In October 2023, Edinburgh Council’s Development Management Sub-Committee consented Assembly Festival Ltd’s installation of a Spiegeltent for use as a performance space in St Andrew Square Gardens (23/04199/FUL).
Santa’s Stories was to operate as part of Edinburgh's Christmas 2023.
It would: be erected from 6 November; run from 18 November to 6 January 2024; be gone by 14 January 2024.
NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT IN St ANDREW SQUARE GARDEN
It all began so promisingly.
Uninterrupted grass returfed across St Andrew Square Garden.
The promise of no more intrusive events taking up space here during the Fringe.
And only a few contented tourists sheltering from the rain in Costa Coffee.
And then the sun came out. People began peppering the grass like daisies. It was lovely.
An independent survey has revealed the damage being done to trees in St Andrew Square by the Events held there.
Essential Edinburgh, which commissioned the survey by the Potter Tree Consultancy (PTC) and manages the events, is now applying for permission to act on all the report’s recommendations (Ref. 16/05408/TCO).
These concern 79 trees examined in the Garden in mid-October.
ST ANDREW SQUARE: 'EVERYTHING IS TURNING INTO A BURLESQUE FARANDOLE'
There are some – not very many, it seems, but some – who think we may have been too harsh on KEYFRAMES.
They feel we didn't fully appreciate the merits of the light-show currently brightening up St Andrew Square in yesterday's article.
‘One of Edinburgh’s iconic gardens has been invaded by nocturnal stick-figures as part of an art installation […].’
Not our words, but those of a Council press release. We agree wholeheartedly with the term ‘invaded’.
This tawdry stunt called KEYFRAMES lights up sequentially in the dark to create the illusion of movement. But at all times of the day and night, it interrupts, distracts from and diminshes a civic space at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On Monday we reported a recent planning decision in St Andrew Square, and lamented the current condition of the Gardens.
In researching that story, we found references to the original principles behind opening the area to the public in 2008, but could not find an original document laying out those principles on the Council's online Planning Portal.
It is still not available there, although we understand that Spurtle's prompting means it will appear soon.
Essential Edinburgh’s controversial application to extend the coffee pavilion in St Andrew Square Gardens has been withdrawn (Ref. 14/04840/FUL).
As first reported this time last year (‘Death by a thousand pees’), EE applied to upgrade:
Photos posted online of the latest desecration of St Andrew Square have met with a huge response.
Yesterday, we asked readers if there was anything they'd like to say to Essential Edinburgh about the changes, and we later invited Council leader Councillor Andrew Burns to gauge the reaction.
Essential Edinburgh’s commercialisation of St Andrew Square will take another step forward if its plans to extend the café there are approved (Ref. 14/04840/FUL).
‘Is St Andrew Square a park or an event space?’ tweeted @speybaysoul this morning. ‘May as well just pave it.’
As she suggests, the available evidence now clearly points to St Andrew Square being an event space, on this occasion themed around the Ryder Cup from 23–28 September.
By our estimate, this will be at least the ninth major project hosted here so far this year.