STOP. HARBOUR POINT

Email: environment@eastlothian.gov.uk Address to: Graeme Marsden by 07-01-2026

Planning application number 25/01247/PM or complete the form below, and we’ll pass on to the planning department.

I strongly object to the planning application for student residences at Newhailes Road. This proposal represents a gross overdevelopment that fails to respect the historic character, scale and mass of the proposed location.

1. Breach of Landscape Character and Height Precedent

The proposal fails the primary test of Policy DP1, which mandates that development must be appropriate in scale, massing, and proportion.

There are no buildings on Newhailes Road exceeding three storeys. Increasing the established height with a 6-storey block creates an "alien mass" that disrupts the local skyline.

This historic route is defined by a building line set well back from the road screened by trees.

This is the only structure from Newhailes House to Edinburgh Road seeking to abandon this setback, destroying the "boulevard" character

2. Failure of Design Quality and Distinctiveness

The development is a "city-centre" model forced into a historic town context with complete disregard for its surroundings.

Incompatible Typology: The high-density design fails the NPF4 Policy 14 "Distinctiveness" test. This belongs in a metropolitan core, not a sensitive approach to Musselburgh and Fisherrow Harbour.

Harsh Interface: By pushing the building line towards the footway, the design creates an "oppressive urban wall" that contradicts the open, green character of the route.

3. Misleading Environmental Baseline

We challenge the Biodiversity Statement under Policy NH5. The baseline fails to account for 5 large mature trees removed in May 2024. Pre-emptive removal of trees to justify a higher, closer building line is a circumvention of environmental protections and a gross misrepresentation of ecological loss.

4. Violation of Infrastructure and Community Balance

Social Infrastructure; there is no evidence local GP capacity, policing, or emergency services already under strain can absorb 290 transient residents.

Sustainability: This "studio-only" model fails to create a balanced community, contradicting Policy. Any alternative use (e.g., Short Term Lets) must be strictly conditioned to prevent further loss of local amenity.

5. Experimental Transport Strategy

Unprecedented Risk: One disabled space for 290 residents is discriminatory and a failure of Policy T2. This "zero-car" experiment is completly untested at this scale in East Lothian and will cause unacceptable interference with traffic flow on a primary arterial route.

Logistics: Delivery, Visitor and refuse collection volumes will exacerbate pollution and congestion.

Conclusion

This application represents a gross overdevelopment that ignores the established 3-storey limit and historic building line. It violates the core tenets of the East Lothian Local Development Plan and NPF4. We urge the Planning Department to refuse this application.