Caltongate rescue plan scuppered

Published on Wednesday 4 August 2010 08:25

A DEAL to revive the £300 million Caltongate scheme has been scuppered.

City leaders have admitted that attempts to rescue the development in the Old Town, which sparked an international inquiry into Edinburgh's world heritage status, had come to nothing following the collapse of talks with a new developer.

The local authority — which had agreed to sell various plots of land to help create a five-star hotel and conference centre, 200 new homes, culture quarter and a public square — confirmed it had withdrawn its assets from the development.

The amount of red tape involved in buying up the site is understood to have put off the new developer, Allied London.

Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "The council has worked for some time with the bank's administrator, but it is now apparent that the proposed development will not go ahead."