The new proposals: 2 of the 7 proposed new blocks

There are a new set of plans on the planning portal for Craighouse. You can see them here. We are still working through them. There are a lot of holes in what they present, and very few pictures from the Craighouse Partnership that can give you a good idea of the scale or impact on the views into and out of the site. This is really not acceptable for such a major application on such a beautiful, sensitive site that is protected as being in a Conservation Area and one of only eight Areas of Great Landscape Value in the whole Edinburgh area. We are working on analysis and also images that show properly the scale and siting of the buildings proposed. In the meantime, check out our facebook page here.

The quick summary so far is: all the newbuild is now red modern apartment blocks or houses in the same style. The Grove is now off the scheme. However, Scheme 2 does not actually reduce the amount of newbuild – they are just building high and big instead. In fact, the newbuild square footage has increased (more than the listed buildings on the site), the number of dwellings has increased and the amount of people and traffic will also increase.

They are also chopping down MORE trees than before.

Above is a picture of the two massive 5-storey buildings proposed for the green space and woodland around Old Craig near the entrance to the site – ruining the setting of this historic building and also the stunning views (see picture above). We think they look like monoliths – others are commenting to us that they think they look like factories or an industrial estate.

The 8 storey tower  where the LRC is presently is slightly reduced in height over Scheme 1, but has become an even larger building (modern red apartment block) instead. Higher and bigger buildings are at Craiglea Place and further large blocks are around the listed buildings – taking out the green space and woodland there. The newbuild is in 7 development areas.

Craighouse Partnership admits converting listed buildings is profitable without newbuild

The Craighouse Partnership have finally admitted – after two years – that converting the listed buildings alone is profitable and, in the cases of some of them, very profitable. But they are justifying this scheme by their demands for more profit. We are currently analysing the figures and so-called “enabling development case” in huge amounts of detail and will update you as soon as we can on that. We are working hard at the moment to read all the new documents in full which are on the portal now. Thanks for your patience!

Poor Quality of the Information Submitted

What we are most surprised about is the poor quality of the application. Maybe we shouldn’t be after the mess of the application last year. But this new submission has to be one of the most sketchy and unsatisfactory we’ve seen, without proper images or renders to give a proper sense of the scale and mass of these huge buildings or the effect they will have on the views – internal or external, woodland or settings. It is also full of errors. We are surprised such a poor application should be allowed to continue through the system.

OBJECTIONS: NE W DEADLINE 16th Jan 2014

Firstly, whilst planning says objections to the scheme 1 still officially stand, we do not know whether there will be an attempt to discount these now there is a new scheme, so it is really important to object again to the scheme 2.

We will be providing advice and guidance to help you produce an objection that covers all the issues you care about and will have an impact on the decision makers. In the meantime the instructions for objecting are the same as below as is the planning number: 12/04007/FUL is the one for the new-build.

The deadline is 16th January 2014, so you may want to take a bit of time to study the plans and wait for our detailed analysis which we will post to the website as soon as we can.

HOW TO OBJECT

It’s not hard to object – the easiest is probably to just drop a quick email to Emma Wilson saying you object, your name and address and quoting Ref: 12/04007/FUL:

• Email planner Emma Wilson at: emma.wilson@edinburgh.gov.uk

Or else e.robertson@edinburgh.gov.uk

Otherwise:

• Write to: Head of Planning, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street
  EH8 8BG
• Use the Edinburgh Planning Portal online at: https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk  . Find Simple Search  put in the application number: 12/04007/FUL and it will come up. Click on “log in” and follow instructions and write your comments.

[Remember: put the planning reference no: 12/04007/FUL  address: Napier Campus  Craighouse  as well as your name, address and the date.  The portal will not take comments of more than 2000 characters and it can time out if you take too long, so we suggest writing your objection first and then copying and pasting. The portal can have gremlins so please be persistent or email otherwise.]

WHAT TO WRITE

Just express your opinion in your own words on why you object. If you can include material planning considerations – it will have more power in planning terms. We will be compiling these in more detail and posting them very soon but destruction of Open Space in a Conservation Area and the ruining of an Area of Great Landscape Value, ruining of the settings of Category-A listed buildings and spoiling of views along with the increase of traffic, pressure on schooling and floodrisk are all material. As is the fact this does not properly conform as an enabling development case. There are many more but if you want to keep it simple you can copy and paste the statement below:

SIMPLE OBJECTION

Example of a simple objection:

‘I object to the development at Craighouse (12/04007/FUL). The newbuild development goes against planning policy – destroying Open Space in a Conservation Area, spoiling the views and the character of this Area of Great Landscape Value, destroying habitat in a Local Nature Conservation Site and it ruins the setting of the Category A listed buildings. It will add unacceptable pressure to local roads and schooling and add to the risk of flooding in Meadowspot and Balcarres St. It is against The Edinburgh Local Plan.
[INCLUDE NAME AND ADDRESS]’