We are pleased that we have registered our second Local Place Plan which covers Midmar Paddock which was submitted by the Friends of Midmar Paddock.
You can see the Midmar Paddock Local Place Plan and the Wester Hailes Local Place Plan on our Register.
Midmar Paddock from Blackford Hill (Photo by Friends of Midmar Paddock)
There are many other Local Place Plans in progress throughout the City. However, there is still time for community groups to produce Local Place Plans. Our deadline to register a Local Place Plan is June 2026.
Local Place Plans are community-led plans which outline a community’s vision and proposals for their area. Registered Local Place Plans will be taken into account when we prepare City Plan 2040.
There is more information on our webpages but if you are interested in producing a Local Place Plans, you should contact us via cityplan2040@edinburgh.gov.uk and we would be happy to have chat with you.
This fantastic accolade highlights the exceptional efforts of everyone in the service and celebrates their commitment to enhancing our community and making Edinburgh a wonderful place to live.
Additionally, Rowanbank Gardens, a housing development in Corstorphine, received a commendation in the Best Project category. It’s brilliant to see this project recognised for its quality and positive impact on the community, reinforcing our mission to create inclusive and vibrant neighbourhoods.
The crowning achievement was when the Edinburgh Futures Institute was named the overall winner. This remarkable project, which saw the transformation of the former Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Quartermile, demonstrates the qualities of good planning and working in partnership. It’s not just about the buildings; it’s about how we design spaces that uplift and engage our community.
These awards remind us that skilled planners and all those involved in the planning process are key to delivering these successful projects, and their hard work genuinely makes a difference in our daily lives.
As we look forward to the national RTPI awards in London later this year, we couldn’t be prouder of what the team has achieved.
In addition to these exciting achievements, we’re also celebrating our Building Standards team, who recently won the Local Authority Building Standards Scotland Awardsfor Customer Focus. This recognition underscores our ongoing commitment to excellence at the City of Edinburgh Council.
This is a very special time to welcome International Biodiversity Day 2025, as Edinburgh celebrates a very important biodiversity anniversary this year. There is a long history of partnership working for biodiversity in the city and this year marks 25 years of the Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership.
May is a great month to celebrate biodiversity and enjoy spending time in nature, and Edinburgh has some very special places to see nature – all year round!
We are really fortunate to have some amazing wildlife across our city, and this includes fantastic species like otters who have returned to our rivers and burns in recent years.
This month sees the return of Swifts, a bird which comes here just to breed and relies entirely on buildings for nesting sites. However, the nature crisis is well documented and there continue to be declines across all species groups globally and in Scotland. This is due to habitat loss, poor habitat management, pollution, invasive species and disease. Extreme weather caused by our changing climate can also have a negative impact through droughts and flooding. Climate change also makes some of the other threats worse, such as the spread of pests and diseases.
Tackling these challenges and supporting the recovery of nature requires a step change in land use planning and embedding positive effects for biodiversity into new developments.
Integrating nature at the design stage and creating nature positive places is good for health and wellbeing as well as biodiversity. It also supports resilience in the built environment to the impacts of climate change from overheating and extreme rainfall.
The guidance has been informed by a ‘public life street assessments’ carried out in 2016, which explored how town centres should evolve to maximise the potential for benefiting public life and a health check which has considered the centre’s strengths, vitality and viability, weaknesses and resiliencies.
The guidance assists the delivery of NPF4 objectives and policies, in particular to ensure town centres are vibrant, healthy and resilient places for people to work, enjoy and visit.
Town centres are an important focal point for people who live and work in Edinburgh. They provide shopping, leisure and community facilities in locations which are easily accessible by walking, wheeling and cycling or public transport. They also contribute to local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods.
The updated guidance is no longer statutory supplementary guidance, but will remain as planning guidance and a material consideration in the determination of planning applications.
Our consultation is now open for draft planning guidance for purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) in Edinburgh.
The draft guidance has been prepared to support City Plan 2030 policy dealing with PBSA. It sets out the Council’s expectations and provides guidance for developers and planning officers. It also seeks to ensure the provision of good quality PBSA in appropriate locations whilst protecting the character of existing areas.
It applies to all types of PBSA developments, including new build, change of use and conversion. To support the health and wellbeing of students, it is essential that they are provided with appropriately located, high quality accommodation. While many students will choose to live in other forms of accommodation, PBSA is a key part of the available accommodation in the city.
We want the guidance to help people understand what we require from the development of PBSA. To do this, we want to make sure the content is clear, helpful, and balanced.
When approved in its final form it will be used by the Council to assess planning applications.
You can read the draft guidance and give us your views in our online survey by Friday 23 May 2025.
Planning Edinburgh 
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