TWO-SPEED COUNCIL TOO IN AWE OF BIG BUSINESS?

Submitted by Editor on Tue, 03/02/2015 - 15:36

Contrast the swift response of Edinburgh Council's 'Noise Team' in silencing the chimes of St Stephen's Church – an issue which according to Spurtle's recent piece they now consider technically 'resolved' – with the administration's heel-dragging in the matter of the missing finial on top of the old Forysth's Building on Princes Street, writes David Jackson Young.

Removal of the genuinely iconic spire was apparently done by the owners for safety reasons in March 2012. However, without formal consent, the act was, says Marion Williams of the Cockburn Society, a legal breach. This seems pretty clear cut.

Almost as clear cut as the breach of EU noise regulations, albeit by a very small margin, which the Council claimed left them with no choice but to shut up the St Stephen's Church chimes with immediate effect.

Yet the official position regarding the finial is summed up in this mealy-mouthed statement from a CEC spokeswoman, quoted in a recent newspaper item:

Our Enforcement team has been in discussions regarding this issue with the owner of the building since the end of 2013. A progress report will be considered by the development management sub-committee in the near future to consider our options.

So, nearly three years since the spire was removed, the Council is finally about to get round to … considering its options. (Meanwhile the people who dismantled the finial calmly confirm that they have 'no plans' to reinstate it in the immediate future.)

Could CEC's feebleness have anything to do with the fact that the intransigent owner of the Forsyth's building is a company called Arcadia, chaired by the controversial business tycoon Sir Philip Green (right)?

Never mind the allegations that have been made about Arcadia's use of sweatshop labour, or the questions about Sir Philip's interestingly elaborate tax arrangements. In the presence of big business, Edinburgh Council tends to roll over with its legs in the air and its tongue hanging out of its mouth.

Look at its drooling response to the recent arrival of names like Tesco and Sainsbury's in Princes Street and the West End – as though they brought some kind of glamour and prestige to the city centre. Look at the wide-eyed announcement that Richard Branson's Virgin might be blessing the capital's wretched trams by wrapping them up in the company logo.

It seems a pretty safe bet that, if it means upsetting someone like Sir Phil, it's going to be a long while yet before City of Edinburgh Council takes serious steps to get Forysth's finial back where it belongs.

And we'll probably have an even longer wait for the dongs of St Stephen's.

Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook

To sign Lost Edinburgh's petition demanding restoration of the finial, visit here.

[Image top-right: Simon Johnston, Creative Commons; Green face: Wikimedia, Creative Commons]

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