PLANS to convert the former social club of Edinburgh City FC into six serviced short-term holiday flats have been approved by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Previous plans for the flats on 7 Baxter’s Place were refused by the council’s development management sub-committee (DMSC) on the grounds that the building’s commercial use would result in the loss of residential use.
This time, however, councillors deemed that the change of use from social club to serviced apartments was “commercial to commercial” and would not result in the loss of residential amenity.
The flats will be installed in a mixed-use area with high levels of commercial usage, falling between the Planet Bar and Kitchen and Taste of Italy, with a stairwell leading up from street level to the first-floor flats.
The plans have undergone a long history, appearing before the council on multiple occasions.
Planners say that the council may have “erred in law” in rejecting the initial planning application.
There was a previous approved planning permission to use the property as residential flats in 2016.
When the application was first considered, it was thought that the conversion would result in the loss of a residential property.
However, council officers claimed, at the DMSC yesterday, that the high level of investigation and enforcement action taken on the property over the years has resulted in the picture becoming clearer.
They said that they can now say conclusively that the permission to use the site as residential properties was never taken up.
The council this time voted to accept the planning application.
Convener of the DMSC, Liberal Democrat Hal Osler, said: “I am content that we have got out of this exactly what we can get out of this, in the best possible way.
“It is what it is – it is a change from commercial, not from residential, no matter what we might have wished to have seen.
“I can understand individuals’ frustration, because it would have been lovely to have beautiful properties returning to residential, but that is not what’s being presented to us.”
SNP councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan said: “It was clearly built as a residential property, and I think, in terms of the conservation status of this part of the city, it’s a very significant area architecturally.
“It’s the kind of use that was very typical of Edinburgh at that time, with those Georgian period dwellings, with commercial on the ground floor.
“That’s clearly what it was built as.”
She cited the council’s listed buildings and conservations areas policies as justification.
Her proposal was, however, shot down, and the saga around the property now appears to be at an end.
Since being used as Edinburgh City’s Social Club, the building has been the subject of repeated planning applications and attempts to convert the buildings into commercial usage.
After the conclusion of its use as a social club for The Citizens, attempts were made to convert the building into flats.
Following this, multiple attempts to turn the flats into short-term commercial properties have been refused, as the council viewed the property’s historical usage as being residential.
The council now appears to have conceded that position as more evidence has come to light.
