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"Pressure on green belt as 10,000 homes to be built"

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  1. fimm
    Member

    There isn't a footbridge at Kirknewton.
    They upgraded the level crossing relatively recently, and you'd have to work very hard to get round/over the new barriers on foot.
    I can't work out where this car park and footpath might go.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  2. MediumDave
    Member

    @ejstubbs It would be interesting to know if that's the case but it appears (from the reporting at least) that the Council are the ones refusing permission.

    Network rail are apparently just refusing to turn their work compound into a bigger carpark. An objection which seems quite reasonable to me.

    Also, my original post seems to have disappeared. Am I on the naughty step?

    Posted 1 year ago #
  3. chdot
    Admin

    “Am I on the naughty step?“

    Should you be?

    Sorry

    Post got deleted accidentally completely accidentally.

    Reinstatement didn’t work first time!

    Posted 1 year ago #
  4. gembo
    Member

    There is a footbridge in Kirknewton but it is a good league hence from the station (FKA East Calder circa 1875 when Victorian Daytrippers alighted and then walked over the cauldstane slap to west linton and returned via Leadburn to Edinburgh Threads Passim).

    I have never seen anyone use it.

    The proposed car park is North of the station? For a new development as part of a sweetener? That isn’t working?

    Most of Kirknewton Village (the Londis, The Chemist, The Pub, The Chipshop, the fake standing stones the Kirk, the school and the housing) is south of the station.

    Anyone commuting from Kirknewton proper is likely to walk to the station.

    The bus seems more popular?

    The next stop into Edinburgh at Curriehill does have a good walking route and a park and ride and a footbridge.

    Is used a bit more.

    The frequency of the trains is sporadic. They often failed to show in the morning between 730 and 0815 (sometimes you had to wait for the next one or the next one)

    Posted 1 year ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

    Perfectly placed for work, rest and play with private gardens, our collection of property is located just a short car journey from central Edinburgh, but set in Straiton

    https://www.dandara.com/new-homes-for-sale/new-homes-midlothian/straiton/ashgrove/

    Posted 1 year ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin

    Developers in west London face a potential ban on new housing projects until 2035, the Financial Times reports today, because the electricity grid has run out of capacity to support new homes.

    One issue is that data centres in the region are sucking up so much power, as they plug into transatlantic high-speed fibre lines running west from London to Slough, then across the Atlantic.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2022/jul/28/shell-profits-record-households-cost-of-living-us-economy-gdp-business-live

    Posted 1 year ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

    Rishi Sunak has been warned his pledge to curtail further property development on the green belt would significantly worsen the UK’s housing crisis.

    In a move critics said was designed to appeal to Tory members and nimbys – those with a “not in my backyard” view of planning changes – the former chancellor said the focus should be on “brownfield, brownfield, brownfield”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/28/rishi-sunak-warned-pledge-to-stop-green-belt-development-will-worsen-uk-housing-crisis

    Posted 1 year ago #
  8. chdot
    Admin

    One condition of approval stated that no more than 99 homes will be be occupied until a continuous three-metre wide footpath/cyclepath connecting to the footbridge on Berwick Place is in place.

    https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/politics/council/135-homes-in-new-development-on-outskirts-of-kirkcaldy-3864598

    Posted 1 year ago #
  9. Frenchy
    Member

    Why 99? Why not 0?

    (Getting the bridge upgraded to step-free access is a whole other matter, since it crosses a railway...)

    Posted 1 year ago #
  10. boothym
    Member

    (Getting the bridge upgraded to step-free access is a whole other matter, since it crosses a railway...)
    Maybe a chance when the line is electrified soon, though it looks high enough that there might be enough OHLE clearance.

    The planning permission also says 300 car parking spaces for 135 houses...

    Posted 1 year ago #
  11. chdot
    Admin

    “soon”

    Really?…

    Posted 1 year ago #
  12. boothym
    Member

    Well they've started on the Haymarket to Dalmeny section, Kirkcaldy to Thornton is the next phase, supposed to be done by the end of 2025...

    Posted 1 year ago #
  13. chdot
    Admin

    The document from the Free Market Forum (FMF), an offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), suggests scrapping free childcare hours, releasing green belt land for housing, abolishing corporation tax and dropping teacher training qualifications for graduates.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/06/revealed-rightwing-slash-and-burn-ideas-that-could-be-blueprint-for-truss

    Posted 1 year ago #
  14. ejstubbs
    Member

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/council/edinburgh-city-plan-ban-on-greenbelt-development-could-cost-3600-jobs-claims-study-3875959

    The proposed City Plan 2030, which serves as a blueprint for future development in the Capital, sets down that no new greenbelt land should be released for development in the next decade.

    But economists at 4-Consulting say the plan would mean displacing as many as 400 businesses, with the land they currently occupy reallocated for housing. And they warn the council will use compulsory purchase orders if necessary.

    Their study, commissioned by Holder Planning, says: “This is a radical intervention which is unprecedented as a concerted planning strategy anywhere in the UK. The potential economic and social consequences of the strategy do not appear to have been subject to any substantive assessment by the council.

    ...

    City planning convener James Dalgleish said: “The draft City Plan 2030 requires that developments on business sites must provide new business space as part of mixed-use development across the city. All the comments made on the draft plan during the period of representations will be reported to the planning committee next month. Councillors will decide then on whether to submit the plan to Scottish Ministers to be considered by them.”

    http://www.4-consulting.com
    https://www.holderplanning.com

    Posted 1 year ago #
  15. chdot
    Admin

    And they warn the council will use compulsory purchase orders if necessary.

    CEC?

    Really??

    Posted 1 year ago #
  16. MediumDave
    Member

    A quick glance at the council's atlas indicates they are indeed targeting local light-industrial type sites for housing.

    https://cityofedinburgh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=90fd7772e5a14fe79d2feac839d8a32f

    Of interest to us is the Bike Station's site off Causewayside (proposal H14) and of interest to me my local Screwfix in Roseburn (proposal H5)

    This is all quite simply an OUTRAGE! I might have to go full PGtips... :)

    Posted 1 year ago #
  17. MediumDave
    Member

    Though it's not exactly clear who is behind the housing proposals.

    For example whether it's the owner of the Bike Station's site who wishes to develop it (and the council will be imposing some constraints) or the council is planning to find somebody to develop it.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  18. steveo
    Member

    they are indeed targeting local light-industrial type sites for housing.

    The blacksmith and adjacent house on Gorgie Road have already been reduced to rubble to make way for what sounds like a big development.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  19. Morningsider
    Member

    Or the Council are simply gaming the ridiculous national effective housing land supply target, allocating sites they know will never be developed for housing in the hope of making the Scottish Government go away. The Council have neither the cash nor cohones to try and compulsorily purchase prime sites from deep pocketed major retailers.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  20. chdot
    Admin

    “Though it's not exactly clear who is behind the housing proposals.”

    Presume planners and Planners.

    It’s all the ironies of democracies and government.

    Politicians work in electoral cycles. Notionally 4/5 years, though the latest UKGov is in for 2 years MAX.

    Meanwhile civil servants, council officials, house builders/landbankers, those concerned with transport, energy, health etc. provision have to think 10/20/more years ahead - well aware that politicians and policies change.

    That’s without considering Climate Chaos, resource constraints and autocrats.

    One of my favourite things is the Abercrombie report for Edinburgh.

    https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1169430

    https://twitter.com/cocteautriplets/status/1072462316493516805

    Big on separating housing areas from industrial ones. Keen on urban motorways, but not foreseeing a decline in railways.

    “This is all quite simply an OUTRAGE! I might have to go full PGtips... :)“

    Well indeed.

    Always a fine line between Full NIMBY and rational objection to things that aren’t a good idea for ‘local people’ and/or wider society.

    Edinburgh is just a small example of a what happens when the only future is GROWTH - as defined by what’s been happening for the past few hundred years.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  21. MediumDave
    Member

    @Morningsider quite possibly. Though presumably the sites occupied by a lot of the big-box places (Screwfix) aren't actually owned by them (for accounting reasons). Smaller operators may well own their site (as it's a handy asset to secure business loans against). Does the bike station own or rent their place? I'd assumed the latter.

    Another interesting thing I saw is the site of the plumbers' merchant on Polwarth place (proposal H12) which was knocked down ages ago is still listed as a proposal on this plan.

    I think they were well engaged on building on that site when I went past a couple of months ago (though my recollection could be faulty)! Will have to go and have a look see

    Posted 1 year ago #
  22. chdot
    Admin

    Brownfield land is being squandered in 'developer's paradise' of York - Rachael Maskell

    Before asking what is being built on the green belt, we have to ask what is being built on brownfield sites. In York’s case, it is assets for investors rather than homes for families and communities.

    https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/brownfield-land-is-being-squandered-in-developers-paradise-of-york-rachael-maskell-3877830?dicbo=v2-5881ef7f77dda4e24e655a02267f4899

    Posted 1 year ago #
  23. chdot
    Admin

    The letter starts: "You are currently residing outwith our new practice boundary. We respectfully ask that you seek to register with an alternative GP surgery which is closer to your home." And it says: “In short we have too many patients registered with us for our current service to continue to provide the quality of service that we wish to deliver to our patients. Unless we reduce our practice list size, we will face a worsening situation particularly with the creation of additional homes within our practice boundary.”

    Mhttps://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/edinburghs-colinton-surgery-says-letter-urging-patients-to-find-another-gp-practice-does-not-mean-they-have-to-leave-3881026?dicbo=v2-97e3c388bf60a553ce7f629cb9614ca8

    Posted 1 year ago #
  24. ejstubbs
    Member

    A quick glance at the council's atlas indicates they are indeed targeting local light-industrial type sites for housing.

    I'd always understood "brownfield" to mean ex-industrial/commercial sites that are lying derelict/unused, not sites that are being actively occupied. It seems that Wikipedia would agree with me, although the OED allows a broader interpretation:

    ...used attributively and absol. to designate an (urban) area, which is or has formerly been the site of commercial or industrial activity, esp. one now cleared and available for redevelopment

    Posted 1 year ago #
  25. ejstubbs
    Member

    Edinburgh is just a small example of a what happens when the only future is GROWTH - as defined by what’s been happening for the past few hundred years.

    An underlying reason, no doubt, for the deliberately emotive "could cost 3,600 jobs" claim in the 4-consulting report.

    (An optimist might wonder whether the at least partial collapse of the current PM's naively misguided "growth, growth, growth" 'plan' could be an indication that the tide is gradually turning. But I sadly doubt it.)

    Posted 1 year ago #
  26. chdot
    Admin

    “emotive "could cost 3,600 jobs" claim“

    Ultimately unprovable.

    IF/when industrial use changes to housing it’s due to ‘economics’.

    Generally the land is considered to be worth more with houses on. This might mean the end of a business and some jobs.

    However

    For instance- Blake metals moved from their ramshackle base in South Fort Street to Turnhouse and Laing’s foundry is now in Fife.

    There are good reasons for retaining small businesses in urban area, and others for not.

    Relying on markets and economic value may or may not be better than plans for X new houses without enough considerations about infrastructure, employment etc.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  27. chdot
    Admin

    Cityplan 2030 has now been published. This sets out plans to meet "housing supply" targets set by the Scottish Government.

    The plan sets aside land to build 36,911 homes between 2022 and 2032.

    This is roughly the same size as Kirkcaldy!

    Cityplan: https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s52253/Appendix%202a%20-%20Proposed%20City%20Plan%202030%20Written%20Statement.pdf

    https://mobile.twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1595783917533118465

    209 pages

    Posted 1 year ago #
  28. edinburgh87
    Member

    A bit worrying to see the NEPN between Haymarket and Crewe Toll 'safeguarded' for trams... (p9). Long may it never happen.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  29. Frenchy
    Member

    Long may it never happen.

    Have discussed this with council officers before - they won't definitively say "That's not the plan any more", but they come pretty close. The route via Dean Bridge is clearly preferable to them.

    Posted 1 year ago #
  30. chdot
    Admin

    “Long may it never happen.“

    Yes

    Plenty ‘rumours’ that the route via WGH is ‘favoured’.

    But, I find it hard to foresee a time when that line will be ‘affordable’.

    I’m sure there is a case that ‘it would help with the development of NorthEd/Waterfront, but must be a stronger case for SouthEd/RIE/further.

    Would be nice to think that could be kickstarted by money not spent on Sheriffhall.

    But ‘politics’ is seldom simple or rational.

    Posted 1 year ago #

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