The Bairdview development, if approved, will deliver an ambitious residential neighbourhood and sustainable extension to the village.

The fully integrated neighbourhood will provide a new and attractive entrance to Ratho and afford the potential to provide enhanced community and commercial facilities.

Proposals for the 56-acre site will deliver circa 300 homes, including family, market, and affordable housing, with a range of tenures, house types and densities built to the highest environmental standards. This will serve to address housing pressures in the village and West Edinburgh over the next 10 years.

A 60-bed care home and retirement housing for the village are also outlined in the proposals.

Tarmac intends to bring forward a Planning Permission in Principle (PPP) application, establishing the principle of development on the partially brownfield site for the mixed-use development. It believes that the environmental impact can be mitigated and that the wider social and economic benefits would be significant.

Delivering a high-quality, low carbon sustainable development at Bairdview will re-balance the village to the north of the Union Canal with local amenities, a green network of parks and woodland and a central hub of enhanced community facilities. The proposals have specifically been aligned with the new City Plan 2030.

Supporting the delivery of business, retail, and leisure development in the village, the development would also provide scope for the expansion of Ratho Primary School and public realm, landscape and active travel improvements at the northern gateway to the village.

Proposals will also improve transport infrastructure and connections with the A8 and A71, including more effective public transport bus services. It will also aim to deliver improved footpath linkages, including safe routes to the primary school.

The development has also been designed as ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’. These are places that are designed so residents can meet their day-to-day needs within a 20-minute walk of their home; through access to safe walking and cycling routes, or by public transport. Development at Bairdview will assist in reducing the need for car journeys and reducing the carbon footprint in line with the City’s zero-carbon strategy response to the climate crisis.

Development proposed is within acceptable walking distance of local facilities, walking distance to any employment cluster and bus and cycle routes. Provision is made for public transport and the National Cycle Route also lies near the site.

Consultations have been ongoing with Ratho Community Council and local stakeholder groups for this unique investment proposition. Tarmac wish to bring forward a wider Place Plan for Ratho and has indicated that the community could receive a share of any land capture uplift from the development in the form of a unilateral obligation.

Due to ongoing developments surrounding the COVID-19 virus and social-distancing measures, the Scottish Government has issued guidance encouraging developers to use online or digital engagement methods whilst public gatherings are prohibited.

On Wednesday, 1 December 2021, between 4 pm and 8 pm, the development team will be available at www.bairdview.scot to answer your questions through a dedicated chat system as part of the digital consultation.

This will enable visitors to communicate directly with the design and advisory team and for them to answer any questions.

Visitors who do not have online access to hard copies of exhibition materials can request them from hello@bairdview.scot or contact Orbit Communications on 0131 202 3259 or at 4 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JE.

Proposals are available to view online now.

A representative for Tarmac said: “We’re excited to be giving the local public the chance to view exciting proposals for Bairdview.

“The development would bring significant environmental, social and economic benefits to the local community for existing and future generations in the medium to long term.

“These proposals will greatly assist in the regeneration and expansion of this part of the city, and we are consulting extensively to ensure that people from across the local area have an opportunity to input their views and shape our ambitious proposals.

“We encourage all interested parties to speak to the team on 1 December and to put any questions you have to them.”