Please make your voice heard!
The developers who plan to build 104 units on the area at 1 Slateford Road (between Violet, Laurel & Primrose Terraces and behind Harrison Gardens) have resubmitted their plans to the City of Edinburgh Council Planning Department. The changes they have made to their first application are minimal and take little or no account of the community's views. No attempt has been made to consult with the neighbourhood about the impact this development might have on our existing amenities or way of life, which directly goes against new local planning guidelines. On Friday 16th April the window of opportunity to make your voice heard will be closed. The planning department has assured us that any objections the community has made to the original planning application will be taken into account. However, we strongly believe that it is vital to make further comments on the 'material considerations' that the Council's planning department must consider when awarding or rejecting planning proposals. Even if you have previously written, we urge you to do so again with new points and please state that any previous objections you have made still apply for the revised application.
If it helps, please feel free to use the sample letter above to send to the planning department – you just need to include your own name and address, and indicate which issues you feel strongly about. There is space to write your own individual views as well under each point. Remember to sign it from yourself at the end. The planning department have to consider ALL objections and will take notice of the quantity received. If you haven’t been able to decipher the changes made to the revised plans they can be summarised as follows:
- Alterations to the site entrance: the re-submitted design has reduced the plan size and height of the commercial unit/Block D, principally to widen Violet/Laurel Terrace. To achieve this they will be demolishing a boundary wall and taking over a private road, neither of which wholly belong to them. We believe that they have inadequate access for the volume of traffic that this road will service, poor lines of sight for safe departure from site and unsafe pedestrian access.
- Alterations to the Student Block: principally they have in-filled the vennel/access through to the development from Primrose Terrace with another flat and also increased the plan area at the corner of the block facing the cycle track. This is because they have lost units from the reduced commercial unit and they are trying to maintain the maximum number of units on site. However, this now means that all access will be from the Violet/Laurel Terrace side and only the students can directly access Primrose Terrace parking. Additionally the main entrance to the student block has moved further down the street, from No 16-18 to No 12, further disturbing the Primrose Terrace residents.
- Revised landscaping: changes have been made because emergency services and waste collection services expressed concerns of access with the original plans. However the new plans have now removed one car space at ground level, only show one bin space which is not adequate for a development of this size, and do not indicate the space required for bicycle storage. We also do not believe that they have achieved the provision of 20% of open (usable) space that the 'local plan' requires of all new developments.
In the first round of letters responding to the application, many people made objections to the excessive density of the development, use of materials and building design inappropriate to the area, the height of the buildings, car parking and traffic problems and the lack of consultation with the community. All of these objections have been ignored by the developers. If you haven't seen the plans you'll find a link to the City of Edinburgh Council's planning standards portal as well as images of the proposed development below. For more background please see our website www.flowercolonies.org.uk. We'll be posting more information over the next few weeks as it becomes available – but in the meantime, please write or email your objections to
David Shepherd
City of Edinburgh Council
Waverley Court
4 East Market Street
Edinburgh EH8 8BG
David.Shepherd@edinburgh.gov.uk
Remember, this has to be in by Friday 16th April to make a difference.
If you have any queries that you think we might be able to help with, or if you would like to see the letter of objections to the original plans submitted by the FCARA committee, please email us at fcara@hotmail.co.uk
One final point: any letters or emails you send to the planning department on this matter should clearly state the reference 09/01873/FUL.
Many thanks - Kate Thompson, Chair, FCARA Committee
No comments:
Post a Comment