Edinburgh councillor rejects Lidl plan with pompous lecture – John McLellan

A few months back, Lidl supermarkets contacted me to ask for advice about opening a new store in Seafield and I said it was essential to demonstrate local demand.

With the new flats at the old Eastern General hospital not well-served with amenities, Lidl undertook a local consultation and its application to allow food retailing on the industrial estate received 55 letters of support and only five against. Nevertheless, the application was thrown out by SNP, Labour and Green councillors because they felt it would encourage car use.

Not content with refusal, planning convener Neil Gardiner gave a somewhat pompous lecture; “Lidl, please listen to the citizens of Edinburgh,” he said. “We want you to invest in our city, but we want you to invest in a more equitable way that allows access to all of our citizens to your retail offering.”

Listen to the citizens of Edinburgh? They went out and spoke to scores of people and won support as a result. Allow access to all of our citizens? Who were they trying to bar? Certainly not people in Fleming Way and the Findlays whose nearest big store is a drive away to Morrison’s on Portobello Road.

Listen to yourself, Cllr Gardiner.

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