Rose Street to be revamped

Prince Charles’ architectural charity is drawing up plans to revamp Rose Street after it was accused of looking "unloved".

Rose Street is a prominent attraction for rowdy pub crawls and stag nights. The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment looks set to reinstate Rose Street, as a pedestrian friendly road, by controlling traffic and bringing business back to redundant buildings.

Set up in 1998 by Prince Charles, the charity helps regenerate towns and cities and assists in the design and planning of new communities.

A spokesperson for the foundation said: "The foundation uses an enquiry by design approach, which is a community engagement mechanism to discover exactly what local people and stakeholders require from the area.”

She added: "We hope that by listening to businesses, residents and citizens and by paying some much needed care and attention to Rose Street, we might help to restore some of its legendary appeal."

With the charity’s assistance, Rose Street will host regular street markets and festival events and its transformation will include new floral arrangements, a light display and a clean-up of 'clutter'.

Rose Street is not the only area to get a facelift. Urban design consultants Gehl Architects have been commissioned by the city council to advise necessary improvements to the city centre to decrease traffic and reinforce a more people-friendly approach. Their report ‘Edinburgh revisited: Public space, Public life’ sets out a vision for a ‘vibrant, liveable city centre’.

Gehl director David Sim said: "Princes Street is effectively Scotland's high street and should be a flagship for the whole country but it is a disappointment. Our research found there had been a 50 per cent drop in the numbers of people going there over the last ten years.”

He said there should be a “cultural change in how Princes Street is used, with pubs, cafés and restaurants opened up to give it life at night-time, temporary closures for special events and more cyclists instead of buses.”