Chinese Royal Mile riles Scots
7 January 2005
A controversy has erupted in Scotland over the use of Chinese granite for street repairs to Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile. To howls of disapproval from local newspapers, heritage watchdogs and politicians who described the thoroughfare as a Scottish icon - it emerged that rather than following tradition and using stone from Scottish quarries for the repairs, contractors had instead used cheaper stone from Chinese quarries. A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council confirmed the stone had been imported by a subcontractor, adding that the tender for repairs had not placed a restriction on where the stone was to be sourced from. That did little to appease critics, one of whom said the imported Chinese stone made the road look "more like a garage driveway than the Royal Mile."