Conservation area net-zero adaptations should be easier
If you stay in a conservation area, getting planning permission to improve the insulation of your home can prove difficult.
There are many conservation areas in Leith Walk ward;
- Leith Walk (all houses on Leith Walk),
- Pilrig (including Pilrig Street, Arthur Street, the Cambridges and around Pilrig Park)
- Shaw's Colonies,
- Abbeyhill Colonies
- New Town (including Hillside, East Claremont Street and Haddington Place).
The majority of the issue has been for homes that are in a conservation area and the limitation on what can and cannot be done and the type of materials that can be used. With a cost of living crisis plus changes in our weather patterns and increasing issues with flooding, adapting buildings is becoming more of a pressing issue.
So at the end of last year my Inverleith colleague Cllr Hal Osler brought a motion to the Planning Committee asking for residents who live in listed buildings and or conservation areas to be consulted upon their experiences of trying to maintain, repair or adapt a property. This very useful information will then be used to inform the discussion of a short term working group who will consider;
- The challenges faced when trying to maintain or adapt homes in such areas;
- What can currently be done to help tackle these challenges;
- What needs to be addressed in the longer-term; and
- The cost to our built heritage from any changes we make
The consultation will run until the 11th June and to access it please follow the link below
https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/conservation-adaptation2023/