Lord McCluskey: Edinburgh Council unfit to decide fate of contentious Haymarket gap site

A FORMER judge who spearheaded the campaign against a hotel development in the Scottish capital has demanded the fate of new plans for the site be taken out of the hands of councillors.

Lord McCluskey wants the Scottish Government to automatically call in a new blueprint being drawn up for a notorious gap site next to Edinburgh's Haymarket railway station amid claims the local authority has been too close to the developer involved.

The former solicitor general for Scotland, who spoke at a public inquiry against the originally proposed 17-storey hotel, said it was the council that had insisted on the height of the building and was due 2.5 million from developer Tiger to help pay for its tram scheme.

He said lowering the height of the building by one or two storeys would be an "insult" to campaigners after the inquiry report had found it would dominate the area and ruin classic views of the city.

Lord McCluskey has also urged the Irish firm to ditch one of Scotland's leading architects, Richard Murphy, from the development if it wanted to see it win the backing of locals.

Mr Murphy has repeatedly defended the height of the previous 250m scheme, insisting it would emulate the nearby St Mary's Cathedral and the Balmoral Hotel. The Scotsman revealed yesterday that both the architect and the world's biggest hotel operator, Intercontinental, were involved in drawing up fresh plans for the site.

Lord McCluskey said: "Local people have no confidence whatsoever that the council can give an independent verdict on this development.

"A brand new scheme has to be brought forward and the previous architect should no longer be involved."

Maria Kelly, chair of the Dalry Colonies Residents Association, said: "The hotel was ten storeys high on the first plans we saw, and it gradually went up to 12, 16 and 17. We were shocked when we heard how tall it was going to be as the local plan for the area restricted new buildings to six or seven storeys.

"However, I'm not so sure we want to see another public inquiry for this site. It would be failure of the planning system if that happened. It's more important that the developer and the council actually listen to people."

It is understood the Haymarket development will almost certainly have to be ruled on by the government because of the planned contribution to the council's tram scheme.