A poem for National Poetry Day 2009

By Leaves We Live - Patrick Geddes 1854 -1932



Today is National Poetry Day, and I share with you the blog today from the Independent Republic of the Canongate (see blogs list), a campaigning group begun by concerned local people who love their city, the World Heritage Site of Edinburgh.

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/10/national-poetry-day-by-leave-we-live.html

The blogging members of SOOT have decided to repeat the piece by Patrick Geddes, Scottish genius, a line from which is in the entrance to the Scottish Poetry Library:


This is a green world, with animals comparatively few and small, and all dependent on the leaves. By leaves we live. Some people have strange ideas that they live by money. They think energy is generated by the circulation of coins. Whereas the world is mainly a vast leaf colony, growing on and forming a leafy soil, not a mere mineral mass: and we live not by the jingling of our coins, but by the fullness of our harvests - Patrick Geddes

More on Geddes:

http://www.ballaterscotland.com/geddes/

His biography:

http://www.answers.com/topic/patrick-geddes

Geddes' ideas on good civic planning, and especially 'conservative surgery' rather than wholesale destruction, are ones which are still relevant today.

The website of Save Our Old Town is at http://www.eh8.org.uk/ and details the long campaign to try to stop the Mountgrange 'Caltongate' development, which would have seen the demolition of listed buildings and a vast new 'mixed use' development of dubious architectural and social merit.

Such was the furore, first local, then national, and finally international, the campaigners created that UNESCO eventually called and said it didn't like what was planned either, and Mountgrange went bust. The two things may or may not be related. Let's hope what is now a major gap site (with several empty handsome historic buildings going to waste on the perimeter) finds a new buyer with more on their minds than simply maximum profit; someone who will help the World Heritage Site remain a wonderful place for those who keep it alive and authentic by choosing to live in it, not simply for those who wish to profit from it.

Two previous blogs which include a great deal more on this

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/05/boldly-going.html

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/06/unesco-slams-caltongate-and-demands.html

The war is far from over, although at least a few battles have been won. It shows, however, what can be done if you have enough determination and the cause is just.

Each social formation, through each of its material activities, exerts its influence upon the civic whole; and each of its ideas and ideals wins also its place and power - Patrick Geddes

But a city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time -Patrick Geddes

Geddes and his ideas and ideals need to be more widely known and read.

To all those campaigners fighting to save something precious to them, whatever it may be, that will bring greater good, I say - don't give in or give up. A world without ideals and idealists would be an impoverished place.

Nem

Hip hip...

Hooray! The news of the probable demise of the ghastly Caltongate scheme in Edinburgh's World Heritage Site dominates today's heritage news (see also yesterday's blog updates) as Mountgrange has gone bust, and today I can do no better than simply add these links to those posted at the bottom of yesterday's post:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-calton-gate-swindle.html

The full cast of those responsible is assembled there, and all the back story is at

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

Wilson's Weekly Wrap:

City centre site now available – world class architecture wanted

..The project is - to all intents and purposes - dead, despite the optimistic noises being made by Manish Chande, one of the Mountgrange directors that he has another investment vehicle that could buy the assets out of administration. Given that nobody is lending money for commercial development just now, It’s difficult to see new finance being raised to simply carry on with the development as is. And that doesn’t get away from the brutal reality that nobody other than the city’s ingenuous council and that regular backer of losers, the Chamber of Commerce, had bought into this particular project. The trouble is, times have changed, even during the gestation of the ‘Caltongate’ scheme. People know when they are being offered cod consultation and resent it. They are also – despite many architects’ views to the contrary - able to recognise quality when they see it and nowadays expect it, especially in a city with the architectural and urban credentials that Edinburgh has. Which brings us to the nub of the problem – the many drawings published for this project illustrated a commercial style of architecture so unremarkable that it could have been in any city in the world. This may be unfair to the architects involved, but they produced the drawings so they can’t complain if the public isn’t convinced by what is put in front of it. What was required here was a modern form of architecture distinctive to Scotland’s capital and we can only hope that out of the Mountgrange ashes a phoenix will arise that is both appropriate for Edinburgh and genuinely world class in terms of its architectural quality....

Full article here:

http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/news/1323/Wilson%27s_Weekly_Wrap%3A_The_Calton_Crunch_and_other_matters.html

and it's hard to disagree, really.

Pictures:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2008/11/welcome-to-brents-edinburgh.html

Listed buildings were to be demolished for that!

UPDATE ALREADY!

http://www.twodoctors.org/2009/03/onefinger-gesture-from-the-mar.html

Nem


HERITAGE FORUM:

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

The good, the bad and the ugly...

First the bad.

I read this morning the latest episode from the Independent Republic of the Canongate, which is in Edinburgh's World Heritage Site. Unveiled in all its ugliness is the latest Allan Murray offering, the new 'boutique' hotel:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/latest-addition-to-murrayburgh-unveiled.html

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

I saw it recently while it still had some of the scaffolding around it, and it didn't look too great then, but now it's naked and exposed for all to see I can confidently state that in my view, this will be another Allan Murray blight on the city for decades to come. His SoCo development will be next, followed by the St James' Centre redevelopment. That's to add to the 'delights' of The Omni, The Tun and The Cube, although there are others.

Move along rapidly, avoid looking.

Magnus Linklater in the Times has it about right:

Why leave a city's designs in one man's hands?

Edinburgh's celebrated skyline is threatened by a planning policy that puts mediocrity before imagination or beauty

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/magnus_linklater/article4517781.ece

A bear of little brain blog drew attention to a programme I didn't manage to catch but it sounds fascinating:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hw3yr/Touring_Britain_The_Victorian_Way

This was a programme following a Victorian edition of a Baedecker guide and covered Llandudno (which as he says was very mild last autumn) Penrhyn slate quarry and my little railway - the Festiniog, travelling behind my favourite loco, Merddin Emrys, to my favourite station, Tan y Bwlch. What joy!

http://hazel-abearoflittlebrain.blogspot.com/2009/02/tour-around-cymru-gogledd.html

As one without the joys of BBC Four thanks for the pointer, I watched the beginning and it looks so interesting a concept I have downloaded the rest to watch at leisure. The problem is that whenever I look at that site I find a number of things which I would like to watch to download, and it's beginning to be a little like my pile of Books I Must Read But Haven't Yet pile.

However, the mention of the Festiniog:

http://www.festrail.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/history/pages/festiniograilway.shtml

and Welsh quarries reminded me of something else which deserves to be enjoyed, the article by Marcus Binney in a recent Country Life , on the wartime uses to which country houses were put:

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/architecture/article/297914/The_wartime_role_of_Country_houses.html

From that article:

Saving the nation’s art

Even before war began, large country houses were seen as a safe haven for the nation’s art treasures. Penrhyn Castle was chosen by Kenneth Clark for the National Gallery its doors were the only ones large enough to admit Van Dyck’s vast equestrian portrait of Charles I, although the pictures were later immured in slate quarries near Blaenau Ffestiniog. ‘Bury them in the bowels of the earth, but not one picture shall leave this island,’ advised Churchill. The Gold State Coach was sent to Mentmore Towers. The Tate used Muncaster Castle in Cumbria. The Natural History Museum sent prize exhibits to 15th-century Tattershall Castle, where damp inflicted disastrous damage on the butterfly collection. The Public Record Office sent archives to Belvoir Castle: the Duke of Rutland was enrolled as official curator to comply with regulations.

My pictures today are of Wallington Hall, in Northumberland. Last year it housed an exhibition of photos of the wartime use to which that building was put, when girls from the west end of Newcastle were evacuated there 'for the duration', to board and be educated away from the dangers of bombing raids. As Armstrong's munitions factory was nearby and a possible target for enemy action, removing children from the area was a wise move.

Here are some of the photos:

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/history-newcastle-north-east/remember-when-galleries/2008/06/25/remember-when-photos-of-wartime-evacuees-72703-21149157/

The Richard Wilson programmes also mentioned in the blog sounds much watch telly also, two progs so far, the Welsh one was in a Ford Zodiac:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search/?q=Richard%20Wilson

Catch them while you can, downloads are available for four weeks.

Nem

The Canongate Project - the movie!

Brilliant!

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/canongate-project-film-on-youtube.html

And also worth reading (and watching the linked award-winning movie) is today's blog about the Garvald breadmakers of Edinburgh:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/

http://breadmakersfilm.blogspot.com/

It is still a living, working community, despite the best efforts of the council to 'regenerate' by a bit of social cleansing, the usual mix of commercial schemes of dubious architectural merit, and yet more sterile developments which seem to have liitle to do with what local people actually want.

The Nem Republic has also kindly been added to the LINKS section of the Bath Heritage Watchdog website, and more will be appearing in this blog soon.

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/index.html

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/links.htm

As the site isn't a blog I can't add it to the Blogger links list at the right, but it's an outstanding example (along with the Independent Republic of the Canongate) of what a bunch of determined people can achieve who care about their World Heritage Site and their city, and who feel that the planning process is frequently stacked against the best interests of conservation. I adore Bath and read the site avidly, to keep up with what is happening there.

Information is power!

Nem

Save Our Old Town!

(Click to enlarge)

A Press Release has just pinged its way into the Nemesis Republic inbox from the Canongate Community Forum.

Here it is:

"Opportunity for city council to rescue Canongate from the ashes of Mountgrange" say campaigners

With Caltongate Developers Mountgrange in financial distress, a window of opportunity has arrived for city planners and the council to reconsider their stand on how the New Street Site is to be developed.

The buildings at risk from demolition should be bought back to life and serve the community and city’s needs once again and the council should freeze all work on land sales to Mountgrange in present situation, say Save Our Old Town campaigners today.

A UNESCO report singles out for criticism the way Caltongate scheme was approved by the authorities despite protests from a host of heritage groups and the community.

Earlier this week responding to this UNESCO report, which the council have just received Jim Lowrie, the council’s planning convenor, told The Scotsman -

"(The report] does criticise us over the Caltongate development. We are going to have to look at (that] before we respond in detail."

The campaigners are continuing to call on the council to uphold the decision to use the £100,000 Bond from Mountgrange to allow a temporary landscape scheme to be implemented on the New Street gap site.

The Old Town campaigners are to present the results from a year long project at a seminar this Saturday which decision makers as well as the public have been invited to attend.

Key Findings of the Report are likely to prove embarrassing to planners and politicians.

They include:

Having a living world heritage site in the city centre came out as a top priority but housing policies and city development fails to support this.

There is an urgent need for community facilities and spaces.

There is a clear lack of 'public' responsibility in the management of public space.

Small independent and start up businesses require support and initiatives.

Opportunities and sites for community development should be identified.

Urban communities should get access to '”community right to buy”

Pressure on council to keep a properly accounted and managed register of Common Good Land & Assets.

No more “selling off of the family silver” and no more privatisation of public space.

Over the year opinion was sampled from residents and public -

79% want social & affordable housing
77% want family housing
77% want play parks/areas for children & teenagers
70% want a better mix of shops
62% want more grassed areas & trees
57% want artist's working facilities

Report Launch Event Saturday 21st February

2pm The Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High St. Edinburgh (John Knox’s House)


More information and details of launch see -

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/report-launch-at-storytelling-centre-21.html

The pictures above are (top) the Canongate Venture, former school then business start up facility, a listed building in a conservation area, to be sold by the council for demolition in order to build a conference centre (despite the fact existing conference centres are losing money and staff are being made redundant). Below, the listed Sailor's Ark (a former hostel for seamen) and the Ebenezer MacRae (city architect) model housing tenements. These are to be made the facades (the rest to be demolished) of a five star Sofitel hotel. A new high pend or opening will be driven through to access the new development. This is the Canongate, part of the Royal Mile and Edinburgh's World Heritage Site.

For further pictures and information see the http://www.eh8.org.uk/ site.

Nem

In brief...

I posted this a month ago, and several Bloggers responded to the call. If anyone else wishes to join us, feel free!



There is now a Republic e-mail address, see the Nemesis Profile for the link.





If any citizen fancies writing an article about anything they have been doing, or a blog entry or a tad more spleen venting than is possible via the comments, or wishes to send some news and views, pictures or a link to a photo album, great. If anyone would like to write an occasional blog then why not set one up via Blogger (if I can anyone can) and we can link to it from here when it's updated?

Meanwhile, this is a blog I follow with great enthusiasm:
http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/
A worthy cause.

Back soon

Nem