HELLO and welcome to the PM Business Briefing, as plans to partly demolish a former art deco cinema to create homes were rejected by councillors.
Edinburgh City Council’s development management sub-committee refused the application for the substantial demolition of the C-listed building and redevelopment to form 21 homes at the former George Cinema in Bath Street in Portobello.
Councillors supported the recommendation for refusal from planning officials who said: “The application does not demonstrate that the proposals to undertake substantial demolition will not damage the special architectural and historic interest of the listed building.”
Council officials also said in the case report: "The assessment concludes that the applicant has not sufficiently demonstrated that the building is incapable of meaningful repair and has not fully demonstrated that the potential for the building to be re-used as a cinema (or similar compatible community use) has been fully explored."
The applicants are described as local businessmen and lifelong inhabitants of Portobello.
The owners of the former cinema and bingo hall said in a statement with the application: “This planning and listed building consent application represents a transparent and honest attempt to salvage and improve the best remaining parts of this long time neglected and abused former art deco cinema.
“It is a fact that the building which exists today bears little resemblance to the first design."
The statement continued: “The proposed change of use of the building will generate much needed income to assist funding of the retention of the principal external elements of the art deco composition all to the benefit of the local townscape and the enjoyment of the general public.
“It is regretful that this part conservation proposal cannot be supported without the replacement of the auditorium. The prevalence of deleterious materials and the limited life expectancy of the envelope of this part of the building render it beyond consideration for retention.
"However, an undertaking would be given by the new owners to consult with the planning officers to conserve worthy and salvageable elements from the original interior in the design of the new public entrance hall which in itself would be visible from the public thoroughfare.
“The new owners hope that their genuine efforts to part conserve and part improve this tired iconic local landmark will be recognised through the grant of a consent."
Portobello campaigners have also pushed to bring the building into community use.
Also earlier known as the County Cinema, an earlier application to create homes at the site was refused. Applicants can appeal the decision.
Hundreds of Scottish tourism firms fear collapse
One in three Scottish tourism and hospitality businesses fear they are likely to fail this year.
The stark outlook for the sector comes in a new survey of 1,335 businesses, published by the Scottish Tourism Alliance today.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel