Edinburgh businessman Kamran Akbar has applied for permission to change the use of 4B Gayfield Place (accessed via Gayfield Place Lane) from office to guest house/B&B (Ref. 14/01197/FUL).
It was hard to judge the merits or otherwise of this application this morning since no details were yet available on the Council's Planning portal.
Nearby residents can always view paper copies of the documents in East Market Street, and may also wish to Google "Kamran Akbar" and "Cameron Guest House Group" to begin to understand the company's extensive, temporary social-housing provision across the city.
In January 2013 (Issue 214), Spurtle reported Pilrig Street neighbours' misgivings about how the CGHG-owned Acorn Lodge Guest House was run and other long-standing practical grievances. In April 2013 (Issue 217), we reported how a Licensing Sub-committee investigation had found many of those misgivings to be unfounded, and how other grievances had been resolved in the interim.
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The current application (Ref. 14/01098/CON) seeks to 'extend the lifespan of the CAC permission' (due to elapse 5 years after 26 March 2009 if work had not already started).
Henderson now seek a further 3 years before work on the project must begin.
So far, the only response has come from the city''s Archaeology Officer John A. Lawson. He wants another original condition to be reattached to any such permission that would not allow development to begin before the applicant has 'secured and implemented a programme of archaeological work' agreed by the Council.