(reblogged from New Town and Broughton Community Council website)

As many will be acutely aware, despite the many public objections to the proposal, the battle to save Edinburgh’s iconic Old Royal High School has not yet been won. The developer behind the plan to turn the Old Royal High School into a luxury hotel has refused to accept the unanimous decision of -elected members of Edinburgh Council, with the result that we are forced to engage in a lengthy and expensive process as we go through the appeal process.

The matter is now to be decided by Scottish Ministers at a Public Inquiry – which results in significant legal costs for those objecting to the hotel.

NTBCC has joined a coalition with the Cockburn Association and Edinburgh World Heritage to oppose the hotel plan ; we are all committed to fight this scheme at the upcoming appeal. We value the significant role which both the Cockburn Association and EWHT are playing in sustaining constructive opposition to the proposed development.

The Cockburn Association has instructed legal representation to help the coalition at the appeal, which commences in September 2018 and is expected to last for over 5 weeks.

We’re asking everyone who values Edinburgh’s heritage to support this campaignby making a donation here if you can, as well as spreading the word as widely as possible to friends and family.

Or accessing https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/old-royal-high-school-appeal/

Funds will be used to pay for this legal representation which supports the preparation of Appeal documents, precognitions of witnesses, and the critical cross-examination of the developer’s professional witnesses in the formal inquiry sessions.

The coalition includes Edinburgh World Heritage, a charity responsible for the conservation and promotion of the city’s World Heritage Site; The Cockburn Association, founded in 1875 to preserve and promote Edinburgh’s heritage and landscape; and the New Town & Broughton Community Council, representing residents.

An alternative plan to sensitively use the building as a new base for St. Mary’s Music School has already received planning permission.

Thomas Hamilton’s Royal High School, built between 1825-9, is one of the most important Greek Revival buildings in Europe and was one of the buildings to inspire this moniker of ‘Athens of the North’. It is composed of a powerful symmetrical grouping of principal Doric temple-pavilion, flanking colonnades and subsidiary temples, fully exploiting a prominent elevated site.