Cammo Housing Development
Posted on: October 8, 2021
Our submitted objection to the proposed housing development on Edinburgh’s Green Belt at Cammo
Address: Land 369 Metres Northeast Of 210 Craigs Road Edinburgh
Proposal: Residential development, ancillary retail use, active travel route, open space, landscaping, access, services and all associated infrastructure
Reference No: 21/04210/PPP
Closing date for comments: 10 Oct 2021
Determination date: 5 Dec 2021
Result: Pending
Cockburn Response
The Cockburn OBJECTS to this application for planning permission in principle to build on this 59-acre site west of Maybury Road and north of Craigs Road.
The area is currently designated as greenbelt in Edinburgh City Council’s local development plan, which places strict constraints on what can and cannot be built on greenbelt land. Any argument drawn from the increasing historical and outdated 2008 Edinburgh Green Belt Study that this specific site is “of low intrinsic scenic quality”, and so should be considered for development, should be rejected.
The 2008 Edinburgh Green Belt Study is increasing irrelevant to the lived reality of life for many residents in this congested part of the city where a number of significant housing consents have been granted in recent years against the expressed wishes of local residents who value the retention of existing greenbelt provision in the immediate vicinity of their existing residential development and its associated infrastructure.
The proposed inclusion of 50% of affordable homes, trees and parkland should not be accepted as justification for the loss of existing greenbelt and greenspace which has become increasingly valued during the current Covid-19 pandemic. There is a particular demand in Edinburgh for social housing, but it is unclear in the planning in principle application what percentage of the proposed affordable home will be available for social rent.
Policy Env 10 (Development in the green belt and countryside) of the local development plan sets out those circumstances where development would be permitted in the green belt. The application clearly does not meet any of the criteria listed under this policy.
Non-statutory guidance on “Development in the countryside and green belt” (February 2019) provides more detailed guidance on where other development in the green belt would be acceptable. This makes clear that while new development, consistent with Policy Env 10, can bring several benefits assisting farm diversification, supporting the local economy and making beneficial use of an existing resource.
None of these justifications are relevant to this applications. But the guidance also affirms that the countryside and green belt need to be protected from unacceptable development which would weaken from the rural character and landscape quality of an area.