Wednesday May 6th 2026
Richard and Amy Harris, owners of Dolly's Tea Room, in Roslin
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A dad of two has hit out after a local politician objected to his plans to expand his family business in what he says is direct conflict with his party’s manifesto.
Richard Harris and his family have served the community of Roslin for decades running a local hotel, tea room and guest house.
But Mr Harris was stunned when his plans to turn an empty shop unit included in his property into a hot food takeaway led to an intervention on behalf of Miles Briggs whose office then insisted it was not a ‘formal objection’.
Mr Briggs’ office wrote to Midlothian Council’s chief executive Dr Grace Vickers on his behalf to raise concerns from a constituent about the proposal.
Richard said he only became aware of the politician’s involvement when the letter was lodged on the council’s planning portal as an objection.
He said: “I was honestly stunned. I have never met Miles Briggs and he certainly has not spoken to me about the application.
“When I contacted his office to ask why they had contacted the council, they told me they had not asked the council to put their letter on the public site and would ask them to remove it but to me that is even more concerning.
“Why would they be writing to the chief executive to raise concerns on his behalf if they did not want to publicly object? It does not look good.”
Mr Briggs was the Scottish Conservative List MSP for Lothian Region for ten years before the Scottish Parliament dissolved last month ahead of this week’s elections.
He is standing in the East Lothian and Lammermuirs Constituency seat as well as being on the Lothian Region list as a candidate in the election.
Richard and his wife Amy, who is an NHS practitioner nurse, moved into what was the old Royal Hotel, in Roslin in 2013 when it was lying derelict. His family has run the Original Rosslyn Inn across the road for more than 50 years.
The couple have transformed the building into a popular tea room and guest house but, he said, the current financial market meant they needed to look at additional revenue and the empty shop unit beside the property presented a solution as a takeaway.
Richard said: “Myself and my family have served this community for many years and have a lot of support. At the moment there is no takeaway in the village and deliveries are being made from other locations.
“The Scottish Conservatives own manifesto promises to support local businesses and cut through red tape from planning authorities to help bring empty shop units back into use so I do not understand why their local representative is acting in a way that seems to directly oppose that.
“Honestly I think if Miles Briggs or his office had just had a conversation with us we could have resolved things without this kind of intervention.”
The application is available to view on the planning portal along with objections.
In the letter from Miles to Dr Vickers, his office say: “I am writing to you on behalf of constituents to urgently request your support regarding a planning application for a new takeaway at 1 Main Street Roslin.
“This property is directly joined to the home of constituents, and they have grave concerns regarding the impact this development will have on living
conditions and the local area.”
It raises issues over public health, traffic and odours before concluding “I would be grateful if you could please take these concerns into consideration when looking at this planning application.”
Mr Briggs was approached for a comment and he said he had never intended to formally object to the planning application and had asked his team to write to the council for ‘more information’ on the case after concerns were raised by constituents.
He said: “I have apologised to Mr Harris. It is not unusual for me to write to the council to seek more information as I asked my office to do on this occasion.
“It was never intended to be a formal objection and I can only put it down to an administration error.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
