Bristo Square

Cockburn Response

The Cockburn Association recognises the longstanding role of festival activity within Bristo Square and the wider cultural importance of Edinburgh’s summer festivals. Temporary cultural uses in this location are well established and contribute significantly to the city’s international identity and economy.

However, the Association remains concerned by the continuing intensification and cumulative spread of large-scale temporary festival infrastructure within sensitive civic and historic spaces. While the current proposal may be acceptable in principle as a temporary intervention, it also reflects the growing normalisation of substantial commercial occupation and enclosure of important public realm areas.

The proposal should therefore be subject to particularly robust controls relating to duration, scale, servicing, cleansing, noise management, reinstatement and protection of the public realm. Care should be taken to minimise visual clutter, protect paving and landscape features, and maintain pedestrian permeability and civic legibility throughout the operational period.

Given the cumulative pressures already experienced across central Edinburgh during the festival season, the Association would strongly favour consent being limited to a single festival season rather than multi-year approval, in order to allow regular reassessment of impacts and operational management.

On balance, the Cockburn Association submits a planning comment rather than a formal objection. While temporary festival use in this location is accepted in principle, the cumulative impact on civic space, townscape character and public realm quality remains a significant concern requiring ongoing scrutiny and careful management.