Councillors in Edinburgh are being urged to backtrack on a decision taken earlier this year that could leave a historic Leith building at risk of being torn down.
Leith's community councils have told the local authority "serious questions" need to be answered after officials removed part of a bingo hall, previously the 2,300-seat Capitol Theatre, from a proposed extension of the Leith Conservation Area to include buildings within the former railway arches on Manderston Street and Jane Street.
But Edinburgh City Council justified the amendment, saying proposals put to the public in December clashed with its 'Place Brief for Leith Walk/Halmyre Street', which sets out plans for vehicle access at the rear of the building as part of future redevelopment of the site.
READ MORE: Edinburgh climate experts tell new councillors to work together for net zero by 2030
Agreed in 2020, the brief outlines two indicative masterplans for the site, one with the bingo hall and another without.
A Green Party councillor said the omission of the 96 year-old structure which features an Art Deco interior leaves it "vulnerable to demolition or redevelopment". In a conservation area, demolitions and redevelopments are subject to stricter planning controls which protect buildings of historical interest.
A report going before the first meeting of the new planning committee on Wednesday (June 8) is recommending councillors to proceed with the revised Leith Conservation Area agreed in February.
But a spokesperson for Leith Central, Leith Links and Leith Harbour & Newhaven Community Councils is set to address members and will urge them to void that decision.
A statement, sent to the council ahead of the meeting, said: "In December 2021, we, Leith Community Councils, expressed our full support in response to the initiative by the Council to seek views from the Community about the proposal to extend the Leith Conservation Area to include the arches on Manderston Street and Jane Street along with the former Capitol Theatre, now Bingo Hall.
"In March 2022, we voiced our strongest concerns about the exclusion of the Bingo Hall from the Leith Conservation Area extension report that had been voted on by the Planning Committee on Wednesday 23 February 2022.
"This omission was not only in plain contradiction with Leith Community Councils’ joint response to the consultation, it also raised serious questions about the Conservation Area extension approval process."
It said the report put to councillors failed to remind them that the brief shows two different plans for the site, one of which includes the bingo hall.
And it added questions remain whether councillors were "given all the facts" when they voted in February.
In a report to the committee, the council's Executive Director of Place, Paul Lawrence, said: "The focus of the extended conservation area is to help to preserve and enhance the area’s unique railway history, and the rear of the Bingo Hall has no immediate connection to that history. The rear of building would also not make a significant contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area.
"The Place Brief demonstrates how a series of active travel routes can
traverse the site on both a north/south and east/west axis. It is also notes that the only vehicular access will be from Halmyre Street, with a potential connection to the rear of the Bingo Hall and onto Thorntree Street.
"The decision to remove the rear of the Bingo Hall is also considered acceptable because the strong focus of the extended boundary is to help preserve and enhance the area’s unique railway history. The rear section of the Bingo Hall has no immediate connection to that history."
Councillor Chas Booth, Edinburgh Greens spokesperson on planning, said: “I am extremely concerned that this proposal has come back to committee with no changes – that the bingo hall is still excluded from the conservation area extension, meaning it may potentially be vulnerable to demolition or redevelopment. I know the Leith Community Councils have argued quite strongly that the bingo hall should be preserved, and that the impressive Art Deco interior should be retained."
Cllr Booth, who represents the Leith ward, said he will be "listening very carefully at committee to the arguments put forward by planning officers, and by the community councils".
He added: "I am also concerned that this process does not appear to have put community voices at the centre of the discussion, which is where they should be. I will be asking planners how we can improve the process in future, and ensure that community voices are listened to.”
