heritage – Planning Edinburgh

‘Conservation & Adaptation’ Consultation

Edinburgh has set an ambitious target for the city to be net zero by 2030. An important part of achieving this target is for all homes to be well-insulated and energy efficient. However, it is recognised that people who own listed buildings or own property within conservation areas face additional and unique challenges to adapt their properties to make them more sustainable for the future. The current cost of living crisis is also contributing to these challenges by affecting many residents’ ability to afford essentials such as heating, food, rent or transport.

We are asking for the views of people who own listed buildings or properties in conservation areas on the challenges they face when trying to maintain, repair and adapt their historic homes in response to climate change and the cost of living crisis.

A ten-week online consultation relating to these challenges will begin on Friday, 31 March. Feedback from the consultation will be considered by a short-term working group being established to discuss these challenges as well as any possible solutions. It will look at what can be done in the short and longer term and how any changes to planning guidance might adversely impact our built heritage.

The consultation is available at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/conservation-adaptation

World Heritage Site – Draft Management Plan 2023

View of Old Town from the Crags looking North West with the Forth Bridges in the distance.

The Management Plan for the Old & New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site is being reviewed and we want to hear your views.

An updated Draft Management Plan is being prepared by the City of Edinburgh Council, Historic Environment Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage. It identifies issues and opportunities within the site and presents an action plan for implementation over a five-year period.

The issues identified include:

care and maintenance of buildings and streets
control and guidance and contribution of new development
awareness of World Heritage Site status
visitor management
influence and sense of control

This is your opportunity to tell us what matters to you and to help us to best address these issues. We want to hear your thoughts on how the World Heritage Site has been looked after, what works well and what we could be doing better.

We specifically want to know whether you feel we are doing enough to protect and enhance the Site, and any other ideas or suggestions which you may have.

Complete the consultation online by 12 December 2022.

Colinton Conservation Area Character Appraisal

The revised Colinton Conservation Area Character Appraisal is now online. Conservation Area Character Appraisals are intended to help manage change. They provide an agreed basis of understanding of what makes an area special.

This understanding informs and provides the context in which decisions can be made on proposals which may affect that character.

An enhanced level of understanding, combined with appropriate management tools, ensures that change and development sustains and respects the qualities and special characteristics of the area.

The richness of Colinton’s built heritage is considerable. It is this complexity and diversity which make it attractive yet make these qualities hard to define.

These are qualities and conflicts that must be resolved if the character of Colinton is to be sensitively interpreted and enhanced.

You can download the full Conservation Area Character Appraisal here

Development in the Countryside and Green Belt Non-Statutory Guidance

Living in Edinburgh, we’re surrounded by a band of countryside and green belt. We want to make sure that this natural heritage of ours is protected and enhanced, so, we control what kind of development is allowed in these areas.

development in the CS and GB

The Edinburgh Local Development Plan (LDP) replaced the Edinburgh City Local Plan and the Rural West Edinburgh Local Plan in 2016. From the LDP we now have one single Policy across our boundary, Env 10, that deals with ‘Development in the Countryside and Green Belt’.

We first published supporting guidance for this Policy in 2007. Recently, we’ve updated this to make sure it reflects our current practice.

You can have a read of our refresh here. The revised guidance should help all users of the LDP understand Policy Env 10.

Some key changes following our redraft include:

a new layout;
clarification as to when new buildings will be allowed in the countryside and green belt;
additional criteria to be met when replacing low quality buildings;
further information about ancillary uses and energy development; and
guidance about materials and high quality design, taken from the updated Edinburgh Design Guidance.

Great Green Roof! City centre rooftop safari filmed at Council HQ

In common with several city centre buildings, the Council HQ at Waverley Court has rooftop gardens. Green roofs on buildings have many benefits including improving energy efficiency, reducing the urban heat island effect and reducing water run off in the built environment. They can also be a really good habitat for wildlife.

In recent years the grass areas on the Waverley Court roof have been changed into wildflower meadows to make them more attractive to people and pollinating insects. Back on a sunny August day, Anthony McCluskey from Butterfly Conservation Scotland ran a butterfly and bumblebee safari to give staff a lunch break with a difference! It was a lovely sunny day and you can watch some footage of the meadow and safari below.