The owners of Cameron Toll shopping centre have proposed a new masterplan to make the development ready for the tram (or the Edinburgh South Sub) coming down the track.
Hunter REIM, which owns the centre built in 1984, plans to make changes, adapting the parking spaces which they say are largely underused, and making the centre more connected to its surroundings.
The council has just closed the public consultation on the tram from Granton to Edinburgh BioQuarter which, unless changed after the consultation, will run to Cameron Toll. This places the development which began with a Savacentre and now features Sainsbury’s at its heart in the midst of a changing area. If the Edinburgh South Sub plans are progressed to reintroduce passenger traffic on the rail link which runs through Morningside, then Cameron Toll would be equally well placed to profit from additional public transport connections.
Andrew Moffat, Managing Director of Hunter REIM said: “Every modern shopping centre is facing a new and challenging landscape. As successful as Cameron Toll has been, it needs to move away from just being a building dropped into the middle of a sea of parking to become a genuine commercial centre fit for purpose for the city’s south and east areas.
“We will be bringing forward proposals for a phased development that will see Cameron Toll become a new neighbourhood centre that provides a fantastic place for people to live and visit. New housing is badly needed in the nation’s capital and we’re confident we can deliver high quality new homes and better shops on exactly the kind of brown field site that everyone wants to see prioritised for housing.”
The owners will hold a public consultation on 15 December and 5 February at Cameron Toll Shopping Centre, from 2pm to 7pm.
The company will also meet with stakeholders and local residents including those who live near Inch Park to hear their views.
In addition to the proposals for the centre, the council has asked the developer to consider proposals to “deculvert the burn”.
The Braid Burn currently runs through a culvert under the car park area and part of the centre, and the council has raised the possibility of uncovering the burn in a way that allows it to run fully open along the edge of any development.
This would include an adjacent public pathway. A proposal to achieve this will form part of the public consultation.
Mr Moffat said: “We fully understand the desire to see the biodiversity and public access gains that would result from the burn being fully uncovered. We shall examine that in full as part of the consultation, but we would want to ensure that there was a practical and affordable approach to achieving this, and that any solution attracted the support of local residents and stakeholders.
“We will be considering similar restoration initiatives including the work being carried out on the Burdiehouse Burn and consider the best solution we can deliver.”
Following the public consultation a planning application is expected to be submitted to the council next year.
Hunter REIM is the business behind the Ruby Hotel development on Princes Street. The company obtained planning permission for a hotel at Liberton Road on the Cameron Toll site earlier in the year.
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