THE City of Edinburgh Council is set to sink millions earned from the tourist tax into a raft of projects focused on cleaning up Edinburgh’s Old Town, which is under increasing strain from tourism.
“Revolutionary” funds, raised directly from tourists through Edinburgh’s new visitor levy, will be used by the council to clean up darkened closes, fix cobbled streets, and undertake a £3m revamp of the notorious Hunter Square.
Ideas for the revamp of Hunter Square centre on a general opening up of the area, with the raised platform potentially levelled off and communal tables and chairs introduced.
The council agreed upon the first wave of visitor levy spending plans at a special meeting last week, and local councillors and the Old Town Community Council have expressed excitement at the positive changes the “revolutionary” funding could bring.
Finlay McFarlane says he feels as if it is his “mission” as a councillor to ensure visitor levy funds are used constructively in the Old Town (C) Deadline News
The council agreed to bring in a visitor levy at the start of 2025 after legislation from the Scottish Government empowered them to do so.
Public consultation and industry engagement, as well as advice from the Edinburgh Visitor Levy Advisory Forum, has shaped spending plans, with Hunter Square emerging as a priority.
Hunter Square in Edinburgh’s Old Town has had a less-than-stellar reputation for years and is often described as a hotspot for anti-social behaviour and drug use.
Homelessness charities undertake outreach to help homeless people and drug users who frequent the area, but the square’s architecture is also thought to be at the root of the issue.
The square is built up from the ground level, with stairs leading up to an open platform with sparse seating.
For SNP councillor Finlay McFarlane, who represents the City Centre ward at the council, this creates multifarious problems, chief among them a lack of accessibility.
While taking a walk around the Old Town, he explained: “The first problem is that this is not level access, there’s steps leading up to a raised platform, which obviously means it’s not accessible.”
He also pointed out a secluded, infrequently travelled passage just behind the raised platform, commenting that: “It feels uncomfortable forcing people into this secluded passage”.
The passage did serve a purpose once upon a time, however, as access to the underground public toilets.
These toilets were never exactly pristine, but concerns around cleanliness eventually became so pressing that the council was forced to seal them off years ago.
The passages underground have now become infamous for fly-tipping, with rubbish and detritus filling the stairwells.
Complaints have frequently been made about anti-social behaviour and discarded needles in Hunter Square (C) Deadline News
McFarlane added with a wry smile that someone from the council has to go down there occasionally with a hazmat suit to clean the disused stairwell up.
Advice from the police to the council said that the “raised stage” area created a walking and wheeling “black spot” which forces people to walk around.
The Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT), which manages the Tron Kirk that backs onto Hunter Square, has reportedly expressed an interest in working with the council on the redevelopment.
This could see the overall footprint of the church expanded into Hunter Square and to the east and west.
Another idea which has been mooted for Hunter Square is a Grassmarket-style table and chairs arrangement if the raised area is eventually levelled off.
McFarlane said that the “real prize” “would be the SHBT taking the lead on the wider project”.
“All voices in the area deserve to have their say on how Hunter Square will look like and what will happen,” he added.
“People in this area deserve better.”
The Old Town Community Council, in a statement, pointed to the need to give people a reason to stop and appreciate Hunter Square, which is at the centre of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, rather than rush through.
They said: “£3m for Hunter Square is a rare opportunity to fix a crossroads that has felt ‘lost for decades’.
“It could be lively and vibrant again, instead of grey, dirty and ignored. It sits right next to the Tron Kirk, but it doesn’t benefit from that energy at all.
“Mirroring elements of the market with outdoor stalls, murals and simple reasons to linger could help the square feel connected rather than overlooked.”
They described the area as an “eyesore” which people tend to avoid, rather than serving as a focal point for tourists and people in the area: “This doesn’t need to be flashy.
“Giving people a reason to stop rather than rush through would already be a huge improvement.
“At the moment it’s an eyesore many residents avoid, while also functioning as a social anchor for people with very few other places to go – and that balance needs to be carefully considered before any change is made.
“Ultimately, the square needs a bit of care and imagination to work for the whole community.”
Barriers installed after the 2017 London bridge attacks to prevent HGV vehicles being used for terror attacks could be replaced with more reactive security-rated bollards (C) Deadline News
On the anti-social behaviour issue, McFarlane said he is keen to avoid talk of “clearing people out” and instead wanted to work with homelessness charities on outreach.
He said: “Obviously, anti-social behaviour and making people feel unsafe is not acceptable, but I want to resist talk about clearing people out.
“Often these people have nowhere else to go, and they actually feel safer here because of the high visibility in the area.
“Ultimately, this project should be about designing a better built environment rather than brushing people away.”
Edinburgh’s Old Town has been under increasing strain from tourism in recent year, with peak season now stretching year-round.
It is now hoped, however, that visitor levy funds will be able to mitigate the harsher impacts of tourism and make the area more liveable for locals and attractive to visitors.
Security barriers, installed at the behest of the UK Government on the Royal Mile due to a terror risk, could also be removed and replaced with more modern, security-rated bollards, retractable underground, such as the ones which were installed at the Lawnmarket.
“Prohibitive” costs have prevented these bollards form being installed elsewhere on the Royal Mile, but visitor levy funding has now changed the picture.
Funding for “Setted Streets” will also allow more proactive street repairs of cobbled streets in the Old Town.
Similarly, millions of pounds of “sustain” funding will provide more resources for the thinly-stretched street cleaning teams, allowing more regular cleaning of city streets.
The long-shelved “Twelve Closes” project, which aimed to see the Old Town’s darkened closes, which can be dark and sometimes unsafe at night, lit up will be resumed, and the six remaining closes will be lit up.
City centre ambassadors, who can act as authorities for tourists and point out issues to the council will also be introduced.
Edinburgh’s visitor levy is set to come into force on 24 July 2026 and is expected to raise more than £90 million over three years.
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