Green belt housing plan to go ahead

CITY council chiefs are set to plough ahead with controversial plans to build a housing development linking Edinburgh and Musselburgh - despite a Court of Session judge overruling the development last month.

More than 400 homes are expected to be built on green belt land at Newcraighall, doubling the size of the historic mining village and sparking outrage among residents.

The development, which would be built by council-developer EDI and landowner the Dalrymple Trust, would account for the total number of homes allowed to be built on the green belt land in the city.

The Evening News has learned that documents, which will be handed to councillors on the planning committee on Wednesday, will recommend the Newcraighall East and Newcraighall North developments be approved regardless.

Planning officials accepted that the proposals would be "contrary to the development plan as the site is greenfield and is not an allocated for housing in the local plan".

However, they said "other material considerations have been taken into account which outweigh the development plan land use allocation".

It is understood that planning officials have attempted to justify the approval of the scheme at Newcraighall by arguing that the village would gain "regeneration benefits" - a claim that has been described as "baffling" by the local MP.

The Newcraighall project has been at the centre of a heated row over the allocation of green belt land between developers in recent years.

Rival developers also wanted to build at Dreghorn and Burdiehouse, but were not able to because of limited land allocation, and called for Scottish Government reporters to examine their objections in 2009.

When the reporters ruled the 400 homes should be spread across more sites, including 75 houses at Dreghorn and 100 at Burdiehouse, council chiefs went against their ruling and attempted to push ahead with Newcraighall.

Rival Hallam Land Management took the case to court, and the city council was told last month by Lord Malcolm at the Court of Session in Edinburgh to halt the development.

Although the council may not be breaking planning laws, Edinburgh East MP Sheila Gilmore said at the very least it is going against the spirit of the ruling.

She said: "I find this very baffling. Newcraighall is a very compact community with a very distinctive history and is certainly not somewhere that needs to be regenerated urgently.

"Housing there is in very good condition and there is a strong community. We should be encouraging developers to take up the brownfield sites before looking to greenfield land.

"I will again write to the planning committee as to why they should refuse this application."