Although stone-crushing on the Shrub Place gap-site has now ceased, lorries and JCBs are still shifting vast amounts of tramwork-related rubble and materials around, on and off it.
The resulting noise, dust and vibration annoy and distress local residents, who not surprisingly feel such activities are better suited to an out-of-town location.
Contractors Crummock Scotland Ltd have been busy here since February 2012, but it wasn’t until April, when they were read the riot act by officials, that they realised building inner-city mountain ranges wasn’t the same as running a car park.
They have now applied for retrospective change-of-use (Ref. 13/01416/FUL), saying they want to use the site for ‘temporary storage of construction materials […] until approx. Summer 2013 when materials will be removed’.
Locals who are unimpressed by this uninformative and woolly description of intended activities, and by the absurdly vague timescale cited by Crummock, have until 21 May to object. For advice contact planning@edinburgh.gov.uk