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The Herald Scotland
07-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Inside the fightback against student flats in Edinburgh
This is a place as rich with history as it is character. In a past life it was frequented by highwaymen as the first stop and changeover point for the horse-drawn stagecoach to London, with its name referenced as far back as 1650. Over time, the village that occupied this crossroads has been absorbed into the growing sprawl of the capital. Cars replaced the humble wagon and tenements rose, laying the foundations for a new community. Impressively, the essence of its origins has remained. Now, that's fading slowly before the eyes of locals who feel defeated by developers. To this day, a pub still sits on the site once home to the coaching inn which gave this area its name, its single-story structure and double gable roof matching the original building's style. Soon, however, it will be gone. The Willow's windows are boarded up with metal sheets; inside, a pint hasn't been pulled for over a year. This watering hole, along with the Indian takeaway, disused recording studio and another pub next door to that, is destined for the bulldozers. In their place will rise seven storeys of student flats described as an 'imposing monolithic block'. Read more from our series, The Future of Edinburgh: So far, so typical for Edinburgh where the relentless expansion of purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), against the backdrop of a 'housing emergency', ranks high on the list of peoples' peeves. However, at Jock's Lodge, this may just be the beginning of a wholesale transformation into a student village, some residents fear. Next door to the properties awaiting demolition, The Ball Room, a popular sports bar and pool hall which covers an even larger site, is being pursued by student housing developers, with a preliminary planning proposal sent to the council. Owners maintain there will be 'no change to our business for a very, very long time'. Slightly further along to the west and set back from the street is St Margaret's House, a 1970s office block that now houses community arts spaces. The prospect of this being replaced mostly by PBSA also looms large; planning permission has already been consented for its demolition to make way for 361 student beds and 107 flats for sale. The building was put up for sale earlier this year. Jock's Lodge (Image: The Herald) A growing sense of the community here being chipped away only deepened in February when the Church of Scotland announced it was going to close and sell Willowbrae Parish Church, which sits just off the junction. 'I think the pace and scale of change is obviously understandably really uncomfortable for a lot of people,' Danny Aston, SNP councillor for the area said. 'One of the things that's concerned me the most throughout all of these multiple applications has been that this area around Jock's Lodge is designated in the last local development plan, and the new one, as a 'local centre' which effectively means it's the closest thing to a high street this area has. Taken together these applications will really seriously undermine the value of this place for the community. 'This used to be somewhere where people came to meet up, have a drink, maybe have something to eat - and that's being greatly diminished. And I certainly wouldn't blame anyone on the other side of the road for feeling concerned about suddenly seven stories appearing in front of them, and the effect that will have on this really busy junction.' Martin O'Donnell, who lives just around the corner on Willowbrae Road, points out the closure of the pub has meant more than locals simply losing a place to have a drink. 'A lot of community groups met there, and it hosted public meetings,' he said. 'One of the main issues is the community having some facility to go to, be it shopping or hospitality. I would like to see more space in the development devoted for public amenities. 'If you come down Willowbrae you get a nice perspective of Jock's Lodge, the Willow pub and that's now going to be a huge block.' More from the Future of Edinburgh investigative series: The approved plans for a 191-bed block on the corner of Jock's Lodge and Smokey Brae were initially refused by councillors in 2023 after hundreds joined a local campaign opposing the development, arguing it would 'change the nature of the community'. However, this decision was overturned on appeal by the Scottish Government, in line with other similarly unpopular PBSA projects across the city that have gained consent. Other arguments made against the plans when they were considered in the City Chambers included that the building would be too tall and 'imposing', and as the site wasn't close to any university campuses it wasn't the 'right site for student accommodation'. Cllr Aston said at the meeting held two years ago: 'In the place of six commercial units – including the two pubs – there will only be one pub and the common room of the student accommodation which does not contribute to the local area.' This month he said there was now a 'question mark' over whether a bar and restaurant on the ground floor would still form part of the new development. 'I went to the planning committee and made the case on behalf of the community against the application,' he added. 'The committee agreed with me on that occasion, I think they made the right decision. I think the government reporter looked at it and made the wrong decision.' Kirsty Pattison from the Save Jock's Lodge campaign said: 'It does feel this area is completely under threat. I do get we need development, I understand that. I've grown up in this area. Cities change, but it just feels like we've been forgotten about for so long - Jock's Lodge, Craigentinny, Lochend have been forgotten about for so long. 'Now they're going to change the whole of Jock's Lodge, if all of it becomes student flats that's a material change. 'The church is going up for sale, that is a listed building so at least that can't be turned into PBSA.' She added discussions were ongoing about the possibility of pursuing a community buyout. Cllr Aston added: 'It's really important to protect the church. I've had conversations with local people who are really keen to make sure that it remains a space available to the community. 'There's been some quite positive developments which I can't unfortunately go into at this time, so it's really important and I am hopeful ultimately that it can remain open to the community in one way or another. A community buyout option is one of the options that's being discussed, but there are other options available.' The Edinburgh-based artist and activist known as Bonnie Prince Bob, who grew up at Jock's Lodge, said the council had 'allowed private developers to once again change the entire aesthetic of an area that's been the same way for a long time'. He said: 'I grew up here on the front street, at first glance it's not the most, you know, salubrious, inspiring area. It's a main thoroughfare - it's actually the main road to London. But it actually has a good community vibe. It's got a lot of charm, this area - there's a lot of people who have lived here for a long time. 'It's going to change. The Jock's Lodge pub has always been that single elevation pub on the corner. It's been a watering hole, a libation hole for a long, long time. When you approach this junction, whether it's from Smokey Brae, Willoebrae Road, whichever side you approach this junction from, it's going to change dramatically how that is. It's going to become much more closed in. Bonnie Prince Bob and Shaukat Ali (Image: The Herald) 'If you approach this junction, there's space - there's airspace. And I don't think people appreciate how important that is until that's gone. 'When that's gone you're suddenly faced with this imposing monolithic block. It's depressing, it changes the vibe entirely. I feel sorry for the people who live opposite it.' 'I believe this area does have a bit of charm, a bit of character at the moment and it will become this amorphous place. If you poll the people who live here, pretty much everybody is opposed to it.' Connor Robertson, an academic from Leith, told The Herald that the situation at Jock's Lodge is a perfect example of gentrification in action. He argued the proposed changes will push out local residents and businesses in favor of wealthier newcomers, eroding the area's traditional character and community ties. 'The universities themselves and other multinational conglomerates play an active role in gentrification of certain areas,' he said. Read more: 'There's a transient student population and there's a homogeneous, lukewarm, vacuous aesthetic to the whole place. There's nothing genuine or real or authentic to what parts of the city used to be and it all just ends up looking the same. 'With every single new or proposed PBSA block every one I speak to is like 'oh more student housing, when's there going to be enough student housing'. No one I know wants to have more. 'They've completely mismanaged the city, Edinburgh is another symbol of a wider global problem. Gentrification of areas that once were producers and now, the whole thing is based on consumption. And who can consume? The middle class can consume, so the working-class people are if not displaced then marginalised.' Properties on the west of The Willow were sold to developers by Shaukat Ali, who runs a corner shop across the road. He said student accommodation was not his preferred option for the site but 'no person ever came wanting to build houses'. He said: 'If there was an alternative, if there were different people who say 'we want to do this, we want to do that' I would go for something different. 'It's the council's fault and the government's fault. You can't blame that on people who want to make a lot of money. It's not my fault - it's the system that's wrong. 'If the council or the government said we'll buy this site - they had lots of time to do it - and will make it affordable housing. But they didn't want to do it.' Cllr Aston added: 'This shows us that the incentives that are stacked up in favour of developing purpose-built student accommodation are significant for developers. 'Some of the obligations that are placed on mainstream housing developments simply don't apply to student accommodation; there's much lower space standards in terms of the living arrangements for the students.' Edinburgh Council is in the process of drawing up new non-statutory planning guidance for student housing developers, which it says will 'seek to ensure the provision of good quality PBSA in appropriate locations whilst protecting the character of existing areas'. However, Councillor Aston said he wasn't getting his hopes up that it would have the desired effect. 'In the new city development plan the classification for PBSA is commercial, and I can understand some of the reasoning behind that. 'It's not treating it as housing because I think it's pretty clear it does belong in a different category from that. But, I'm concerned that potentially undermines some of the arguments that can clearly be made against applications like the one here at Jock's Lodge - that it's undermining the commercial heart of the community. If it's then possible to point at the most important piece of planning guidance, the City Plan, and say actually that categorises it as a commercial development, I have concerns about that.' In response to the growth of student accommodation, Leith Central Community Council (LCCC) recently called for a moratorium on further PBSA developments in Leith, highlighting the area as being home to a third of Edinburgh's PBSA beds (6332) and 67% of all the city's PBSA buildings. The approved plan for Jock's Lodge PBSA (Image: Allumno) In a statement the group said: '[We] oppose any new PBSA developments in the Leith area, citing the absence of a local university, the oversaturation of current PBSA's in Leith, and the pressing need for housing that serves long-term residents and diverse community needs. 'Leith is a vibrant, mixed community, and further PBSA developments risk upsetting this balance by increasing transient populations and reducing the availability of housing for families, key workers, and long-term residents.' Speaking to The Herald, LCCC chair Charlotte Encombe said: 'I'm not a planning expert but I can feel something in my bones when something is just not right. 'We have no problem with students, we're all very happy with students. But I think we really need to concentrate on getting affordable housing in the centre of Edinburgh. That is mainly the reason we've gone in quite hard. 'Enough is enough. All we do is PBSAs, PBSAs, PBSAs. 'It is a very profitable activity. It's just very difficult for a community council, a group of volunteers with mixed expertise, to try and stem this flood of more and more.' Cllr Aston said he believed a moratorium on new student accommodation blocks in areas already heavily concentrated with such developments is 'something we should very seriously consider'. He said: 'I suppose I would expect there not to be a shortage of communities that would put themselves forward. 'It would then be a matter for councillors to decide, if we were going to pursue that, which of those communities that felt they were oversaturated with student accommodation would be part of the moratorium. Or indeed, if we would look more widely than that.' Restrictions on PBSA are not unprecedented in Scotland. In Glasgow, new PBSA developments were effectively put on hold from 2019 to 2021 while the council engaged with various stakeholders to gather their views on student housing in the city, responding to concerns about an over-concentration of such provision. Following this consultation, the authority introduced new planning guidelines specifying that new student housing would no longer be supported in two areas: South Partick and Yorkhill, and Cowcaddens and Townhead. Read more: Meanwhile, The Cockburn Association, Edinburgh's heritage watchdog, warned last month that across Edinburgh, the "continued proliferation of PBSA" was "reshaping both the physical character of neighbourhoods and the daily life of the communities within them'. It said: 'From the tightly packed crescents of Marchmont and the Southside to the narrow streets of the Old Town and city fringe, developers are increasingly targeting former commercial premises, brownfield sites, and even viable historic buildings as opportunities for large-scale student accommodation.' Rather than 'relying on speculative delivery and developer-led policy formation,' it added, "it may be time to reassert a civic-led approach that places the needs of communities, students, and heritage on equal footing'.
The Herald Scotland
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Commuting by bus from Edinburgh's suburbs is awful. Here's my solution
This week's Herald investigation into The Future of Edinburgh serves as a timely reminder of the capital's national importance. Edinburgh is the beating economic heart of the country. With one of the strongest records on Gross Value Added in the UK, Edinburgh is making the money required to fix the other struggling cities and towns around it. And a massive part of Edinburgh's economic success lies in its ability to efficiently move workers into and around the city. Read more by Andy Maciver I have lived in Edinburgh for about 40 of my 45 years, with my only absences being short stints in Glasgow and Dundee. I grew up in Currie; not much over 5 miles from the city centre, it is pretty much the dictionary definition of a suburb. Growing up, the borders of my world were close; my primary concern was getting to school, which I did on foot or by bike. However my father worked in town, and normally relied on the bus. Looking back now, that journey on the Red 44 or the Green 66 was relatively easy because we lived close to the Lanark Road, but was more of an ordeal for the majority of people in the village who lived down the hill. Currie experienced a very substantial housebuilding boom in the 1960s and 1970s but, with the Water of Leith immediately to the south of the A70 Lanark Road, all the houses were built down in the fields to the north, and expansion inevitably took place further and further away from the main road. With a 20-minute walk up a hill to the Lanark Road, and a 45 minute bus journey, we begin to see this as a very, very long five miles. It can feel shorter for those who happen to be near Curriehill Railway Station (which sits on the Shotts Line), but with only one train an hour heading into town, this is not a service designed with commuter convenience in mind. I now live inside the City Bypass, in Morningside. As was the case when I lived in Currie, I am very near the main road, so I can walk out of the door and find an array of buses awaiting me. As it happens, I tend not to use them, and instead I cycle to work in town, trying to avoid swerving into one of the new Lothian electric buses as I dodge the potholes on our truly deplorable roads. Again, though, you do not have to stray far from the main road to find yourself marooned in a location with no bus route particularly nearby. Morningside is only two miles from the West End, but for people who have, perhaps, a 15 minute walk to the bus, and then sit for 30 minutes as the bus crawls through traffic on narrow streets, it can be an awfully long two miles. Lothian Buses are up to date (Image: free) For suburbanites living away from bus stops, especially those who are elderly or immobile, the car is and will remain a necessary feature in their lives, and we need to provide them with quieter roads. To do that, we need to give commuters who choose to use the car, or to stay at home, with better options. As a mechanism for getting suburban workers to work, Edinburgh's mass transit system needs to extend beyond the bus. Time is money, and with one of Scotland's key economic problems being a lack of productivity in the workforce, efficient mass transit starts to look significantly more important than it might at first glance appear. It is time not only for Edinburgh's local authority to generate new ideas, but for the Scottish Government to help. Scotland - all of Scotland - needs Edinburgh performing to its full potential. Edinburgh, conversely, is so economically successful that it relies on workers not only from its own suburbs but from Fife, the Borders, and Mid, West and East Lothian. Driving out of Edinburgh on a weekday morning tells you what you need to know. As you breeze along the M8, up the M9 or M90 or down the A1, A7, A68, A701 or A702, you count your lucky stars that you're heading out and not sitting at 5 mph trying to come in. Travelling on four wheels cannot be Edinburgh's answer, either for those coming in or for those already living in an EH postcode. There are game-changing options which, happily, would require relatively little capital investment, and in the spirit of the Herald's efforts this week to lift the lid on some of the key discussions the capital needs to have, I will offer two. Neither involve roads; the first involves the river, and the second involves the railway. The southern side of Fife - from Dunfermline and Rosyth round the coast through Aberdour, Burntisland, Kinghorn and up to Kirkcaldy - is constantly expanding and increasingly becoming an Edinburgh commuter belt. Rail can play a role here, but only for those who live relatively close to a station, so the roads take the strain. If only we had another method of connecting Fife and Edinburgh such as, say, a body of water like a river or estuary. Ah, but we do! I am by no means the first person to moot the idea of a ferry across the Forth, but past discussion seems too often to have revolved around a beach-to-beach tourist service rather than something to integrate with the mass transit network. Read more of our Future of Edinburgh series Instead, a rapid, regular, commuter-focussed service from a new park-and-sail at Dalgety Bay (probably), directly into the tram stop at Newhaven would be an efficient, productive option for the army of workers who come from the Kingdom every day. And, not to forget those of us who inhabit the city, we live on top of a railway line called the South Suburban, currently used only for freight. If we wanted a light rail line to complement the routes driven by Lothian Buses, cutting across the south suburbs and linking Haymarket at one end and Waverley at the other, with an easy spur to the Royal Infirmary, we could not possibly design one better than what we already have. It is easy for our local and national civil servants to spend a few decades poring over hundred-page strategies which lead to consultations which lead to more strategies which lead to more consultations. But when opportunities to fix Edinburgh's commuter transport problems are already sitting before our eyes, it mightn't be a bad idea to take them. Andy Maciver is Founding Director of Message Matters, and co-host of the Holyrood Sources podcast
The Herald Scotland
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Regeneration plan for Seafield 'unrealistic' landowners say
The authority's latest 10-year development plan, running through to 2032, designates the 40-hectare area as a 'potential housing site' and a masterplan has now been drawn up. Alongside new properties, a school, GP surgery, shops and cafes, it shows a new waterfront park and promenade to connect with the one at Portobello. Hundreds of new affordable homes at Seafield will 'help address the city's housing emergency' amid a record 5,000 homeless households in the capital, council planning convener James Dalgleish said last year. Read more from our new investigation, The Future of Edinburgh: However the ambitious project is unlikely to come to fruition for decades yet, largely due to a number of hurdles. Chief among them is landowners unwilling to sell up. The relocation of Lothian Buses' Marine Depot, at the east of the site, also poses a significant challenge. 'They don't necessarily want to move' Iain Whyte, the Conservative councillor for Craigentinny-Duddingston, which includes Seafield, told The Herald: 'The biggest blocker, frankly, to anything happening there is the landowners of a significant chunk of it have tenants in place, a steady income, that suits their financial and business model and they don't want to change that. 'When they speak, they speak on behalf of some of the others that are there as well and I think that means this, if it's a plan that's going to work, you're probably talking 20 years before you see anything significantly change there. 'I just think the biggest problem the council has got is that it allocated that site for nearly 3,000 houses in its plan for the city, the 2030 City Plan for development, to try and find the housing numbers that are needed for the growing population. 'Doing things like that when there's no prospect of it being developed within the timescales they're talking about gives you an indication of why we're not meeting the housing numbers needed — and is the real reason, if any, why they're having to declare a housing emergency.' He added: 'I don't know if anyone's ever asked Lothian Buses where they think they're going to move their depot to. Because I don't think it's easy for them. It's fine for the council to sit there and say 'oh well, car showrooms aren't a very good use of the land' but there's an awful lot more in there and they don't necessarily want to move.' 'Their land should not be considered for housing' Council documents reveal some developers hold concerns about 'timescales and the difficulty of delivering a masterplan when such a small area of the plan is actually capable of coming forward in the short/medium term'. They also show that Royal London, which owns Seafield Industrial Estate covering a large part of the proposed development site, 'do not support proposals for residential development on their site'. In their response to a consultation on City Plan 2030, an agent representing the pensions and investment giant warned that the site 'does not present a realistic option for residential development'. They said: 'The owner [...] has no intention of releasing the land for housing use over the Plan period and their land holding should not be considered for residential or urban area housing led mixed use.' The response went on to say Royal London was not approached by the council prior to the land being identified for consideration for redevelopment. 'The identification of their land holding for this purpose is considered to be inappropriate,' it said. Proposed redevelopment site at Seafield (Image: City of Edinburgh Council) The estate, consisting of 18 fully let industrial units, has been under the company's ownership for over 25 years, is 'one of the larger complete industrial holdings' within their property fund. The agent said 'significant capital investment' has been directed into the industrial units in recent years including 'acquisition of adjacent holdings, replacement roofs, cladding renewal, unit subdivision and road/service yard replacement ensuring the accommodation is fit for modern requirements'. They added: 'Tenants undertake a range of business operations comprising urban industry, trades, distribution and local services which support their local market, of which a significant proportion comprises the established urban area of north east Edinburgh. 'The removal of an established employment area against a backdrop of limited industrial supply and constrained demand will only serve to exacerbate poverty rates in the local area.' Royal London was contacted for comment. Read more from The Future of Edinburgh series: Councillor Whyte compared the plan to proposals for the local authority's ongoing regeneration of Granton Waterfront 'which we were talking about developing 30 years ago and is only now starting to come to fruition'. He said: 'I think this will take a very long time indeed.' Asked about the prospect of the council using Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) in a bid to accelerate work, he said: 'That would be incredibly expensive and the council doesn't have much money. 'We're in the top five most indebted councils in the UK, so would it make sense to go further into debt and have the interest payments to CPO land that private individuals and companies are making best use of in the market at the moment?' However, he added it was 'useful to have a masterplan so you don't get piecemeal development along there'. 'Fabulous opportunity' Cathy Maclean from Action Porty, the community group behind Scotland's first ever urban community land buy out in Portobello, agreed it would be 'quite a while before things get going' as 'a lot of the people who own those sites don't want to sell and have no plans to sell'. But she stressed the site presented a 'fabulous opportunity' as there were so few capital cities with 'a brownfield site right on the beach to develop". Seafield is currently mostly car showrooms and industrial units (Image: Google) She said more housing was badly needed and 'so much' had been built in Portobello in recent years 'with a dramatic loss of amenities at the same'. This led Action Porty to successfully complete a community buyout of Portobello Old Parish Church after the Church of Scotland announced its intention to sell the property. It reopened as Bellfield, a community centre, in 2018. Maclean said if the Seafield redevelopment ever goes ahead it would be 'welcome from Portobello as a sort of sister community, rather than particularly part of it,' however added: 'In practice it will become a part of Portobello because that's the way people are, they enjoy walking along the Prom. 'At some point it's all going to join up between Leith and right the way along Seahaven.' 'There has to be continuity between the two areas' While Seafield's regeneration is clearly still a long-way off, some details in the masterplan are already raising eyebrows. The council's visualisation of what the area could look like one day shows people enjoying the would-be promenade and leafy waterfront park. 'If you look at it it looks amazing,' said Kirsty Pattison, chair of Craigentinny and Meadowbank Community Council, whose boundary includes Seafield, 'but if you dig into the details and look at what the masterplanning is and the height of the buildings proposed, it doesn't correlate with that picture at all.' A visualisation of the council's Seafield masterplan (Image: City of Edinburgh Council) She said in terms of the height of the buildings there is 'tension between what it's supposed to look like and what is actually being proposed'. 'What they're proposing, from the top of the prom if you're looking south-east it gives you expansive views of the beach and you can see Joppa. Some of that might be lost, so it's important to preserve this place.' Ensuring the new neighbourhood is well connected with adjacent communities will be crucial, Ms Pattison said. 'We want to make sure there's improved landscape connections between Craigentinny and Seafield, because Seafield is part of our district. 'There has to be continuity between the two areas so we can preserve popular beach walks. 'There's a beach walk that connects Craigentinny to the western part of the beach and we want that put into the masterplan to make sure it's preserved. That is vital. People use it all the time - it's such a popular connection.' 'There's also issues around rising sea levels, it's all fine and well saying we're going to redevelop Seafield - but what are we going to put in place for flooding?' Ms MacLean similarly raised concerns over the impact of climate change in the future. 'I don't think you can say any flood defences are going to be effective when you don't know what's coming,' she said. 'A lot of the standards these environmental consultants look at are based on what used to be called once in every 200 year chance of flooding. That's changed quite dramatically. Nobody really knows, if the truth be told.' Edinburgh Council said the risk of coastal flooding 'is increasing due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by climate change,' adding: 'This is a key consideration in the redevelopment of Seafield.' Since initial engagement about the plans in 2023 'we have needed to take additional time to engage with a range of stakeholders,' it said. 'This is to ensure that places are developed along the coastline that are resilient in the face of climate change impacts'. Read more: Now, the authority is preparing a Coastal Change Adaptation Plan and said it will 'update the draft masterplan in line with the recommendations'. The 'Seafield stench' One of the biggest constraints historically associated with making the area residential has been the 'Seafield stench' from the waste water treatment plant to the west - the largest of its kind in Scotland. Odours emitting from the works are a longstanding issue. Between 2022 and 2024 Scottish Water and Veolia invested over £10 million to add additional capacity and address concerns around the smells. However, the council said last year the issue 'has not been fully resolved at this time'. It said: 'The Council, along with SEPA, carry out ongoing monitoring of odours relating to the Works. However, the council does not have the ability to force all odours to be stopped. 'Scottish Water has committed to developing a new facility to replace the Seafield facility after 2030. This should be considered alongside the timescales of the masterplan as it is likely to reduce the impact of odours around the facility. 'Odours relating to the Works are not a significant issue for the bulk of the masterplan area. However, if odours persist, this is likely to shape how development of the northernmost part of the area comes forward.'
The Herald Scotland
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The 'Great Edinburgh poem': a makar's search for the heart of a city
The first firecracker in my inbox was a commission to write what could be termed my 'Great Edinburgh Poem'. A daunting task at the best of times. Season into that, this commission coming from Edinburgh City of Lit to mark their 20 year anniversary as the world's first UNESCO City of Literature. Lurking in the undertow, an even more grandiose celebration that called for some poetic cap-doffing – that being Edinburgh's turning 900-years-old as a city full stop. Having grown up in the Portobello area of Edinburgh, and also serving as the Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University, the stakes were immediately set high. Read more in our series The Future of Edinburgh: Edinburgh is a complex beast, abstruse and arcane, hidden Closes and summer rain. I love it, it hurts me, I'm so, so grateful to have been wombed and raised here. All the same, it's a risky pursuit, there's no way of my poem ever being everything to everyone. My idea was to quest off on a safari to track down where the Edinburgh's heart might be cooring down – places that chimed and chirruped for me came reeking in younger years nostalgia, alongside them sat some of the more trophistic symbols of the city. My list includes: The Portobello Bookshop, The Mosque Kitchen, Sampson's Ribs, The Sheep Heid Inn Skittle Alley, Jack Kane Sport Centre, National Library of Scotland, and, yup, Edina Castle. In the end, it came back to people, that is Edinburgh for me – the denizens who dwell here: whether generations deep or in their city-living infancy. I'd always wanted to write a poem that dissolved into a list of names of many people I love. And so I did. In order to amplify that multi-authored, multi-perspective, global vibe, we enlisted a gaggle of Edinburgh College of Art animators, from 12 plus different countries, to respond to sections of the poem. Together they brewed a stunning fandango of a film, widening the narration and the lens. Upon its grand unveiling, amongst the deluge of soppy sentiments, applause, and zealous plaudits there was, of course, a few cries of 'drivel' and 'talentless to compared to X', but perhaps that's as it should be (another canny demonstration of Edina's rich vagaries). I should say, all the more gnarly comments were on Twitter/X, and I've since left. Michael Pedersen (Image: Shaun Murawki) For Edinburgh International Book Festival moving into his new home at Edinburgh Futures Institute – the former Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh – I wrote a piece entitled Wards on the Wards. This was a tribute to my lovely mum, who had trained as a maternity nurse on these very corridors in her late teens/early twenties. In order to assist, she rushed off to retrieve her nurse's notebooks containing the names of all the babies she cared for during her last few shifts there – annotations of jaundice, broken hips, mucus-filled lungs, and blue babies, haunting the healthier crop of younglings she helped into the word. The poem issues a sizeable swoon at her doing so much so young, nerves wringing and left alone to save these baby lives. Wow. It ends with a meditation on my mum growing older and the hefty task of keeping up the work the garden takes to reach full bloom; this becoming more gruelling as her body ages. It meant a lot to her, I'm so chuffed to have been able to conjure it. Shortly after this my mum was diagnosed with cancer, it became a lot very fast, all-consuming, and though she's now recovering well there's still hurdles ahead, and we had to have those life-altering chats about the worse-case scenario. I am carrying these sentiments with me into a forthcoming commission for Edinburgh University's Medical School turning 300-years-old next year, paying tribute to all the young doctors and nurses they've propelled off into the world, especially those that volley towards our NHS. What a gift. Another commission that reverberated through me when approached was to sculpt something for the Samaritans. I was privileged to write a poem about reaching out for hope in times of despair – flares of light cast into the gathering dark. I think of lighthouses flinging out their beams to offer courage and safety to rope the way home. Edinburgh bridges are as robust and beautiful as they are eerie and dangerous. This commission would help catapult their new tartan range, SamariTartan, out into the world. Of course, I think of the cherished friend I lost, Scott Hutchison, in crafting these words. The gargantuan absence his leaving flings across this city in which our friendship was born and burgeoned. Edinburgh is full of ghosts, we carry the anchors of our greatest losses into even the happiest of moments. Yet, trilling above the loss, this city feels thronging with the spectres of magical memories, the splendour of the past – that's what Scott really is to me (warm and wonderous). Reflecting on Edinburgh, Neu! Reekie! comes fast to mind, the lustre we fomented here, over ten plus years of unfurling literary events upon the city. I co-founded Neu! Reekie! with Rebel Inc's Kevin Williamson, and down the line we were joined by photographer, Kat Gollock, and music-maker/FiniTribe diva, Davie Miller. Together we hosted hundreds of arts extravaganzas curating take-overs for the likes National Museums of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, EIF, EIFF, EIBF, & more. Yet at the core of it was our grassroots shows in Summerhall, Pilrig Church, Limited Ink, Leith Theatre, Leith St Andrew's, and the Scottish Books Trust. Scotland's premiere avant-garden noisemakers, Neu! Reekie! left a gap, a gulf, a lacuna, that I don't think has been fully filled, despite a truly sublime number of new nights and festivals upping their game. We're always jostled by punters in pubs that it's time to bring it back, but I doubt that will ever happen. Neu! Reekie! answered a clarion call for something as artistically enriching as it was rambunctious, but so much of the momentum came from growing, evolving, and outdoing ourselves, taking new challenge by the horns. A comeback, having climbed so high, seems to lack the gonzo spirit of it all, expectations would already be soaring, it'd need to be something jaw-dropping. I turn instead to the artists inhabiting the city now, ploughing their own furrow, and hope to be one of this clan. Those makars striving to make the city a more vibrant, progressive, powerful, intriguing, kinder, and fairer place, some simply by doing what they do so brilliantly. To name a few choice denizens: Young Fathers, Nadine Shah, Mark Cousins, Val McDermid, Emun Elliott, Withered Hand, Irvine Welsh, Sarah Muirhead, Kevin Harman, and Jonathan Freemantle. Whereas I arrived into the Edinburgh Makar role a tad worried about the carousel of commissions I might be riding in on, it's been quite the opposite. These commissions have been creative enzymes, gusto giving galvanisers. My poem for Edinburgh is called Be More, Edinburgh. It's an encouragement, nay prod in the ribs, that as well as celebrating this city, that holds my heart so dearly, I have to ensure that I'm one of those insisting it doesn't waiver in doling out its precious succour – at home and afar! That it supports our charities and protesters, and casts out its own muckle beam – a luminous bolt of welcome kilted into the sky. Some might say I didn't push hard enough, I'll be thinking on that, there's time yet. Michael Pedersen is a Scottish poet, author and spoken word performer. Alongside his writing, he co-founded the Edinburgh arts collective Neu! Reekie! which existed from 2010 to 2022. He is the current Edinburgh Makar and writer-in-residence at The University of Edinburgh
The Herald Scotland
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
'A tartan nightmare, shallow and garish' threatens Edinburgh
His love is inspired by a city strikingly shaped by the natural landscape upon which it is built and 'goes up and down, surprises us with sudden vistas, gives plenty of scope for shifts of light and mood.' The writer talks about the capital's architecture, which provides 'a certain harmony and balance that is implicit in its structure as a town', but warns that it is an environment which has to be carefully protected. 'Edinburgh risks being hollowed out by tourist-focused developments and by the mushrooming of student accommodation,' McCall Smith writes. 'A concomitant of these trends is the destruction of its character as a real city, and its replacement as a Disneyfied conglomeration of bars, German markets, and big wheels. A tartan nightmare, shallow and garish, is just round the corner unless the sheer volume of tourist traffic is tamed.' The Herald's The Future of Edinburgh series: He also considers the impact of the city's people, both those who live and work within its boundaries, but the transient millions who pack the high streets on day trips and holidays. 'There is a limit to the influx of visitors that any city can take before it buckles under the strain,' he writes. 'Look at Barcelona; look at Venice. Will the well-behaved residents of Edinburgh take to the streets against tourism as has happened elsewhere?' Day one of the series identifies the big issues facing the city, ranging from housing to the future of Princes Street. Among a package of features and articles examining one of Scotland's most famous promenades an interactive map shows what's happening – and what's coming next. The Herald reporter, Vicky Allan, who on day one looks at how backlash over the Roseburn Path could derail the city's new tram plan, writes of The Future of Edinburgh series: 'Frequently when we think of Edinburgh, we think about its past. 'But at the Herald, for our latest series, we have chosen to look towards its future - for how it rises to the challenge of a growing population in a world in which tourism, climate, energy supply, how we shop, spend our leisure time, build our homes, are all changing, is crucial.' Read Alexander McCall Smith's love letter in full here. And read all of the articles in The Herald's The Future of Edinburgh series here.
