Neighbourhood Cash Now Available - Ideas Wanted!

Dear Neighbours

South West Neighbourhood Pertnership have some cash available for small scale infrastructure improvements that will enhance the quality of our neighbourhoods.

Do you have any suggestions for improvements for Flower Colonies Area or nearby? If so we can apply for some cash to make these suggestions real. If successful, Edinburgh Council organises the work, we don't need to worry about that.

The sort of improvements eligible for this award are:

• Footway repairs and upgrades
• New footpaths
• Road safety measures, for instance bollards and traffic islands to protect pedestrians and speed ramps
• Safety measures such as lighting improvements
• Improving things for people with mobility issues, such as creation of access ramps and handrails
• Improvements to bus stops to make them more accessible and use friendly.

To be eligible projects must create a new asset, extend the life of an existing asset, or enhance the value of an existing asset. I'm sorry but I don't think it covers pot holes in the road!

The projects I've seen from previous years range from a value of £3000 to £50,000. So don't be shy, if you have a good idea the money may well be available!

If you have an idea please send to me via e-mail and I'll submit them through our Merchiston Community Council representative, Steven Tait. Please don't hang about, I understand it's on a first come first served basis! Please say what the improvement is and why it would be a good thing.

If you have any neighbours that would be interested in this but don't have e-mail, please let them know.

Regards

Bob Bierley

Chair

FCARA

Consultation for 1 Slateford Rd site - dates announced

AMA New Town are putting a new planning application together for the site at 1 Slateford Road, and aim to lodge this in late August 2011. Before that, however, they are working with planning developers GVA Grimley to organise consultation opportunities with local residents. Here's the information so far from GVA:

Consultation will take the form of a two-stage public event/workshop where the emerging development proposals will be displayed and members of the project team will be present to
discuss/answer questions from visitors.
All visitors will be encouraged to complete and return a consultation questionnaire within a fixed time period, to allow all feedback to be given due consideration before submission of the
planning application.
Venue: The public events will be held on-site at 1 Slateford Road, Edinburgh, EH11 1NX

Dates and times have just been announced for the first stage event/workshop, which are:
Thursday 9th June, 4pm-8pm
Saturday 11th June, 10am-2pm

FCARA will invite members to a meeting before this to allow thoughts and questions to be discussed.

Update on how the snow is affecting services

Dear All

Please find attached below the latest update I have from Road Services.  I have been in touch several times a day to see how roads in my ward can be dealt with quicker and have obtained the following information.  Please be assured that I am pressing for every effort to be made to clear the area as quickly as Road Services can manage.

Since the start of the current period of wintry weather, the gritter / snowplough vehicles have been working their way through the priority system, but owing to the frequent snow showers, have had to continually revert back to the Road Category 1 Routes. These are the important principal roads and major bus routes; roads to hospitals, ambulance depots and fire stations. Category 1 pavement routes are also being treated, which consist of the City Centre (high footfall routes) and the high level areas in Balerno, Gilmerton and Liberton.

 

Road Services is presently working through the Road Category 1 Treatment Routes and, once these are clear, will commence treatment of the Road Category 2 Routes prior to any treatment of the Road Category 3 Routes.  The majority of residential streets in Fountainbridge / Craiglockhart ward are classed as Category 3, whilst steep roads serving large areas such as Craiglockhart Avenue and North Meggetland are in Class 2.

 

As a result of the heavy snowfall, additional resources are being mobilised to assist in the task of clearing all streets as quickly as practicable. A significant number of sub-contractors and equipment will be hired, and 90 refuse collection staff redeployed to clear snow and grit pavements. The larger proportion of these extra resources will be deployed in the South, South-West and West areas of the City which have been hardest hit, and these arrangements should take effect from 1^st December. The outlying villages such as Balerno, Currie, Ratho and Juniper Green will be targeted and the first priority will be routes to shopping areas, GP surgeries and other high-trafficked pedestrian areas.

Every effort will be made to clear all roads and pavements as quickly as possible, however, as your constituents will appreciate, our top priority must be to keep the main routes open during these times of heavy and repeated snowfalls.

Update as at 1630hrs, 1^st December

Road services and transport

• Staff are working round the clock to keep the city's main roads clear.
• Extra staff have been allocated to work on snow clearing. However, workers are experiencing difficulties with the exceptional levels of snow on roads and pavements as well as obstacles such as abandoned cars.
• Mechanical plant i.e. JCBs are being used to excavate and remove snow to gain access to many of these routes
• The Council has used over 2,000 tonnes of salt between 25 November and 1 December. Supplies were standing at around 5,000 tonnes, this morning.

Refuse and waste collection

• Bin lorries are operating a limited service, mainly in the city centre and main roads. However, refuse workers are helping with snow clearing.  Any bins not collected as scheduled will be collected as soon as possible.

Further information

·         Please check the Council website at http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/severeweather, http://twitter.com/Edinburgh_CC and Radio Forth for immediate updates. Immediate travel news will be available at http://twitter.com/edintravel

 

Kind regards

 

Gordon

 

Councillor Gordon Buchan

Scottish Conservative Councillor for Fountainbridge / Craiglockhart Ward

 

For Information During Winter:

Garden waste pick up dates are changing for winter. Garden waste wheelie bins will be collected every 4 weeks during December, January and February.  Christmas Tree recycling will be undertaken in January.  See edinburgh.gov.uk for details.

Consultation on the Edinburgh Canal Strategy

Dear All,

The City of Edinburgh Council and British Waterways Scotland are preparing a strategy for the Union Canal within the Edinburgh area and would like to receive people's views as part of the consultation process. 

The Consultation Document accessed by clicking on the link below:

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/187/planning-consultations/1094/edinburgh_canal_strategy

The page also contains details of public workshops. The nearest one for the city centre takes place on Wednesday 24th November at 6:00pm in the Tollcross Community Centre.

If you have any queries regarding the Canal Strategy, please contact kate.hopper@edinburgh.gov.uk
 

Regards

Alan  

Alan Dean BA (Hons) MSc MCIH I Partnership Development Officer (City Centre) I Services for Communities I City Centre Team I 1 Cockburn Street I Edinburgh I EH1 1BJ

Ideas for the objection letter against the appeal

As a follow on to my last post, here’s some more information to help you write your objection letter to the Government regarding AMA’s appeal.

Appeal report

I have learned very recently that AMA has submitted an appeal report. This is really worth looking at because you can argue against what they have said!

Here is the weblink to the report:

http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?T=1&id=qJ12836#Categories

I have posted the link as it allows you to see all the other accompanying documents including new ones which AMA has submitted for this appeal.  These are the annexes to the report as listed at the back of the report. Annexes 2 and 14 are worth looking at, especially 2 where AMA have tried to make their case using photos and using some slightly outrageous angles!

To see these annexes, follow the link and scroll to the bottom of the webpage. You now have a choice of 4 boxes which take you to documents. ‘All’ gives all the documents available, ‘Grounds of appeal’ just takes you to the report. Pages 4 and 5 of ‘All’ may be of interest, being mostly new documents including annexes 2 and 14.

I hope that makes sense!

Why not make your case using photos as well as AMA has done? That seemed to work particularly well last time for us.

Points to make

The FCARA Committee has been advised that all the points we made before are good but it would be particularly good this time to remember to cover two things.

The first is the history of the colonies, the unique-ness of the colonies to Edinburgh’s architecture and their role in providing affordable homes with gardens for key workers in the city. If anyone wants more info on the history, please contact me but its better if you express it in your own words.

The second thing that you should cover is the building materials. Talk about how AMA has gone for building materials that are completely inappropriate for the setting. For example, gigantic walls of glass and pre-cast concrete, etc. These are all made worse by an unsympathetic design and height.

Volunteers

Finally, I am seeking a few willing volunteers to post leaflets through members’ doors. Probably we’ll be posting on Tuesday evening. I want to make sure everyone in the flower colonies area has the information I have sent you in these emails.

Hope that helps you all. Please do send your objections again; it shows the high level of concern if many people write and really does help.

Best wishes

Jenny Goldsmith

FCARA

Appeal by the developer

Hi everyone

Some important news - AMA has appealed the decision made by the council on their planning application for hideous flats on 1 Slateford Road.  

You'll recall that the council threw out the planning application so we won that battle. Unfortunately AMA can make an appeal to the Scottish Government's planning directorate. 

The Government officials will be sent all the objections that everyone has sent before (unless you've marked it as confidential).

If you objected to the planning application (hopefully you did!), you should receive a letter from the council about it. As usual, the stuff the council sends is rather confusing so I've phoned them so I can translate it for you.

As well as your previous objection letters, the Government will consider any new representations that you would like to make. You have got 14 days from when you receive your letter from the council to make these new objections. So, if you get your letter today, your deadline is 14 October.  So, if you want to extend your arguments, make new points, re-affirm what you said before, then this is an opportunity for you to do so.  Please take that opportunity!

Send your new letters to the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals, 4 The Courtyard, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk (Tel: 01324 696 400), Remember, we are corresponding with the Government on this one and not the council,

Hope that helps. The FCARA Committee will keep you posted of any developments.

Jenny Goldsmith

Treasurer, Flower Colonies Area Residents' Association

The developer has appealed!

Councillor Andrew Burns has just confirmed that the local Planning Application, recently refused by the Council, is to be appealed by the developer. He says he is certain that the Planning Committee, and local Councillors, will continue to robustly argue for ultimate refusal and he'll be sure to pass round any further developments as I become aware of them ...

We will keep you posted!

Merchiston Community Council meeting 21st of September

September Meeting

Tuesday 21st at 7.00pm.

Eric Liddell Centre

Holy Corner

MCC’s monthly business meeting to look at current local issues in planning, licensing, the environment, policing etc and catch up on things that have happened in our area over the summer, including..................

• Proposed Redevelopment of Harrison Park East.

• New plans to go forward for planning permission.

ALL LOCAL RESIDENTS VERY WELCOME!
Please let us know if there is anything you would like us to consider for the agenda.

Email: secretary@merchistoncc.org.uk
For further information visit our website: www.merchistoncc.org.uk 


Agenda of the meeting:

Chairman’s Welcome
1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of last meeting (June); Matters Arising
3. Code of Conduct/ Communication, revised version
4. Presentation / Discussion on Proposed redevelopment of Harrison Park East
5. Reports

• Chair
• Police
• Secretary 
• Treasurer
• Ward Councillors 
• City Car Club – Fully accessible vehicle
• EACC
• Health
• Licensing
  (a) Liquor & public entertainment
  (b) HMOs
• Parking
  a. Polwarth mini-roundabout
  b. Shandon CPZ
  c. Inconsiderate use of available space 
• Planning
  Ettrick Hotel – decking, car park extension
  Flower Colonies
• Safer Neighbourhood Group
• Transport
• Community Engagement Group
• Other

6. A.O.C.B.
7. Next Meeting -
7pm Tuesday 19th October, St Michael’s Parish Church Hall Slateford Road

Haymarket

If you want to object to the Haymarket proposal the deadline for objections is now Friday 24 September. If you want some pointers about the grounds for objections, just e-mail me.

HAYMARKET DEVELOPMENT - help save our Colonies Heritage

The new development proposals for the site at Haymarket, next to the Dalry Colonies, have now been submitted and are on the Council planning portal. If you recall, the plan for a 17 story hotel was approved by Edinburgh Council but thrown out by the Scottish Government. The developers have come back with a plan for a 10 story hotel. It looks pretty horrendous to me and I shall be objecting. If you care about Edinburgh's Colonies I would encourage you to do the same. You may recall that the Dalry Colonies Residents Association gave us a great deal of support and advice in our own, successful battle against horrendous architecture. The application number is 10/02373/FUL, and here is the link: http://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?keyval=L7AVE6EW0GY00&searchtype=PROPERTY&module=

The date by which you have to submit responses isn't obvious and I'm trying to find this out, but I think it may be soon.

Public exhibition about the proposed development at Fountain bridge South (South of Dundee Street)

PUBLIC EXHIBITION
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF LAND SOUTH OF
DUNDEE STREET (KNOWN AS FOUNTAINBRIDGE SOUTH)

UPDATE…..
PROPOSED PLANNING PERMISSION IN PRINCIPLE FOR A MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING OFFICES, RESIDENTIAL, RETAIL, HOTEL, CARE HOME AND STUDENT HOUSING.

The Project Team have now assessed the feedback received from the first exhibition held on the 08th, 09th and 10th July 2010 and the public meeting held on 26th July 2010. Now a second exhibition will be held to illustrate our finalised proposal.

TUESDAY 07TH SEPTEMBER 2010
AT
TOLLCROSS COMMUNITY CENTRE
FROM 5 - 9PM

Please contact CB Richard Ellis Limited on 0131 469 7666 if you require further information.

Decision finalised by the Council today

The decision was finally given the rubber stamping today! This is what Bob received from the Council:

"The following reasons for refusal were agreed

1. The proposal is contrary to Edinburgh City Local Plan Policy Des 1 (Design Quality and Context) as it would be damaging to the character and appearance of the area around it.

2. The proposal is contrary to Edinburgh City Local Plan Policy Des 3 (Development Design) as the development fails to have a positive impact on its setting due to inappropriate massing, scale and design and will have a negative impact on the amenity of the existing residents.

3. The proposal is contrary to Edinburgh City Local Plan Policy Hou 4 (Density) as it would result in unacceptable damage to the local character, environmental quality and residential amenity.

The Committee decided that there was not a strong enough reason for refusal on transport grounds.

The decision will now be issued and the applicant has 3 months to submit an appeal."

Just in case you have been wondering what is happening at the committee meeting on the 25th of August

This is from a reply that Bob got from the Council:

"Mr Brierley, I am not sure if you have your answers from elsewhere but I can confirm that the application was refused in principle i.e. the decision has been taken and all that is required is for the actual reasons for refusal to now go back to Committee for their agreement. These reasons will go back on 25 August and are based on the minute of the meeting. There has been further consideration of the parking and access issues and whilst these comply with policy, we will give the Committee the option of a reason for refusal based on this.

You will all get a letter informing you of the new committee date but in the notes you will see some information on returning applications. Usually applications that go against officer recommendation are barely discussed - the debate will certainly not be re-opened. The councillors will just tell us whether they agree with the drafted reasons.In this particular case, they will obviously have to discuss whether to add the parking and access as a reason for refusal.

Once the decision is issued, the applicant then has 3 months to decide whether to appeal or not."

How the Flower Colonies overcame the odds ...

Coverage of our journey in the Guardian's Edinburgh blog:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/aug/20/edinburgh-flower-colonies-residents-development-battle

Coverage of our victory in the Edinburgh Evening News

Here is what the Edinburgh Evening News had to say about yesterday's decision

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/Residents-joy-as-flats-bid.6470978.jp

WE WON!!!!!!!

Fantastic news! The AMA planning application we've been lobbying against for so long was unanimously rejected today by the City's planning committee (the Edinburgh Development Management Sub-Committee) - based on almost all the grounds we objected to. The councillors mentioned that they were impressed by the community's measured approach and our contra-plan, and took into account the flower colonies' valuable social heritage.

So a huge well done and thank you to everyone who made their objections heard - through emails, letters, personal representations at Merchiston Community Council, contributing to the contra-plan in meetings and design workshops (even when it was snowing) ... and let's not forget the wonderful hand-crafted posters and placards displayed prominently for the councillors' benefit when they made their all-important site-visit!

Everyone's invited to celebrate at the Caley Sample Rooms on Thursday evening (12th Aug) from 7.30pm onwards (there will be live music too from 8.30pm) - let's all give each other a pat on the back for pulling together and making sure common sense prevails. Please tell your friends and neighbours too!

It's making the news already - have a look at the Guardian's Edinburgh blog - and the Evening News have also shown interest so keep an eye out.

We feel all the hard work has absolutely been worth it - once again, thank you and well done!

FCARA committee

PS - there is a chance that AMA will appeal against the decision; they have to do so within 3 months so we'll keep an eye out and keep you posted.

Final decision to be taken on Wednesday 11/8/2010

Dear all,

Another update and it's an important one. The planning application is going to be considered by the council's Development Management Committee (the planning committee who makes the decisions) again on Wednesday 11 August at 10 am. This is very likely to be the final decision. In case you didn't see the council's report on the planning application the first time, I have attached it in Word format (view the document here).

Again, if you can spare the time for a few hours on Wednesday, I strongly encourage you to attend the planning meeting to show the councillors what a strong opposition there is to this application. As I said before, if there is a strong turnout from the community, it will make a real difference to the councillors final decision on this planning application.

Please spread the word amongst your neighbours if they are not on this email list and encourage them to come along to the meeting too.

I've been advised by the council that the meeting will commence at 10 am and members of the public are welcome to attend.  Please report to the City Chambers reception on the High Street and they will direct you to the correct meeting room. Some of the FCARA committee intend to be there and we'll report back as to whether the application was agreed to or not. 

If you want any more information on the meeting, the papers for the meeting, how to attend or anything else to do with the meeting, please email Elaine Robertson at the council at: e.robertson@edinburgh.gov.uk

Best wishes

Jenny Goldsmith
Treasurer, FCARA

PS: Fingers crossed. This is it....

A quick update

A few of you have been asking me what is happening with the planning application for the old biscuit factory so I thought I'd better give a quick explanation.

 

The council's planning committee met last Wednesday to discuss the application, gave the council's planning officials a bit of a hard time, made some fairly negative comments about the planing application and decided they wanted a site visit before they made a final decision on the application. The planning committee also commented on our contra-plan; they seemed to like it.

 

So, the planning committee came on the site visit the next day. I think they will have seen all the signs that you made. You can find some of them below. I think the '213 objections can't be wrong' sticking out of the bramble patch at the bottom of Primrose Terrace is my personal favourite, congratulations to that merry protester for full creativity and effort, feel free to tell me who you are when we are all next down at the Caley after a meeting.

 

What's next? The FCARA Committee are expecting the final decision making meeting to be held next week. I will let you know the exact date and time when I have it. The community turning up at a planning committee meeting definitely makes a difference so we encourage you to go if you can spare the time.

 

Please pass this message on to your neighbours.

 

Best wishes

 

Jenny Goldsmith

Treasurer, FCARA

New Jump events

JUMP is having an exhibition about the proposed community development "Granton sur Mer".

Venue: gallerA1   

Exhibition Preview: Thursday 19th August @ 7pm – 9pm

Exhibition Dates: 20th August – 5th September

Time: 11am – 4pm, open: Tuesday – Sunday

Check out their website http://www.artinarchitecture.co.uk/Site_2/gallerA1.html for more information and come along!

For more information about JUMP and their projects have a look at

http://www.granton-sur-mer.eu/Intro.html 

http://www.jumpleith.co.uk/ 

And have a look at the following blog that featured JUMP under the heading "Cultural Planning: can community development work?" http://rudiurbanxtra.wordpress.com/

Media coverage of the planning committee meeting

There was some media coverage about the planning committee meeting and the site visit on the following day.

The Evening News had this article with the headline "Flower power fails as flats set to go ahead"

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/Flower-power-fails-as-flats.6439432.jp

The Guardian has a brand new Edinburgh blog and featured us twice. First with a short note referring to the article in the Evening News and our website

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/jul/26/edinburgh-flower-colonies-gillespies-brewdog-transport

and then with a longer post on the meeting of the planning commitee and our objections

http://www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh/2010/jul/28/edinburgh-council-flower-colony-davidson-main-therapy