Edinburgh council plans for Princes Street so minor they're 'hardly worth doing', says architect Richard Murphy
‘I think it's very small beer’ - Richard Murphy
Council proposals for a revamp of Princes Street are so minor they're "hardly worth doing", Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy has said.
After councillors rejected the original scheme drawn up by officials for the future of Princes Street as "too dull", a summit was held to consider rival visions for the Capital's premier thoroughfare, which are due to be debated by the city's planning committee on Wednesday.
The council's revised proposals include a widened pavement on the south side of Princes Street, lifts from the street down to the Gardens and shelters turned into small cafes, as well new or improved public toilets and drinking fountains, longer opening hours for the Gardens, new natural stone paving, public seating and an upgrade of the Ross bandstand.
But Mr Murphy - who presented his own vision to the summit - has described the council plans as "very small beer".
He would like to see much wider pavements on both sides of the street, with the carriageway reduced to one lane in each direction, cycle lanes between the buses and the pavement, and stone planters/seats against the buses, with continuous evergreen planting to obscure the lower sections of buses.
He would also plant trees to soften the street on the north side, turning Princes Street into a “boulevard” and remove the railings between Princes Street and the Gardens, having them open 24 hours a day.
And he proposes excavating beneath the pavement on the south side and laying out space for restaurants and cafes opening into the Gardens.
In a report to the planning committee, council officials acknowledge their scheme is less radical, but say it is “an ambitious, exciting and deliverable strategy”.
Mr Murphy said: "I think it's very small beer.
"The main problem is the transport people seem to be digging in their heels unnecessarily and that's a problem because they're saying we need a four-lane motorway down Princes Street.
“I've been an architect for 35 years and I know that roads departments in whatever local authority you're talking about, first of all are a law unto themselves, and secondly they're very, very hesitant to change anything because they're very risk averse.
"Otherwise, the proposals being put forward are such small beer that it's hardly worth doing. It won't have the major economic fillip which the street needs."
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson rejected the suggestion that the council or its transport officials were resistant to change.
He said: ”We have bold and grand visions, not only for the city centre but the city as a whole. I don’t feel we’re resistant to change at all - in fact, I think we embrace it and we look to deliver change.
“The problem is quite often the pace of delivery because we are financially constrained. I’m resistant to constant financial pressures placed on the council rather than resistant to change.”
He said Princes Street would always be a “major transport hub” within the city’s network. “We’ve got a tramline going right down the middle of Princes Street - that’s not moving.”
Cllr Jenkinson said as well as being bold, the council had to be realistic. “It’s one thing designing a street of the future, it’s another thing paying for it. We have to be bold, but we also have to be pragmatic and realistic about what’s achievable.
“Richard Murphy’s design doesn’t have a price tag attached, as far as I’m aware.”