Terra Firma Chambers' Douglas Armstrong QC, James Findlay QC and Alasdair Burnet have successfully defended Edinburgh City Council’s decision to grant planning permission to build a £65M luxury hotel development on the site of the disused India Buildings on Victoria Street in the historic centre of the Old Town.

The decision was challenged by a petition for judicial review brought by a local resident, Simon Byrom.  Mr Byrom and others had claimed that the new development would adversely affect the view of Edinburgh Castle from the adjacent Edinburgh Central Library and adversely affect air quality in the Cowgate. Douglas Armstrong QC represented the Council with James Findlay QC and Alasdair Burnet acting on behalf of developers, Dreamvale.

In her judgment, Lady Wise found that the matter did not require to be referred back to the Council's planning committee after the Central Library was upgraded from a Grade "B" to a Grade "A" listed building because the development had been found to not adversely affect the library. She also found that the Committee had sufficient information to assess the effect on views from the Library and the potential effect on air quality in reaching its decision. Mr Byrom had previously sought publicity for the challenge to the decision by living in a tree on the proposed development site before the owners obtained a court order to remove him.

The full judgement can be found here Simon Byrom v Edinburgh City Council [2017] CSOH 135