The campaign goes on for the local campaign group called Save Allan Park.
The council’s Development Management Committee meets tomorrow morning to discuss the application for planning permission at Allan Park Crescent which would allow a bungalow to be demolished to allow an access roadway to be formed to a site bounded by the railway line to the north and Meggetland to the south-east.
Just under 1700 people raised an objection to this application but if the council officers get their way then these objections will be disregarded. The main grounds of objection were loss of housing, the inappropriate use of land in a residential area, safety concerns about the cycle path, flooding and parking.
The demolition of number 25 would break the line of houses along the eastern side of the crescent but would allow the developer of the site behind to proceed with their plans for a new care home and residential development of 14 houses. The access roadway would cross a public footpath and cycle route which lies behind the houses and which links Meggetgate to the Union Canal.
The council report says that as the care home is a suitable distance from the houses on Allan Park Crescent there will be no detrimental effect from the new houses overshadowing what is already there. The council officers also claim that although the demolition of number 25 would interrupt the street it would not have an unacceptable impact on the character of the area as it will unlock the site for development.
The group plan to protest outside the City Chambers tomorrow morning and they have some fairly high profile supporters.
The Council Leader Andrew Burns is one of the local councillors and he told The Edinburgh Reporter this morning: ” I remain very opposed to this proposal to demolish a perfectly good house, simply to allow access to develop a site which already has an existing planning approval and an alternative access. If approved, I believe this current application would set a shocking precedent, and on Wednesday I’ll be strongly urging Committee to reject it.”
Alison Johnstone Scottish Green MSP for Lothian said: “This application should be refused for a whole host of reasons. The development will worsen congestion and air pollution on already busy roads, there is a lack of information on flood risk, and the new access road will compromise a popular cycleway and footpath which give safe access to the canal.
“It’s incredible that demolishing a perfectly good house in a long established residential area is even being considered. The Planning Officer’s report appears to have been written in a vacuum, taking no account of the material objections of the hundreds who wrote in opposition to this application.
“I hope that the 1,693 objections are given full consideration and that the Committee are convinced to oppose the officer’s recommendations. We must not destroy amenity and degrade residents’ quality of life in order to approve this flawed application.
“Over more than a decade open space in this area has been gradually eroded, an issue that prompted me to first get involved in politics. Further development creep must be resisted to protect what is a valuable local amenity for residents.”
The campaigners have been led by Gail Redpath who lives adjacent to the house which could be knocked down. The group believe that the house was sold to the developers as local pressure increased.
The council report states that the proposed development will not have any appreciable impact on the existing road network, yet when we spoke to the local residents this was the main ground on which they really object to the planning application.
The council will ask the developers for a contribution of £2000 towards the realignment of the footpath and the cycle track which the access roadway will cross. The matter will be heard at the Development Management Committee meeting which you can watch live here from 10am on Wednesday 4 November 2015.
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