Heritage group wants city's festivals spread across the year

The Herald Scotland

23-06-2025

It warns of the prospect a 'tide of citizen discontent' from local residents and even a modern-day 'siege' engulfing the City Chambers, Edinburgh City Council's historic headquarters, unless the Scottish capital changes direction.
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It has predicted an unprecedented backlash from local residents over an escalating environmental crisis, the doubling of annual visitor numbers, increasingly overcrowded streets and a city centre litter crisis without a dramatic rethink of its housing, tourism, transport and events strategies.
The Cockburn has called for a much greater 'geographical spread' of Edinburgh's festivals and a focus on the 'year-round nurturing of local talent.'
The Pleasance Courtyard during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (Image: Neil Hanna)
It has also suggested that the historic Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, which has some of the biggest outdoor festival events, is knocked down and replaced by a new structure that is ringfenced for 'local artists who give free performances throughout the summer months."
The new book, which charts 150 years of Cockburn Association campaigns, imagines two possible futures for the city, one if current trends are allowed to continue unchecked and an alternative, which delivers changes in policy 'almost imaginable' in 2025.
The first vision raises the prospect of Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens being renamed by commercial sponsors by 2049, driverless cars and 'airborne taxis' transporting visitors around key attractions, and key city council services being franchised out to a company based in the Cayman Islands.
The new-look Princes Street is described as 'a dazzling sight with its huge bright advertising screens, hotels, cafes and restaurants' following the demise of the retail offering on the thoroughfare, while George Street has become home to a series of pedestrianised 'party zones' by 2049.
It predicts that the Cockburn Association will have been 'vanquished' by then and the city's reputation as 'a place where it was hard to develop' will have been consigned to the past.
However it warns that historic buildings on the Royal Mile will have been replaced by blocks of upmarket holiday flats, while office buildings across the city have been converted for short-term letting.
The alternative future vision for the Scottish capital predicts that catastrophic flooding in 2028 and a City Chambers siege by housing campaigners in 2029 prove to be the catalyst for a rethink, after growing numbers of visitors to events like the Fringe exacerbate a "chronic litter crisis" in the city.
It suggests that the Cockburn Association itself plays a key role with a 'Future of Edinburgh' report, published in 1931, which was based on recommendations from a series of 'citizens' juries.' The dossier is said to be successful in influencing how key decisions are no longer taken behind 'closed doors.'
The Cockburn-influenced future sees churches repurposed for housing, neighbourhood hubs and youth centres, with some shopping malls converted into 'winter gardens' and others demolished to make way for new housing developments.
Describing the 2049 future of Edinburgh backed by the Cockburn, the book states: 'Tourists still came to Edinburgh and were welcomed, but not in the numbers seen earlier in the century, in part because of the shift away from cheap air travel after the subsidies on fuel, for example were removed and replaced by carbon taxes.
'The qualities that had made Edinburgh unique had been saved. The historic core retained its integrity, stunning townscape and views.
'Once again, it was home to a mixed and thriving residential community, a safe and litter-free area that was enjoyed by all.
'The old bandstand had been replaced in the 2030s by an award-winning new structure that is used for local artists who give free performances throughout the summer months.
'The festivals had always contributed to the costs of maintaining Edinburgh's buildings by using them.
'Spreading the festivals throughout the year, to avoid exceeding the city's capacity in the August peak, has meant fewer venues being used, but those that are have sustainable income flows.
'The festivals have also taken outreach more seriously than they did in the old days.
'The geographical spread of venues is wider, and year-round nurturing of local talent has been a real win-win, with the development of the neighbourhood hubs.'
Witing in the new book, author Alexander McCall Smith describes Edinburgh as 'a rare jewel' and insists that the Cockburn Association's campaigns and objections have never been about 'knee-jerk opposition to change.'
He added: 'They are considered and constructive contributions to the task of preserving for residents of Edinburgh – and its many visitors – the experience of being in a place that is humane in its scale, respectful of what is around it, as well as being connected with the past.'