New Local Development Plan
The Scottish Government has finally published the Local Development Plan.
The current landowner had requested the open space designation be removed. City of Edinburgh Council refused this request and it went to the Scottish Reporter as an unresolved issue under the LDP.
The Reporter refused the removal of open space designation.
This is great news! You can read the reasons for the Reporters decision at the end of this blog post.
We're now working towards the future and look forward to seeing many of you at our Open Day.
This representation relates to the existing open space at Telferton, Portobello. There is no justification to remove the open space designation from this site. Any future planning application for housing on this site would be assessed against the relevant policies in the Plan using the Open Space Strategy. If supported, a financial contribution could be negotiated and secured through a legal agreement to offset any loss of open space. No modification proposed. (2692 Gladedale Estates Ltd)
Reporters conclusions:
Telferton, Portobello (Reporter: Allison Coard)
23. On my site visit I noted the site is currently well used as an area of allotments. The land is tucked away behind the housing on Inchview Terrace to the north of a small estate of commercial premises. There is no existing vehicular access to the site and it would lack any established street frontage. Despite the obvious constraints of developing a long narrow back-land site of this nature there is no justification for loss of this area of protected open space or its loss as a valuable community resource for allotment use.
24. The submissions indicate a proposal of some 30 units retaining around 24 allotment plots extending Parker Terrace to connect with Telferton via a priority junction with the majority of units being accessed directly from Parker Terrace. A transport statement has been prepared which concludes that the site is accessible and would have a negligible impact on the local road network. I note the statement that the current allotment use of the site is not authorised by the owners and that the proposal would formalise this use on part of the site.
25. Policy Env 18 on Open Space sets out a range of criteria against which proposals involving the loss of open space will be considered. In summary these include the PROPOSED EDINBURGH LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 626 availability of alternative provision. the avoidance of detriment to the open space network and that the benefits to the local community would outweigh the loss. I consider I have insufficient evidence at this time to demonstrate compliance with this policy. Irrespective of the allotment use of the site which is essentially a legal matter beyond the scope of this examination the site is retained as open space. Loss of this space would require justification in the context of the policy.
26. Any future application for development on this site would fall to be considered in the context of Policy Env 18 and other relevant plan policies. At this time, I consider there is a lack of justification for this loss of open space and my conclusion is that the site should be retained for this purpose.
