BOSSES at Edinburgh Zoo are to press ahead with plans to sell off part of the site for housing to help fund a multi-million pound redevelopment of the attraction.
The zoo had expected to secure the go-ahead last month to allow up to 100 new homes to be built on the land.
But plans to plough cash raised from the land sale into a £72 million revamp of its historic site on Corstorphine Hill were thrown into c
haos when the city's planning committee voted to retain it as green belt land - against the advice of the authority's own officials.
Officials have vowed to fight the rejection of the plans, which would have raised more than £20 million by disposing of a swathe of land to the west of the zoo.
The decision threatens a number of schemes involved in a 20-year masterplan to improve the zoo, including a new entrance and visitor centre on Corstorphine Road, several modern new animal enclosures, and new research facilities which would be open to the public. Improvements in the general infrastructure around the site are also said to be long overdue.
David Windmill, the chief executive, yesterday said they had ruled out pursuing a stand-alone planning application for the housing development, opting instead to make a strong case at next year's public inquiry into a city-wide blueprint, which will explore the fate of the zoo site.
He said: "We have now decided to make our case through the inquiry process. We will then leave it to the inquiry reporter to make their recommendations.
"Edinburgh Zoo will definitely be staying in Edinburgh; what is uncertain at the moment is what kind of zoo will exist," Mr Windmill went on.
"We want to create a world-class visitor attraction here, with modern facilities and new exhibits. If we sit on our hands, the zoo will go into decline."
The zoo is banking on the independent inquiry reporter, who will be appointed by the Scottish Government, coming down on the side of the attraction because of the promised improvements.
Property experts say it would be "extremely unwise" for the council to overturn an inquiry reporter's recommendation, as this would be at the heart of any subsequent appeal over a rejected planning application.
One insider said: "The decision on the final local plan is up to the council, but if it rejected the reporter's recommendation on the zoo site, and the zoo eventually wins an appeal, the legal bill could run well into six figures."
The city's local plan, which effectively lays down the ground-rules that developers will have to work from for the next eight years, is already set to be challenged by a number of housebuilders trying to have green belt sites across Edinburgh freed up.
The full article contains 476 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
