WORK on the first phase of the controversial Caltongate development has started – just days before a decision on the major elements of the £300 million project.

New images of 36 affordable homes to be built on Calton Road have been released to mark the start of clearance work at the site. The project is one of the least contentious parts of the scheme, and received the go-ahead from planners last September.

The new one and two-bedroom homes for rent will be created in three separate buildings, with offices at ground level.

Backers insist the project will help tackle the city's growing housing crisis, but campaigners fighting the Caltongate scheme claimed the properties would "disperse" affordable housing tenants away from the heart of the Old Town.

Castle Rock Edinvar, part of property management and development group Places for People, said it was in the "final phase" of discussions with Caltongate developer Mountgrange to begin construction of the homes. Clearance work started yesterday.

Alister Steele, managing director of Castle Rock, said: "The chronic shortage of affordable housing in Edinburgh is well known. One of the problems contributing to this is that the delivery of affordable housing units is often linked directly to wider development, which is in the control of developers, and often subject to delay.

"However, the agreement reached between the city council and the developers has meant that on this project this problem has been avoided." The scheme also involves building a new day centre for homeless people on the site to the north of Calton Road, to replace the Sailor's Ark building earmarked for demolition.

It will be built on the ground floor of a building housing eight flats, while another block will house 12 flats with commercial units on the ground floor.

An old warehouse on the south side of Calton Road is to be demolished to make way for 16 homes, with more commercial space on the ground floor.

Nick Berry, director of Mountgrange, said: "It has always been our stated intention to facilitate early delivery of the majority of the affordable housing and we are glad that this is now under way."

Mountgrange wants to build 200 homes, a five-star hotel and conference centre, office blocks, cafes, bars, restaurants, and a new public square on the site of the old New Street bus depot.

But there is huge opposition to the scheme, with nearly 2000 objections to the 12 separate applications up for debate at a planning committee meeting next week.

Bill Cowan, spokesman for the Old Town Association, said: "Affordable housing is supposed to be part of the project, rather than exported away from the Canongate to Calton Road."

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