A steady stream of interested local residents called in to Granton Youth Centre to see the latest plans for Granton Marina earlier this month.
The latest plan is to create a ‘unique coastal community’, featuring:
- 1500 new homes (with parking provision for each one)
- An international-standard five-star marina and Spa Hotel with 113 bedrooms and a restaurant/bar seating 125, plus coffee shop,
- A health spa with indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi
- Conference facilities
- A marina and boatyard with 400 berths
- 30,000 sq m of retail, leisure and business space
- ‘Best of Scotland’ indoor market
- Fashion outlet mall
- A food court and restaurants
- Covered walkway to and from car parking
- A multi-storey car park
- The Granton spur section of the tram line (with a tram stop) is also factored in.
Views on the day were divided. Some welcome the idea of long-overdue investment in an area with undoubted potential, while others have major concerns over the traffic implications.
One Lower Granton Road resident said: “We’ve seen plans like this before and they’ve come to nothing so I won’t be holding my breath. Personally I don’t think many local residents would have too much difficulty with what’s being proposed but for one major drawback – traffic.
“First the heavy lorries when the site is being constructed, then the sheer volume of traffic a development of this nature could bring is a real worry. We could see thousands of additional cars – visitors and residents – on local roads.
“Roads and traffic have been a problem down here for years and can’t cope with the volume of traffic as it is – these proposals would make it a hell of a lot worse. Planners will have to consider ways of resolving that, because if they don’t this development is a non-starter.”
Developers will examine comments made on the day and produce a report before moving on to the next stage of the planning process. There’s clearly a lot more talking to be done.
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