Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2015
I am pleased to open the preliminary stage debate on the National Galleries of Scotland Bill and to provide the Parliament with some background to the committee’s scrutiny of the bill.
Before I do that, I thank those who gave evidence to the committee and the National Galleries of Scotland staff who accommodated a visit and gave us such an interesting tour of the Scottish art collection. I also thank the committee members, Fiona McLeod and Jean Urquhart, who will speak later in the debate.
Private bills propose laws that allow individuals, groups of individuals or corporate bodies to acquire powers or benefits that are in excess of, or in conflict with, the general law. This bill is the fifth private bill to be introduced during the current parliamentary session, and the second one that I have worked on.
The committee’s role was to consider and report on the general principles of the bill and to decide whether it should proceed as a private bill. The bill’s purpose is to facilitate the building of an extension to the Scottish national gallery building into a small area of land that currently forms part of Princes Street gardens.
The bill has two aims. The first is to change the status of the land, which is common good land, to enable the City of Edinburgh Council to dispose of it to the National Galleries of Scotland without the need for court approval. The second aim is to remove the land from the gardens, thus removing the statutory restriction on the construction of permanent buildings on the land.
The extension is required by the bill promoter, the board of trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland, which wishes to expand and improve the design of the gallery in order to house the Scottish art collection in a more appropriate and accessible location. The project, which is called celebrating Scotland’s art, plans to expand the Scottish wing into Princes Street gardens to provide an additional 500m2 of space in which the Scottish art collection will be exhibited. The project includes a plan to include a new landscaped public pathway and terrace at the garden level that is aimed at improving access between the gallery, the gardens, Princes Street, the Playfair steps and the old town.
As Andy Warhol said:
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.”
The area of land in question is a small sloping embankment that is currently used as an area of landscaping, so the reduction of open space in the gardens will be minimal. The promoter put forward the case that the loss of land will be compensated for by landscaping improvements to the gardens and the provision of easier access to an improved cultural facility.
The committee was pleased to hear about the strong working relationship between the gallery and the various council departments. Michael Clarke, the director of the Scottish national gallery, explained to the committee that the extension is essential because the space within the current Scottish national gallery building is being used for permanent collections or exhibitions, so options to rehouse the Scottish art collection are limited.
We also heard that, at present, fewer than 20 per cent of visitors to the gallery get down to where the Scottish collection is situated. That is a great pity, given that the collection houses pieces of art by celebrated Scottish artists such as Sir Henry Raeburn, Sir David Wilkie and Peter Graham. The project would create three times the amount of space that is currently devoted to the Scottish collection and would greatly improve the circulation throughout the building.
The committee supports the aims of the promoter to improve access to the Scottish art collection. It believes that the improvements to both the gallery space and the surrounding area will enable Scotland’s art collection to be enjoyed more widely. The committee therefore recommends to the Parliament that the general principles of the National Galleries of Scotland Bill be agreed to and that the bill should proceed as a private bill.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the National Galleries of Scotland Bill and that it should proceed as a private bill.
14:36