Another opportunity missed - John McLellan
Another old saga is the future of the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, the crumbling wreck which would have been replaced by a splendid privately-financed facility were it not for arguments about ownership and landscape impact.
But from the report about the future of Princes Street now under discussion at today’s Edinburgh City Council culture and communities committee, the collapse of the project was largely down to a lack of funding and the pandemic.
But the project led by hotelier Norman Springford hit problems over two years before the Covid outbreak, and the funding problem was a direct result of the council’s inability to agree how the new facilities would operate and distrust of what was supposed to be a public-private partnership.
In effect the council wanted private money to foot the bill while the council retained complete control, which is a defendable principle, but it meant looking for charity not investment. And then there was the heritage problem. The conservation lobby set its face against the development to the extent that it’s very difficult to see what would pass muster, other than a replica of what’s there now.
The report holds up Glasgow’s renovated Kelvingrove Bandstand as an example of what might be possible, and indeed that was a straightforward replacement and upgrade costing £2.1 million, largely from lottery funding. That’s fine, if a lick of paint and a bit of repointing is all that’s required, but Princes Street Gardens deserves better, and that’s what Norman Springford tried to achieve. Another opportunity missed.