Holmes is ready to bow out as he plans a last change

During his tenure he oversaw many bold schemes, but now the city's development director is moving on.

IN sober suit, shirt and tie, his face in repose somewhat reminiscent of a lugubrious bloodhound, Andrew Holmes appears as though 40 years of public service have left him thoroughly depressed.

But then he breaks into the kind of grin which can light up a room . . . as he talks of moving out of Edinburgh for good when he quits the council next month.

There will no doubt be others around town ready to pop some corks when Holmes finally relinquishes control of the council's city development operation, a few raised eyebrows at the fact that the man who has helped engineer so many controversial changes in Scotland's capital won't be living amid their outcome.

Trams, road bumps, controlled parking zones, retractable bollards, wheelie bins in the New Town, Caltongate, the Scottish Parliament, the Waterfront development, even the re-cobbling of the Royal Mile... there can hardly have been a controversial move made in the city in the last ten years which has not passed over Holmes' desk.

If he was an elected politician his name would be as mud-splattered as that of David "congestion charging" Begg or Andrew "city centre traffic cock-up" Burns.

Instead, as a council official, he has been able to remain out of the public eye, although there are those who suggest that the real power within Edinburgh's council lies with those such as Holmes.

He laughs off such a suggestion. His job, he says, has always been apolitical. He – and his department – are there to make sure developers and householders stick squarely to the letter of planning law, no matter if an application is for hundreds of new homes or a single conservatory. And he says he gives nothing but the hard facts when asked for information from politicians be it on planning, transportation or council property issues. If they don't like the facts, that's not his fault.

Yet it is said that Holmes is a man who likes to get his way, and as someone who has worked his way up the ladder to director after much lowlier beginnings – he started out as an engineer with the old Edinburgh Corporation, before joining the Highways department in Lothian Regional Council – there can be no doubt he possesses as much drive and determination as any politician.

Perhaps as a result, there have, allegedly, been some furious fights between official and political masters over certain policies in the past. The city centre traffic management scheme is one which apparently got blood boiling.

This saw retractable bollards placed in George Street, and ten roads in the New Town closed to all vehicles. The intense public anger which resulted meant the politicians wanted a change while, some say, Holmes didn't.

Even now he seems reluctant to give much ground. "That (CCTM) didn't just happen overnight you know," he says. "It was several years in the preparation and there were considerable consultative exercises done. It wasn't sprung on anyone... it's a cumbersome process, changing traffic regulations.

"In retrospect we've got to say some of it was a step too far – not that there's anyone demanding cars back on Princes Street. Eighty five per cent of it is still in place." The underlying message seems to be he was right after all.

It's the same with trams. Holmes was around when the idea of a different kind of transport system for Edinburgh – the Metro – was first floated in the late 80s. That was knocked on the head, but the issue wouldn't go away. And for someone who has always cycled to work from his Trinity home, ensuring gridlock doesn't happen on the city streets has always been a top priority.

"Look at the huge number of people travelling to the airport, to the Waterfront to the city centre. How else are you going to move them around without making a change in public transport provision? Princes Street is coming to the end of its capacity for buses. We're now at the stage where we're digging up the streets and every city that's gone through this stage has had complaints. Dublin is a classic, but ask them now if they'd rather not have trams and you'd get a completely different answer to when the work was being done.

"Edinburgh is Scotland's growth point and as a city we've been rather slow to recognise the city's importance to the national economy. But now that's changed we need to support its economic growth and the tram is part of that."

He adds: "It has been controversial because it's a big change, but you always need people with big ideas running a city. There's not necessarily a conflict between that and being a pragmatist, but while there's always the aspiration in Edinburgh to aim for the best, sometimes you have to do what's deliverable."

Controversy seems to dog Holmes. But he says, that's because of the remit of his department rather than anything he does personally. "We're not the biggest council department but we deal with economic development, transport and planning and the council's property portfolio. If city development didn't exist, the Evening News would definitely be thinner."

"Of course there's controversy. Anything that involves change has an element of controversy about it. Look at Caltongate, that's accounted for a huge part of our work for a considerable time. There were a lot of issues raised by local objectors, but most of these were – and would always have been – addressed by the planning system.

"In retrospect, Caltongate took longer than we would have liked but the reasons for that are apparent, including the fact that it was dealt with by a fairly new planning committee."

He adds: "There's always a tension in the planning system. On the one hand the system is in favour of development but on the other there's the recognition of the need to consult and the right to allow people to voice objections. In Edinburgh there's always debate. Sometimes that's healthy but sometimes it's organisations burying their heads in the sand."

Tough words. But it's been almost ten years since he was handed the reins of the city development department, with an £81,000 salary, a budget of £110 million and 900 staff. It must be hard to leave after wielding such power. Holmes says he's neither desperate to leave nor, as some have suggested, has he been pushed out.

"There does come a time, in this job anyway, when a change is beneficial," he smiles. "Of course because the job is so interesting and stimulating, it is difficult to let go, which is why I told my staff six months before I handed in my notice – so that I wouldn't weaken.

"You can't do the job forever and said I would go once I hit 60 and that was last year, so... if people tell you I'm not happy about going it's because it's a tug not because someone's got my arm twisted up my back. If that was true I'd be holding out for a pay-off."

And what does the future hold for him? "I'm moving to Pitlochry. If you're going to make a change, make a big one. It's a place I have always liked and has a great social and cultural life around the theatre. And it's only an hour or so away from Edinburgh, so I won't be too far away."

ANDREW HOLMES ON . . .

Gogarburn: "We were working with RBS for a long time. We helped them look for different sites and once they decided on Gogarburn we helped them deal with the planning issues. People say we gave planning permission for building in the green belt, but there was a development there before (the hospital) and the site was suitable for a single user who would respect the site and RBS has done that. If you can say that you got the world's fourth largest bank to establish its HQ in a small city in northern Europe then you're not doing too badly."

Waterfront: "I'm proud of the opportunity that exists there... it was just wasteland when it came to us and now it's the biggest regeneration project in the UK. Before the regeneration started many people didn't even know where Granton was, now they want to live there."

Craigmillar: "The regeneration there is something I'm very proud of. Last month people were queuing up to buy houses in Craigmillar – you wouldn't have thought that a few years ago."

Planning system: "It always gets knocked. When I was appointed, we had the slowest system in Scotland. We are now considerably better than the average. We were the first to announce online applications. We've got a much more responsive system. When people kick the system what they're really reflecting on is that a lot of applications pose challenges because of the nature of the city. But nearly every application gets approved as long as developers stick to council policies."

The future: "Edinburgh faces a very big challenge in being able to deliver the number of houses the city needs. We're having a look at the planning process to deliver more affordable housing. The Government has set us a challenge to increase the number of houses by 50 per cent by 2015. There's a review under way of the greenbelt. We have to look at sustainable expansion."