Granton Improvement Society – the walled garden

6 years ago the GIS project began to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource.

The Walled Garden was discovered derelict by AiA Art in Architecture and with the help of CLU Community Land Use devised the original Granton sur Mer proposal which included its restoration.

Granton Improvement Society is now the custodian of the project with the continued mission to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource. We found it derelict and have involved the community in this desire to save the Garden throughout the 6 years.

Our vision is for green space, parkland, places for children to run, not just blocks and blocks of housing with no other amenities. We know it will be a success. Who would have thought that in the industrial zone of Falkirk, for instance, there would now be a great park, The Helix, with accompanying Kelpies with tens of thousands of locals and people from far and wide flocking to take their leisure there and to be inspired by art and landscaped open spaces?

Granton Improvement Society has been pursuing a project to develop a garden festival in the Walled Garden, artisans’ village and heated swimming pool for both sport and leisure on the adjacent land. At the original public meetings of the project one of the clear intentions was to save the Walled Garden with no possibility of housing on the site and this remains true today.

The Granton Improvement Society is moving steadily to buying the site from EDI.

This wonderful community owned project will create badly needed community income and jobs for our community.

We have asked for others to give us a clear run at creating the project. We have the plans, the funding, expertise and backing and have been working extremely hard, lobbying, arguing and generally spreading the word as community activists and supporters of the project to be in a position to buy the land and begin the project in the very near future which would take the Walled Garden into community ownership for the first time in its history.

Members of the GIS are as committed and dedicated as anyone to the idea of community gardens on every available and suitable space and have been involved from the beginning in identifying and creating these gardens in our community and winning support from politicians to back and support the expansion of community gardens with proper funding. We are asking everyone especially those who have signed the petition to take a further step and join the Granton Improvement Society.

The Project is a Community Trust with a membership and Trustees. Please join us info@grantonimprovementsociety.org and grantonimprovementsociety.wordpress,org

Barbara Robertson, secretary, on behalf of the Trustees-Granton Improvement Society

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