Letters: Developers should listen to voices of local people

Developers must listen to locals and those that have a stake in building work in the Capital writes one reader. Do you agree?

Residents of Pinkhill Park protest against new development

It looks like the long-running saga at 33 Pinkhill to build a five-storey block of apartments is set to continue.

The Planning Committee ­rejected the plans, as they did not meet local design standards, being completely excessive for such a small gap site and the building would loom over two-storey properties in close proximity.

Since then local residents, local MP Christine Jardine and local councillor Scott Douglas have made representations to Dandara to find a compromise.

However, once again they have shown complete disregard for the local people who will be most impacted by the proposals. All the issues remain the same, the excessive height of the building overlooking neighbours, the loss of privacy, the shortage of car parking spaces, more traffic, the increased density in such a small site, the close proximity of the building to busy Pinkhill.

Dandara are an off-shore developer based in the Isle of Man. Unlike many other responsible housebuilders operating in Scotland, they appear to take no interest in the welfare of the local community. They are intent on pushing the Edinburgh skyline upwards in pursuit of profit.

It also appears that appealing to the Scottish Government has now become the easy way out for developers.

The Planning Committee quite correctly said no, so why is the appeal route now generally regarded as a soft touch by developers?

There have been more than 400 objections lodged during the planning stage of these proposals. The entire planning and appeals process is strongly weighted in favour of the developer and they hope that people will get planning fatigue and lose the will to object.

We desperately need all those who are concerned about high rise developments in Edinburgh to continue the good fight and send in their objections to [email protected] under the Appeal Reference PPA-230-2235.

If this proposal is approved we will surely see five, six or even seven-storey buildings appear in gap sites across city suburban areas.

John Kerr, Pinkhill Park, Edinburgh.