The Development Management Sub- Committee meets on Wednesday 6 June 2012 to decide the fate of some of the many planning applications made to the council. Most of the leg work on these matters is actually carried out by council officials, so the process has not really stopped while a new council was being elected. However, the committee which will meet tomorrow will be made up with different councillors from the last administration. Labour Councillor Ian Perry is now the Planning Convenor and SNP Councillor Sandy Howat is the Vice Convenor.
One address which sticks out from the list of applications is one at the corner of Wemyss Place and Queen Street where there is an ugly grey box, a bit bigger than a police box, which has been there for some time. It now seems that it was sited there without planning permission. A retrospective application has now been made, and it is recommended for approval. The grey structure is required for air quality monitoring, as it is admitted in the application that the air quality levels in the city fall below the required standard.
Also on the agenda is the property in Stockbridge which was granted permission for extension and renovation to form a 10 bedroom boutique hotel with bar and restaurant. This contravened the officers’ recommendation when it was heard at the April meeting, even though it was not a change of use. The problem was a huge extension to the rear which will double the footprint of the building, and the officers thought this would result in over-development of the site. Words like crude and eyesore are used in the report brought to the committee last month, so you will understand this is perhaps a controversial decision. The upshot of the decision from April was to grant permission for the development but to add in certain conditions. So for tomorrow the trade names of the materials which the developer proposes using on the new hotel. The cast iron railings will be replaced to the front of the building in the original style. Landscaping plans must be approved, and no trees will be felled without permission. One of the good things recommended is that there will be four cycle stands provided outside the hotel.
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