Tuesday September 22nd 2026
Lasswade holiday lodge site will see former piggery buildings demolished (photo from Midlothian planning portal)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Plans for holiday lodges described as a ‘blot on the landscape’ have been given the go ahead on appeal after councillors welcomed the venture.
The proposals for 15 holiday homes on the site of a landscaping business at Lasswade, in Midlothian, were rejected by the council’s planning officers who criticised the ‘high density’ design and pointed out the site was in the green belt.
However a meeting of Midlothian Council’s Local Review Body this week overturned the decision after members welcomed the addition of holiday accommodation on the site insisting that while it was in the green belt there was ‘not a bit of green on it’.
Applicant John Lessels, who lives in Springfield House, which overlooks the site planned for the new lodges, argued the land was established as commercial brownfield having been used by his landscaping firm for decades.
Many of the run down buildings on the site, which will be demolished to make way for the lodges dated back to its former use as a piggery before the landscaping business was established.
One objector to the holiday home plans said the design for the single storey lodges would create a ‘blot on the landscape’.
They said: “Due to the siting of each building in the very small area, it will look more like a concentration camp or an illegal immigrant campsite than an exquisite family getaway that embraces the beautiful Midlothian countryside.”
Councillor Peter Smaill told the review body meeting that while he was prepared to support the appeal he had concerns about the material proposed for the lodges which were shown in designs as using brown aluminium cladding.
He said: “We have a policy of sustainable materials and I query whether corrugated brown sheeting is the appropriate material for a site like this.
“Part of it is to be wood clad and I think that would be a more appropriate treatment for the whole development.”
Planners agreed to discuss alternative cladding with the applicants as well as including conditions in the planning permission to address additional concerns from review body members about water supply to the lodges.
Members also raised concerns about a tree belt being removed from the site and were assured conditions attached to any permission would call for landscaping plans to be agreed.
Councillor Colin Cassidy welcomed the development telling the review body it would provide “much needed accommodation’ for people visiting Midlothian.
He said: “You could not get a better spot to have it. I understand it is on green belt but just so the public understand there is not a bit of green on that site. It is an old piggery, it is a yard that looks like there’s been a civil war in it, this is going to enhance the area not detract from it.”
Local Review Body convenor Russell Imrie said a condition would be added to the permission ensuring the site did not become a residential development in the future after pointing out an historic application for housing on the site had been rejected a decade ago.
Councillor Imrie told the meeting: “This is not a back door to get in and make permanent homes. I don’t want it to come back and be a folly because we have passed something we thought was the right thing to do for a tourism point of view and have it come back in a couple of years for something else.”
The review body unanimously approved the application with conditions attached.
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