Keep the students out, pleads Cook protests against student housing plan

Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, has protested against plans to house students in a flat in the block where he lives.

Mr Cook, the MP for Livingston, has lived at the flat in Edinburgh for six years and is worried that the proposed student influx could pose a security risk and disrupt the peace and quiet.

Mr Cook raised his objections in a letter to Edinburgh council, which will make a decision on Friday. He wrote: "During my period as Foreign Secretary, the Home Office secured my flat by alarms and strong locks, but were concerned that the stairwell represented a point of vulnerability. For the past six years this has not been a matter of any anxiety for me because of the stable occupation of the other flats, but I would be concerned if one of these flats was now occupied by a large number of tenants with a rapid rate of turnover.

"Although I am no longer in government, I remain very prominent in public life and it is important for me that my home base is a place of privacy where I am secure from any form of confrontation."