One of Scotland’s prettiest streets made famous worldwide by Instagram is at the centre of a planning row amid fears it would make it less picturesque.
Circus Lane, in Edinburgh’s New Town, has become popular with visitors seeking the perfect snapshot of the capital and the cobbled street is also regularly used by couples posing for wedding portraits.
The curved street is overlooked by St Stephen’s Church and is lined with quaint former coach houses with greenery growing over the porches.
But neighbours fear the “unique character” of the street could be ruined forever if proposals to build a new mews house are given the green light.
Architects working on designs for a mews house in Circus Lane have acknowledged the “particularly beautiful” view from the street, and described the evening light as “picturesque in the extreme”.
A description of the plans, by firm Somner Macdonald, said: “The site itself does not appear to be listed although we have treated it as though it is.
“The site is within the New Town Conservation Area. “The site consists of a small plot of land at the northern end of what was the garden to 6 Royal Circus, which is category A listed.
“For this reason, we have developed our designs under the assumption that this plot would be regarded as a listed building.”
But a poster put up in the lane read: “The proposed development site has historically never had any mews houses.
“As a result, if approved, the proposed development is likely to result in all the gardens at the east end being developed.
“This will result in the unique character of that end of the lane being lost forever.
“The proposed house is also not particularly sympathetic to the rest of the lane.”
So far the proposals have sparked 13 objections, mostly from neighbours on Circus Lane but including some from further afield.
The poster urged for objections to be made to the City of Edinburgh Council by December 12. Neighbour Maureen Watson said: “I have lived in the lane since the late 1980s, and I have sadly seen a deterioration in this historic conservation area.
“This recent proposal is a further negative impact on our beautiful surroundings, which are regularly visited by tourists to Edinburgh.
“It is nothing less than a carbuncle, not only on the surrounding beauty but also has the possibility of destroying mature trees in the area and the peaceful surroundings of the lane.”
The “compact” house would be modern, and built with a pitched roof similar to neighbouring buildings and a
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel