German supermarket appeal to Scottish Government over Edinburgh store plans

Lidl are looking to take over the former B&M Bargains store on Seafield Road.

The supermarket chain has twice applied to Edinburgh City Council for permission to take over a B&M Bargains store on Seafield Road Industrial Estate, and has twice been denied.

The latest application, first submitted to council planners in January, was thrown out at a meeting of the council’s development management sub-committee in June over traffic and congestion concerns, as well as a perceived lack of public transport options in the area.

The committee’s decision notice reads: “The proposal is contrary to the Local Development Plan Policy in respect of the Town Centres First Policy, as it is an out of centre location that is not, nor likely to be, accessible by a choice of transport modes.

“The proposal is contrary to the Local Development in respect of out-of-centre development, as it will not address a qualitative or quantitative deficiency or meet the needs of a expanding residential or working population within its proposed catchment and it is not, nor likely to be, accessible by a choice of transport modes and will not reduce the length and overall number of shopping trips made by car.”

The original application attracted four objections, mainly concerning the impact on Seafield Road traffic, and two comments of support.

Now, Lidl has appealed to the Scottish government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) over the ruling.

An appeal statement, lodged with the government by Lidl’s agent, capital-based planning consultants Hargest Planning, reads: “The proposed development is easily accessible by a choice of transport modes.

“A transport statement has been prepared that confirms that the site has: a large residential walk-in catchment; is easily accessible by cycle with its location adjacent to a network of dedicated cycle routes; has good accessibility by public transport; and is also easily accessible by car and taxi.

“There have been no objections to the proposed development on the grounds of accessibility (or any other reason) by the roads authority.

“It has been demonstrated that, within its catchment area, the proposal addresses a significant quantitative retail deficiency, qualitative retail deficiency and rapidly growing residential population.

“Evidence for this includes the analysis of available expenditure and retail floorspace within the catchment area of the proposal; the responses to the public consultation; and evidence from the 1991-2011 censuses and allocated/consented residential developments.”

Edinburgh City Council has been asked to provide a response to the appeal, but has so far failed to respond.

An email, sent to the council’s planning department by DPEA officer Mandy McComiskie, reads: “My colleague , Christine Brown, wrote to you on 14 September and 5 October 2020 requesting the planning authority response to this appeal.

“To date, we have still not received your response which is now significantly overdue.

“As I’m sure you can appreciate this is starting to impact on our ability to meet our targets fordetermining the appeals.

“Can you please provide your response as a matter of urgency. If you are having difficulty inresponding to this appeal, please inform the case officer as soon as possible, as we may be able to provide some guidance which might assist, alternatively even having an indication of when a response may be anticipated would also be of significant help.”

Joseph Anderson, Local Democracy Service

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