EDINBURGH Zoo chiefs have warned the city council that drilling linked to a proposed housing development could lead to the deaths of Yang Guang and Tian Tian, the two giant pandas gifted by the Chinese government.

Jeremy Peat, the chair of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), claimed that noise and vibration from the project close to the zoo could “lead to one or both dying”.

However, a spokesperson for the RZSS said in a statement: “We have now been assured by the City of Edinburgh Council that the wellbeing of our giant pandas will be protected as part of the planning process. Discussions are continuing with the development company to consider actions which could be taken to enable the work to go ahead and ensure there would be no adverse impact on any animals in our care.”

READ MORE: Pandas may 'not to be able to bear building work noise'

Yang Guang and Tian Tian were loaned from the Chinese government for 10 years in 2011. In return, RZSS, which owns and operates Edinburgh Zoo, makes an annual $1 million payment which is used for panda conservation in China. The decade-long arrangement could be extended by mutual agreement.

In September, a firm ultimately owned by construction company James Walker (Leith) Ltd submitted a planning application to Edinburgh Council for 76 “residential apartments” on the site of the former Corstorphine hospital, which is close to the zoo.

The Scottish Government flagged up issues of “national importance” in relation to the application, including “possible negative health impacts for giant pandas at Edinburgh Zoo during construction”.

Scottish ministers issued a direction requiring the council to notify ministers if it intended to approve the application, a move that sparked claims of interference. This newspaper has now obtained a letter by Peat, who is chair of the RZSS board, to council planning committee convener Councillor Neil Gardiner, which was sent on March 23.

READ MORE: Pandas may 'not to be able to bear building work noise'

He wrote that the panda gift from China was a “hugely significant sign of good relations” with the UK and Scotland, adding: “The intended developer has carried out tests on the likely noise and vibration impact of its planned drilling and related works. With the support of an expert adviser, RZSS has examined those results.”

He continued: “The noise and vibration will clearly have a very major adverse impact on the animals in their current enclosure, which could lead to one or both dying. We have also arranged for further tests to be carried out by our expert advisers. While we await these results, it is extremely doubtful and may effectively be impossible to safeguard the risks to the pandas caused by the development, should they remain in their present location.”

Peat added that the RZSS had identified a location “elsewhere” in the Zoo for the pandas: “You will appreciate that a new enclosure will require significant redevelopment, taking in the order of a year from now, involving considerable expenditure and, of course, needing planning consent.”

READ MORE: Pandas may 'not to be able to bear building work noise'

Peat wrote that the RZSS had kept the Chinese Consul General in Edinburgh informed and had written to the Scottish Government and to the Secretary of State for Scotland.

He wrote: “I have received a helpful response from [Cabinet Secretary] Roseanna Cunningham.”

Peat also claimed that, “given the political and cultural significance of the giant pandas”, it “seems reasonable to conclude that any impact to their health by the proposed development would most likely have ramifications beyond animal welfare”.

Councillor Gardiner said: “Clearly with the Scottish ministers’ direction, the welfare of the giant pandas is an important consideration. I have written to the zoo to provide the council’s reassurances that their wellbeing will be safeguarded from the possible negative impacts of demolition and construction through the planning process. Should planning consent be granted, what is termed a Section 75 planning obligation would require to be in place before this could be issued.”

LABOUR REACTS TO PANDA-MONIUM

SCOTTISH Labour has criticised the Scottish government over the handling over the panda story.

In his letter, Peat wrote that he had received a “very helpful” response from the Scottish Government, which has intervened in the local planning matter.

MSP Monica Lennon said: “No-one wants the pandas to be put in danger but the public needs to have confidence that the planning process is fair and transparent. The Scottish Government should release all documents and correspondence that relate to this planning application into the public domain. The SNP has a reputation for secrecy and riding roughshod over local democracy.”

Lennon criticised the Government’s intervention in the process: “Alex Salmond started this culture when he rescued Donald Trump’s planning application for a golf resort in Aberdeenshire but Nicola Sturgeon should be her own woman. Scottish Labour will be suggesting ways the SNPs Planning Bill can be improved for the good of our reputation at home and internationally and I hope the First Minister is prepared to listen.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Ministers have issued the direction in view of concerns relating to the potential impact of the proposed development including possible negative health impacts for giant pandas at Edinburgh Zoo during construction, as raised in representations by Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. As the applications for both planning consent and listed building consent remain live, the Scottish Government is unable to comment further at this time.”

The developers did not provide a comment.

The Herald:

PANDA DIPLOMACY

CHINA has used its pandas to improve political relationships with other countries for more than fifty years.

The practice of “diplomatic loans” is believed to have originated with the Communist Party during the Mao era and has been used ever since.

In the early 70s, President Nixon, who helped reset relations with China, secured a pair of giant pandas from his new ally.

In 2013, researchers examined all the panda loans of the last fifty years and found that, since 2008, the transactions coincided with trade deals for resources and technology.

Edinburgh received its pandas in 2011, but the research claimed that deals were signed afterwards in relation to salmon, renewable energy technology and Land Rover vehicles.