New Edinburgh town with 7,000 homes and two schools approved

Outline planning permission for the £2 billion project, described by developers Drum Property Group as a “natural extension of the city” and one of the most significant and sustainable urban expansions in the Capital for a generation, was granted by city councillors on Wednesday, December 4.

It is a major milestone for the development of west Edinburgh where thousands of additional new homes are set to be delivered over the next decade through separate developments.

The masterplan, which also includes a doctor’s surgery, offices, hotels, shops, pubs and restaurants, has been designed around the council’s ’20-minute neighbourhood’ vision to have all local amenities within walking distance.

Developers say West Town has been designed around people not cars (Image: Drum Property Group) In line with Edinburgh Council’s new City Plan 2030, 35% of the homes – 2450 – will be affordable. Space has also been earmarked for a high school for 1,200 pupils and a primary school with a 630-pupil capacity.

A new tram stop will built in the town centre, which planners said will be about as wide as the Grassmarket, with a ‘linear park’ running through the middle of the neighbourhood.

Planning officers told the meeting the town’s streets will be “low parking and low traffic” through use of “mobility hubs, public transport connections and active travel routes”.

Architect Euan Anderson described West Town as “a place where the streets and spaces are designed around people, with cars last”.

He said: “It’s going to be easy to live well locally, whatever your age or your circumstances.

“It’s not banning vehicles but it’s making vehicles lowest priority to serve the new community.”

He added greenspaces will be “woven throughout” the site with the tram stop “at the heart of the new neighbourhood”.

Planning officer Elaine Campbell said: “We have to allow deliveries, services. This is a new town we are creating. There will be general traffic. If anybody thinks there’s not going to be general traffic coming through this site, that’s not what’s going to happen.

“We are looking at controlled parking zones, we are looking at compulsory purchase orders potentially by the council to ensure those connections come into place.

“This is one of the most belt and braces conditions and informatives and mitigations that we have ever put forward.

“The infrastructure package is massive.”

Councillors questioned what the future provision of bus services might look like for the area, noting west Edinburgh is currently under-served by buses.

Senior transport officer Matthew Simpson said: “What we’re talking about here is a fairly major development, so that’s going to generate a demand. And that’s likely to have knock on effects for the surrounding areas.

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“With this development, the other various other developments that have been approved or are coming forward, I am fairly comfortable there are going to be knock-on improvements. But I can’t guarantee that because it does come down in a lot of ways to commercial decisions.”

Architect Lisa Blythe said part of the process for drawing up the plans was by asking questions such as “would a parent be happy for their seven-year-old to cycle to school, can spaces encourage kids to play outside their front doors, can someone feel safe walking home from the tram stop at night and can someone who finds it walking longer distances walk to the shops?”

She said: “We felt that these were important questions to ask, as in our view the success of West Town will be measured in the vibrancy of the streets and spaces and the quality of the lives of people who will live here in the future.”

She added the new neighbourhood would be a “legacy for the city”.

Stuart Duncan addressed the committee on behalf of residents of Castle Gogar Rigg, a group of nine homes neighbouring the north-east boundary of the site.

He said while the community was not objecting, it wanted to see a “much wider greenspace with tree planting” between the existing properties and the development site in the plans. He said this would “enhance privacy and create a more attractive outlook for both current and future residents” and vital barrier to “dust and noise” during and after construction.

Mr Duncan added: “Whilst we acknowledge that our proposed changes will impact the number of residential units planned, reallocating these units to other areas of the site at this stage can preserve the project’s economic viability and housing targets, while addressing our concerns.”

(Image: Drum Property Group) Graeme Bone, Drum’s Group Managing Director said: “This planning consent is the next significant milestone in our journey to realise the ambition we share with the Council, as agreed in the City Plan 2030, to deliver a major transformation of the west of Edinburgh.

"We now have the once-in-a-generation opportunity to make West Town an exemplar, sustainable 20-minute neighbourhood on a par with the best new developments taking place anywhere across the UK and Europe.

“The amount of space on the site, combined with its superb location, allows for a natural extension of the city, providing 7,000 mixed-tenure homes and new jobs in a well-designed 20-minute neighbourhood.

“West Town also has direct access to some of the best public transport in Scotland – the tram line travels through the site and there are integrated rail, cycle and road connections, creating a strategic gateway for the west of Edinburgh."