Walled Garden: growing hope

B-list boost for Friends campaign

A deputation representing The Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden will attend today’s Planning Committee meeting with renewed optimism thanks to an imminent report from Historic Scotland.

Friends group organiser Kirsty Sutherland explained: “Just two days before our Friends Group deputation to the City Chambers we learned from Historic Scotland that they have almost completed the review of Granton Castle Walled Garden – and the great news is that they want to upgrade its status to B-listed!

“We hope this groundbreaking news will help convince the city council’s planning committee members to support our Friends Group aim of safeguarding this historic garden from a luxury housing development.”

The recent Historic Environment Act and planning guidelines issued for Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Edinburgh all recognise the significant contribution heritage landscapes & greenspaces make to our communities sense of place, cultural identity & understanding of history.

Friends Group members and supporters feel that one of the oldest walled gardens in Scotland deserves to be safeguarded, cherished and restored.

Kirsty added: “We’re really excited by the Historic Scotland news – I’m bubbling over! It’s a bit like David and Goliath, trying to stop a multi-million pound business from building houses in the garden.We’d like to thank everyone for their support – the more people that speak up and send in a wee message of support, the better.”

Deputation Letter to Planning Committee 14 May

Save Stockbridge to discuss next steps

Campaigners call meeting to discuss Accies planning applications

Monday 11 May 6 – 7.30 p.m.
LifeCare Centre, Stockbridge House, 2 Cheyne Street

Residents and businesses in Comely Bank and Stockbridge are invited to a meeting about the Edinburgh Accies licence applications, the Licensing Board meeting and what further steps might be taken.

The Licensing Board has deferred a decision on the Accies licence application for a restaurant, function suites, clubhouse, licenced café, museum, cinema, theatre, gym, stand, etc. They have decided to visit the site before resuming their consideration. They have yet to start considering the three other applications: a licenced restaurant/ice cream parlour, a second licenced restaurant and a licenced supermarket.

There were over 300 objections to each application. That’s a huge number given that the applications were made over the Easter holidays and most people didn’t hear about them until just a few days before the closing date. There were only 75 letters of support.

* This meeting is for those who run businesses or live or in Comely Bank and Stockbridge. It is not a public meeting so it is not open to anyone else. Please respect the needs of those who live or work here and don’t try to attend if you are not local.

Show them you care: public meeting to discuss Granton Marina plans

‘We are fed up being ignored’ – Granton & District Community Council

Following the last community council meeting that was well attended by groups and residents in the area we were asked to organise a public meeting to get our views heard on this development.

We are fed up being ignored. Our wishes discarded. No longer. We have an opportunity to really make a noise about this. Please come along and make your voice heard.

The meeting is on Thursday 9 April

at Royston & Wardieburn Community Centre – 7pm.

Please tell as many people as you know. The developer was invited and said no. Show them you do care!

Granton & District Community Council

New lease of life for Leith Custom House

The City of Edinburgh Council has reached an in-principle agreement with the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT) to lease Leith’s Custom House from next month. The final terms of the agreement between SHBT and the Council will be put to the Finance & Resources Committee for consideration in May.

The venture will see the Trust, which already operates Riddle’s Court, work in tandem with the Council and local community organisations to restore the building as a hub in the heart of the community.

Initial repairs and cleaning inside and out of the building will take place over the course of Spring 2015 to prepare the venue for public access. A feasibility study will be commissioned in due course to also consider the long-term use and development of Custom House.

Last month, the Council announced that it had successfully purchased the historic building, after submitting an offer to the National Museums Scotland late last year.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Convener of Culture and Sport for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “This is an important step in the journey to open up Custom House to the Leith community, as well as Edinburgh residents and visitors, and an exciting development as the Council edges closer to taking ownership of the building in April.

“It is such a significant historic building and I’m delighted we have been able to save it for the people of Leith and Edinburgh. It is the oldest of its kind in Scotland having been built in 1812, and we will continue to speak with potential partners about subletting the venue in the short-term, as bigger scale developments take shape, so that public can access and explore the venue as soon as possible.

“The next steps are for the Council to receive the keys and take ownership of Custom House in April and for missives to be signed by SHBT.”

Chair of the SHBT Board of Trustees John Campbell, said: “Although we are a small charity, we have a strong track record in saving important buildings at risk for communities across Scotland and we are delighted now to be involved in securing a future for the Customs House.

“Our first priority will be to make some repairs to the building and spruce it up so that pretty soon members of the public will be able access it. Its various rooms will be available for use whilst we develop the capital project from feasibility study through to completion.

“This is a very exciting project that will deliver a vibrant mixed use hub for the benefit of the people of Leith and beyond. A key element will be the presentation of selected artefacts and interpretation displays to highlight the historic importance of Leith as the gateway to Edinburgh and Scotland. Other uses may include offices, workshops and public rooms for meetings and events.”

Elected members and community representatives from 15 different Leith groups are being informed at each stage of the project, and an update on the long-term lease of the building is due in May when a report goes before the Council’s Finance & Resources Committee.

See city streets exhibition

A touring exhibition tracing 100 years of town planning in Edinburgh opened at the historic Museum of Edinburgh on Saturday.

The 100 Years of Planning temporary display, which launched at the city council’s Waverley Court headquarters in September before touring different corners of the city, takes the visitor through ten decades of the Edinburgh skyline from 1914 to the present day.

From the father of modern town planning, Sir Patrick Geddes, to the man who designed Edinburgh’s iconic police boxes, Ebenezer James Macrae, the exhibition takes a look at the personalities who have made significant contributions to the cityscape of the Capital.

Providing a remarkable insight into the changes which have occurred in the city over the last hundred years, the exhibition presents the opportunity to learn lessons from the past. As Edinburgh adapts to the changing social and economic conditions of the future, Sir Patrick Geddes’ concept of ‘Conservative Surgery’ – keeping the best from the past whilst improving the environment of the city for the future – will remain an important consideration for planning.

Edinburgh was at the forefront of town planning many years before the establishment of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and the New Town of Edinburgh, built between 1765 and 1850, is considered to be a masterpiece of city planning. Along with the Old Town, this area of Edinburgh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Councillor Ian Perry, Convener of the Planning Committee, said: “This exhibition offers a fantastic opportunity to take stock of planning in Edinburgh over the last century. Our Edinburgh World Heritage site is part of the city’s international status and the display provides visitors with a great insight into how this has been achieved.”

Councillor Richard Lewis, Convener of the Culture and Sport Committee, added: “Above the entranceway to the Museum of Edinburgh there is a an old Latin inscription which translates as Today to me, tomorrow to thee. To me, this sums up Edinburgh’s streets and buildings which change and grow as the city gets older and is inherited by new generations. A timeline will run through the exhibition so that visitors can understand the city’s architecture and streets in context with other events that took place in the city and the wider world over the last 100 years.”

The Museum of Edinburgh is housed in a series of 16th to 18th century buildings arranged around a close off the Royal Mile, making parts of the site up to 500 years old. The exhibition is free to enter and will remain in the Museum until 20 June 2015.

Visit the exhibition to find out about some of the important personalities that have shaped the streets and skyline of Edinburgh

1920s: Sir Patrick Geddes – Edinburgh is fortunate to be so closely associated with Geddes, the father of modern town planning in the 1920s.

1930s: Ebenezer James Macrae – Macrae was influential, both as an early adopter and promoter of the idea of conservation, and as the creator of large swathes of inter-war Council house schemes, numerous schools, and the iconic Edinburgh police boxes.

1940s: Sir Patrick Abercrombie – Patrick Abercrombie was an extremely influential figure in UK planning. Abercrombie’s proposals for Princes Street included the creation of three separate decks. The upper level was to be a service road with all traffic diverted from it. The middle level, in the gardens, to be a car park and promenade area, with traffic restricted to a tunnel a level underneath.

1950s: Councillor Pat Rogan – Rogan was a prominent campaigner in the move to improve slum housing in Edinburgh. He took Harold Wilson on a tour of the slums, and the future prime minister pronounced them the worst he had ever seen.

1960s: Sir Basil Spence – was one of the most important and versatile British architects of the post-War period. He is associated with many buildings of the period including the design of residential blocks on the Canongate (1961-69), Mortonhall Crematorium (1967), and Edinburgh University library on George Square (1965).

1970s: Desmond Hodges OBE – Desmond Hodges became the first Director of the Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee (ENTCC) in 1972. During his 22 years overseeing the project, the ENTCC carried out over 1,200 repair projects and offered over £7.5 million in grants.

1980s: Sir Terry Farrell – An architect, he has been influential in Edinburgh’s modern changes and was responsible for the Edinburgh Exchange District as well as designing the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

1990s: Professor David Begg – Professor David Begg was a Convenor of Transport who promoted innovative transport policies in the 1990s. His policies included giving buses priority on key ‘greenway’ routes, such as banning cars from driving along Princes Street. Many people strongly disagreed with his methods, but they set out the transport agenda that is still pursued today.

2000s: Enric Miralles – Miralles was a Spanish architect and graduate from the School of Architecture Barcelona, whose largest project came in the form of the Scottish Parliament Building.

Keir condemns development plan delay

‘There was chaos over Local Development Plan 1 and now the same thing is happening over LDP2’ – Colin Keir MSP

Edinburgh Western MSP Colin Keir has accused the city council’s planning convener of incompetence following news that the City Of Edinburgh Council has deferred decisions relating to the Local Development Plan (LDP2).

The announcement that the decision on the Local Development Plan, which was due next week, has now been put off until after the General Election in May has been received with anger in Edinburgh Western – which contains the contentious Cammo and Maybury development sites along with other controversial development proposals at South Queensferry.

Mr Keir said: “There are serious questions to be asked of Convener of the Planning Committee Councillor Perry and senior planning officials. There was chaos over LDP1 and now the same thing is happening over LDP2.

“Thanks to Councillor Perry’s actions, my constituents particularly those in Cammo, Maybury, Corstorphine and South Queensferry, can look forward to even more uncertainty due to an avalanche of presumptive planning applications which are sure to follow the non-determination of LDP2.

“Councillor Perry has either shown a serious lack of competence and leadership on this or he is playing party politics with the daily lives of residents and the prosperity of the city. Where is the joined up thinking, what discussions have there been relating to transport and pollution management? These are questions residents need answers to. It’s time for Councillor Perry and the Labour Party to come clean with residents of Edinburgh West and the city as a whole”.

Mr Keir has consistently opposed the proposals to develop green field sites at Cammo and Maybury. He has also raised concerns over the number of new developments proposed for South Queensferry which were only introduced into the LDP last year.

The LDP process has been in development since 2011.

Keir concerns over Local Plan

‘I fear traffic gridlock, major health issues and the holding back of the economic potential of our capital city and nation’ – Colin Keir MSP.

Edinburgh Western MSP Colin Keir has written to to Cllr Lesley Hinds, Convener of Transport & Environment at the City of Edinburgh Council, to express his fears over the latest Local Plan.

Mr Keir raises concerns over the ability of the existing roads network to cope with all of the proposed housing sites being released for development and also expresses fears over pollution and air quality.

In his submission Mr Keir states: “The city of Edinburgh is an economic driver for Scotland. We know that every town and city must grow. The difficulty our city has is that there is no connected vision between development and methods of sustainable transport that anyone is aware of in relation to the west of the city.”

The city council is expected to make a decision on the Local Development Plan on 26 February.

Lesley Hinds LDP letter

News from Trinity Community Council

Trinity Community Council met on 12 January – these are some of the issues raised at the meeting:

Working with the neighbours

Twelve Neighbourhood Partnerships (NPs) cover Edinburgh. Trinity lies within Forth Neighbourhood Partnership. Peter Strong (Manager of Forth and Inverleith NPs) presented proposals to monitor City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) performance locally but first gave a broad description of how CEC’s organisation is planned to change.

NPs were set up by CEC to find better ways of planning and delivering services across the public sector – so only only CEC but also police, NHS and voluntary organisations such as community councils. Forth NP currently has direct responsibility for Services for Communities while other CEC services (e.g. education, health) remain centralised. Part of CEC’s latest organisational planning is to devolve further services across four localities to align with NHS, Police etc and make all more jointly answerable to local communities.

Monitoring is proposed based on the 4 key priorities in the Forth Local Community Plan. Of those, “Improve the way we engage with and support our communities” has the most developed local statistics. Local statistics need to be jointly developed for the others e.g. NHS Lothian is leading on “Healthy Lifestyles”. Monthly/quarterly statistics suggested to monitor “Improve the way we engage with and support our communities” include:

• Street Cleaning – random checks by Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) grade streets for litter, dog fouling etc. This will be supplemented by statistics on walkways.

• Refuse Collection – complaint volumes, by reason.

• Parks – grading versus standards and Green Flags.

• Council Houses – Time to let, repair speed and rent collection rates (though less relevant for Trinity)

• Roads & Transport– Officials are drawing up indicators

It was also agreed to maintain a rolling status update of all items identified during the annual TCC Walkabout.

Do you have thoughts about the information you would like to see about public services in our area? Let us know.

Contact in the Capital

You may have received a paper copy of the December North Edinburgh News (NEN). The final edition of this trial will be issued in February and decisions on its future taken thereafter. Do you have a view? Let us know.

East Trinity Road

CEC councillors are to be briefed on the results of the East Trinity Rd/Lower Granton Rd traffic study, following which the data should become available for discussion with TCC.

Proposed Sainsbury’s Local in Craighall Road

CEC Planning Committee undertook a visit to the site on 15 January and we expect a decision very shortly now.

Planning Application – 127 Trinity Road

Many will be aware of this application for 5 new town houses on the site of the disused car repair garage just off the lower end of Trinity Road. While the site needs development, we have concerns about the number of dwellings being fitted into the site, their height and access arrangements and are submitting an objection reflecting that.

North Edinburgh Transport Review?

Regular readers will know that we have been pushing for a North Edinburgh traffic and transport review given the extensive development since the previous review (2008), removal of trams to North Edinburgh from that plan, and the considerable housing/commercial development planned.

It is beginning to look like this might be getting somewhere as a meeting with the CEC Director of Transport has now been scheduled. We hope that this will consider the full range of ways to reduce congestion including car clubs, parking zones and the impact of the 20mph limit extension.

Fancy Improving Our Environment?

We have been asked by one resident if there might be interest in setting up an Improvement District which would fund enhancements to a specific amenity e.g. a park, over and above what CEC has responsibility for undertaking. It would involve a small annual contribution from all nearby residents if approved in a ballot.
What do you think?

New Trinity Community Council website

We’ve set up a new, uncluttered website at

https://trinitycommunitycouncil.wordpress.com/

Take a look – let us know what you think and how we might improve it.

Liz Grant

Sadly Liz Grant, a community councillor until very recently and former Chair of TCC, has passed away. Liz was a well known and loved face in our community and she will be missed for her contribution and easygoing personality. Her funeral was at Warriston on 15 January.

Next Trinity Community Council meeting will be held on Monday 9 February at 7pm in St Serfs Church Hall, Clark Road on the question of PARKING. Join us if you have something to say or simply want to listen.

Did you find this useful or informative? If so, why not show it to a neighbour? Anyone in Trinity can subscribe to the bulletin by emailing

tcc-comms@outlook.com

Or drop us a line and tell us what you think could be better!

City Centre regeneration plans go on display

PUBLIC EXHIBITION FOR £20M CITY CENTRE REGENERATION PROJECT

Initial proposals for a £20m regeneration project in the Register Lanes area on the south east corner of St Andrew Square will go on display at a public exhibition today.

The exhibition at the Voodoo Rooms will present early stage ideas for the area, which will include the regeneration of the currently neglected backstreets off and around West Register Street, and will comprise a complementary mix of high quality office space, hotel, serviced apartments, retail units and restaurants.

Initial plans include the restoration of 42 St Andrew Square, the former RBS headquarters and home to one of the finest examples of an art deco banking hall, which is now on the ‘at risk’ register.

The overall aim is to develop the buildings, which range from Victorian gothic to 1960s functional, as part of one comprehensive scheme that works successfully alongside the plans for the St James Quarter and the objectives of the Register Lanes Study.

Chris Stewart, CEO of Chris Stewart Group, said: “This is an important site and we welcome all views as we shape our ideas and designs. We want to create a vibrancy for the area. To do that, we are looking at a mix of new uses for the buildings; uses that we expect will deliver an economic boost for local traders, together with considerable environmental improvements for the benefit of local residents and visitors to the city.”

Chris Stewart Group has a track record for completing complex transformational projects. The company recently completed the Advocate’s Close development in Edinburgh’s Old Town, which has been awarded the RIAS ‘Best Building in Scotland’ award and has just begun works at Baxter’s Place, in Edinburgh, which is to become a Marriott hotel.

The exhibition will take place in the French Quarter, Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street, EH2 2AA, between 3 -8pm on Thursday 27 November.

The jam in Edinburgh’s planning sandwich?

Trinity Community Council has commented on Edinburgh’s latest Local Development Plan:

The City of Edinburgh Council’s latest Local Development Plan shows more than 17,000 new houses to be built on either side of the Trinity area. Trinity comprises about 4,000 houses currently so that is a very significant increase in nearby housing stock. There will also be two new Primary Schools, additional shopping at Granton and Leith and major industrial development at Leith docks.

Despite this, the plan contains no corresponding transport proposals. Will Trinity be the jam in the sandwich between developments at Leith and Granton? The previous plan depended on the tram to Newhaven taking the strain but the scrapping of that extension has not been replaced by any alternative.

Unless the plan recognises the need, transport will only be reviewed piecemeal as developments are built – with all that implies for impatient motorists taking shortcuts through residential areas.

There is also concern about possible impact on parking – already causing a number of problems and made worse by apparent lack of enforcement. One suggestion is to introduce Priority Parking but this would cost residents for their permit. More info at

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20083/parking_permits/451/priority_parking

We will push for a review of roads, transport (including bus services) and parking in north Edinburgh as part of the Plan rather than as an afterthought.

Trinity Community Council

NOTE:

Comments on Edinburgh’s Local Development Plan must be received by this Friday – 3 October