Latest news with #DevelopmentManagementSub-Committee
Edinburgh Live
21-05-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Cameron Toll shopping centre set to get new 100-room hotel and restaurant
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Plans to build a new hotel at Edinburgh's Cameron Toll shopping centre are set to get the green light. An application was originally submitted back in 2022 for a 160-room guesthouse as a part of wider plans to improve the shopping centre. But the project was put on hold after the applicant was notified of a tree preservation order. Now fresh plans are set to be approved at Edinburgh Council's next Development Management Sub-Committee meeting on Wednesday, May 28. The new plans submitted on behalf of developers, Lady Road Investment SARL, will see a new 109-room hotel with an associated restaurant built at Cameron Toll. As a result, trees will be removed - with replacement ones to be planted across the car park - and the number of parking spaces in the existing car park will be reduced. The application was referred to the Development Management Sub-Committee due to the number of objection letters submitted - but planning officers have recommended that plans for the hotel be granted. In the meeting notice, they wrote: "Overall, the development is in accordance with the development plan. The revised scheme will deliver a sustainable and well-designed development with activation at street level. The proposals include design features that will contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as encouraging biodiversity. "The development will support the existing mixed uses surrounding the site and is consistent with the six qualities of successful places as set out in NPF4. The design draws on the unique townscape characteristics of the site and will create an appropriate sense of place." The recommendation went on to assess several concerns including tree loss as a result of the development and the design of the hotel. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. Addressing this, planning officers wrote: "The proposed redevelopment of this section of the site will result in the loss of 118 trees covered by the TPO. "The proposed development will result in the loss of part of a grouping of trees. Compensation planting is proposed within the wider context of the shopping centre and has been set at a higher level than 1:1 planting. "The overall design has been modified to reduce the scale and impact on the key elevations. An appropriate palette of materials is proposed to complement this design. It is recognised that the introduction of a new building of this scale on the site will result in a change to the immediate context. However, it is considered an appropriate design response to this site." They also responded to the concerns raised by residents of the impact the development will have on the nearby Dunedin School. Locals fear that the students will impacted by the noise of the hotel, natural light and privacy will be impeded. They also fear the school will lose space and the construction work would disturb pupils. But the report by planners states: "Environmental Protection have considered the application and consider that due to the position of the hotel within an already busy area there are unlikely to be any noise issues arising from the proposals. "The hotel sits to the north meaning that impediment of natural light should be minimal and no windows relating to bedrooms will overlook it. "There will be no overshadowing of the school due to the orientation of the site with the hotel located to the north of the school. The development will mitigate this to a degree through a landscape scheme which includes a screen fence. "Comments have been made suggesting that the proposals result in a loss of space around the school. There is no change to the site boundaries on the land within which the school operates but the openness of landscaped area to the north will be altered. Alterations within the carpark area will provide additional tree planting, cycle parking and disabled parking. This is not considered to have an adverse impact on the adjacent properties. "Concerns have also been raised by the school that the level of disturbance caused during the construction of the hotel will have a profoundly adverse impact on the operations of the school and the wellbeing of the pupils who attend this facility "Due to the nature of construction there will be a degree of noise generated from the development of this site. This short term impact is accepted, and it is suggested that the developer engages directly with the school on managing the relationship with the school during the construction phase."
Edinburgh Reporter
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Edinburgh Reporter
Anger at councillor's £6k raise to act as vice-convener of a planning committee
The creation of a new £32k per year role as the vice-leader of an Edinburgh Council committee has been slammed as a 'an outrageous misuse of public funds'. The new role of vice-convener of the Development Management Sub-Committee – a 'quasi-judicial' committee that handles planning matters – was approved at the city's full council meeting on Thursday. And the council leader told a full committee meeting that those disagreeing with the decision should 'look at the facts'. The office holder will be expected to substitute for the convener if they are not present. Conservative councillor Max Mitchell will take up the new role, with Liberal Democrat councillor Hal Osler continuing to convene the committee. And the new role will give Mr Mitchell a £6k pay boost – something which prompted criticism from other elected members in the chamber. Councillor Alys Mumford, the planning spokesperson for the Green group, said: 'The creation of a new, unnecessary position by the council administration is an outrageous misuse of public funds. 'It is absolutely right that there are paid positions leading the council's work to tackle some of the huge issues facing our residents, but to see this system treated with such disdain by the Labour Party to give jobs to their allies and shore up votes should shock the people of Edinburgh. 'Green councillors have some serious questions for the Labour Party about how they can justify spending public money in this way, and will be keeping a very close eye on this new position to see if there is any benefit at all for the people we have been elected to serve.' There were also accusations that the new role was effectively a way for the Labour administration to 'buy' support from opposition councillors. Councillor Simita Kumar, the leader of the SNP group, said: 'We knew that Labour was buying support from the Tories for staying in power. 'But creating yet another fake job for a Conservative is a slap in the face. It's clear that Labour councillors will do any deal with the Tories, no matter how grubby, to cling onto administration. Edinburgh deserves better.' But council leader and Labour councillor Jane Meagher told councillors yesterday: 'I quickly want to knock on the head this myth that's constantly being perpetuated that there's some sort of a formal arrangement. There isn't. 'However, we know that the sheer arithmetic of this chamber means that three parties have to support an administration. 'And it's about who can maintain the confidence of sufficient numbers of the whole chamber. Ignore your flaunted opinions, look at the facts.' In the report issued by officers before the meeting it states that 'the Council currently has 19 senior councillors (maximum 24) and spends £733,826 of the £955,455 allowance'. Several councillors told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that they believed that the Development Management Sub-Committee, and other quasi-judicial committees, do not need a vice convener – but that several of the larger 'policy' committees do need them. And independent councillor Ross McKenzie saying: 'Labour bosses dictated after the 2022 council elections that Labour should not be allowed to enter any coalitions. 'They were allowed to offer quasi-judicial roles to other parties, and the provost, but they weren't allowed to offer convenerships on any policy positions. 'So that's why they have to carve it up. The only way to be in power is to pay off some people to vote for you by giving them [Development Management Sub-Committee] jobs. And that's essentially what they do. It's nakedly self-serving.' Cllr Mitchell represents Inverleith ward, and was returned at the 2022 Edinburgh Council elections. Cllr McKenzie, who was a Labour councillor until he left the party in the middle of a budget meeting in 2023, suggested current Labour councillor Katrina Faccenda would have been a good fit for the role instead. He said: 'She has the potential to be a really good convener, and she's clearly one of the most competent councillors in the group. 'She's the one person they won't give [such a role] to. But they're happy to give another one to the Tories.' By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related
Edinburgh Live
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Edinburgh Live
New £32k per year role for Edinburgh councillor an 'outrageous misuse of public funds'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info The creation of a new £32k per year role as the vice-leader of an Edinburgh Council committee has been slammed as "an outrageous misuse of public funds". The new role of vice-convener of the Development Management Sub-Committee - a 'quasi-judicial' committee that handles planning matters - was approved at the city's full council meeting on Thursday. And the council leader told a full committee meeting that those disagreeing with the decision should "look at the facts". The office holder will be expected to substitute for the convener if they are not present. Conservative councillor Max Mitchell will take up the new role, with Liberal Democrat councillor Hal Osler continuing to convene the committee. And the new role will give Mr Mitchell a £6k pay boost - something which prompted criticism from other elected members in the chamber. Councillor Alys Mumford, the planning spokesperson for the Green group, said: 'The creation of a new, unnecessary position by the council administration is an outrageous misuse of public funds. 'It is absolutely right that there are paid positions leading the council's work to tackle some of the huge issues facing our residents, but to see this system treated with such disdain by the Labour Party to give jobs to their allies and shore up votes should shock the people of Edinburgh. 'Green councillors have some serious questions for the Labour Party about how they can justify spending public money in this way, and will be keeping a very close eye on this new position to see if there is any benefit at all for the people we have been elected to serve.' There were also accusations that the new role was effectively a way for the Labour administration to "buy" support from opposition councillors. Councillor Simita Kumar, the leader of the SNP group, said: 'We knew that Labour was buying support from the Tories for staying in power. 'But creating yet another fake job for a Conservative is a slap in the face. It's clear that Labour councillors will do any deal with the Tories, no matter how grubby, to cling onto administration. Edinburgh deserves better.' But council leader and Labour councillor Jane Meagher told councillors yesterday: "I quickly want to knock on the head this myth that's constantly being perpetuated that there's some sort of a formal arrangement. There isn't. "However, we know that the sheer arithmetic of this chamber means that three parties have to support an administration. "And it's about who can maintain the confidence of sufficient numbers of the whole chamber. Ignore your flaunted opinions, look at the facts." Several councillors told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that they believed that the Development Management Sub-Committee, and other quasi-judicial committees, do not need a vice convener – but that several of the larger 'policy' committees do need them. And independent councillor Ross McKenzie saying: 'Labour bosses dictated after the 2022 council elections that Labour should not be allowed to enter any coalitions. 'They were allowed to offer quasi-judicial roles to other parties, and the provost, but they weren't allowed to offer convenerships on any policy positions. 'So that's why they have to carve it up. The only way to be in power is to pay off some people to vote for you by giving them [Development Management Sub-Committee] jobs. And that's essentially what they do. It's nakedly self-serving.' Cllr Mitchell represents Inverleith ward, and was returned at the 2022 Edinburgh Council elections. Cllr McKenzie, who was a Labour councillor until he left the party in the middle of a budget meeting in 2023, suggested current Labour councillor Katrina Faccenda would have been a good fit for the role instead. He said: 'She has the potential to be a really good convener, and she's clearly one of the most competent councillors in the group. 'She's the one person they won't give [such a role] to. But they're happy to give another one to the Tories.'
