RESIDENTS have launched a campaign to stop a £13 million student housing complex going ahead in Fountainbridge.

Dozens of neighbours of Marco's Leisure Centre, on Grove Street, are battling plans to replace the building with a new 313-room development.

The development, which also features a basement snooker club and bar, will be turned into an "apart-hotel" outside term times.

Grove Street has housed a leisure centre for almost 30 years, as well as the Exchange, a live music venue that has played host to the likes of KT Tunstall, Snow Patrol and the Arctic Monkeys.

However, the Demarco family, which owns Marco's, as well as the Corn Exchange venue in Chesser, has struck a deal with Bournemouth-based Keyhaven Developments to sell off the site.

City planners are recommending the development is given the go-ahead, and work could start within months, subject to planning permission.

Claire Duguid, who lives on Grove Street, said: "I am seriously concerned about the prospect of student flats being placed here. Grove Street is a narrow one-way street that already has a housing project for young people, a hotel and serviced apartments.

"It is already too busy and congested, and the street will not be able to cope with [this number of] new flats. If the student flats had been in Grove Street when I bought my flat, I wouldn't have bought it. If this development goes ahead, it will bring down the value of the surrounding housing."

Mark Dowey, also of Grove Street, said: "We feel that this development is of the wrong type and will only add to the problems of the area, such as parking, noise and vandalism.

"If this proposal were implemented, we fear the street would fundamentally change in character, and, as such, we would feel less inclined and less likely to stay as a consequence."

Edinburgh Central MSP Sarah Boyack, Tollcross Community Council, the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and the Cockburn Association are among the more than 50 other objectors to the development.

Keyhaven has already started work on a 314-room complex on a part of the former Scottish & Newcastle brewery site at Fountainbridge.

The scheme, which will also feature a supermarket, is due to be ready for the start of the academic year in September 2008.

Paul Gillespie, development co-ordinator with the firm, said: "We are confident we have put forward a good case for the development to be given the go-ahead.

"The one major change we've made in the plans will address many of the concerns, as there will no longer be a through route to the housing behind Grove Street."

Alan Henderson, the council's head of planning, said: "The proposed uses at this site for student accommodation and leisure facilities are appropriate for this mixed-use location, close to the city centre, with good access to public transport facilities.

"The proposed buildings are considered suitable for use as holiday accommodation during non-term time, without causing an unacceptable loss of amenity standards for neighbours."

Councillors will discuss the case on Wednesday.