University to earn £1.5m from sale of historic campus for housing

The university is facing mounting criticism over its deal with developers which has already seen the institution paid £10m for the site in the Morningside area, which may have more than 100 homes built in its grounds.

Principal Dame Joan Stringer has caved in to campaigners who have been demanding to know the extent of the university’s financial interests in an overhaul of its Craighouse campus, which was sold off last year.

However she has also hit back by accusing them of trying to discredit the university’s repuation with a “disinformation” and has accused ringleaders of “attempting to distort the facts.”

Some 116 new homes will be built in the grounds, while just 66 are being created inside existing listed buildings on the site as part of a joint project between the university and two private developers, who have formed the Craighouse Partnership to pursue the development.

However the Friends of Craighouse group last week published an eight-page open letter to Ms String, demanding clarity on the “misleading and inaccurate information” being given to the public about the development. The group has also submitted 28 different questions to the university under freedom of information legislation.

Supporters claim that five other viable bids for the site were submitted by developers before the sell-off by the university was announced. However this has been dismissed as “totally inaccurate by the university, which was last night accused of conducting a “no information” campaign to date.

The Craighouse Partnership includes the university, Edinburgh-based Sundial Properties and an Isle of Man-registered investment fund, Mountgrange, whose senior figures were previously involved in the Caltongate development in the Old Town.

Images for the 60-acre site, which was bought by the university from NHS Lothian for around £9m less than 20 years ago, show how the lush grounds will be transformed by dozens of luxury homes, apartments & mews houses. The developers claim their plans for the entire campus are not financially viable unless the new homes are built.

However the project was dealt a blow last week when the new Labour-SNP council coalition vowed to preserve the city’s green spaces and prioritise “brownfield” sites for new housing developments.

Meanwhile Dame Joan said she was “disappointed at the emotive disinformation campaign being waged against the university.”

She added: “I am saddened that certain individuals appear to be attempting to distort the facts and discredit the name of Edinburgh Napier University.

“I am not prepared to get drawn into a war of words but I am determined to put the true facts into the public domain.

“The university continues to be a good neighbour to the people of Craighouse. This is one of the reasons why the university is a co-applicant on the planning application, as we can continue a monitoring role.

“The university would not have supported a development of high density, as was presented in some of the tenders.”

Dame Joan said the £1.5 million figure, which will be due when planning permission is received, was being made public in response to claims that the university stood to make a ‘killing’ over the development.

However Rosy Barnes, spokeswoman for the Friends of Craighouse, which claims to have collected 5000 signatures against the development, said: “The university cannot expect the community not to ask questions about one of the most controversial developments of protected green space in the city.

“We have seen the amount of new-build rise in the face of huge public opposition. We have seen some of the most beautiful parts of the site threatened by four storey new-build. We have seen threats of dereliction if the Craighouse Partnership aren’t allowed to ignore planning policy and the protections on the site.

“The university has been conspicuously absent from all public engagement, absent from the exhibitions and not attended a single community liaison meeting. This is not being a good neighbour – they are part of a partnership railroading the local community with scant regard for community or planning policy alike.”

Council leader-elect Andrew Burns said: “I am keen to see the open space protected in the grounds and free public access to the site maintained, but it is important to remember we are still at the pre-application stage. No plans have come into the council yet.”