PLANNING CASE NOW 'A POLITICAL FOOTBALL'
An important new development emerged last week in the process to decide the future of the old Royal High School.
As first reported here on 17 March, Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Hotels have appealed the Council’s refusal to grant listed building consent for their hotel scheme on Regent Road (Ref. PPA-230-2178).
But on 23 March, an official at the Directorate for Local Government and Communications made clear that the final decision on this appeal would be made by Scottish Ministers.
At first sight, this appears to be good news for those who oppose the developers’ proposals:
The reason for this Direction is that this appeal raises issues of national importance in terms of potential impacts on the historic environment, including the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site …
However, those in favour of the hotel plans will draw comfort from how that same sentence continues:
… and in relation to potential economic and tourism benefits.
Mitigating factors
So, rather than the decision resting on a straight assessment of the Council’s assertion that ‘Put simply, too much building is being proposed for this highly sensitive site’, consideration will also be given to mitigating factors. The appellants summarised these in their appeal statement as follows :
the height, scale and massing of the proposed buildings forming part of the Development are appropriate for the Development Site, and that the Development is an acceptable solution which finds an appropriate balance between the sensitivity of the Main Building and Development Site, the operational scale required to bring the Main Building into sustainable long term use and the economic benefits that will flow from the proposed hotel of international standing.
Inside the political mind
Notwithstanding their obvious credentials as high-minded, scrupulous and fair individuals, Scottish Ministers are politicians. And as one seasoned planning observer commented to Spurtle, the recall of this case turns it into a ‘political football’.
Will a politician, we wonder, uphold principles of perfection for the future of an iconic structure, or principles of pragmatism and compromise? And how will their position at the beginning of an electoral cycle – comparatively immune to immediate public censure or approval – affect their clarity of thought?
Adding further uncertainty to the case: nobody knows who will be Planning Minster after the Holyrood election on 5 May.
The stakes are high. The likely result is, to us at least, opaque.
-----------
Got a view? Tell us at
spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
-----------------------------------
Fergus Smith I suspect this was inevitable, but I fear the politicians will be swayed by the "economic benefits" argument, even though we know full well those are always ahem flexible calculations.
Euan McCulloch Not sure who people want planning appeals decided by at the moment. What I do know is that the dissapearance of the appeal process just aint going to happen
Now would be the time for people who care about my future to write to both @AlexNeilSNP and @FionaHyslop