Haymarket station revamp gets platform for approval

THE multi-million-pound revamp of Haymarket station looks set to get the go-ahead after planning officials dismissed concerns that the scheme is not ambitious enough.

• Plans for the new-look Haymarket station have been criticised by some for lacking in ambition

Network Rail's scaled-back plans were criticised for not creating the "transport hub" that links trains, trams and buses, as was originally intended, and one of Scotland's leading architectural heritage groups said the designs "could be mistaken for a supermarket".

Heritage group the Cockburn Association has criticised the "less than ideal" way that the development links with the new bus/tram interchange. But council planners have ruled that they cannot let concerns about how well the plans will integrate with trams influence the decision, as the tram stop is outside the boundary of the Haymarket Station development.

John Bury, the council's head of planning, said: "Concern has been raised that the treatment of the area outwith the building needs to be co-ordinated with TIE's treatment of the adjacent tram stop area and the taxi drop off area in front of the station.

"The council is only empowered to consider the details of the application as defined by the red ownership line (on the plans) around the site.

"The design of the taxi rank and associated layby cannot be considered under this application as they are outwith the site and the design has been fixed by TIE."

Councillors will be asked to give the green light to the proposals at a planning committee meeting next week. The proposal is not subject to the same level of public consultation and scrutiny as many planning applications because of the Railways Acts 1839-1889, which give more power to station owners for the development of infrastructure.

Council approval is required for the plans, but the local authority is not able to impose conditions, such as roads or access improvements or contributions to the tram project, in the way it can with other applications.

However, a raft of local and national groups lodged formal objections to the plans.

If the plans are approved, work is expected to begin at some point in 2012 and be completed either in 2013 or early in 2014.Euan Leitch, a member of the Forth and Borders cases panel of The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, said: "Given that Haymarket station is the fourth busiest in Scotland and is to become a transport interchange and therefore experienced by millions of passengers, many of whom will be visitors, surely a much higher quality of design is required.

"Network Rail have made design an important feature of other stations, such as Newport, Wales, but the current proposals for Haymarket could be mistaken for a supermarket; not the welcome to Scotland and Edinburgh that the city should aspire to."

Leading Scottish architect Richard Murphy has also said that approving the plans will be a "huge missed opportunity" for the area, and put forward his own design proposals.

A spokesman for Network Rail dismissed the concerns and said: "We are clear that we are delivering our agreed scope of work. We think this is the best package available to improve the station and deal with the increase to nine million passengers a year by 2030."