Port of Leith steps in with Lorne Street rescue plan
Over the last weeks we have been involved in talks with the council, the landlord and housing associations. Last week we received the fantastic news that Port of Leith Housing Association will try and build a business case for buying the properties.
They will need to obtain surveys for all properties and the process will take a few months and it will be a unique challenge for them as they were told that there is no public funding available for this project and they usually rely on public funding on all their projects. Nevertheless they are very concerned about the situation in Lorne Street and they are eager to save our homes and our community and they will try to build a business case for purchasing the properties by Easter/April.
We had a tenants meeting last night which was organised at last minute with the help of our wonderful supporter Ian Dyson from Inspiring Leith/Bethany Christian Trust. Keith Anderson, CEO of Port of Leith Housing Association was talking to the tenants last night and it was very much appreciated by the tenants that he took the time to explain the situation to us and to give us some hope. We very much look forward to working together with Port of Leith HA over the next months and we certainly hope that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel!
Keith mentioned last night that the first time he heard about the situation in Lorne Street was about 2 months ago through Malcolm Chisholm and that made him inquire about our situation. Malcolm has been a great supporter since day one and it was important for him to attend our meeting last night and to be present when Keith was bringing the good news to the tenants. Thank you Malcolm!
We also would like to thank Deidre Brock, Nick Gardner, Angela Blacklock, Marion Donalsdon, Cammy Day, Ben Macpherson, Lewis Ritchie, Gavin Corbett and Chas Booth for their ongoing support.
And last but not least we would like to thank you all, our fantastic supporters, who helped us over the last months to get where we are right now. Thank you! Your support has been overwhelming and we could not have done it without you! You are absolutely amazing!
We will continue to keep you posted about the ongoing process. As fantastic as the news is we still have a long way to go.
Lorne Street Community Association
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