New homes plan denied

A DEVELOPER'S bid to turn a former primary school into two new homes has been thrown out by council chiefs amid concerns it would "detract" from the conservation area.

City Architecture Office wanted to transform the former Borthwick Primary School near Gorebridge in Midlothian into five-bedroom homes.

But Midlothian Council refused to grant the planning application for the Church Road site.

Councillors also decided that the proposed private garden were an "unacceptable encroachment into the countryside", and that future occupants would not have "appropriate levels of privacy".