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COUNCIL CONSULTS ON TOWN CENTRE

Submitted by Editor on

PLANS FOR LEITH AFFECT PARTS OF BROUGHTON 

Council officials from the Planning department are consulting on draft guidance that will shape the layout and content of Leith Town Centre (LTC) for years to come.

Crucially for Spurtle readers, the definition of this area extends on both sides of Leith Walk from Pilrig Street up to Annandale Street, and then along 94–6 Brunswick Street/Elm Row to the  junction with London Road.

It’s the Broughton part of LTC we focus on here.

Shop and non-shop uses

Since surveys began in the 1980s, non-shop uses (e.g. Class 2 professional services, Class 3 food and drink, hot-food takeaways and pubs) in our part of the LTC have increased to over a third of the total premises, and there has been a decline in vacant units since the high of 2004.

Whilst aware of some advantages to this trend (particularly at a point in history when the public's retail habits are changing fast), planners are keen to maintain a healthy variety of shops in the area as a whole for the convenience of locals living within 400m.

They want to strike a balance in the shop/non-shop ecology of LTC, and are consulting about different options for how much change of use should be allowed where.

Simply put, in our area, alternatives include: doing nothing; removing all restrictions on change of use from shops to ‘appropriate commercial or community use which would complement the character of the centre and would not be detrimental to its vitality and viability’; or allowing up to two-thirds of premises to so change.

Planners are also concerned about the deadening and sometimes unsightly effect of changing shops into homes at ground-floor level. They ask whether this practice should be stopped in future.

Opportunities for change

Planners recognise the potential to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety at the junction of Leith Walk, Annandale Street, Elm Row and Montgomery Street. (The current guddle involves six pedestrian crossings.) More detailed public consultation will start on this soon, in (or possibly on) tandem with the Leith Programme team.

There are also possibilities for widening the pavement on the Elm Row side of the road, and for finding a better design which encourages pedestrians to visit Montgomery Park and the exotic shores of Easter Road.

Could better public use be made of the small, privately owned green patch at Croall Place?

Should the LTC area be expanded in future to include adjacent sections of side streets?

The railway track heading south-east from Powderhall is already safeguarded for future pedestrian and cyclist use, and the potential for a ‘green bridge’ over Leith Walk connecting West Bowling Street and Pilrig Park to Thorntree Street and beyond has been identified.

Planners are keen to hear if locals can think of further opportunities which may have slipped their attention.

Where to find out more
  • There will be a drop-in session with experts on hand at McDonald Road Library from 11.00am–2.00pm on Saturday 30 January.
  • You can find out about the whole consultation in more detail here.
  • There’s a detailed online response form here.
  • You can also ask questions and make comments until 16 February here. 

Got a view? Tell us at

spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook

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 Raymond Rose A art gallery orbookshop would be good!

 Colin Brown What about Earthy, if they get kicked out of Canonmills when it gets demolished?