Edinburgh property: Lottery couple's £5 million mansion with Edinburgh Castle views enrages neighbours
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A millionaire couple’s plans to build a £5million mansion with views of Edinburgh Castle have been approved – but neighbours are furious over plans for the Hollywood Hills-style pad.
Lisa Charters, 33, and her husband Craig, 34, got the go-ahead earleir this week to demolish a modest bungalow and build a modern zinc and glass villa in the Capital.
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Hide AdLisa's parents won £33million on the National Lottery in 2016 and gave her a share of the cash.
The couple, who are orginally from Hawick, bought the Morningside bungalow for £200,000 above the asking price two years ago.
Now, the pair plan to knock it down the modest three-bedroom property and construct a three-storey villa in its place.
Angry neighbours lodged 63 letters of objection to the couple’s plan.
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Hide AdNevertheless, work on the £5million mansion is set to begin after planning permission was granted by an Edinburgh City Council committee.
Supporting the application, council planners said a “satisfactory residential environment will be created” and there would be “no unreasonable impact on the amenity of neighbouring residents.”
They added the development would support “sustainable transport modes nearby”.
But some neighbours are not happy.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, one angry resident said: “They've justified it on public transport and things that just don't stack up.
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Hide Ad“These guys aren't going to take buses. We've all been quite shocked by it.
“We're just disappointed with the height and that it's gone through. There's quite a lot of people that aren't happy about it.
“Some people have issues with the look of it, sticking out is unusual. The height of it will have an impact on our gardens in the summer.
“We're disappointed that given the scale of objection the sort of comments are like 'this is great'.”
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Hide AdAnother commented: “Nobody's very pleased. But we must think of the buses.”
A third fumed: “It's been a long, drawn out hoo-ha for something that was going to be inevitable anyway.”
Hal Osler, chair of the Development Management sub committee, said: “This has been a really interesting application.
“It was quite complicated when it came to us. A lot of work has been done in changing the respective orientation of the building to take on board various comments.
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Hide Ad“This is the second iteration of this, so the applicant was mindful of the initial massing and dominance of the building and reduced it. It is difficult. It is a new build, they are trying to be sustainable and they are trying to move forward.
“Going forward, I think we’re going to get a few sites where there are going to be changes to what is present there. I do admire the applicants for bringing this forward as it is extremely challenging.
“I hope they manage to build it and have a wonderful time living there. I, for one, will be supporting it.”
SNP councillor Neil Gardiner said: “It will be quite prominent but I think overall it is a brave design.”
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