AN error by a map drawer has led to planning permission for several developments in Leith close to a ''hazardous installation'' being approved without advice from safety experts who required to be notified, it has emerged.
The official with the former Edinburgh District Council wrongly denoted Health and Safety Executive ''consultation zones'' when drawing up the Local Plan for the city's North East area in 1996.
The mistake came to light after a developer submitted plans to build almost 270 flats in Salamander Street in Leith.
Last May, a leisure development near the new berth of the former royal yacht Britannia encountered planning problems because of fears of fire from the nearby depot of Storage Services containing more than 1000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
It is classed as a hazardous substance because of the risk of an escape of toxic fumes in the event of decomposition in a major warehouse fire.
The HSE has made ''a holding objection'' to the leisure proposal for the old Corn Exchange building in Constitution Street.
The map error which led to a number of planning applications in the ''consultation area'' around Storage Services being approved without HSE's advice surfaces in a report to be presented to councillors next week.
The Salamander Street development application and one by a separate developer for 44 flats in Poplar Lane will also be put to councillors. Both are within the consultation distance of Storage Services.
In both cases, the HSE has said, that on the basis of the assessments, it was felt the risk of harm to people at the proposed developments from the hazardous substances was ''sufficiently high'' to justify advising against the granting of planning permission on safety grounds. Both applications are being recommended for refusal.
Dr George Hazel, director of city development, said the missed consultations were in the ''outer and middle rings'' of the consultation zone.
He indicated that Storage Services, part of the Russell Transport Group, was prepared to consider relocating the Leith operation but was evaluating whether such a move was feasible.
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 hereComments are closed on this article