy the former Vegetable Market (Common Good), Victorian School and The Arches all on East Market Street if the Council approved their whole scheme at the Planning Committee Meeting on the 6th February 2008.
No surprises then that they did! As this means the council has a financial interest in the project they cannot be seen to be impartial and the project will now progress to Scottish Ministers for a final decision.
Mountgrange`s PR PPS Group have been featured in Channel 4`s Dispatches, Evening Standard and Private Eye from August 2007.
Donald Anderson the former Labour Leader of the council who backed Caltongate when in office is now the director of PPS in Scotland. See more on this - TimesArticle20thFeb08