Leith Civic Trust

In response to the City of Edinburgh Council Archive's ReDrawing Edinburgh project, Leith organisations have come together to mark 100 years since the Burgh of Leith was amalgamated with the City of Edinburgh.  

The amalgamation was highly contentious and opposed by Leith Town Council who ran a lightning 'plebiscite' (a public referendum) with the Leith Observer newspaper returning a clear 'No' vote to the proposal. The people's vote was not however enough to prevent the Act coming into force and Leith was duly amalgamated, generating strong feelings of resentment amongst Leithers which are detectable to this day!

The Boundaries Extension and Tramways Act 1920 was passed in August 1920 and the first meeting of all eight areas amalgamated into the enlarged Edinburgh Town Council took place on 5th November 1920. In 100 Days of Leith we will be counting down to the fateful centenary by publishing the people's choices about what makes Leith special.

Before the trust was founded in 1968, Leith had suffered some really hard times. Shipbuilding had been badly damaged by an ill-conceived partnership between Henry Robb and the Dundee shipyard Caledon forced upon them by British Shipbuilders. Other traditional industries were removed from Leith by Development Area legislation in late 1960’s when all Scotland except Edinburgh and Leith achieved Development Area status. Many old Leith businesses left the area and the local authorities considered that any development must be good for the area. This resulted in the demolition of fine medieval streets including The Kirkgate and the Tollbooth Wynd, and replacing them with monstrosities.

The Rotary Club of Leith objected to the development, but finally relented when Edinburgh Council agreed to include a Community and Sports Centre. Afterwards Rotary realised that their Constitution did not permit them to undertake such semi-political ventures, and after some public meetings, Leith Civic Trust was established with a Rotarian, Alastair Donald elected as the first chairman.

The Leith Project in 1981–6 started a revival in fortunes. Margaret Street MBE, our hard-working secretary and later Chairman managed to save The King's Wark and Pilrig House. As the active members of the trust grew older the trust gradually became dormant in the early 1990’s.

In 1995 the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race was started in Leith and many Leith organisations combined to support it. The event was a great success. Despite poor weather, huge numbers of visitors came to Leith and all had a wonderful time. After the race the local police superintendent, Alan Naylor, suggested that this co-operation must be continued and that an organisation must be formed to act as the catalyst. Stewart Valentine, a member of the original committee, led the revival of Leith Civic Trust to be that organisation.
Amongst the early projects were:

Open Spaces Review – This had twin aims – to calculate the numbers and extent of open spaces in Leith, and to maximise their uses for recreation. We intend to return to this project taking into consideration the building developments since that time.

String of Pearls – This was to encourage tourism to Leith. It was wholly accepted by the City of Edinburgh Council. The hub of the project was to be Lamb’s House. Leith Civic Trust created a Friends of Lamb’s House organisation with the enthusiastic support of the owners, The National Trust for Scotland. Unfortunately, there was a change in the situation at the National Trust and they were forced to pull out from the project and sell the building. The new owners have shown just how the building should have been treated. It has been wonderfully transformed. The String of Pearls principle is still valid and we continue to pursue the aims with Leith Custom House as the hub.

Clean Up Leith – We undertook several clean-up operations around Leith. We are delighted that this is now being continued by the Friends of the Water of Leith Basin and others. The road renewal programme is helping in many places, but the Water of Leith is still a complete disgrace, It is extremely silted and there are great concerns that, with the flood prevention measures upstream having removed flood plains, there is a considerably increased danger of flooding in the Shore area.

Wall Plaques – We also discussed the plaques originally placed on buildings by the Leith Development Trust. We are keen to continue the practice and made a list of potential sites. However, insurance costs are prohibitive for any organisation apart from the local authority, and we were unable to persuade the City of Edinburgh Council to undertake the actual erection of the plaques. We are working on a new integrated tourism project which will see more plaques erected.