No confidence in CEC Planning Committee - Petitions (Invalid)
Petition details
We the undersigned citizens of the City of Edinburgh, in light of UNESCO comments regarding the city's status as a World Heritage Site[1][2], submit the below petition.
A variety of questionable decisions have contributed to a situation where UNESCO might strip the city of its World Heritage Site status. The current state of the city is laid out in Professor Williams article, "Scotch this Plan"[3]. Numerous other, recent, decisions show little regard for the city's architectural value. This calls into serious doubt competence of existing planning arrangements. Such has already led to a petition asking the Scottish Government hold a vote of no-confidence in Edinburgh's Planning Department[4].
We believe the situation is unacceptable, indicating the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) Planning Committee is not fit for purpose, nor should it be permitted to continue in its current form.
Therefore we petition CEC to via a fully open public meeting:
1. Hold a vote of no confidence in the Planning Committee.
2. That all elected members sitting on the Planning Committee acknowledge their failed stewardship, and resign from the committee with immediate effect.
3. The Planning Committee, or any interim operating until it is reconstituted, be ordered to: defer all decisions relating to demolition, or new construction, within the World Heritage Site; or, which might impinge on the skyline as viewed from within the World Heritage Site.
4. The Planning Committee be ordered not to recommence said decisions until - in cooperation with UNESCO, and the Scottish Government - planning rules are amended, and a new Planning Committee formed which fully respects the city's heritage.
5. Given the widely-held belief corruption is endemic - as Prof William's report highlights regarding criminal prosecutions over the Statutory Repairs scandal - CEC request Police Scotland carry out a full investigation, and publish the results of their findings at the earliest possible opportunity.
Only by taking all of the above steps do we believe that the City of Edinburgh Council might restore some confidence in their stewardship, demonstrate to UNESCO the importance the citizens of Edinburgh place on maintaining World Heritage Site status, and avoid the serious economic losses removal of said status might incur.
