Planning and Building Control

Development Direction 2 –
Within the Green Belt

74 The pressure to develop in the Green Belt has intensified as the housing market has strengthened. The amount of brownfield land available for development in the built up areas including Edinburgh’s City Centre will gradually decline. In many of the settlements throughout the rest of Lothian, infill opportunities are limited.

75 The South East Wedge is a major Green Belt development. The decision to develop the Wedge was taken since it offered a logical “rounding off” of the city’s fabric and had the benefit of minimising commuting distances into Edinburgh.

76 Any further such releases would mark a major policy shift away from long established national and local policies to maintain a continuous Green Belt around the City. This approach would argue for development along transport corridors with separating wedges of enhanced Green Belt. A further elaboration could see extensions to some of the settlements within poorer quality areas of Green Belt.

77 In addition to housing land, some areas of north Midlothian and the west sector of East Lothian could provide additional land for business space where shortages are beginning to emerge. These are areas which are well located in terms of existing and proposed public transport, and growth here could help reduce out commuting to Edinburgh.

78 There is considerable pressure to develop the large areas of land on the west side of Edinburgh in the vicinity of the airport. This is being resisted on the basis that the area forms part of the Green Belt and that west Edinburgh is an area of restraint.

• Development at the edge of the city would link into the city’s transportation and infrastructure network and reduce commuting to the main job centres in the city. However, the long standing protection of a continuous Green Belt around the city would be prejudiced and attention would be diverted from the priority of developing brownfield land.

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