Fury in posh UK neighbourhood as ‘monstrous blight’ set up in historic area

Residents in a wealthy part of Edinburgh have launched a petition calling for a huge inflatable dome that they have branded “an enormous zit” to be taken down.

The obtrusive structure was built to house tennis courts by a private sports club in the city’s Stockbridge area in October, and would be hard to miss, with its bright green patchwork decoration.

Keith Hughes, who lives in a house right next to the dome, said he was kept awake at night by the hum of its fans and criticised the developers for “disgregarding” the heritage of the village-like district.

Stockbridge lies around a mile from Edinburgh’s Old Town, which is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site – a major motivation for Mr Hughes to launch a petition calling for the structure to be taken down, for which he has amassed over 500 signatures.

“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he told the BBC. “They have had no consideration for the local people.”

Comparing the green and white “blight” to the district’s historic cricket pavilion, which is home to Scotland’s national team, Mr Hughes added: “You have [had] this lovely grandstand since 1892, which looks in place, and then you have this ugly monolith that dominates the skyline and jars the eye.

“It’s hideous. How have they got away with this? It’s a nightmare.”

“A horrible blot on the landscape,” Kenris MacLeod added in response to the Change.org petition, describing it as “terrible for human and wildlife alike”.

“A beautiful area, and residents’ mental health, destroyed for monetary gain,” she said. “The excuse that there’s not enough places to play tennis? Give me a break!”

Others also hit out at the “ugly, ill-fitting structure” and accused the design of being “very garish and not in keeping with [its] surroundings” as well as comparable to “an enormous zit”.

Stockbridge, which sits on the Water of Leith, was itself designated a conservation area on account of its elegant Georgian architecture, cobblestone streets and sprawling parks and gardens in 2013.

The City of Edinburgh Council voted against plans for the tennis dome last year, before the Scottish Government overruled the decision and gave the dome the go-ahead on the grounds that it would create needed indoor tennis space in the city.

The plans were approved by a single planning reporter, who is charged with making decisions on planning appeals or recommending their refusal or approval to Scottish ministers.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government told the BBC that the decision had been made “on the planning merits of the case” and after considering submissions from all parties, including members of the local community.