{"id":27091,"date":"2020-07-25T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T15:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=27091"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T15:53:30","slug":"ransom-strip-at-edinburgh-accies-development-goes-to-appeal-after-case-rejected-by-judge-owners-surprised-at-court-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=27091","title":{"rendered":"‘Ransom strip’ at Edinburgh Accies development goes to appeal after case rejected by judge – Owners surprised at court ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"Owners of the so-called ransom strip at the controversial Accies development in Stockbridge have lodged an appeal after losing the legal battle over the status of the narrow piece of land.<\/h3>\n

The<\/em> Edinburgh News<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n

A judge ruled the strip of ground along the frontage of the nearly-completed row of shops which forms part of the development in Comely Bank Road was legally part of the roadway and there was therefore a public right of passage, which meant it could not be used as a ransom strip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Douglas Lowe, former chairman of the Grange Trust, led a consortium of senior Grange members in buying the strip of land for a reported \u00a312,500 from the trust in 2017. They have said they will use any money they can obtain for the land to fund a new sports hall for the Grange.<\/p>\n

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They argued that although a 6ft-wide area of land had been handed by the trust to the council in 1912 to become a pavement, the ground under a now-demolished wall marking the boundary of the land remained in the ownership of the trust until they bought it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Lowe said the ruling by Lady Wolffe had come as a surprise and he was now considering whether to press the appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said: \u201cWe have entered the appeal and we are working on it at the present time. My legal advisers are cautiously confident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn my view there were considerable errors in law…..”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Planning permission for development of the historic sports ground – site of the first rugby international – was granted in 2014, including a new pitch, stand, changing rooms, shops, cafe bar, function suites and a museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Raeburn Place Foundation, the charity behind the project, secured \u00a38.5 million to go ahead with the first phase…..<\/p>\n

….The size of the Accies hospitality suite has been scaled back and the foundation says it does not know when it will be able to start the second phase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Lowe said he had been involved in the land issue at the site for a long time, demanding the council reinstate the wall after it demolished it when he was chairman in 2014\/15.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said: \u201cThe [Grange] club has been behind it and the majority of people wanted me to pursue this action and I have 20 senior members who put in money to promote this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He said he was a \u201creluctant litigant\u201d in the case because he had always hoped for a \u201csensible agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But he said: \u201cIf it succeeds it will be a huge benefit for the Grange….<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe hope the Grange will use the money for an indoor sports facility – two tennis courts, indoor hockey, football as well as social activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Alastair Graham, fund-raising co-ordinator for the Raeburn Place Foundation, said: \u201cWe are very confident of the legal position and disappointed Mr Lowe continues to try to frustrate the development by a charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owners of the so-called ransom strip at the controversial Accies development in Stockbridge have lodged an appeal after losing the legal battle over the status of the narrow piece of land.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27093,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091\/revisions\/27093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}