What is the point of time-limited planning permissions if the time allowed for development is not, indeed, limited?
That is one of the questions Leith Central Community Council has asked the Council's Planning Sub-committee which meets tomorrow to consider Unite PLC's application for extended planning permission at Shrubhill House (Refs 13/00241/FUL; 06/05371/FUL).
Unite – in theory – wants to demolish the wreck and build student accommodation in its place.
LCCC – disappointed and deeply irritated by Unite's failure to start work at this blot on the streetscape over the past 5 years – has objected (Issue 213). It wants this bllghted part of Leith Walk to be reinvogorated soon, and doesn't think Unite has the wherewithal to do so in a recession-hit property market where finance is hard to secure.
Refusing to renew the consent might force Unite to offer the site at a lower and more attractive price to somebody else. The log-jam could be shifted.
More specifically, LCCC points to important changes – locally and nationally – since consent was granted in 2008 which, it argues, undermine Unite's case for carrying on as before. These changes include:
- The cancellation of Leith Walk trams
- A reduction in student numbers due to university fees
- Near completion of alternative student accommodation on Elm Row (Breaking news, 6.12.11)
- Online shopping's effect on high-street retailers
- An alteration to Unite's plans involving the dropping of allotment proposals
- New proposals recently submitted by Frasers Hamilton (Shrubhill) Ltd for a mixed development on the large Shrub Place site adjacent (Breaking news, 9.4.13).
Few locals would regret Unite passing from the scene to concentrate on its main focus of operations in London. Few would miss Unite's approach to properly securing the vacant site or allowing alternative uses here.
These particular developers have had their chance. We've all been very patient about their plight. But the time has now come for them to sling their hook and let us all move on. Spurtle hopes Councillors will, in the nicest possible way, use tomorrow to give them an encouraging boot up the bahoochie.
Bahoochies – To boot or not to boot? Answer the question, please, by email: spurtle@hotmail.co.uk Twitter: @theSpurtle Facebook: Broughton Spurtle