Gareth Edwards: Zoo loses room to manoeuvre as funding plans lie in tatters

Published on Friday 10 July 2009 09:43

FIVE years ago the owners of Edinburgh Zoo were full of optimism and enthusiasm, as they unveiled an ambitions £72 million masterplan to create one of the world's leading animal attractions at their Corstorphine Hill home.

That dream now hangs in tatters after a Scottish Government reporter ruled against its plans to develop up to 120 homes on the edge of the hill, throwing the zoo's future into uncertainty.

Local campaigners may be celebrating the fact that towering seven-storey blocks of flats will not be built there, blotting the landscape, but for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), it spells potential disaster. It is warning that the zoo will now have to shrink in size and the much-heralded arrival in the Capital of Scotland's first giant pandas is in jeopardy.

The RZSS is "unclear" how much of the land it wanted to sell to developers can still be auctioned off. What is clear, however, is that it will not raise anything like the 20m it was banking on to fund the shortfall in the masterplan budget.

So, what will this mean for the future of one of Edinburgh's most popular visitor attractions?

The aim was to build bigger and better enclosures for the animals, a more interactive experience for visitors and make the zoo more of a year-round venue.

Crucially, much of the 72m investment is tied up in vital, but distinctly unglamorous, upgrading of the basic infrastructure at the Victorian site, including new plumbing, roads, drains, pavements, electrics and visitor facilities.

This is work which still needs to be carried out, leaving David Windmill, chief executive of the RZSS, to review the entire masterplan to see what can still be achieved on a far more limited budget. The result is likely to be a much smaller zoo, with the cost of upgrading the entire 82-acre site now seen as prohibitive.

"It is likely we will have a smaller footprint," says Mr Windmill.

"This could mean us bringing in the fences, so to speak, so instead of a world-class facility over 82 acres, there will be a smaller facility that is still world-class. We may still create the themed areas we had hoped for in the original plan, but in a different way."

The biggest knock-on effect of this will be on the animals, both those at the zoo and, quite possibly, some high-profile creatures which had been set to make Edinburgh their home.

Negotiations with the Chinese government to bring a breeding pair of giant pandas to the zoo are already in advanced stages, but Mr Windmill says the society will now have to evaluate whether it was better to house them somewhere else in Scotland.

The RZSS also owns the Royal Highland Wildlife Park, and is in the advanced stages of opening a new visitor attraction in the east end of Glasgow, either of which could now become home to what would be the biggest animal exhibit in the UK.

"If we want to bring over the giant pandas, it requires a great deal of investment, both in the home for the animals themselves, and in the infrastructure to cope with the number of people who would want to see them. We cannot do it in a pit," says Mr Windmill.

"Of course, there is a considerable cost to all of that, and we will now need to look at where it would be best to house the animals."

Other animals may have to be moved to Glasgow, the Highlands, or other zoos around the world, warns the chief executive.

"It will all depend very much on what we can and cannot do on the site," he says. "These animals need proper enclosures, so we will need to look at how much space we would need for animals like giraffes or rhinos, and decide whether or not we would be best to fit them in."

The RZSS currently receives no direct funding from the Scottish Government, although it was awarded a grant towards the 5.6m Budongo Trail Project at Edinburgh Zoo and will almost certainly receive funding to help bring the giant pandas to Scotland.

Mr Windmill says, though, that he has never received any indication the Scottish Government would help pay for the less glamorous elements of the masterplan. There are growing calls, however, for the Government to step in to support what is one of Scotland's star visitor attraction.

Former Lord Provost Eric Milligan says: "The zoo is one of the jewels in Edinburgh's crown, and it would be terrible if, as a consequence of the planners' decision, it had to scale back plans to improve and upgrade the attraction.

"It is a Scottish zoo, though I feel it belongs in the Capital, and I would support any option – including government or lottery funding – which can help it."

Jeremy Balfour, Tory councillor for Corstorphine, will be urging his council colleagues to support calls for more central funding.

He says: "The zoo is not just a tourist attraction but does a lot of education and conservation work which benefits Edinburgh and the many countries around the world."