This will give everyone more time to submit their proposals and ideas to help frame the vision, policies and proposals for the Proposed Plan.
You can submit your suggestions via the Council’s Consultation Hub. You can also find out more and what information is required to submit a proposal or idea.
Your ideas should focus on the use and development of land and buildings across Edinburgh – this could be proposals for an area of land, site or building, something you want to protect or improve or planning policies you want to change.
We are asking what your think of our new draft Place Brief for the existing hospital site, which was approved by Planning Committee on 9 September 2026 for consultation.
The Astley Ainslie has been in hospital use for over 100 years. It was originally a convalescent hospital and at the forefront of medical rehabilitation in Scotland throughout its history with the natural landscape setting important to help recovery. You can find out more about Astley Ainslie Hospital’s history on the NHS website celebrating its centenary in 2023.
The NHS is planning to keep some services on the site including GPs and the SMART Centre but is selling the rest of the site.
City Plan 2030 identifies Astley Ainslie for housing-led mixed-use development. There will be new development on the site, but this will need to respect the mature landscape setting, create a sustainable place and keep its special character.
Astley Ainslie is well-loved by the surrounding communities with the Astley Ainslie Community Trust working with local residents to produce a Local Place Plan for the site.
The Draft Place Brief brings together that community voice with an assessment of the site and the aspirations of the NHS. It puts forward a set of principles for the future development.
You can read the Astley Ainslie Draft Place Brief and give us your views on the Consultation Hub until 11 November 2026.
Come along and meet the team
There are also drop-in events where you can chat to planning officers on:
Monday 5 October 16:30-19:00 at Morningside Library, 184 Morningside Road
Saturday 24 October 10:30-13:30 at Newington Library, 17-21 Fountainhall Road
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.
Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas – Guidance to support works to a listed building or within a conservation area. This is to make sure we look after our historic buildings and places.
Guidance for Householders – Guidance for development undertaken by individual householders. This includes work to existing houses and gardens.
You can view the draft-for-consultation documents here:
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.
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