A move toward providing certainty, a missed opportunity to develop a sustainable city region – or a kick in the teeth?
The City of Edinburgh Council today agreed that its Local Development Plan should be moved on to be examined by the Reporter appointed by the Scottish Government, before the final plan is agreed.
To help the Reporter to understand where there are opportunities to change to plan, the Planning Committee also agreed a motion which details where it sees merit in the representations made.
Cllr Ian Perry, Convener of the Planning Committee, said: The Council needs to allocate land to allow much-needed housing to be delivered for the city. While we are keen to ensure that brownfield land is developed first, it is necessary to identify some new greenfield sites in a growing city.
“It is therefore very important that the Local Development Plan is now moved to the next stage to allow the Council to guide developers on future land use. This has been a difficult decision but it is important that we move towards providing certainty for local communities and developers. ”
However Lothians Green MSP Alison Johnstone slammed the decision and said the council is obsessed with suburban sprawl rather than building affordable homes.
The long-awaited plan allocates land around the city for the next 10 years, and has been driven by controversial Scottish Government projections that more than 100,000 new homes are needed across South-east Scotland. Controversially, it earmarks areas including Cammo, Brunstane and Newmills for potential development.
Alison Johnstone MSP said: “It’s frustrating to see this plan being passed without addressing the real concerns of communities around Edinburgh where unnecessary developments are earmarked. Our city has thousands of empty homes, plenty of brownfield sites and land that has been banked by developers. That is where the focus should be.
“The city urgently needs more affordable homes – homes which are built in compact communities with easy access to services and transport. Much of the LDP debate has sadly been about swapping suburban sprawl in one location for sprawl in another, without fundamentally addressing the need for a spreading the city at all. It is a missed opportunity to develop a sustainable city region.”
SNP MSP Colin Keir, who’s Edinburgh Western constituency includes green belt likely to prove attractive to developers, is also angry. He said: “I am bitterly disappointed by the decision of Planning Committee today. The Planning Committee has delivered a kick in the teeth to those opposing the 2nd Proposed Local Development Plan.
“This decision is in fact a shirking of responsibility. The Committee could have made a decision that reflected the representations from communities across the City and in particular in my constituency at Cammo, Maybury and South Queensferry where clear and substantial objections were raised based on the inability of the local infrastructure to support development on the scale proposed.
“The Committee has in effect agreed the LDP unamended while attaching a wish list of housing site adjustments which the reporter may or may not pay any attention to.”
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