Leith's identity: 'Benefits must be balanced with local concerns'

Published on Wednesday 18 February 2009 08:57

Evening News Comment NO WONDER a proud community as rich in history as Leith is keen to preserve its identity. And Forth Ports seems to have underestimated the anger now boiling over at the suggestion that the redeveloped Leith Docks be known instead as Edinburgh Harbour.

But there is also danger that those seeking to resist the incorporation of the name Edinburgh into the proposed redevelopment of the docks are losing sight of the bigger picture.

Without question Leith was one of Scotland's most vital ports for centuries and although it remains an important entry point for some merchant traffic times have changed and much of the dockside now lies derelict.

Part of the plan to breathe new life into the area revolves around a 700 million redevelopment which includes a deep water jetty capable of taking the largest ships and an improved cruise liner terminal.

Forth Ports has worked hard to increase the number of cruise ships and in 2007 more than 50 liners tied up, with the revenue generated ashore from visitors estimated at around 12m a year.

The imminent formation of a new organisation called Cruise Scotland, an umbrella group for all of the country's ports, will seek to generate even more business, particularly from the lucrative American market. The key to its success will be marketing.

Although Leith became part of the city of Edinburgh in 1920 its identity should be preserved and this newspaper led a campaign in 2003 against the name Leith being dropped when the Westminster constituency boundaries were being redrawn.

But although there is a growing groundswell of local opinion that rebranding the new terminal Edinburgh Harbour will rob Leith of its identity, the potential wider benefits need to be balanced with local concerns.

It may choke Leith diehards to admit it, but when it comes to international recognition Edinburgh is a far stronger marketing brand than that of the old port and it is understandable that Forth Ports should seek to take full advantage. In selling the benefits of new facilities in Leith it is therefore perfectly acceptable for potential cruise tourists to understand clearly that their ship will dock in the heart of the Scottish capital and not at some satellite port a tortuous transfer bus ride away.

As far as the city is concerned, the docks are and should remain Leith, but as far as visitors are concerned there is little harm in them being under the misapprehension that they will be docking in Edinburgh's harbour.