Edinburgh Princes Street: Summit called to draw up vision after council strategy rejected as 'dull'
A summit is being planned to draw up a vision for the future of Princes Street after a council masterplan for the area was rejected.
The Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy, published in September last year, proposed increased pedestrian zones, tree-planting on the rood of Waverley Market, new access ramps into Princes Street Gardens and a footbridge across the Waverley Valley.
But it was slated for not offering more of a vision for the future of the Capital’s premier street.
A joint statement from the New Town & Broughton, Old Town, and West End community councils, said Princes Street had become “an embarrassment” to residents and visitors alike and was “urgently in need of a plan for ongoing regeneration and restoration”.
But it said the strategy lacked any ambition to restore its prestige or build on his heritage and contained “nothing more than a shopping list of generic urban planning measures”.
And when Edinburgh’s planning committee was asked to endorse the strategy, councillors instead voted not to adopt it at this stage and agreed to bring together council officials, elected members and those with transport, culture, heritage and placemaking expertise to come up with a “more ambitious an exciting strategy”
Lib Dem councillor Kevin Lang, who proposed the summit, said: “I thought it would be wrong to adopt a strategy that folk had accepted was not good enough. And I felt it was worth having another attempt at bringing together the people who care most and have the most to offer the conversation about Princes Street to try and get a more ambitious and imaginative plan.”
Princes Street has seen many of its best-known shops disappear in recent years, with many of them relocating to the nearby St James Quarter and leaving the street with empty units, although new hotels and developments are planned for several of the vacated buildings.
Cllr Lang said: “Princes Street is going to be very different in the future. It’s never going to be about trying to return Princes Street to being a retail hub. The question is what is it that will make this whole area a space that people want to come and spend more time in more often?
“It’s right that we take more time to get the vision right. Otherwise we're at risk of making the wrong decisions now that then hold us back from transforming what this street is.”
He noted that Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy had produced alternative ideas for Princes Street after the council masterplan was criticised. These included removing the railings from Princes Street Gardens and having the space open 24 hours a day, as well as widening the pavements and reducing the traffic lanes from four to two.
Cllr Lang said: “He was talking about a big increase in the footways and circulation space, where people could meet and you could have markets and stalls, rethinking Princes Street Gardens, making them open for more of the time, and making all these safe and welcoming green spaces.
“There are others as well who have really interesting ideas, yet we had a strategy that was just a bit dull.”
“I'm not suggesting you would just take Richard’s plan and implement that, but he's done something that is really interesting, really ambitious and I think it helps to achieve the thing which we want Princes Street to be - a place you want to come to and spend a lot of time in.
“It challenged some of the conventions, it was a proper reimagining of what Princes Street is and could be. It's that kind of thinking we need if this is really going to return to being the vibrant beating heart of Edinburgh.”
Planning convener Joan Griffiths said: “We’re committed to taking forward a workshop to progress the strategy to allow us to realise the city’s aspirations for Princes Street and come back to committee with a revised version for approval in late 2026.”