Regeneration plan for Seafield 'unrealistic' landowners say
Hundreds of new affordable homes at Seafield will 'help address the city's housing emergency' amid a record 5,000 homeless households in the capital, council planning convener James Dalgleish said last year.
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However the ambitious project is unlikely to come to fruition for decades yet, largely due to a number of hurdles. Chief among them is landowners unwilling to sell up. The relocation of Lothian Buses' Marine Depot, at the east of the site, also poses a significant challenge.
'They don't necessarily want to move'
Iain Whyte, the Conservative councillor for Craigentinny-Duddingston, which includes Seafield, told The Herald: 'The biggest blocker, frankly, to anything happening there is the landowners of a significant chunk of it have tenants in place, a steady income, that suits their financial and business model and they don't want to change that.
'When they speak, they speak on behalf of some of the others that are there as well and I think that means this, if it's a plan that's going to work, you're probably talking 20 years before you see anything significantly change there.
'I just think the biggest problem the council has got is that it allocated that site for nearly 3,000 houses in its plan for the city, the 2030 City Plan for development, to try and find the housing numbers that are needed for the growing population.
'Doing things like that when there's no prospect of it being developed within the timescales they're talking about gives you an indication of why we're not meeting the housing numbers needed — and is the real reason, if any, why they're having to declare a housing emergency.'
He added: 'I don't know if anyone's ever asked Lothian Buses where they think they're going to move their depot to. Because I don't think it's easy for them. It's fine for the council to sit there and say 'oh well, car showrooms aren't a very good use of the land' but there's an awful lot more in there and they don't necessarily want to move.'
'Their land should not be considered for housing'
Council documents reveal some developers hold concerns about 'timescales and the difficulty of delivering a masterplan when such a small area of the plan is actually capable of coming forward in the short/medium term'.
They also show that Royal London, which owns Seafield Industrial Estate covering a large part of the proposed development site, 'do not support proposals for residential development on their site'.
In their response to a consultation on City Plan 2030, an agent representing the pensions and investment giant warned that the site 'does not present a realistic option for residential development'.
They said: 'The owner [...] has no intention of releasing the land for housing use over the Plan period and their land holding should not be considered for residential or urban area housing led mixed use.'
The response went on to say Royal London was not approached by the council prior to the land being identified for consideration for redevelopment. 'The identification of their land holding for this purpose is considered to be inappropriate,' it said.
Proposed redevelopment site at Seafield (Image: City of Edinburgh Council)
The estate, consisting of 18 fully let industrial units, has been under the company's ownership for over 25 years, is 'one of the larger complete industrial holdings' within their property fund.
The agent said 'significant capital investment' has been directed into the industrial units in recent years including 'acquisition of adjacent holdings, replacement roofs, cladding renewal, unit subdivision and road/service yard replacement ensuring the accommodation is fit for modern requirements'.
They added: 'Tenants undertake a range of business operations comprising urban industry, trades, distribution and local services which support their local market, of which a significant proportion comprises the established urban area of north east Edinburgh.
'The removal of an established employment area against a backdrop of limited industrial supply and constrained demand will only serve to exacerbate poverty rates in the local area.'
Royal London was contacted for comment.
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Councillor Whyte compared the plan to proposals for the local authority's ongoing regeneration of Granton Waterfront 'which we were talking about developing 30 years ago and is only now starting to come to fruition'.
He said: 'I think this will take a very long time indeed.'
Asked about the prospect of the council using Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) in a bid to accelerate work, he said: 'That would be incredibly expensive and the council doesn't have much money.
'We're in the top five most indebted councils in the UK, so would it make sense to go further into debt and have the interest payments to CPO land that private individuals and companies are making best use of in the market at the moment?'
However, he added it was 'useful to have a masterplan so you don't get piecemeal development along there'.
'Fabulous opportunity'
Cathy Maclean from Action Porty, the community group behind Scotland's first ever urban community land buy out in Portobello, agreed it would be 'quite a while before things get going' as 'a lot of the people who own those sites don't want to sell and have no plans to sell'.
But she stressed the site presented a 'fabulous opportunity' as there were so few capital cities with 'a brownfield site right on the beach to develop".
Seafield is currently mostly car showrooms and industrial units (Image: Google) She said more housing was badly needed and 'so much' had been built in Portobello in recent years 'with a dramatic loss of amenities at the same'.
This led Action Porty to successfully complete a community buyout of Portobello Old Parish Church after the Church of Scotland announced its intention to sell the property. It reopened as Bellfield, a community centre, in 2018.
Maclean said if the Seafield redevelopment ever goes ahead it would be 'welcome from Portobello as a sort of sister community, rather than particularly part of it,' however added: 'In practice it will become a part of Portobello because that's the way people are, they enjoy walking along the Prom.
'At some point it's all going to join up between Leith and right the way along Seahaven.'
'There has to be continuity between the two areas'
While Seafield's regeneration is clearly still a long-way off, some details in the masterplan are already raising eyebrows.
The council's visualisation of what the area could look like one day shows people enjoying the would-be promenade and leafy waterfront park.
'If you look at it it looks amazing,' said Kirsty Pattison, chair of Craigentinny and Meadowbank Community Council, whose boundary includes Seafield, 'but if you dig into the details and look at what the masterplanning is and the height of the buildings proposed, it doesn't correlate with that picture at all.'
A visualisation of the council's Seafield masterplan (Image: City of Edinburgh Council) She said in terms of the height of the buildings there is 'tension between what it's supposed to look like and what is actually being proposed'.
'What they're proposing, from the top of the prom if you're looking south-east it gives you expansive views of the beach and you can see Joppa. Some of that might be lost, so it's important to preserve this place.'
Ensuring the new neighbourhood is well connected with adjacent communities will be crucial, Ms Pattison said. 'We want to make sure there's improved landscape connections between Craigentinny and Seafield, because Seafield is part of our district.
'There has to be continuity between the two areas so we can preserve popular beach walks.
'There's a beach walk that connects Craigentinny to the western part of the beach and we want that put into the masterplan to make sure it's preserved. That is vital. People use it all the time - it's such a popular connection.'
'There's also issues around rising sea levels, it's all fine and well saying we're going to redevelop Seafield - but what are we going to put in place for flooding?'
Ms MacLean similarly raised concerns over the impact of climate change in the future. 'I don't think you can say any flood defences are going to be effective when you don't know what's coming,' she said.
'A lot of the standards these environmental consultants look at are based on what used to be called once in every 200 year chance of flooding. That's changed quite dramatically. Nobody really knows, if the truth be told.'
Edinburgh Council said the risk of coastal flooding 'is increasing due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by climate change,' adding: 'This is a key consideration in the redevelopment of Seafield.'
Since initial engagement about the plans in 2023 'we have needed to take additional time to engage with a range of stakeholders,' it said. 'This is to ensure that places are developed along the coastline that are resilient in the face of climate change impacts'.
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Now, the authority is preparing a Coastal Change Adaptation Plan and said it will 'update the draft masterplan in line with the recommendations'.
The 'Seafield stench'
One of the biggest constraints historically associated with making the area residential has been the 'Seafield stench' from the waste water treatment plant to the west - the largest of its kind in Scotland.
Odours emitting from the works are a longstanding issue. Between 2022 and 2024 Scottish Water and Veolia invested over £10 million to add additional capacity and address concerns around the smells. However, the council said last year the issue 'has not been fully resolved at this time'.
It said: 'The Council, along with SEPA, carry out ongoing monitoring of odours relating to the Works. However, the council does not have the ability to force all odours to be stopped.
'Scottish Water has committed to developing a new facility to replace the Seafield facility after 2030. This should be considered alongside the timescales of the masterplan as it is likely to reduce the impact of odours around the facility.
'Odours relating to the Works are not a significant issue for the bulk of the masterplan area. However, if odours persist, this is likely to shape how development of the northernmost part of the area comes forward.'
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