South East Wedge Development

The South East Wedge is the name given to a large area of the Edinburgh Green Belt to the south of Craigmillar and extending to the City Bypass in Midlothian. As our city grows it needs more room for housing, business and leisure facilities. The South East Wedge has been identified as a growth area for the city. Up to 4,000 new houses are planned along with 30 hectares of land for business and other uses. The Wedge is being planned carefully and jointly by the two planning authorities, the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils.

A Joint Development Study was completed in 1999. Midlothian Council has since prepared the Shawfair Local Plan and, in 2002, the City of Edinburgh Council prepared the South East Edinburgh Local Plan.

The greater part of the South East Wedge is in Midlothian Council’s area, and the proposals here take the form of a major new settlement to be built to the east of Danderhall, a former mining village.

In Edinburgh, the main proposals are for new houses at Greendykes. Eight hundred homes are planned and a site will be reserved for a new primary school should it be needed.

Also in Edinburgh, outline planning permission has been granted to the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh Lothian (SEE&L) for a ‘medipark’, on land around the new Royal Infirmary. This site will be home to a new medical school, linked research facilities and businesses. The land around this site will be carefully planted to enhance the setting of the new development and provide a network of public open spaces and footpaths.

Much of the land in the South East Wedge, mainly in Midlothian, is now in the ownership of Shawfair Developments Limited, a joint venture company owned by the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils and Miller Ventures Limited. Shawfair Developments have prepared outline planning applications for the South East Wedge as a whole, one of which covers land in Edinburgh, the other in Midlothian. The company will promote development of land in its ownership and seek to play a coordinating role throughout the Wedge.

You can obtain more information by visiting the Midlothian Council web site.