Economic Development in Scotland

Being located some three miles to the north and outside the boundaries of the city centre of Edinburgh at that time, Granton was a rural area before 1800. The area belonged to the Dukes of Buccleuch and the estate attached to Caroline Park House, a mansion still existing and playing a role in the recent redevelopments, served as a retreat for the family and it did not take part in the developments of the industrial revolution or the Scottish Enlightenment by then. This in some way changed when Walter the 5th Duke of Buccleuch built Granton harbour in the 1830s spending over half a million pounds on the project, making it one of the largest private investments in Britain at the time. By then Edinburgh was in need of a deep sea harbour since Leith was dependent on the tide. The first step was to build a central pier which was completed in 1844. It was 1700 feet long and had 10 berths for large steamers. This was extended with two breakwaters each to the east and west to protect the port. From the early days on Granton was used as a ferry port with sailings to Fife, Dundee, Montrose, Aberdeen, the Moray Firth and even London. Before the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge it was the main link to Fife and the north (Gracie, p. 57 – 59). An increase in trade stimulated especially by the expanding coal fields in Lothian made an enlargement of the port facilities 75 [...]

but a few since most metropolitan ports of the USA and Canada have experienced such developments. This is however not limited to seaports alone since river cities, with or without port-facilities and smaller port towns have undergone similar developments (Tunbridge, p. 66 – 70). Revitalisation developments in Europe began mainly in the 1980s and major examples are not hard to find. One of the most spectacular and prominent examples is the revitalisation of the London Docklands. Not only the sheer size of the area and sums of money involved, but also the disagreements inflicted by planning policies make London a noticeable example. The establishment of the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1981 and the designation of an Enterprise Zone within the area by the newly elected Tory government provoked some protest expressing concerns about a lack of democracy. Today the Dockland area carries out city functions and serves as an attractive residential area. A centre piece of infrastructure is the Docklands Light Railway serving the area and linking it to the City (Church, p. 1999 –204; Priebs p. 4/5). Another early case of waterfront revitalisation is Oslo. Only shortly after the closure of a shipyard in 1982 close to the city centre the first preparations for a restructuring of the area have been carried out. In spite of problems following a crash of the economy and a lawsuit, a new city quarter has been created successfully. Copenhagen on the other hand experienced major difficulties regarding its waterfront developments. The main problem was the lack of cooperation between the local authority and the harbour administration which in consequence led to a blockade in planning and development. Furthermore a tailor made development plan became obsolete after the developer went bankrupt. Though a development company could not be established, the involvement of the harbour administration was increased through more planning competence and the blockade could be overcome. Hamburg had two development issues discussed separately, the enlargement of the harbour in the west and the restructuring of older harbour areas in the east. The local authority presented a plan which suggested a cross financing. The income from selling land in the restructured area was to be reinvested in the enlargement of the harbour. Thus the harbour administration was 70 [...]

ton as a new business and residential quarter, to provide a framework for the design of the area and to ensure the integration of the neighbouring communities. Referring to the 1994 Lothian Structure plan, the local plan recognises the need to regenerate brownfield land for new developments. The plan mentions the Llewelyn-Davis Masterplan which is the planning framework for all developments on the Granton Waterfront and will be presented in another chapter. Since the local plan refers in broad terms to the Masterplan and not the other way round, its content is not presented in this chapter. However it is important to say that the plan requires all future planning proposals in the area to be in line with the Masterplan guidelines (City of Edinburgh Council, 2001a, p. 89 - 95). [...]