Cammo greenbelt: Planning officers recommend rejecting application to build hundreds of homes on Edinburgh's greenbelt at Cammo

Planning officers have recommended that the application to build hundreds of homes on Edinburgh’s greenbelt at Cammo should be rejected.

A report published on Wednesday states the proposal is not in accordance with the City of Edinburgh Council's local development plan and is not a sustainable development in accordance with the principles set out within the Scottish Planning Policy.

Kevin Lang, Liberal Democrat councillor for Almond ward, which includes Cammo, previously voiced his concerns around the proposal and said he is thrilled by the latest news published by the Council’s Development Management Sub-Committee.

He said: "I am delighted that planning officers are recommending rejection of this application. The proposal to concrete over hundreds of acres of greenbelt land at Cammo was unacceptable and completely flew in the face of local planning policies.

"The fact that over a thousand local people backed my petition against the plan showed the level of concern at the loss of an important green space and the potential impact on our already congested road network.

"With such a clear officer recommendation, I hope councillors on the planning committee will vote to throw out the application next week and send the strongest possible message to developers that our local greenbelt deserves to be protected.”

In September 2021 it was confirmed that developers were seeking planning permission to build on the 59-acre site just west of Maybury Road and north of Craigs Road. The area is designated as greenbelt in the development plan, which places severe restrictions on what can and cannot be built.

Kevin Lang and colleagues protesting in September 2021 over proposals for 500 new homes on greenbelt land at Cammo

The application proposed a residential development with up to 500 new family homes – a range of houses and flats – with 50 per cent being affordable housing.

At the time Councillor Lang referred to this as a “fresh assault” on the west Edinburgh greenbelt which must be stopped. He said the plans were a clear breach of the Council’s greenbelt policy and deserve to be thrown out at the earliest opportunity.

The report said the proposals failed to demonstrate compliance to policies regarding areas such as transport and accessibility, and added that suitable provision was not identified to mitigate the impact of the additional 500 homes on the local education infrastructure.

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