A Midlothian restaurant has lost its appeal for a bigger car park on public land across the street after councillors described hoarding put around it as ‘cutting off the community’ and ‘unsightly’.
The owners of Gigi’s, in Bonnyrigg, faced a backlash from local residents after they moved to turn the public space, which has been leased to them by Midlothian Council into a 12 space car park for customers.
Concerns were raised about the impact on locals who said the land provided a safe space to walk in the town centre and dismissed claims the restaurant would have to leave town if it was not given the parking spaces.
The restaurant had already won the right to create a nine vehicle car park on the land after appealing to the council’s Local Review Body after planners rejected it two years ago.
But they then asked for more spaces on the site, an application once again rejected by planners and taken to the review body for appeal with representatives for Gigi’s telling council officers they were confident they would win.
However a meeting of elected members today heard concerns raised about the boardings which went up in December around the site, despite its planning future being in doubt.
Councillor Colin Cassidy said he believed the original approval for nine spaces had been ‘generous’.
He said: “I am concerned that the applicant has put up boarding around the site which is unsightly and cutting the community off from the spaces. I have reservations about this appeal.”
He was supported by review body chairperson Councillor Russell Imrie who acknowledged the original decision to grant the nine space car park was ‘controversial’ at the time.
He said: “I think this (application) is a bit too much and I was concerned by the hoardings we saw at our site visit. They are unsightly and do not look like something that will come down easily or very temporary.”
Planners received 15 objections from local residents to the car park application.
However representatives of the restaurant urged councillors to overturn their planning officers’ refusal pointing to their previous approval and insisting the proposals are “policy compliant, proportionate, and responsive to both community needs and environmental considerations”.
In a statement to the council’s planning officers, their representative said: “Informal consultation has taken place with local councillors who have stated that the loss of such an important business to the locale would be severely detrimental to Midlothian.
“Councillors are of the view that this application should be approved in light of the aforementioned conditions being met and should not be refused, as it will only be overturned at Local Review Body, which would be a waste of public funds that can be far better spent on the areas that need them in these times of financial difficulty such as the current housing crises.”
However a report by planning officers at the time of refusing the plans, said there had been 15 objections to the land being used as a car park with one claiming “Bonnyrigg will survive if Gigis relocates” and another adding that “numerous successful restaurants operate without a car park.”
The Local Review Body unanimously refused the appeal over the larger car park advising the applicants to return to their original plans and urging the removal of the hoardings as soon as possible.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
