In today’s edition:
Planning permission granted for Rose Street Theatre conversion;
Edinburgh named ‘most walkable’ city in Europe;
Gillis Centre reportedly to be put up for sale;
Concern raised about Pleasance Fringe venue planning application frequency;
Election manifestos reportedly offer ‘support’ for Borders rail line extension;
Plans lodged for name change signage at St James Quarter;
Visitor attraction accolades for two Edinburgh sites;
Architecture graduates - annual ‘degree show’;
Seminar to consider how best to manage tourism in the city;
Planners gather in Edinburgh, from across Europe;
Application withdrawn to covert Leith office block into apartments;
‘Tenant Power’ electricity tariff set to save Muirhouse tenants around £200 a year;
Permission being sought for ten-homes development in Canonmills;
Tollcross clock to be restored and returned;
Views sought on Holyrood Park; and
Enjoy, see you next Friday!
Planning permission granted for Rose Street Theatre conversion
PLANNING permission has been granted, to turn Rose Street Theatre into a hotel - six months after being initially refused.
Wednesday’s Development Management sub-committee of the city council (here, agenda items 7.1 and 7.2) heard how revised plans for adapting the theatre had received the backing of the council’s chief planning officer.
Said a paper from the officer, here: “The proposal retains most of the sanctuary space as the principal internal space, with its scale, hierarchy and key spatial relationships remaining legible.
“The limited degree of subdivision that has been introduced has been carefully reduced and refined compared with the previously refused scheme [here, ref: 25/02951/FUL].
“The spatial quality of the sanctuary space is proposed to be retained through the careful incorporation of the existing vaulted ceiling and decorative plasterwork into the proposed layout. Two of the three arched bays are contained within the preserved sanctuary space with the remaining arch exposed in a bedroom on each side.”
It means four fewer bedrooms than originally envisaged.
When the previous plans were rejected in November - following listed building concerns - there was a fear the empty building might have no realistic future.
Watch Wednesday’s debate, here, on the city council’s webcast.
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Edinburgh named ‘most walkable’ city in Europe
EDINBURGH has been named the ‘most walkable’ city in Europe.
The title follows an annual survey (here) by media brand, Time Out, which found 93 per cent of local people in Edinburgh rating the city as either ‘good’ or ‘amazing’ for walking.
The top ten list reads, as follows:
Edinburgh, UK (93 per cent);
Copenhagen, Denmark (90 per cent);
Oslo, Norway (89 per cent);
Stockholm, Sweden (88 percent);
Paris, France (88 per cent);
Helsinki, Finland (85 per cent);
Kraków, Poland (83 per cent)';
Riga, Latvia (83 per cent);
Vienna, Austria (83 per cent); and
Amsterdam, Netherlands (81 per cent).
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Gillis Centre reportedly to be put up for sale
THE former St Margaret’s convent and school in Marchmont - now known as the Gillis Centre - is reportedly going to be put up for sale, later this year.
Now operating as an administrative base for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh, the Centre is a mix of category A- and B-listed individual buildings.
Read more, here, in The Herald newspaper.
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Concern raised about Pleasance Fringe venue planning application frequency
THE community council that takes in the busy Edinburgh Fringe Festival complex, the Pleasance, has raised a concern about a planning application (here, ref: 26/01170/FUL) seeking permission to create temporary facilities, such as performance spaces, essentially for the next three years.
Says the Southside Community Council, here, a system of annual planning applications would provide more on-going dialogue with local people than a three-yearly one.
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Election manifestos reportedly offer ‘support’ for Borders rail line extension
SUPPORT for extending the Borders rail line, currently between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, has reportedly been offered, in various guises, by four political parties ahead of next week’s Scottish Parliament elections.
Reports the website, Deadline News, here, the manifestos of the SNP, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens have each positively raised the subject of the line being possibly extended to Hawick and beyond.
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Plans lodged for name change signage at St James Quarter
PLANS have been lodged to instal new signage at the St James Quarter, to reflect a change in its name - as noted on BuildEdinburgh, here, from last October.
A planning application - here, ref: 26/01562/ADV - has been submitted to install ‘Westfield - St James Quarter’, with the design by AMA Studio.
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Visitor attraction accolades for two Edinburgh sites
THE Royal Yacht Britannia, in Leith, has been named the world top visitor attraction - in a list based on ratings by users of the travel guidance platform, Tripadvisor.
And it doesn’t end there for Edinburgh, with the list (here) also featuring The Real Mary King’s Close, on the High Street, in sixth place.
The Basílica de la Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, came second, while Gardens by the Bay, in Singapore, finished third.
The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here, and the BBC, here.
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Architecture graduates - annual ‘degree show’
THE annual exhibition / degree show of architectural students at the Edinburgh College of Art is taking place from the 29th of this month.
The show - which ends on June 5 - is being held as part of the college’s wider degree exhibitions, at its Lauriston Place base.
Tickets can be found here, on eventbrite.
Read more about it in The Herald newspaper, here.
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Seminar to consider how best to manage tourism in the city
A SEMINAR on how best to manage tourism in Edinburgh is being hosted at the City Chambers by the heritage body, The Cockburn Association, a week on Tuesday.
It is part of a Festival of Europe, Scotland series of events taking place this month.
Says the publicity blurb: “Hospitality is a core part of Scotland’s culture, but the pressures to meet the demands of high visitor footfall are putting pressures on our capital city. Our session will explore new research into the impact of tourism in Edinburgh and discuss European approaches to managing tourist tensions and balancing the needs of residents and visitors.”
Ticket details, here.
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Planners gather in Edinburgh, from across Europe
BEGINS a story on the website of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI): “Senior planning professionals from across Europe gathered in Edinburgh to discuss how cities, regions and nations can respond to the climate emergency, deliver clean energy and build more resilient communities.”
It was a meeting of the General Assembly of the European Council of Spatial Planners – Conseil Européen des Urbanistes, held at weekend at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
As reported, here and here, on the RTPI and the Project Scotland websites.
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Application withdrawn to covert Leith office block into apartments
AN application to convert an office block in Leith into short-term accommodation has been withdrawn (here).
As noted here, on BuildEdinburgh, there was widespread concern about how the loss of office workers from the block (Waterside House) might impact on the area.
The application was for 15 short-term let apartments (here, ref: 26/00362/FULSTL).
There were almost 300 objections (and no comments in support) on the city council’s planning applications portal (here).
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‘Tenant Power’ electricity tariff set to save Muirhouse tenants around £200 a year
TENANTS of Muirhouse Housing Association can expect to save around £200 a year, following the installation of solar panels (and associated battery storage) and the creation of a new payment tariff, called ‘Tenant Power’.
More than 30 ‘social’ homes are involved in a partnership agreed with energy supplier, Octopus, as it describes here.
The story is picked up by The Herald newspaper, here.
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Permission being sought for ten-homes development in Canonmills
PLANNING permission is being sought to replace a former nursery - on Heriot Hill Terrace, Canonmills - with ten homes.
The application - here, ref: 26/01422/FUL - has been submitted on behalf of Stockton-on-Tees-based Mandale Homes.
But local newsletter, the Broughton Spurtle, reports, here, that “some locals have reacted with alarm” to the plans.
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Tollcross clock to be restored and returned
THE clock that used to grace the intersection of roads at Tollcross is to be restored and returned, four years after it had been removed due to safety concerns.
As noted last week, on BuildEdinburgh (here), the city council’s Finance committee (which met on Tuesday) was being asked - here, agenda item 7.6 - to approve a cost estimate of £72,572, excluding VAT.
The city council itself reports the story, here.
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Views sought on Holyrood Park
VIEWS are being sought as to how legislation might be updated, as it applies to Holyrood Park.
Begins an online survey, here - posted by the Friends of Holyrood Park - the aim is to “update the legislation covering Holyrood Park: to support the aims set out in Historic Environment Scotland’s Strategic Plan, including improvements to the natural environment, access and safe enjoyment of activities”.
But you need to be quick: the survey ends on Sunday.
Image details: The Meadows, towards Bruntsfield; copyright Mike Wilson