Not quite Edinburgh (due to the random/historic boundary the city has. (Probably in the green belt).
Story is about how the MidL planning process is slow - they seem to like to say yes to large developments 'just over the border'.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Scottish Government asked to rule on Straiton film studio"
(53 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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If they'd wanted public money, they might have actually applied to be Scotland's film studio. This is definitely an application to try and breach the green belt with a film studio as the Trojan horse.
Posted 8 years ago # -
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Developers behind an £850 million development on the site of the St James shopping centre in Edinburgh are trying to block plans for a new film studio on the outskirts of the capital - amid fears it is a front for a retail development.
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/st-james-developers-move-to-block-straiton-film-studio-1-3996981
Posted 8 years ago # -
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Mr Wilson, who has also worked on Rebus, Taggart and Monarch of the Glen, has written to the Scottish Government ahead of an appeal over the £150 million project earmarked for green belt land at Straiton, in Midlothian.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
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DEVELOPERS behind a bid to create Scotland’s first permanent film studio on the outskirts of Edinburgh have revealed that they have a string of operators and backers on board for the project.The team behind the £150 million Pentland Studios scheme, earmarked for a huge swathe of green belt land in Midlothian, confirmed agreements were in place, with several potential investors waiting in the wings.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
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Object to the development of Pentland Studios on agricultural land at Straiton
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Posted 8 years ago # -
The NIMBYs protesting this are no different than the Roseburn mob and the others who oppose cycling infrastructure.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Concreting over grade 2 & 3 agricultural land is pretty different from protesting the loss of parking spaces...
Posted 8 years ago # -
But the NIMBYs are the same, which was my point, except since the film studio has massive local support most of these opponents won't be local unlike the Roseburn anti-cycling lobby, though they will be similarly ill-informed, with little or no regard for the economic welfare of an area which saw another 100+ redundancies announced in the last week alone.
Anyone familiar with these fields know they are located between a concrete plant, a KFC + Burger King, Ikea + Asda, and a decrepit caravan park, while the land itself is heavily contaminated from the old Straiton shale oil mines, so its not exactly a rural idyll. Anyone familiar with the facts will also know that the new Midlothian Development Plan is about to remove the land from the greenbelt. The new Straiton-Penicuik road will eventually cut through it and the remaining land will be built upon. The only question is what gets built: the inevitable housing estate or a film studio which could completely transform the local economy?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Seems a good call. Also doesn't involve evicting any farmers which is always nice.
Posted 8 years ago # -
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Glasgow-born filmmaker claimed Britain was “not even in the premier league” of cinema-making countries, adding that his homeland had still not managed to get “much of an industry” off the ground.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
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THE firm behind a plan to build a major Scottish international film studio have expressed their frustration at a “discouraging” lack of support from local authorities.
Guardhouse Productions and its backers want to build a large facility, at a cost of about £55million, on the grounds of Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.
The company would then try and bring a string of big-budget Hollywood film productions to Scotland.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
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Almost 250 film and television producers, directors and leading behind-the-scenes workers in Scotland have urged Nicola Sturgeon to intervene to ensure a controversial studio complex on the outskirts of Edinburgh goes ahead.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
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“In the last year we have seen Sony Starz maintain their commitment to a large scale production base at Cumbernauld, we welcomed Jason Connery’s feature film Tommy’s Honour, and it was great to see our wonderful capital city double for Victorian London in the landmark BBC series, The Secret Agent.”
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Posted 7 years ago # -
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Its officials had been opposed to the project on the grounds that it went against local planning policies, would hamper other planned developments and would blight the local environment.
But the ruling from ministers said the anticipated benefits of the scheme outweighed any “potential consequences,” such as the loss of greenbelt and impact on local residents.
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/pentland-studios-gets-green-light-from-scottish-government-1-4411111
Posted 7 years ago # -
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At the top of the EET Committee wish list is the cargo cult of a Scottish Film Studio.
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common to most of these plans is ‘mixed-use development’: hotels, retail complexes and housing, raising rightful concerns of a land grab.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
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Andy Wightman MSP (@andywightman)
03/04/2017, 10:16 pm
Scottish Ministers defy their own reporter. I will not stand by as a tenant farmer faces eviction.https://twitter.com/edinburghpaper/status/848995594806992897
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Posted 7 years ago # -
@Dunedin: "Anyone familiar with these fields know ... the land itself is heavily contaminated from the old Straiton shale oil mines, so its not exactly a rural idyll."
This is not true: as Schemieradge says, the fields are agricultural land; it has been actively used for farming for over 100 years.
This 1894 OS 1:2,500 map clearly shows how Pentland Road separates the oil shale works from the farmland.
There is contaminated land on the other side of Pentland Road, and opposite the Adsa store, but that's not where the "film studio" is planned to be built*. Why not? Probably because of the cost that would be involved in decontaminating the land before building could go ahead. So instead we'll be left with a sprawling shopping centre, a "film studio" - and right smack in the middle of it all, an eyesore contaminated land site left lying derelict.
* Compare the (pitifully small) photo of the planned site on the Pentland Studios web site here with the Google Maps aerial view (use the belt of trees as a reference between the two). In the studio web site's photo the pale/white blob at the top edge of the rectangular areas of trees on the left centre of the photo, and greenish-brown area of land beyond it, is the cement works and the contaminated ex-oil shale works land.
Posted 6 years ago # -
ejstubbs -
You think because land is used for farming it can't be contaminated? I suggest you take a look at the actual planning documents. You'll see from the environmental assessment of the ground conditions that there is soil and groundwater contamination, as well as elevated gas generation rates, across the site.
The image you call the "planned site" is actually only the first phase of the studio. The second phase is on the NE side of Pentland Rd, on the former Clippens landfill, where you wrongly state nothing is to be built. This will house the main backlot as well as support services. You are correct in saying that this land is the most heavily contaminated, and it will require the most serious mitigation. The recent construction of the fast food restaurants on the NE edge of this field necessitated the removal of all topsoil to a depth of 2m as well as other significant remedial measures.
Nope, there is no "sprawling shopping centre" planned. A strip of "employment land" runs around part of this main backlot on the former oil works & landfill. This was done partly at the behest of the council so there would be an active frontage on Pentland Rd & Straiton Rd, rather than a blank perimeter fence or wall. While it's possible there might be a shop or restaurant or two, it is expected to be mainly offices & workspaces for film & tv related businesses attracted to the area by the studio.
Posted 6 years ago # -
From the Environmental Statement:
Site A [the farmland to the south of Pentland Road] appears to have been primarily in agricultural use, with historical development limited to presumed agricultural structures and residential dwellings localised to the north of Site A. Widespread contamination is not anticipated though localised instances of made ground or small-scale chemical releases (e.g. fuel spills from farm equipment) may have occurred historically. Modern biocides applied under agricultural use tend to dissipate/degrade relatively quickly and do not typically represent a risk for sites being changed from agricultural to commercial land.
It's a farm, with low contamination risk.
Site B [the derelict land to the north of Pentland Road] appears to be dominated by the former Clippens landfill. Residual contamination from the infill materials may represent a risk to construction workers and end users by direct contact, ingestion, and inhalation of dust. Ground gas and vapours from the infill materials may represent
a further risk.
Additional residual contamination may be associated with structures and operations of the former oil works encroaching onto Site B; these may represent a risk to construction workers and end users by direct contact, ingestion, and inhalation of dust.It's contaminated land, no doubt about it.
Landfill gas from Site B is anticipated likely to affect the development of Site B, and may additionally affect the development of Site A.
Ground gas from shallow mineworkings may affect the development of both Site A and B.Again, site B is clearly the greatest contamination risk.
The image you call the "planned site" is actually only the first phase of the studio. The second phase is on the NE side of Pentland Rd, on the former Clippens landfill, where you wrongly state nothing is to be built.Silly me for taking the diagram on the developer's web site at face value.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Link to the open letter referred to in that article:
The film industry's stance at the moment does rather smell of the old: "Something must be done! This is something, therefore it must be done!!" fallacy. In this case: "We need someone to build us film studio in Scotland! Here is someone proposing to build a film studio in Scotland, therefore their film studio must be built!!"
Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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