Post
by Gemini » 23 Mar 2005, 15:26
City leaders told to pay the shop bill
ALAN MCEWEN
CAMPAIGNERS fighting against plans for a new supermarket in Portobello have demanded thousands of pounds in compensation from the city council.
The protesters claim they were forced to pay out £15,000 for their own retail impact study after being deserted by the council.
The effect on local shops was one reason councillors threw out the planning application for the 85,000sq ft store last year.
But council lawyers decided to ignore the issue at a public inquiry into the controversial proposals.
The move prompted campaigners to hire their own expert to assess the damage to small businesses after concluding it was vital to their case.
They bankrolled a study using part of the £23,000 raised locally to block the building of a new store at the former site of the ScottishPower HQ on the High Street.
Keith Hargest, a retail consultant with Hargest and Wallace, carried out a detailed analysis and concluded that traders would lose up to 20 per cent of their revenue if the supermarket went ahead.
Siobhan Samson, a planning officer with Friends of the Earth Scotland, told the final day of the inquiry yesterday that the protesters were entitled to expenses from the council as it had acted "unreasonably".
Ms Samson, who was representing the protestors for free, said the council was "duty-bound" to include the effect on retailers as it had been a key reason for the planning application’s rejection.
"Not to do so left the community in an unenviable position, and one that could only be addressed by them," she said.
"The community had no warning of this situation until the night of the pre-inquiry meeting [October 4, 2004] and therefore had very little time to decide whether they were capable of raising the revenue required."
Ms Samson said the campaigners would seek £7500, which was around 50 per cent of the bill.
But Gordon Steele QC, acting on behalf of the council, said: "There has been no evidence presented as to whether the council rescinded. They also knew of the council’s position for several months.
"Expenses can only relate to the percentage of time wasted by a party during the hearing. The claim is incompetent."
The protestors raised £23,000 to fund their campaign through a Burns Supper, jumble sales, a quiz, coffee morning and the sale of a calendar.
They also had to shell out around £10,000 for traffic consultant Andrew Carrie to appear before the inquiry.
Diana Cairns, of the Portobello Campaign Against the Supermarket, said: "The council had told us they had doubts about fighting it on retail grounds.
"Then at the pre-inquiry meeting in October they told us they would be withdrawing that argument entirely.
"If the reporter finds that the retail argument was a significant factor in her decision, I think we would have a strong argument that we should recoup some of the costs from the council."
The inquiry’s final day heard closing submissions from the developers, Edinburgh-based Duddingston House Properties, the city council and the protesters.
Malcolm Thomson QC, representing the developers, said that the impact on shops in the High Street was not a valid means to find against the supermarket plans.
A decision is expected in May.
. Your prolonged hard work and efforts have paid off. What a victory for what a community wants and does not want.
