Gorgie Road student flats project gets the green light after Scottish Government overturns council decision

Holyrood overturns Edinburgh City Council's rejection

How the flats will look

A MAJOR student flats project on Gorgie Road has been given the go-ahead - after the Scottish Government overturned Edinburgh City Council’s refusal of planning permission.

Councillors turned down the seven-storey scheme for 248 flats next to the Water of Leith in November because they wanted to see more housing on the brownfield site.

But the Scottish Government this week backed the plans for meeting development plan and granted approval on appeal.

David Clancy from York-based S Harrison Developments said: “We are clearly delighted with this result and look forward to working with the local community and council on delivering much-needed student accommodation in the city."

S Harrison drew up scaled-back plans after an initial proposal for 269 beds was reduced following talks with council officials.

The proposals featured the accommodation being built in two blocks – made up of 35 studio rooms and a mixture of clusters ranging from six to 10 bedrooms.

The developers proposed to install 254 secure cycle parking spaces at five locations around the site – while four disabled car parking spaces were included in the plans.

Block A, which sits at the eastern side of the site would have risen to four storeys. The second block, which was proposed for the west of the site, would have appeared as a five, six and seven storey building.

But the council’s development management sub-committee turned down the scheme – backing up a recommendation to refuse the proposals by planning officers who called for rejection because “it does not deliver housing at the site”.

Councillors unanimously refused planning permission for the plans – pointing to a rule that developments larger than 0.25 hectares should include 50 per cent of the scheme for residential use. The development area of the site is 0.38 hectares.

Planning convener, Cllr Neil Gardiner, backed up planning officers’ recommendations and reiterated that brownfield sites are the authority’s priority to provide new housing on.

He said: “I’m happy to support the findings of this report. In terms of design, there’s a recognition that Gorgie Road is a major street so it’s acceptable to build a bit higher there. Fundamentally, thee is a requirement for housing and our policy is clearly set out for a site of this size – there should be a housing element.

“We aren’t looking to build on the greenbelt. We are taking every opportunity to use brownfield sites. This is a brownfield site which can be developed for housing and student housing and our guidance is quite clear.”

But the Scottish Government backed the plans stating the 50 percent housing figure “does not appear in the plan.”

And they said it would be “illogical” to impose the housing requirement given the scheme only represented a hike in the local student population by four percent, to 18 percent.