Tag: Save Stockbridge

Raeburn Place development: Millstone, not Milestone

In 2014 plans were submitted and passed for the development of a huge retail, sports and entertainment complex at the Accies rugby ground on Comely Bank Road,  Edinburgh (writes Bruce Thomson).

The developers then claimed that funding was in place and that there was so much interest in leasing the shops that it was a case of selecting the best applicants out of all those seeking space. Over five years later there is still availability and the developer, Raeburn Place Foundation, is still begging for funding which has now been acquired, in part, from the Bank of Scotland.

Are the lenders aware of the potential problems of a ransom strip on the site?  Do they know of the pending case in the Court of Session over ownership of the wall and six- foot strip and do they know of the huge amount of opposition to this scheme in a conservation and residential area?

Over 3000 local people signed a petition against this build. It is abundantly clear that the vast majority are still strongly opposed to it. The whole concept is unnecessarily grandiose and inappropriate to this attractive area, recently voted by the Sunday Times as one of the most desirable places to live within the UK.

The enormity of the whole project—as high as three double decker buses, with facilities for over 5000 people including restaurants, a museum, shops, meeting/function rooms spectator stands  etc. is totally out of scale in a residential area like Stockbridge.    

David Newlands, a well-respected businessman and Chairman of the Raeburn Place Foundation, says this is a momentous day for him and his fellow trustees. The development, he says, will transform Raeburn Place into a sports hub and community resource.

This statement might be true if the whole project was to proceed, but last year a decision was made to complete the build in two phases: the first, which appears to be in progress, is the commercial one, including shops, meeting rooms, etc.  No sign of any sporting facilities as promised to the planners at the original application stage in 2014. This is left in limbo and could happen in the future, providing  always that funds are available. There is no certainty of this and in view of the difficulties incurred over the last few years in raising funds, it would seem highly unlikely that Mr Newlands’ vision of a sports hub will ever materialise.

This phase of the development would seem to be premature, but of course the Foundation are keen to show strength. They need to convince Marks and Spencer Food (the principle lessee) that the build is imminent.

They need to dispose of their portacabins and create proper and modern changing facilities for both themselves and visiting teams. They have applied to the City planners to make “non- material changes” to the original plans, but these are extensive and would appear to be “material”, in which case a whole new set of plans would have to be submitted and the usual formalities gone through. The Planners will make a decision later this month.

The Ransom Strip puts the developer in a dangerous situation, but one he seems to be ignoring. Having no access from Comely Bank Road for either pedestrians or vehicles will certainly prejudice the design.

The Foundation have failed to keep the Community Council updated or to advise them of progress or otherwise and have completely ignored local people who have suffered considerable anguish and concern for many years.

This might be a momentous day for the few in favour of this huge structure, but it is a very sad one for those nearby who are going to have to live with their memories of what it used to be like, cope with construction traffic and thereafter excessive noise both day and night.

Bruce Thompson,

Chair,  Save Stockbridge

“Milestone” as building work starts on Raeburn Place

The charity Raeburn Place Foundation (RPF) announced today that the main building works have started on site for the redevelopment of the historic sports ground at Raeburn Place, Stockbridge.

In redeveloping the famous sports ground, where the first rugby international was held, RPF will create first-class sports and recreational facilities, including a Museum of International Rugby,  that are fit for the 21st century, open and accessible to all and financially sustainable.

David Newlands, Chairman of the Raeburn Place Foundation, said: “This is a momentous day for the trustees and all involved in the project. The development will transform Raeburn Place into a sports hub and community resource, thereby improving lives through sport, which has been our vision from day one.

“Much hard work has gone into bringing our plans to fruition and to see the preliminary works completed and the building works beginning on site is a wonderful start to 2019 for everyone who has shown their belief in our vision.”

The contract has been let to Robertson Central, who carried out the enabling works on the site in 2017.

The contractor’s Regional Managing Director, David Cairns, said: “This is a landmark project for Robertson to be involved with, due to its central location and the importance of the ground in sporting heritage terms. We have been involved in the detailed design stage and are now pleased to be on site and bringing our experience to bear on realising the building.”

The redeveloped site will be financially sustainable due to the inclusion of commercial units and function space within the building. This commercial element, with units let to quality tenants including Marks & Spencer Foodhall, Waterstones and Charlie Miller, has attracted funding from the Bank of Scotland.

Work on this part of the contract is scheduled for completion in the autumn this year.

Enabling works underway at Raeburn Place

Raeburn Place Foundation is delighted to announce the start of planned enabling works at Raeburn Place. These works are being carried out prior to the main project starting on site later this year and include infrastructure groundworks, public realm and a general tidy-up of the ground. Continue reading Enabling works underway at Raeburn Place

M & S for Raeburn Place development


Raeburn Place Foundation has announced the signing of a lease agreement with M&S Foodhall for the Edinburgh Accies development at Raeburn Place. As the anchor tenant, Marks and Spencer will take 500m² towards the centre of the Comely Bank Road frontage.

Continue reading M & S for Raeburn Place development

Save Stockbridge to discuss next steps

Campaigners call meeting to discuss Accies planning applications

save st

Monday 11 May 6 – 7.30 p.m.
LifeCare Centre, Stockbridge House, 2 Cheyne Street

Residents and businesses in Comely Bank and Stockbridge are invited to a meeting about the Edinburgh Accies licence applications, the Licensing Board meeting and what further steps might be taken.

The Licensing Board has deferred a decision on the Accies licence application for a restaurant, function suites, clubhouse, licenced café, museum, cinema, theatre, gym, stand, etc. They have decided to visit the site before resuming their consideration. They have yet to start considering the three other applications: a licenced restaurant/ice cream parlour, a second licenced restaurant and a licenced supermarket.

There were over 300 objections to each application. That’s a huge number given that the applications were made over the Easter holidays and most people didn’t hear about them until just a few days before the closing date. There were only 75 letters of support.

* This meeting is for those who run businesses or live or in Comely Bank and Stockbridge. It is not a public meeting so it is not open to anyone else. Please respect the needs of those who live or work here and don’t try to attend if you are not local.

Save Stockbridge to hold emergency meeting

DSCF3542Campaign group Save Stockbridge has organised an emergency meeting to discuss the collapse of the wall adjacent to Edinburgh Accies rugby ground on Comely Bank Road.

A Save Stockbridge spokesperson said: “This is a very controversial issue and local people are infuriated at what has happened to the wall and how it has been allowed to collapse.”

The meeting will take place on Wednesday 17 December at 8pm at the LifeCare Centre on Cheyne Street. All welcome.

DSCF3547

 

‘A sporting legacy?’ Council backs Stockbridge development

1316073281[1]City councillors have voted to approve plans by Edinburgh Academicals for a major redevelopment of their Raeburn Place ground. The plans have split Stockbridge – campaigners say councillors have made a ‘huge mistake’ and that the development could destroy the existing community. 

Despite impassioned pleas by objectors, councillors chose to go with officials’ recommendations to grant planning permission for the controversial redevelopment at today’s meeting of the Development Management Sub-Committee of the Planing Committee.

Speaking before the meeting, Accies’ executive chairman Frank Spratt said: “From the outset the only aims we have had have been to keep sport at Raeburn Place, protect the historic home of international rugby and provide high quality facilities in which young people can learn and enjoy rugby.

“All of the council’s and the Scottish Government’s policies support and encourage the improvement of town centres and the provision of high quality sporting facilities.

“Our proposals more than meet the requirements of council’s planning policies, so that north Edinburgh can have a sports hub of which it can be proud. The young people of north Edinburgh, and indeed the city, deserve no less.”

SaveStockbridge1Objectors put forward a compelling case that the character of Stockbridge will be irrevocably changed by the sheer scale of the Accies development. In a statement issued before this morning’s crucial meeting, the Save Stockbridge group argued:

‘The proposed development is totally out of keeping in a mainly residential area, far and away exceeding the actual needs of this amateur sports club, which regularly attracts no more than 200 spectators to its matches. So why does it need such an excessively large stadium for 5,000 spectators?

And why does it need the proposed function rooms, bar, lounge and corporate boxes, all available for hire, which together have a greater capacity than the Ballroom, Music Hall and Drawing Rooms of the Assembly Rooms in George Street, plus new shops equivalent on average to about 25 present Stockbridge shops?

And why does the main building have to be almost as high as three double-decker buses?

Stockbridge is the third coolest place to live in Britain – if it aint’ broke, why fix it?’

Save Stockbridge said the proposed development flouts the city’s own Local Plan, would increase traffic in an already congested area and added that the retail element of the Accies plan will ‘hammer’ existing local shops.

Club representatives, however, argued that improved facilities at Raeburn Place would bring increased ticket sales and encourage wider participation in sport. Accies’ said that there is no plan to bring a major supermarket onto the site, and said that nine small shop units proposed in the development would not have a negative impact on local existing businesses. They also claimed the redevelopment will bring one hundred jobs to the area.

Following the marathon (over three hours) session, councillors finally voted to grant the application – despite one thousand formal objections and a 3200 signature petition opposing the plans

Construction on the £8 million redevelopment could now start as early as next Spring, but after a long and sometimes bitter planning dispute the community’s wounds may take somewhat longer to heal.

Accies development

Raeburn Place redevelopment

Edinburgh Accie’s plans to redevelop their Raeburn Place home is currently North Edinburgh’s most controversial topic. Yesterday, NEN’s friend and techie whizz Tom Allan kindly set up an online poll on this blog to gauge public opinion on the subject.

To help inform the debate, the planning application and statements from supporters of and objectors to the proposals can be found below:

12/03567/FUL | Erection of stands, clubhouse and facilities, associated commercial, business and retail uses including museum, licensed premises and function space, retail units, alterations to external landscape, car and coach parking, sports pitch realignment, sport floodlighting and alterations to vehicular access points and boundary walls.            |      The Edinburgh Academical Club 11A Portgower Place Edinburgh EH4 1HQ.      

   

THE CASE FOR REDEVELOPMENT

 Exciting plans for historical sports ground 

Raeburn Place is a sports ground with major historical significance. It’s of course the home to our Club, the Edinburgh Academical Football Club (Accies), the oldest rugby club in Scotland, and the second oldest in the entire world. The first ever international rugby match, between Scotland and England, was held here in 1871. It’s a landmark of decades of sport and community, although many wouldn’t know it.

Plans for the sensitive redevelopment of this iconic sports ground and the Club is now in the final stages of the pre-application consultation, following which we will formally lodge for planning. Our main aim is twofold: to provide state of the art sports facilities and, in turn, to add to the vibrant Stockbridge community and benefit neighbouring schools.

The plans comprise two double-tiered buildings:

  • A clubhouse and function suite facing onto Comely Bank Road. These facilities will be located on the top-tier with space for retail units below. Its main entrance will be next to the currently disused Raeburn House Hotel, which has been bought privately to be transformed into a boutique hotel.
  • Changing rooms located along Portgower Place. More excitingly, part of the top-tier will be dedicated to a rugby museum focused principally on the historical      significance of the ground and the Edinburgh Academical Football Club.
  • Players can enjoy a full-sized rugby pitch and two smaller training pitches. The      plans also provide for the relocation of the cricket pitch which has been absent from the ground for the past 5 years.

The perceived benefits of the development:

  • Income from the development will go to supporting sport at junior and youth      levels throughout North Edinburgh.
  • Schools, residents and clubs can enjoy high standard sports facilities.
  • It’ll be one of the few sports facilities not owned by the council or a school and so will enjoy flexibility of use.
  • It will also provide a top quality function space for Stockbridge.
  • The museum will add culturally to the area as well as going towards preserving      the history of the site, brining in new visitors to the area.
  • The trees running along Comely Bank Road will remain.
  • Perhaps most importantly though, the development is required to ensure the long-term survival of our iconic and historic club, not to mention the survival of      sport at this 157 year old sports ground. Although there will be some space (only 5% of the development) allocated for retail units, this is nothing compared to what could materialise should the Club not be able to secure its future as proposed. These retail units will be a modest yet effective addition to Stockbridge business, and will provide the income to the Club to sustain the high standard of the sports facilities for the current and future generations of the community.

 Edinburgh Academicals RFC website

  

THE CASE AGAINST REDEVELOPMENT

Save Stockbridge is, first and foremost, most definitely not an anti-Accies body. Save Stockbridge fully respect that the Accies are our neighbours and it goes without saying that they need a stand and changing facilities. We believe we speak for all when we say that no-one would object to an appropriately sized development in the right location. The problem is simply that this proposal is wholly inappropriate in terms of usage and scale.

It is worth noting that permission for the current redevelopment of the Raeburn House Hotel under its new ownership was achieved with the support of the local community. So it would be unfair to portray us as a group that are opposed to change or adopting a knee jerk ‘not on my doorstep’ mentality. The reason why the community got behind the Raeburn House development was because that developer made considerable efforts to engaged local people. In contrast, the Developer in this case has barely engaged the community at all. There has been little transparency and locals have been left with a stark “take it as it is or it’s going to be a car park” proposition.

The sheer scale and nature of what is being proposed here and its consequences for many aspects of life amongst the wider community is what has brought the community together. The development features 19,000 square feet of retail space along Comely Bank Road. To put this into perspective, that is the equivalent of 5 Scotmids or 20 small to average sized Stockbridge shops.

Furthermore, this development would obliterate the current open views to Inverleith Park with a real loss of amenity to the residents. And with regard to the retail aspect of Stockbridge, it would unquestionably put pressure on many of the existing businesses at a time of retail difficulty.

In the weeks running up to the planning application being submitted, we took to the streets of Stockbridge to draw local people’s attention to the existence of the project and make sure they could see the developer’s own drawings. But we were surprised at just how many people were only finding out about this development for the first time as a result of our efforts, again pointing to the Developers lack of sufficient transparency and engagement.

It is no exaggeration to say that there were gasps of horror from many who were seeing the plans for the first time. Many find it hard to understand why a club that currently attracts crowds in the low hundreds at best to its first XV matches (14 times per year) requires a ground with capacity for 5,000 spectators (2,500 seated, 2,500 standing). The stand itself, which would sit on top of the retail development, is almost the height of 3 double-decker buses, stretching along the length of Comely Bank Road and Portgower Place. It bears all the hallmarks of a white elephant in the making. Not the type of legacy either the club or the village requires.

It is clearly not a rugby development – it is a retail development, which is being built primarily for the benefit of the Developer. If this is not the case, why does the development actually reduce the playing footprint and have its stands absolutely against all norms e.g. behind the goal and not at the half way line?

Save Stockbridge are also concerned about factors such as traffic considerations (with only 50 car parking spaces being planned) along what is already a busy road, a principle route for emergency services and schoolchildren amongst others. Fears also exist surrounding the future viability of the trees that form the hallmark avenue effect along Comely Bank Road if the current publicly owned wall (which contrary to some reports is believed to have many years of life ahead of it if properly maintained) is removed and the proposed concourse is built.

People literally queued to sign our petition to express their concern and within a very short space of time we amassed some 2,500 signatures (all from local people physically present at our stand or participating shops, a far better measure of local opinion than internet based petitions and surveys). It is fair to say that no more than a handful out of the thousands that stopped to talk to us and look at the developers own pictures expressed any degree of support for the proposals as presented.

We therefore conclude that claims that the community is divided regarding this development are nonsense. The community as evident by the petitions is vehemently against this development, a point which Save Stockbridge has stressed to both local councillors and MSP’s alike in the last 2 weeks.

Regardless of what justification, financial or otherwise, has been put forward for this development, it is important not to overlook the fact that the developer is seeking to build this in a conservation area. Strict rules apply to protect these important historic aspects of our city for benefit of all both now and for generations to come. It is these same rules that prevent ordinary people living directly across the road from this development from installing something as simple as double glazing, an amenity that many of us take for granted. If this development is allowed to go ahead, it would establish a dangerous precedent that says that these important planning principles can simply be cast aside simply to suit the business needs of a private body pleading poverty. This cannot be right.

Save Stockbridge would appreciate the opportunity to work with the Accies to find a mutually agreeable solution but, despite repeated requests, have not been afforded this opportunity. Whilst we have genuine sympathy for the Accies current situation and agree that solution needs to be found, this proposal has to be rejected.

Save Stockbridge press statement

 So there you have it, both sides of the argument – what do you think?