News date:
17th May 2015Story
The City of Edinburgh Planning Committee met on Thursday 14 May to discuss the second LDP. It decided to forward LDP2 to Scottish Ministers with certain comments. In this Community Council area it is Curriemuirend Park which may be affected.
The South-West Communities Forum issued the following statement to the press.
A STATEMENT FROM THE SOUTH WEST (EDINBURGH) COMMUNITIES FORUM (SWCF) respecting the decision by EDINBURGH CITY COUNCIL on EDINBURGH’s LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
14th May 2015
The South West Communities Forum (SWCF), comprising several Community Councils in South-West Edinburgh including Ratho, Balerno, Currie and Juniper Green, has already made many critical representations on parts of the Local Development Plan. These representations include some 770 objections to building on parkland at Curriemuirend Park, and further criticisms of the unsuitable sites at Curriehill Road and Newmills Road.
We recognise that the city planners are in a difficult position caused in part by the high migration to Edinburgh in recent years. People from all parts of the UK and abroad are attracted to Edinburgh because of its economic strength. With such numbers the planners have to put houses somewhere but the politicians have avoided a decision in favour of making a recommendation to the Scottish Government’s reporter. We believe it is the job of government, including local government, to take difficult decisions, and we think that Edinburgh Council might have been able to adjust the draft plan in line with what they now recommend, some time ago. We regret their delay in this matter, which means that the draft plan now being forwarded to Ministers clearly does not reflect Edinburgh Council’s actual preferences. We fear also that as a result the uncertainty hanging over this whole business has intensified and will continue to unsettle citizens in the South West of Edinburgh.
However, the SWCF is reluctantly supportive of City of Edinburgh Council’s proposal to site development at East of Millburn Tower as a more suitable place for development, due to its position within a Strategic Development Area, its proximity to a wide range of public transport and a variety of local jobs. The Forum would also wish to draw attention to the need to prevent coalescence between communities, the existing traffic congestion along the extended Lanark Road especially through Juniper Green to Gillespie crossroads, and the lack of employment opportunities around the upper valley sites in the Water of Leith communities.
Archie Clark
(Secretary) for
South West (Edinburgh) Community Council