Docks revamp in doubt as owner changes tack

Original plans saw 15,000 homes as well as shops, offices, parks and schools lined up for the docks area

Forth Ports' 30-year plan for the development of Leith Docks includes more than 15,000 homes, as well as shops, offices, parks, schools and a cultural quarter.

But infrastructure fund Arcus last month completed a 746 million takeover of the Edinburgh-based company and has announced that it wants to focus on renewable energy opportunities rather than retail and real estate.

That has meant that the masterplan for the development, which included nine separate "urban villages", will need to be redrawn.

The city council also today confirmed that its own 84m plan to trigger development in the Leith Docks site is now under review. It is understood that the money could even now be used to help take the tram to Leith in the future.

Forth Ports put Ocean Terminal up for sale earlier this week with a price tag of 100m - and it has emerged that the site on the market includes the proposed "Waterfront Plaza", one of the first two villages that were due to be developed. The village was to include a new business district and a hotel.

A spokesman for Forth Ports said: "Real estate and retail in particular are not areas in which Arcus specialises in.

"We have identified exciting opportunities to invest further in the Port of Leith in the renewables sector in a way that will facilitate regeneration in its broadest sense."

Doubts were first raised about Arcus' commitment to the original masterplan for the area when Nathan Thompson, the head of Forth Ports' property business, who had spearheaded the strategy to develop the Leith land in recent years, unexpectedly resigned in May.

Local representatives have urged the company to clarify its plans. Leith councillor Gordon Munro said: "It is quite clear from Forth Ports' statement that there has been a reorientation of their strategy.

"The statement raises doubt about their ambitious plans for the villages.

"That (masterplan) is hugely important in terms of the housing needs of the city and hugely important in terms of the economic development of the city."

Talks are due to take place next week between city leaders and bosses at Arcus about its new vision.Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "We recognise that we have been through a recession and that TIE will be incrementally rolling out the tram, meaning the line will not reach Leith until a later stage, so it will be sensible to talk about what they want to do in light of that."

The Scottish Government gave the green light last year to the city council's plans to borrow 84m to fund four projects that it believed would help restart development at Leith Docks.

Borrowing for the innovative "tax incremental financing" (TIF) scheme is made against projected future increases in business rates income caused by the development that the work would trigger.

Two of the projects originally earmarked - a 16m new road linking Seafield Road and Constitution Street and a 17.3m new public esplanade for new shops and restaurants outside Ocean Terminal - are still expected to go ahead.

But the biggest part of the scheme - 32.6m "lock gates" that would make ferry and marina facilities possible as well as providing the potential for a cross-Forth ferry - is effectively on hold. Plans for a new 8.6m pier for the Royal Yacht Britannia and visiting cruise liners are also now under review.

Dave Anderson, director of city development at the city council, said: "Clearly, the potential opening up of more opportunities around renewables will mean the later stages of the TIF may include more renewable infrastructure and less commercial development.

"We still believe that the road and esplanade would help attract development to that site. But a lot of the thinking for the original plan was including the tram being at Leith in 2012, which clearly won't happen.

"If we use the TIF, we now want to look at what infrastructure we prioritise."

Council leader Jenny Dawe told the Evening News last week that TIF remains an option for helping to fund the tram - potentially providing an opportunity to borrow much more than the original 84m for the TIF scheme.

One council source: "It would certainly mean borrowing more than 84m, but it might be part of the solution rather than the full solution."

The new direction for the Leith Docks development was today welcomed by business leaders. Ron Hewitt, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "It is a very smart strategy to recognise that property development has slowed and could continue to be slow for some time.

"With this, you are looking at up to 25 years of industrial development that could be crucial to jobs in Leith. It is a hell of an opportunity so I would say that Arcus is spot on and, if you look at Forth Ports' business, it is what they are good at - the management of ports."

He said the creation of a new town would still happen. "You are just changing the nature of it," he said.

Spectacular vision

The massive Forth Ports masterplan is a 30-year vision for the giant site.

When the masterplan was lodged in 2007 it instantly became the biggest planning application ever dealt with by the city council.

It was expected that the plan would create around 12,000 jobs and generate billions of pounds of investment, while making Edinburgh's waterfront a "world class" destination.

The newly-created community would feature 16,000 homes.

Nine "urban villages" would also be developed over 30 years, featuring homes, shops, offices, hotels and business space.

It was originally expected that work on the first village - Waterfront Plaza - would get underway in 2008 but the economic downturn has put progress on hold.

Part of the proposals had included a "tram plaza" but the continuing uncertainty about whether the tram line will ever stretch to Leith has put that in doubt.

The masterplan also featured stretches of parkland surrounded by blocks of modern apartments and offices, Parisian-style cafes and an intricate network of quays, locks and piers at the Docks.

A massive concert arena had also been expected to form part of the scheme.