News
Development of 33 Ellersly Rd (Balfour Stewart House)
Monday, 3 March 2008
A presentation on this proposed development was given by representatives of the developers at the Community Council meeting on 19th February. A résumé of the situation was that there were two planning applications for the site: one to demolish the current building and the other to replace it with a mixture of apartment blocks and town houses. However, Historic Scotland had been minded to list the present building. It was explained that the existing building had a number of inherent faults in respect of continued use as a general office building -- no company had been willing to rent the building. Hence the view that the only way to use the site would be by demolition and rebuild and comments were requested at the meeting on the plans. Previously the Community Council had not been averse to the demolition of the building and its replacement by a high quality residential development.
Comments by members of the public were that the apartment blocks would overshadow the adjacent Guardianswood flats, particularly as the planned buildings were closer to the boundary wall than the present building. If the height were lowered this would make it much more acceptable. Another comment was that two of the largest trees in the site were being cut down and this would make the townhouse part of the development visible from Corstorphine Rd; also a more traditional cladding would be preferred. Worries were also expressed about an increase in car density in Ellersly Rd arising from the development.
Since the Community Council meeting, the application has been refused by the Development Management Sub-Committee of the Planning Committee, the reasons being summarised in the following statements:
In conclusion the principle of the demolition of the existing building and erection of a residential development is contrary to the Development Plan and there are no material considerations which outweigh this assessment. There are a number of issues relating to design, noise, transport, air quality and sustainability which would require to be resolved prior to approval of an application on this site.
It is recommended that the Committee refuses this application for reasons relating to the unacceptable demolition of a building within a conservation area and inappropriate development in terms of scale, height and massing within the conservation area.
The full statement by the Sub-Committee is given at:
http://citydev-portal.decenturl.com/33ellerslyrd .