The rejection of the planning application comes after campaigning against the development by the tenants’ union, which says the area needs more social housing and not PBSA or expensive build-to-rent accommodation.

Instead, Living Rent is calling for the redevelopment of the scrapyard into social housing and for planned green space to be publicly accessible, in order to better meet the needs of the local community.

Members argue that PBSA and BTR developments are exploitative to the people living in them, and are destructive to communities. They say that these developments charge higher rents, offer fewer rights and are often of a significantly lower standard than other homes.

This proposed development was first rejected in February 2025 on the grounds that it does not meet National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), the City of Edinburgh Local Development Plan (LDP) or City Plan 2030 requirements.

Living Rent says that the flats are not accessible to the vast majority of Leith residents and that residents need social housing.

A report on PBSA, compiled by the Scottish Government in 2022, found that privately-owned PBSA now greatly outnumbers university-owned PBSA in the UK.

The report also reflected concerns that an approach of pushing students into more private PBSA accommodation in gated communities removes them from the wider community, and that they therefore only play a limited role in sustaining public services, volunteering and regenerating local economies.

Since the council declared a housing crisis in November 2023, the latest available data shows that in 2025, Edinburgh continues to have the highest number of households living in temporary accommodation in Scotland at 5,130 and over 26,000 people on the council house waiting list.

Georgia Dodsworth, Living Rent Leith chair, said: “This is a huge win for residents of Leith and would not have been possible without the work of members of Living Rent.

“Now we need the council to ensure sites such as Dalton scrapyard are developed into council housing – not expensive build-to-rent, or student accommodation.

“The severe lack of social housing is destroying communities in Edinburgh. PBSA and BTR do not meet the needs of the working class. These developments drive up rents amidst a housing crisis that is widening the gap between rich and poor and forcing people out of their communities.

“PBSA is completely unaffordable for students. Going to university should not be dictated by how affordable it is to live where you study. By building expensive PBSA this prices local working-class students out of the opportunity to study in Edinburgh.

“This is a great win against rich private developers who want to divide Edinburgh into a property portfolio. Edinburgh should be a city where real people live their lives, raise their families and study.”