Heritage chief slams city as ‘one of the worst in Europe’
Professor Charles McKean says roadworks and rubbish have left Edinburgh lagging behind other cities
ROADWORKS and rubbish in the city centre places Edinburgh among the worst places in Europe to visit, a leading heritage figure has said.
Dimly-lit, narrow closes and queues of double-decker buses on Princes Street have also damaged the Capital in recent years.
The damning verdict was delivered by the outgoing chairman of Edinburgh World Heritage Professor Charles McKean, who has presided over a period of tense relations between EWH and main funders the city council and Historic Scotland.
In his six years at the organisation, he added, hardly any new buildings of any note had emerged, while he accused the council of being “paranoid” on turning down major projects because of the potential number of jobs involved.
Prof McKean, who is also a leading historian, academic and author, said other European cities of similar size showed Edinburgh up.
He said: “It has been a failure of the last few years that we’ve not managed to improve the general visitor experience, parts of which are among the worst in Europe, particularly with things like historic interpretation and the amount of general clutter.
“You only have to look at other cities like Vienna and Lyon to see the difference.
“If you are curious about something here, there is nothing to tell you what it is.”
He also reflected on a difficult period financially, as the organisation has had to cope with huge funding cuts. Despite those cuts, it did receive a £2.1 million grant from Historic Scotland and could receive further payments from the local authority in coming weeks.
He said: “We’ve had a lot of success in the last six years, considering at that time there was a lot of uncertainty as to what role we should have.
“Some people saw us merely being there to act as a brake on what the council was doing.
“We have been really successful in the restoration work that has been carried out to historic buildings and monuments in that time, which we have led on and we are now much less reliant on public funding. There has certainly been an element of ‘largesse’ to our relationship with the council and Historic Scotland, where they’ve been king handing out pots of gold, and an element of ‘we are the piper and the piper calls the tune’.”
Edinburgh’s planning leader Councillor Jim Lowrie said: “They [EWH] work closely with the council behind the scenes now, and they can still comment on developments which are coming through, which is better than simply objecting to them.
“They are also making a big difference to the historic fabric of the city.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 32 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
Grumpy2
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 11:12 AMEdinburgh is a pigsty, but don't blame the council, blame the people who are happy to throw their chippie bags, cans of booze and fag butts all over the place. You have to re-educate these creatures and ask the council to clean regularty at the same time. I live here so I have to put up with the mess but if I was visiting the place I would be totally disgusted and would never come back.
Leith Heights
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:38 AMThe Prof may speak sense, however the City is fall apart very quickly. From the tac shops that we unfortunately see everywhere, to the roadworks, what have the Council done? Nothing. It is about time that ECC are taken by the balls and sorted.
Ctebe
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:32 AMWe may well have our tram problems: but we're not as far behiond schedule as Amsterdam's North-South underground line extension...
embraboy
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:05 AMI don't disagree with the general thrust of Mr McKean's comments, but I think it's a shame that he leaves it until he is stepping down to bite the hand that feeds his organisation in the last 2 paras.
CASHKING7
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 08:56 AMLack of control is the issue, beggars sitting on every street, occupy Edin tramps ruining St Andrews square, tram works, more buses than you can count and half of them empty ( "first bus" a perfect example). Reduced parking facilities, soft touch on vandalism and petty criminals, it is time this country got tough on crime, immigration and general social behaviour.
Lidl Shopper
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 07:46 AM1. Permanently remove buses from Princes Street. 2. Renew all pavements. 3. Empty the rubbish bins.
Tartancult
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 12:04 AMEdinburgh IS that bad, Charles.
Tartancult
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 12:03 AMEdinburgh IS that bad, Charles.
Charles Linskaill
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 11:34 PMThe Heritage chief may slam city as ‘one of the worst in Europe’, but our tourists still come flocking in, and come back for more, We can't be that bad in Edinburgh!
Charles Linskaill
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 11:33 PMThe Heritage chief may slam city as ‘one of the worst in Europe’, but our tourists still come flocking in, and come back for more, We can't be that bad in Edinburgh!
Irritatingly Intelligent Chauvinist
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 07:13 PMWe all know that Edinburgh is a mess. It's the councillors that seem to be blind to the fact. Never mind, they'll all see just how much they've destroyed Edinburgh on their fortnightly walk to the dole office after May.
Tighthead3
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 07:13 PMYep, the last 3 administrations have turned Edinburgh from a once beautiful city to a complete dump.......... hope they're pleased with themselves. And the former Director of City Development, Andrew Holmes, loved his handiwork so much he moved to Perthshire . Says it all, really.
Tartancult
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 06:56 PMIt is truly bad, everywhere.
Stephen in Dalry
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 05:46 PMThis rings true and despite pavement relaying on George IV Bridge and a few other places there are still too many dirty and rundown parts of the city, especially when compared with other 'capitals' or even other major tourist cities in the UK (as a visit to York proves). I avoid going to town now and find shopping in Glasgow much more pleasant. Tourist income is vital to improving the city fabric but there needs to be a balance struck between local needs and tourist demands. So far 'Disneyfication' has largely been avoided. Just. Personally, I'd get rid of parking on George Street for a start but that's a whole other thread!
Mario Antoinette
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 04:30 PMEvery major city in the world has the equivalent of our tat shops, they are perfect for small gifts, thats why they do so well.
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