On Wednesday the Deputy First Minister, Jenny Gilruth, met with Edinburgh Council leader, Jane Meagher at 109 Princes Street, the site of the fire in the early morning of 9 July.
It is now almost one month since the fire, and until today there has been no formal offer of support to the businesses affected or the council from The Scottish Government.
The Deputy First Minister has announced on Wednesday that the government will offer £5 million leaving the council leader “disappointed”. The government made a similar offer to Glasgow City Council much more quickly, and it was twice as much – £10 million.
Cllr Meagher said: “I am disappointed that Glasgow seems to be more highly valued in a sense than we are, but we are where we are. I’m grateful that we’ve got some money, and we’ll use it to serve the city of Edinburgh.”
She added: “We’ve got £5 million. We’ve also got an assurance from the Deputy First Minister that we will continue conversations. So I’m hoping that means if it turns out that this is going to cost us more than we anticipated, that The Scottish Government will be open to such a request.”
She said this money will be used “wisely” and will not be allocated to individual businesses. She suggested that it might be used in the way of a voucher scheme to encourage businesses to apply for the funds, and also to encourage patrons to go down to Leith
The council leader wrote to the First Minister immediately after the fire asking for a meeting and got no response. She said she then sent a reminder and that has eventually resulted in the deputy first minister’s visit today. She said: “I welcome her presence here. I’m extremely disappointed that the First Minister chose not to respond. Edinburgh is the capital city of this country. Edinburgh, equally importantly, is a driver of the Scottish economy, and if we don’t get the attention that we deserve from the first minister of this country, I think that’s shameful.
Aftermath of the fire
The fire which caused extensive damage to the former Debenhams building on Princes Street has led to part of the main street remaining closed almost four weeks afterwards.
The effect extends not only to Princes Street itself, but also businesses on Rose Street and as far as Leith and Newhaven, and the trams have not run the full length of the route for almost a month. Buses remain diverted – although there are changes to the diversions from Wednesday 5 August.
Now that the work is beginning to shore up the façade, making it safe to bring trams and buses back onto the street, thoughts are turning to the cost of the closure and how to support businesses affected by the blaze.
Cllr Jane Meagher told Deadline News on Wednesday that the street will be reopened in about three weeks’ time, but that was the advice from the council last week, so clearly the timeline is elastic.
Also the Deputy First Minister said she thought the council’s timeline was a bit optimistic.
The Council Leader said that the council is relying on experts for guidance, and she is confident of meeting the timeline “provided the weather behaves itself and we don’t get winds, and that we’re able to proceed at speed.”
She also said that a lot of work “had already happened”, “although it might not be apparent from the outside.” She said that if the wind is too high all operatives have to leave the building, and that the “man cages” cannot be used if the wind reaches a certain speed.
Outlining that the operation is complex and that there are pieces of masonry weighing up to 850kgs which are challenging to bring down to ground level, she continued: “That in itself is a dangerous but painstaking.”
Taking the opportunity to put forward an often expressed political view, the Labour leader said: “Edinburgh is the lowest-funded council in the whole of the country. It’s not just about this fire. It’s about, in my view, the absence of an understanding of Edinburgh’s pivotal role in the economy of the whole country-not just of this city, but the whole country.”
Glasgow fire
In contrast The Scottish Government provided support of £1 million of capital towards the clear-up operation and £10 million of revenue to help with the economic recovery after the event in Glasgow after the Union Street fire. That blaze began at 3.40pm on 8 March.
The building smouldered for four days before the B-listed structure was declared unsafe. More than 250 firefighters were involved in dealing with the incident and remained on the scene for a week. The building fronting Union Street backed on to Central Station which was also closed for days.
The remains of the building after the fire were handed to the City Council on 12 March, when the council swiftly decided that the building was too unsafe and would be demolished. Trains began running through Central Station from 11 March but it took until 17 July for the concourse at Central Station to be fully reopened.
The Deputy First Minister visited the Union Street site on 17 July to mark the reopening and praise the efforts of emergency services, Glasgow City Council, and railway workers.
The Union Street and Gordon Street entrances to the transport hub had been closed since 8 March, when the fire broke out in a ground-floor vape shop, leading to the partial collapse of a B-listed 175-year-old Victorian building.
