Care Home Planned For Gap Site At Meggetland

A NEW nursing home with space for 60 residents is being planned as the latest stage of the controversial redevelopment of the Meggetland playing fields.

Plans are being created for the home at the western end of the site, on a disused piece of land bought from Network Rail some time ago.

The proposed home, being drawn up by architects Format Design, would include four “pavilions” with a central hub-style building, with access from Meggetgate. The developer, who has not yet been publicly named, also plans to build a children’s playground for public use on adjacent land.

Previous developments at Meggetland have proved highly controversial. The £9 million renovation of the sports pitches, which opened in 2006, was paid for by developers George Wimpey and Applecross in exchange for being allowed to build 175 homes on part of the fields.

Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart Councillor Gordon Buchan said he was concerned to hear that further development was planned: “My opinion is that this is just a further loss of green space in the area.

“I think there are better places for a care home to go, and much safer areas for a care home to go – the road access is appalling. I’d far rather see this area of Meggetland returned to recreational use. People in Craiglockhart and Meggetland have lost so much green space in the past, I think this is yet another erosion of that and I will be fighting it all the way.”

Chairman of Craiglockhart Community Council Alan Dickson said he was aware of unease among some members of the community who were concerned about the development, but said the council would form a view after it had received a presentation from developers later this month.

He said: “They’ve proposed that they give us a presentation at our public meeting on March 31, which is perfectly in line with the legal requirements.

“We’ve had development at Meggetland that has been controversial in the past and people locally are sensitive about that, and understandably so.

“But my personal view is that if the company’s going through due procedure that’s all we can expect and that will give us the opportunity to comment prior to submitting an application, which is all to the better. Let’s just wait and see what’s proposed before we go jumping about.”

A spokesman for the project would not name the developer behind the plans, but said it hoped to submit a planning application to the city council in approximately one month.

He said: “The intention is to have an old people’s home on the site. I think in general the people down that end seem to be happy enough with it. We also hope as part of the development to give the council a children’s park, which the council have been wanting for a long time but they didn’t own the land, so they couldn’t do that.

“At the moment it’s derelict land that’s overgrown and I think it would be better if there was something on it. I think it would be good for the area – there’s clearly a need for old people’s homes in Edinburgh, I don’t think anybody would disagree with that.”