deepundergroundpoetry.com
Who owns Edinburgh,Really?
A large area is owned by Essential Edinburgh.
Essential Edinburgh is a BID Area which amounts to a private sector privatization of public services and public spaces.
A report from a BID in London, from the Guardian,
Street traders could soon be barred from West End -http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/street-traders-could-soon-be-barred-from-west-end-2029893.html
They are essentially a cabal of rich bastards who financially control edinburgh interests and privatize public spaces.
Check out the board - http://www.essentialedinburgh.co.uk/ee-subpage.aspx?pageID=9
In another article the Guardian describes them
"More recently, the public realm has been attacked by the creeping privatisation of what little remains of public space. In Edinburgh, from 1716 to 1808, the town council used the Common Good Fund to acquire all the land for the development of the New Town. The streets and many of the open spaces in this World Heritage site are thus the common property of the citizens of the city. In 2008, however, the City of Edinburgh council handed control of much of the central area for five years to a private consortium of businesses, Essential Edinburgh Ltd, as a Business Improvement District governed by Part 9 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2006.
Out of 15 directors of the company, only one is from the council, and he is an official, not an elected member. Apart from the chief superintendent of Lothian and Borders police, the remainder are private businesses including Harvey Nichols, RBS and Macdonald Hotels.
The council is prohibited from having more than 20% of the membership to ensure that "the company shall not be under the control of the local authority" and the quorum for a directors meeting is a mere two.
A prominent project of Essential Edinburgh has been the opening of St Andrew Square Garden to the public. While this is welcome, it is unclear why such a business consortium ever needed to be involved. The council leases St Andrew Square Gardens from the property owners in St Andrews Square for £1 per year and sub-leases the gardens to Essential Edinburgh for a further £1 per year. The gardens were renovated with £2.6m of public funding but the land remains outside the control of the council. This private company has adopted management rules that dictate what the public are allowed to do and when"
(Scottish people have been losing 'common good' land since 1491,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/12/scottish-people-losing-common-land)
In 2010,a photographer was harassed for taking pictures in one of their areas and subsequently photographers protested,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/oct/18/edinburgh-flashmob-photographer-photography-protest-multrees
Essential Edinburgh opposed Occupy Edinburgh and had them evicted.
On their site, Essential Edinburgh says "Essential Edinburgh manages and maintains St Andrew Square Garden. Permission is required from Essential Edinburgh to utilise the Garden for anything out with “normal” usage"
There was an article from Greener Leither criticizing them which has since been removed.Convenient!
Occupy Edinburgh members have written an article explaining their concerns with Essential Edinburgh,
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/magazine/26065-occupy-edinburgh-asks-whether-city-centre-management-company-has-its-priorities-right/
Some important points are
" In fact, the push to cut down on these undesirable 'casualties' has led the city of Los Angeles to respond through "securitisation of the city centre through the building of heavily guarded private spaces and the elimination or privatisation of public spaces."
"Small businesses also (especially those other than retail) feel that the focus of Essential Edinburgh is squarely set on the superficial attractiveness of the area over any depth of business intelligence.
This was certainly the view of John Cant, a business director in the district at the time Essential Edinburgh was established. He wrote to Essential Edinburgh in 2008 to express concern over the lack of social or environmental benefit to the area."
"Essential Edinburgh, instead, represents everything Occupy stands against in this country - everything Scotland has resisted adopting from their English and American cousins: superficial gentrification, public land being 'owned' by a private entity, the rule of the working majority by a wealthy minority, the pandering to the will of the rich rather than the creation of opportunities for smaller, individual businesses that really give Edinburgh its character"
The Occupation in St Andrews Sq was an attempt to reclaim a public space as a truly public place.
Essential Edinburgh is a BID Area which amounts to a private sector privatization of public services and public spaces.
A report from a BID in London, from the Guardian,
Street traders could soon be barred from West End -http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/street-traders-could-soon-be-barred-from-west-end-2029893.html
They are essentially a cabal of rich bastards who financially control edinburgh interests and privatize public spaces.
Check out the board - http://www.essentialedinburgh.co.uk/ee-subpage.aspx?pageID=9
In another article the Guardian describes them
"More recently, the public realm has been attacked by the creeping privatisation of what little remains of public space. In Edinburgh, from 1716 to 1808, the town council used the Common Good Fund to acquire all the land for the development of the New Town. The streets and many of the open spaces in this World Heritage site are thus the common property of the citizens of the city. In 2008, however, the City of Edinburgh council handed control of much of the central area for five years to a private consortium of businesses, Essential Edinburgh Ltd, as a Business Improvement District governed by Part 9 of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2006.
Out of 15 directors of the company, only one is from the council, and he is an official, not an elected member. Apart from the chief superintendent of Lothian and Borders police, the remainder are private businesses including Harvey Nichols, RBS and Macdonald Hotels.
The council is prohibited from having more than 20% of the membership to ensure that "the company shall not be under the control of the local authority" and the quorum for a directors meeting is a mere two.
A prominent project of Essential Edinburgh has been the opening of St Andrew Square Garden to the public. While this is welcome, it is unclear why such a business consortium ever needed to be involved. The council leases St Andrew Square Gardens from the property owners in St Andrews Square for £1 per year and sub-leases the gardens to Essential Edinburgh for a further £1 per year. The gardens were renovated with £2.6m of public funding but the land remains outside the control of the council. This private company has adopted management rules that dictate what the public are allowed to do and when"
(Scottish people have been losing 'common good' land since 1491,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/12/scottish-people-losing-common-land)
In 2010,a photographer was harassed for taking pictures in one of their areas and subsequently photographers protested,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/oct/18/edinburgh-flashmob-photographer-photography-protest-multrees
Essential Edinburgh opposed Occupy Edinburgh and had them evicted.
On their site, Essential Edinburgh says "Essential Edinburgh manages and maintains St Andrew Square Garden. Permission is required from Essential Edinburgh to utilise the Garden for anything out with “normal” usage"
There was an article from Greener Leither criticizing them which has since been removed.Convenient!
Occupy Edinburgh members have written an article explaining their concerns with Essential Edinburgh,
http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/magazine/26065-occupy-edinburgh-asks-whether-city-centre-management-company-has-its-priorities-right/
Some important points are
" In fact, the push to cut down on these undesirable 'casualties' has led the city of Los Angeles to respond through "securitisation of the city centre through the building of heavily guarded private spaces and the elimination or privatisation of public spaces."
"Small businesses also (especially those other than retail) feel that the focus of Essential Edinburgh is squarely set on the superficial attractiveness of the area over any depth of business intelligence.
This was certainly the view of John Cant, a business director in the district at the time Essential Edinburgh was established. He wrote to Essential Edinburgh in 2008 to express concern over the lack of social or environmental benefit to the area."
"Essential Edinburgh, instead, represents everything Occupy stands against in this country - everything Scotland has resisted adopting from their English and American cousins: superficial gentrification, public land being 'owned' by a private entity, the rule of the working majority by a wealthy minority, the pandering to the will of the rich rather than the creation of opportunities for smaller, individual businesses that really give Edinburgh its character"
The Occupation in St Andrews Sq was an attempt to reclaim a public space as a truly public place.
Published 6th Apr 2013
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 0
reading list entries 0
comments 0
reads 553
Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
