21-05-2025
Edinburgh Cameron Toll shopping centre set to get new 100-room hotel and restaurant
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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.
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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."
