Historic Scotland Replies to Arts Festival Complaint of Unfair Process

Not Quite What We Said Actually ....

Historic Scotland has responded to the Arts Festival's claim that they did not fully inform those they chose to consult about the nature of the case being advanced unanimously by the local community. Their letter in reply is given below.

click to enlarge the HS letter



Arts Festival Responds to this latest HS Letter

"....... We regret that we must still take issue with you [i] in the matter of the communications you addressed to your consultees, and [ii] why you accepted the advice of the one that agreed with you and ignored the one who agreed with us.

We readily accept that our proposed future uses cannot be made a matter for Listing and the information on that point is merely background to the case, although wholly germane.

The point at issue is that you deliberately declined to inform your consultees of the local historical context of the building in which our application was made i.e. that it is the last surviving industrial operational structure in Prestonpans. That is the pivotal point in our case and it remains wholly unanswered why the forces of central government consistently ignore the unanimously expressed wishes of the local community. Is local community of no relevance to your decision making processes?

We shall of course first await the response of the Minister and then if we receive no satisfaction in the matter proceed with our appeals to the bodies [first to HS's own CEO and then to the Public Services Ombudsman] you kindly identified for us in your letter dated June 10th 2008.

The extent to which the Scottish Ministers have seen fit to delegate their statutory responsibilities to you at Historic Scotland with the Chief Inspector's consent in such a case surprises us greatly, and we would appreciate it if you would now provide us with a copy of the specific delegation of that power to you and under what proper legal authority it has been made."

Parliamentary Petition Already Lodged

The Arts Festival has already lodged its own Petition to the Petitions' Committee at Scotland's Holyrood Parliament. GO

FOWLER'S AULD HQ PETITION @ HOLYROOD PARLIAMENT

....to be continued of course ...