Plans to build a luxury care home in a "leafy" Edinburgh suburb have been dealt a blow after planning permission was refused following fears trees would be chopped down.
The bid by Northcare to demolish a house in Fairmilehead for a 62-bed care home was thrown out after a narrow vote by the planning sub-committee this week.
It comes following uproar by the local community at the proposed development, which was described by one of the 256 objectors as a "monstrosity."
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Fairmilehead councillor Scott Arthur said the decision represented "a victory for common sense, the conservation area and local democracy."
But committee members who moved against the recommendation of officials to refuse argued there was a need for more care homes and raised concerns about new developments being shifted to "working class areas" of the city whilst the "leafy suburbs" are protected.
The planning department said the three-storey building on Winton Drive would "be out of character and dominate the street" and fail to "draw upon the positive qualities of the area," whilst having a "detrimental effect on the character of its surroundings."
It added: "The impact on the existing trees is unacceptable and the proposed planting will be unable to revitalise the semi-rural and natural environment character of the site, street and surrounding area."
Planners said the plot has already been "compromised with tree losses" and added harm to the roots of protected species during construction would "completely change the character of the site and reduce the leafiness of the street."
Furthermore, they said there would be insufficient space on the site to plant new "large long-lived" ones.
In response to the application the council received 256 objections and 28 letters of support.
One objector wrote: "This planned construction is an absolute monstrosity."
Another said the proposed care home would be "too large and out of character for this quiet rural area."
A third asked: "Why in this day and age are we knocking down a perfectly liveable house? Surely this is not the council's policy when we are trying to reuse and save the integrity of buildings.
"There is certainly plenty of room to incorporate the house in plans plus add additional houses in the plot."
It was also claimed the development would result in a "huge increase in the amount of traffic coming through Winton" bringing "unwanted noise, disruption, and overdevelopment."
Plans went before the planning sub-committee on Wednesday (December 7) and councillors were split over whether to side with planning officers on the final decision.
Labour's Lezley Marion-Cameron argued the proposals "tick sustainability boxes and provides much-needed housing."
Calling for the application to be continued for members to go on a site visit, she added: "There seems to be an awful lot about trees, which are important - they're not unimportant - but we really have a care crisis and a housing crisis in this city."
Councillor Neil Gardiner, SNP, said: "It seems there's an injustice here that the leafy suburbs would be protected so that buildings need to reflect the existing footprints when this is a very, very large plot with a very small building on it."
He added: "I feel certainly I disagree with some of the comments I heard from the planning officers that it needs to be exactly or very similar to what the existing pattern is because we live in a climate crisis and we live in a growing city.
"It seems like some of the more working class areas in the city are going to take the whole of the development and some of these leafy suburbs are just going to be protected and I have some issues with that."
Councillors voted 5-4 in favour of refusing planning permission.
Northcare, which now has three months to lodge an appeal, was contacted for comment.
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