In December, the City of Edinburgh Council rejected proposals by Northcare Scotland Ltd to demolish a two-storey 1930s villa on part of the Morton House estate to make way for the facility.

Designed by Unum Partnership, the application was to create a three-storey development at the Winton Road site with 62 bedrooms, private dining room, cinema and spa as well as landscaped garden areas.

Northcare appealed the decision to the Scottish Government’s Department of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) which has now upheld the decision on grounds the development would have “adverse effects on the character, appearance and setting of the adjacent conservation area”.

In a notice from a Scottish Government-appointed reporter, it said: “The proposed development would result in the site accommodating a building very substantially more massive than the generally quite large dwelling houses prevailing in the locality.

“I acknowledge that the provision of care home accommodation, as the appeal development proposes, would contribute beneficially to meeting local requirements for such specialist housing. I also accept that the proposed development would provide high quality accommodation for residents, would be of some benefit in economic terms and would involve the re-use of a previously developed site. However, these positive factors do not outweigh the harm that I have found would be caused by the proposed development.”