Demand for £500,000 to soften superstore blow

The cash is being demanded by Edinburgh City Council to soften the blow of the new store on traders in the town.

The condition emerged at a public inquiry into Duddingston House Properties’ plans for a 85,000sq ft store.

Protesters, led by residents, believe a new store on the site of the former ScottishPower HQ, would "rip the heart out of Portobello" and force independent traders to close.

It emerged yesterday council chiefs have imposed 12 strict conditions on the developers should the Scottish Executive give the plan the green light.

Council planning leader Trevor Davies told the inquiry the 500,000 payment would help maintain the environment of Portobello High Street and minimise damage caused by the superstore.

He said: "Without this condition, the proposal is unacceptable, but with this condition it is more acceptable.

"Officers thought there would be some damaging impact on Portobello if the development was to go ahead. This was to help minimise that."

Inquiry reporter Janet McNair asked if the investment in the town would make the development "more palatable" to the council.

Councillor Davies said: "It serves to deal with amenity and environmental impact."

In August, the city council threw out the developers’ proposals, saying the new store would create extra traffic and pollution, ruin the appearance of the area and threaten the livelihood of local shops.

But Duddingston House, which lodged an initial planning application a year earlier, appealed straight to the Executive after growing frustrated at the council’s failure to process the application.

Campaigners, who have raised more than 20,000 to pay for expert public inquiry witnesses in their battle against the developers, say 500,000 would not be enough to save Portobello centre.

Stephen Hawkins, chairman of Portobello Campaign Against the Superstore (PCATS), said: "We are still totally opposed to the superstore, regardless of conditions.

"The condition as it stands says up to 0.5 million - that is everything from 1 upwards, so we would have no guarantee of getting anywhere near that kind of money.

"Even if we were given the full 500,000, that wouldn’t be enough in the long term and anyway, it would still remain to be seen how that money would be spent by the council."

Cllr Davies said the cash would fund existing and future regeneration projects.

Cash has already been earmarked for a 400,000 investment plan for Portobello High Street, a further 220,000 for ongoing shop front improvement work on the High Street and 270,000 for improvement to the promenade.

Mr Hawkins added the council should have added other conditions to its list, which includes safeguarding aesthetic features of the development, transport schemes to the supermarket and features affecting neighbouring properties.

He said: "We would like to see in the conditions things like no post offices of pharmacies at the supermarket development because we believe that would take trade away from the town centre."

Other issues to be raised at the inquiry include the risk of traffic congestion caused by customers at the proposed store.