The City of Edinburgh Council has a working relationship with the National Galleries of Scotland, with regular collaboration on the management, maintenance and operation of the Mound precinct and the Weston link entrance within east Princes Street gardens.
In 2011, the council, through its planning function, began to work with the National Galleries to review how future investment in the area could best meet the needs of a variety of users and reinforce the special qualities of the gallery complex and its relationship with Princes Street gardens and the surrounding area. The council highlighted the particular problem of the legibility of some of the connections for people navigating around and through the area. Princes Street gardens are a centrepiece of the world heritage site, providing a linking landscape feature between the old and new towns of Edinburgh. The council has a management and conservation plan in place to guide changes to the gardens.
The council continued the dialogue with the National Galleries design team during the development of the proposals and we agree that further work is required to ensure appropriate integration within the gardens.
The council’s legal and property teams have worked with the National Galleries in the promotion of the National Galleries of Scotland Bill. They secured a mandate from the council’s finance and resources committee on 3 February to engage with the National Galleries over the sale of the land, the terms of which will require further committee approval. As planning authority, the council has had pre-application discussions with the National Galleries, and it expects planning and listed building applications in due course.