Thursday January 22nd 2026
Montage photo shows route of access road planned to Mavisbank House, courtesy Midlothian Council planning portal.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Plans to remove 86 trees to create a new access road for restoration work on an historic house could create a permanent ‘scar’ on its surrounding countryside, councillors warned this week.
The Landmark Trust wants to create access to Mavisbank House, Loanhead, through the community’s only conservation area to allow it to start the ‘rehabilitation’ of the 18th century house which is described as ‘internationally significant’.
A meeting of Midlothian Council’s planning committee this week however heard concerns raised about the chosen route which will run through The Policies, is 860 metres long and will require the removal of the trees.
Councillor David Virgo questioned whether the access route would eventually become a permanent road to the house which the applicants said no longer has vehicle access.
He told the meeting: “That is a lot of effort for what is potentially a semi permanent access, chopping down around 80 trees and that kind of stuff.
“Then it is a big scar through The Policies.”
Mavisbank House is renowned as the first Palladian house in Scotland, inspired by Venetian architecture.
The Listed Category A home was built in the 1720s and designed by Scotland’s foremost architect, William Adam, but fell into ruin in recent years.
The Landmark Trust has been given a grant of £5.3m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to begin rescuing the crumbling home with plans for the future to create holiday lets as well as opening it to the public.
Loanhead and District Community Council said it welcomed the ambitious plans to save Mavisbank House but added the building and its surrounding land was their “only conservation area”.
They raised concerns that creating the access would lead to the area being exposed to antisocial behaviour.
And Councillor Derek Milligan called for more information about alternative routes that had been considered urging colleagues to defer any decision on the application until the next meeting to allow further reports and a site visit for elected members to see the site.
He told the meeting: “I have some really serious concerns on this. I think throwing the baby out with the bath water is potentially what I would call this.
“This is going to have a massive detrimental impact on the valley and surrounding area as well as the Mavisbank conservation area.
Councillor Milligan said he was shocked that planners were considering approving the proposed road rather than call for more effort to be put into accessing it from its original road.
He said: “It is going to wreck a beautiful landscaped area.”
The council’s planning chief said problems around alternative access routes had been caused mainly because of land ownership disputes with historic ways to the house now privately owned.
He said: “It has taken nearly 20 years to find this access point because they have not been able to unlock the other options so I don’t know if they can magic a solution to that.”
The committee agreed to defer a decision on the access route until their next meeting to allow for more information on work which had been done to look at other access option to be brought forward and let councillors visit the site.
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