Safe bet that planning decisions will defy reason - John McLellan

Does Edinburgh have a planning casino?

In the casino that is Edinburgh’s planning committee, you can safely bet each meeting will throw up decisions which defy reason.

Last week’s rejection of an application to turn an unremarkable Bankhead industrial unit into a swimming pool was yet another example, with the plan blocked because, apparently, it was essential to protect such sites for business use.

Unless the plan was for free lessons, it was still essentially a business, as most parents who have used companies like SwimEasy will know. Further, the precedent is set by Time Twisters around the corner; just because it involves kids running about in a big Egyptian-themed play area doesn’t mean it’s not a business.

The application received over 100 notes of support and no objections, and as there was little competition for this site, the application hardly posed a threat to the city’s economic well-being. But the same cannot be said for the council itself, with its new City Plan, still awaiting Scottish Government approval, which designates scores of sites currently occupied by businesses for housing developments.

An economic impact study revealed the plan threatens to displace 400 companies, potentially costing Edinburgh around £2.6 billion in lost economic activity over ten years. Yet the same planners think turning a warehouse into a leisure business is unacceptable, while arguing it’s fine to threaten companies with compulsory purchase orders because they can’t hit their housing targets.

“We need to protect land for the future of the city,” said one councillor, but what Edinburgh needs is protection from the planning committee.