A MAJOR photographic gallery in Edinburgh could close "by accident" unless the city's council reconsiders its plans, an Edinburgh MP has said.
Tommy Sheppard, MP for Edinburgh East, has expressed his fears for the future of the Stills Gallery, which is facing a major hike in its rent.
Sheppard has written to the Cllr Alasdair Rankin, convenor of the council's finance committee, to voice his concerns over how the council has treated the gallery, which since 1977 has been one of the major galleries for the photographic arts in the UK.
Stills, on Cockburn Street in the city centre, is facing an almost trebling of its rent, from £16,000 to £47,000 a year over five years.
The gallery, whose exhibitions include some of the biggest names in photography, including Man Ray, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, among others, has also had its funding from the council cut.
READ MORE: Photographic gallery's fears over its future
Stills rents the space from the City of Edinburgh council, and has been in a central location since it was established.
However it is possible that the pressure of the significant rent rise on the gallery’s finances may force it to look elsewhere.
Sheppard is an experienced figure on the cultural scene: he is the co-founder and former manager of The Stand comedy clubs.
Last night, Sheppard said: "The Council has tough financial decisions to take and I don’t believe it intends to cause the closure of Stills Gallery – I’m certainly not aware of any decision that’s been made to that effect.
"But that’s what will likely happen here, by accident, unless the Council takes a moment to think strategically about its priorities."
It is understood that in his letter to the convenor, Sheppard, an SNP MP, expresses concerns over the combined impact over both a rent rise and its city funding reduced.
However, the council is sticking by its decision to raise the rent.
READ MORE: Stills Gallery faces uncertain future after rent rise
A spokeswoman said that the the council's view - that Stills are now being asked to pay their rent at market value and the increase is being phased over five years - has not changed since news of the rent rise became public in April.
A petition urging the City of Edinburgh Council to maintain a concessionary rent has gathered more than 4000 signatures.
The City of Edinburgh Council has recently backed major art gallery schemes, notably the new Collective Gallery in the Royal Observatory on Calton Hill, and helped enable the expansion planned for the Fruitmarket Gallery.
Ben Harmon, the director of the gallery, said: "We are delighted that our MP, Tommy Sheppard, is looking into this issue which is affecting us and will potentially affect other organisations in the future.
"We remain hopeful that we can work with the council to find a mutually beneficial way forwards in the best interests of the growing audiences for our work."
This week the gallery sent a message to those who had signed the petition.
It says: "The Chair of our Board [Ginnie Atkinson] has written to senior figures at the council, urging them to meet with us to continue to negotiate our lease, but we have not had a response.
"We had hoped that in the month since The Herald broke the story about Stills’ rent hike things would have developed further than they have.
"While things remain uncertain, please be assured that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that Stills remains in the city centre.
"Your support has confirmed to us what a unique and invaluable resource Stills is, and it has galvanised us to keep challenging the proposals that threaten it.
"We remain hopeful that the council will listen to the thousands of people that have signed this petition and reconsider their plans."
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