Controversial Penicuik housing plans move forward

Lochay Homes wants to build 54 bungalows on the site of Wellington School, known as Wellie Farm, on the outskirts of Penicuik.

However, the proposals have been opposed by local campaigners, who held a public meeting last Saturday.

They called for the plans to be called in by Scottish Ministers amid claims the site has a rich biodiversity as well as neighbouring onto reed beds.

The proposed housing development will consist of one-storey bungalows, 16 of which will be affordable.

The school was traditionally accessed from Milkhall Road at the north of the site but developers say that road is a single track with passing points and unsuitable.

They propose to create a new access road from the Peebles Road at the west, which will require the felling of some trees in mature woodlands which surround the site.

The plans were first put forward at a pre-application meeting in Penicuik Town Hall in May last year, when more than 65 people attended.

Concerns raised ranged from density of housing being likened to an urban housing estate,  a loss of playing fields, lack of community facilities, the development being car dependent and a lack of reliable broadband. There were also concerns about the loss of amenity for dog walkers and impact on wildlife.

Lochay Homes say their approach to the new development is to create a “sense of place”. They said: “The approach to developing the site was to create a low-density, single-storey bungalow layout that could nestle into the landscape, screened by the existing mature surrounding woodland.”

However, a spokesperson for Wellington Action Group, Kenny Loraine said: “Yet another large open green space is potentially being permanently sacrificed for unnecessary housing, with no acknowledgement to environmental impact, loss of habitat or the massive, permanent increase in carbon footprint.

“The Climate Emergency has taken precedence in recent years, and the implications have far greater bearing over the current version of the Midlothian Local Development Plan. Also, the Scottish Government has adopted its own legal obligation under the Climate Change Act 2019 for Scotland to be net-zero by 2045. As such, all planning policy should be directed by these overriding environmental concerns.

“This site is not an ‘allocated’ site under the Local Development Plan and we believe that the huge amount of housing development already ongoing across Midlothian more than fulfils the council’s housing obligations.

“We believe the plans currently being considered are contradictory to the Climate Emergency stance of both Midlothian Council and the Scottish Government.”

Wellington School opened in 1859 as a school for the reformation of juvenile offenders. Early records reveal that its first resident pupil was an 11-year-old boy sent there for five years’ detention for stealing a bottle of hair oil from a market stall.

In recent years, it had resident and day male students aged between 13 and 16 and was run by City of Edinburgh Council.

Dwindling numbers saw the school close in 2014 and the buildings left empty.