Heritage experts promised city will crack down on high-rise buildings

WORLD heritage experts at Unesco have been promised that stricter guidelines will be enforced to curb controversial tall buildings which threaten to damage Edinburgh's skyline.

An unwelcome spotlight fell on Scotland's capital three years ago after an investigation was opened in the wake of growing claims of the local authority's stewardship of its world heritage site.

An official response to the probe insists that the city council is now committed to a "harmonious integration of new development with the existing built environment".

The dossier, compiled by the UK government, has revealed there will now be a "presumption against new buildings that are conspicuously higher than their neighbours" in the city.

Unesco inspectors who visited Edinburgh in November 2008 had warned that towering new buildings, large-scale developments and modern schemes out of keeping with their historic surroundings risked damaging the city's Old and New Towns, which won world heritage status in 1995.

Unesco's world heritage centre - which will discuss the condition of Edinburgh's Old and New Towns at its annual summit in July - has been told the height of new buildings may need to be "held in check or suppressed" so that the city's traditional topography is protected.

And existing tall buildings which are said to have a "detrimental effect" on the skyline will not be allowed to set a precedent for new developments.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport report has been produced following months of talks between its officials and the city council, the Scottish Government and Historic Scotland.

A Unesco report published in June 2009 was highly critical of the handling of major developments like Caltongate and Haymarket, both of which involved controversial tall buildings, as well as emerging plans for Leith's docklands.

The Haymarket scheme was scaled back after being turned down by the Scottish Government while Caltongate's developers went into administration and attempts to revive their scheme have failed to get off the ground. The administrators have yet to sell on the gap site earmarked for Caltongate

New guidelines for Edinburgh's waterfront include a presumption against new buildings more than six storeys high.

There was also controversy over plans to build a hotel on the site of the fire which devastated parts of the Cowgate, although the proposed scheme was shelved when an operator pulled out.

Edinburgh council's planning convener Jim Lowrie said: "Since the Unesco visit, the new Edinburgh City Local Plan has been developed to specifically protect the qualities of the World Heritage Site.

"Additional safeguards come in the form of a 'protection of key views guideline', which provides a more sophisticated level of protection than a traditional buffer zone."We will continue to work closely with Historic Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage to ensure we have a good understanding of, and respond appropriately to, any matters raised by Unesco."

Miles Oglethorpe of Historic Scotland said: "In recent months we have continued to the keep the (Unesco] committee informed, including the changes made to the Haymarket development following the public local inquiry and we, along with the council, will be happy to advise any potential developer for the Caltongate site."