Plans submitted for year-round resort at Hillend
It'd revamp the current snow sports centre
Plans for a £13.8million redevolpment of Hillend ski slope to turn it into a year-round attraction have been submitted to Midlothian Council.
Funding for the project was approved earlier this year by the local authority.
The proposals include hotel accommodation, glamping sites, food courts and cafe facilities.
The current Midlothian Snowsports Centre would also get an alpine coaster and zipline to attract visitors in the off-season.
If given planning approval, planning consultants brought by by the applicant – Midlothian Council – believe construction could be complete by 2022.
In the application for planning permission in principle, lodged this week with the council’s planning department, the consultants say the expansion of the centre will use discreet buildings, giving rise to a low degree of landscape change.
They say: “As the Midlothian Snowsports Centre is an existing outdoor sports venue and recreation centre, it is considered to be an appropriate location for further outdoor sporting, recreation and leisure facilities.
“The proposals will improve the existing outdoor facilities on offer at the centre, which are in need of upgrading, and will also provide further facilities to the centre, increasing opportunities for outdoor recreation at the site.”
The consultants said that a public consultation event last year brought mainly supportive comments from people who attended.
Among suggestions from the public for improving the proposals were calls for Midlothian residents to be given discounted access to the new centre and a proposed hilltop restaurant.
They said: “Other operational issues such as admission prices, discounts for Midlothian residents and a proposed hilltop restaurant have been fed back to the applicant, in order for them to consider, although pricing matters are not relevant in planning terms.
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