History easement opportunity

4/24/08: Brian Ferguson: A free market dilemma for council: now what would Smith have done?

Scotsman:
HE IS widely credited with creating the concept of free market capitalism.
But modern-day economists and academics are urging council chiefs to ignore the very principles Adam Smith espoused in his theories about economic growth through market competition.

Smith enthusiasts around the world have been lobbying the city council to scrap plans to sell off his former Old Town home and instead intervene to "save it for the nation".

The move would need the City of Edinburgh Council to postpone the sale of Panmure House -- where Smith spent his final years before he died in 1790 -- and to put aside any thoughts of what the economist himself would have done.

Now the heritage and conservation lobbies have waded in, urging the local authority to do all it can to keep Panmure House in public hands, rather than allow it to be turned into offices, luxury flats or a bar-restaurant.

The council has been urged to instigate plans to convert the property, built for the Earl of Panmure in 1691, into an Adam Smith Museum or study centre.

But the local authority also stands to generate £1 million by selling the building, which has attracted more than 20 bids, on the open market.

In a letter to the city council the heritage group the Cockburn Association, has stated: "We're concerned that an opportunity to develop Panmure House in a way that will promote and enhance Edinburgh, through its connection with one of its most famous citizens, could be lost.

"Developing Panmure House, perhaps in association with the universities, as a centre of excellence for the study of economics would celebrate Edinburgh's pre-eminence on the world stage and would be a fitting tribute to Adam Smith and his connections to the capital."

Terry Levinthal, director of the Scottish Civic Trust, the leading conservation body, added: "I do think the council has to seriously consider the cultural value of this building, and I would be very surprised if they have done that so far."
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[h/t to a wry reader]