MUSSELBURGH residents have created a group called “Stop Harbour Point” in response to plans for a student accommodation building in the area.
The proposed building will replace the former Harbour Point Business Centre on Newhailes Road and will house 250 students.
Some have raised concerns regarding the potential impact of a six-storey building on the local surroundings, as well as the environmental impact and strain on local services brought by an influx of students.
Locals have until Thursday to comment on a Pre-Application Consultation (PAC) organised by developers, in order to take feedback into consideration before submitting plans to East Lothian Council.
Harbour Point on Newhailes Road is currently an office building used by a variety of businesses and professionals, but has been on the market for some time.
A Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) was sent to East Lothian Council in March and a 12-week consultation period enacted, so as to garner public reaction to the plans and take these opinions into account when drafting an application.
Two public consultation events were also organised, one taking place on March 27 and the other on June 19.
A group called “Stop Harbour Point” has been created in opposition to the redevelopment, with the opinion that it “directly impacts our lives, our livelihoods and our community”.
The group makes six objections, focusing on zoning issues, impact on local surroundings, the environment, strain on local services, increased crime rates, and parking and traffic.
They say: “Commercial & industrial zones should be kept for commercial use. This area is not intended for residential buildings & the proposal disrupts the intended use of the zone.”
As well as believing that the development will not be “in keeping with the area”, there are concerns about the waste produced as a result of “high-density living”.
An increased number of students in the area is also believed to cause higher crime rates, as “this demographic typically owns more expensive consumer goods per head than any other demographic, e.g laptops, phones, bikes”.
Proposals include the creation of a “car-free development”, though accessible parking bays will be provided.
Some locals raise “concerns about how this could or would be enforced in reality. Leading to increased congestion and a strain on the current infrastructure.”
The Harbour Point building is around a half an hour walk or ten minute bus to Queen Margaret University (QMU), and a similar distance from Edinburgh College on Milton Road.
Developers state that the current office building “does not meet modern standards and requires to be significantly upgraded.”
Their plans will create “low-carbon” student homes with indoor and outdoor amenity space, meaning that homes currently occupied by students will be “more suitable” for families or young professionals.
Harbour Point also says that local prosperity will be boosted by student spending in the area, and a number of full-time jobs will be created both in construction and on the completed site.
A spokesperson for Harbour Point Business Centres Ltd said today: “As a responsible developer, we continue to consider public feedback to inform and refine our proposals for what will be a £60 million student development at Harbour Point.
“We are still collating feedback from our recent second public consultation event, following a first event held in March. As a result of feedback from this event, the top floor of the building was set back, and the number of studios on the upper level has been significantly reduced.
“What has been delivered is a fully policy-compliant proposal, delivering an attractive, high-quality development that replaces what is currently a poor-quality and dated office building, for which there is no continuing demand.
“After an extensive investigation, it has been identified that there is no demand for office development in this peripheral location. This issue is also highlighted in the East Lothian Council’s local development plan, which notes that offices are very difficult to sustain in East Lothian, as rents often do not cover the costs of maintaining the buildings.
“The distance of the proposed frontage from homes located across the road is considerably more than the regulations, which indicate a distance of nine metres from upper-floor windows to a garden boundary. The distance in this case is 23.5 metres. A buffer has therefore been provided between the building and the street, thereby lessening any impact on the surrounding neighbours.
“It should be noted that the overall building height is approximately 600mm lower than the neighbouring historic tenement at the junction of North High Street and Harbour Road – an established townscape feature – and around 3.25 metres lower than the recently consented Wireworks flatted development nearby.
“In addition, the height of the principal elevation adjacent to Newhailes Road is only 2.3 metres higher than the height of the existing office building apex.
“The current office block has 99 windows with an aspect facing Newhailes Road – the proposals reduce this to just 69, improving privacy for existing homes.
“Preliminary daylight and overshadowing studies have also indicated that there is no impact on properties, and a full copy of these will be submitted with the planning application.
“Despite car ownership being low for students, what we are proposing is a car-free development, and this will be controlled by a contractual obligation, meaning that resident students cannot own a car. This would be actively policed, and lead to reduced congestion and pollution in a way that residential development, with Council car parking requirements, would not.
“As a 24/7 fully managed accommodation, this will ensure that the student development is a good neighbour and security will be enhanced and anti-social behaviour reduced through the delivery of an active frontage, providing natural surveillance, and 24-hour security. Current anti-social behaviour includes incidents of drug-taking and assaults in the car park, which is why the security gates and fences had to be erected. This development will therefore enhance safety in the local area.
“A development such as this will bolster local businesses, such as shops, bars and restaurants, with students adding vibrancy and spending money in the local area. In addition, it will also serve to increase local house prices, with evidence from real estate agents indicating that where student demand is greatest, rental rates and house prices tend to rise more quickly, thereby increasing local affluence and boosting business opportunities.
“No additional demand for school places locally will be created, given that it is a student development, and NHS Lothian will be consulted on GP requirements. It should be noted that many students are already registered at home, and as they are younger, have less demand on such facilities than a residential population would.”
A spokesperson for Stop Harbour Point said today: “The group consists of around 40 households, all in Musselburgh. Locals have a lot of valid concerns, mainly about the size and scale of the building. From an architectural standpoint, it’s completely out of proportion with the area.
“Harbour Point is the largest building on Newhailes Road and it’s three storeys tall, there’s nothing else over two storeys on the whole road.
“Edinburgh City Council is considering a moratorium on student accommodation builds due to concerns over supply and pressure on the housing market. We come under East Lothian Council, but there is a huge oversupply in this area too and accommodation often goes unused.
“We’ve tried to have conversations with the developers. I’ve had conversations with the architects. We’ve tried to have conversations with the PR guys. To be honest, they have been quite abrasive and we feel we have been shrugged off.
“I really hope that the East Lothian Council takes our views and opinions into account. At the end of the day it’ll come down to the planning application.
“No doubt there will be lots of objections from ourselves and other community groups. It will all come down to the council and their planning department.”
