Edinburgh faces an economic storm – John McLellan

The centre of Edinburgh has become like a giant architectural museum that no-one is visiting, suggesting the city may struggle to recover from the economic effects of the coronavirus, writes John McLellan.

Working from home looks here to stay (Picture: SWNS)

Who needs city centre traffic segregation when there is still so little traffic? On another hunt for signs of significant economic activity on the bike last Friday I drew another blank.

And this week, previously packed town-bound rush-hour 10 and 27 buses past my house still carried only four or five passengers.

It bears out the analysis of Google data reported in the Evening News last week that Edinburgh’s workplace activity is the lowest of any major city, down 69 per cent.

With an economy dominated by services, tourism and universities, this is the city’s perfect storm and the World Heritage site has become a giant architectural museum no-one is visiting.

No festivals and a negative quarantine message from the First Minister means virtually no tourists. Lucrative international study has collapsed. Internet shopping has replaced leisure shopping. Financial institutions like RBS are extending work from home so cafes and bars have lost local custom.

Working from home is here to stay, international study might never recover and with growing fears about a second Covid-19 wave this winter which could scupper tentative plans to run some sort of Christmas market and Hogmanay celebrations, there will be no V-shaped recovery in Edinburgh.

Hurray for furlough scheme!

Insurer Legal & General takes a very long-term view of its investments, looking for slow and steady returns to fund pension liabilities which stretch ahead for decades.

So the decision to back the £50m conversion of the Debenhams Princes Street store into a hotel and rooftop restaurant with a shopping close to link up with Rose Street is indeed a vote of confidence in the city’s long-term attractiveness.

But it means that the short-term viability of institutions like Debenhams is a real problem and the most pressing question is what sustains the city now. Three cheers for furlough.

Time for Dame Sue to bash heads together

When Sue Bruce became chief executive of Edinburgh Council in 2011, one of her first achievements was to get the authority out of the legal trench warfare the trams disaster had become and get the project moving. Similarly, she had to blast a way through the impasse holding up the St James Centre.

For reasons which are unclear, the council is fighting another war of attrition in the courts over the Granton Marina scheme and at last claimed a victory last week with the Court of Session ruling it was owed £26,000 in fees, not the £400 the developer argued was due.

Now that’s settled, is it not in everyone’s interests to get such an important development moving, when the city is desperate for economic activity? But that would need someone of Dame Sue’s calibre to bash heads together.

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