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"Crisis talks for coalition over housing blueprint deadlock"

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Edinburgh’s Labour-SNP coalition is facing its most serious split to date after the two parties failed to reach agreement on the city’s 20-year planning blueprint.

    Crisis talks are scheduled next week in a bid to break the deadlock over where to site thousands of new homes.

    And council leader Andrew Burns is understood to have warned he will invoke a formal disputes procedure if the SNP refuse to accept a Labour compromise.

    The SNP wants to scrap proposals for large developments in the west of the city, around Cammo, Currie and Balerno, but Labour is unwilling to agree to the move.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crisis-talks-for-coalition-over-housing-blueprint-deadlock-1-3436650

    Posted 9 years ago #
  2. chdot
    Admin

    Yesterday's story -

    "

    £1bn ‘Garden District’ homes plan under threat

    THOUSANDS of extra homes are set to swell the suburbs of Edinburgh under a controversial blueprint to ensure there is sufficient housing to cope with the city’s growing population over the next two decades.

    Sir David Murray’s £1 billion “Garden District” plan to build 3500 homes in the green belt west of the Capital which would ease the pressure on building within the city boundaries has been overlooked by city planners. They are urging councillors to preserve all of Sir David’s potential development land as green space and instead clear the way for a series of major developments within communities across the city.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/1bn-garden-district-homes-plan-under-threat-1-3435663

    Posted 9 years ago #
  3. Dave
    Member

    I'm in two minds about all of the options. We're acutely conscious that we live in the equivalent developments from our parents' generation (all of Currie and half of Balerno seem to have gone up in a couple of years in the 60s).

    I find the idea of living in these areas and then complaining about their extension to meet population growth quite hypocritical.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  4. stiltskin
    Member

    ^ on that basis Edinburgh can continue to sprawl Westwards until it meets Glasgow.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

    "I find the idea of living in these areas and then complaining about their extension to meet population growth quite hypocritical."

    Indeed.

    I live in a bit of late Victorian growth.

    I'm sure all the Tollcross, Bruntsfield, Morningside, Marchmont, Southside expansion was more significant at the the time than recent (proposed) add-ons - and previously the New Town.

    It's about 'balance' - which will mean different things to different people!

    It's about units, and 'affordability' and 'choice' and profit etc.

    It's also about Planning Laws and the artificiality of land 'values'.

    Clearly it's easier to build on a green field and still a lot a people appear to want their own house/bit of garden. But if it really is about "housing need" it ought to be possible to get things like the Waterfront developed a bit faster.

    I think it's a shame that Edinburgh and a East Lothian are comprehensively joining up via developments at Newcraighall - especially as opportunities for decent walk/cycle routes are being lost.

    Which is a further issue - the 'impossibility' of having new developments without them turning out to be (predominantly) 'car dependant' - or perhaps more accurately 'car fostering'.

    It will be interesting to see how Shawfair with its own, new, station turns out.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  6. crowriver
    Member

    Where is the transport infrastructure for all this new development? Do we really need more suburban sprawl when there is so much 'brownfield' land in the city lying derelict?

    Good to see the SNP having some second thoughts on this issue. Whether they are doing it for the 'right' reasons or not scarely matters: there is a big issue about what development is appropriate and desirable for the city as a whole.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

    Edinburgh has housing from 'all' periods, and is still finding gaps to fill -

    Which may not always be 'popular' either!

    Posted 9 years ago #
  8. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Re David Murray, he's owned this land for many years now, from back when there was no question of developing it. Mmaybe he bought it from back when he operated Murray International out of what is now Jupiter Artland? Anyway, his strategy in my opinion is to buy up cheap farmland on the city boundary, sit on it for long enough for there to beging to be an expansion demand in the city and then push for its de-greenbelting and development to net himself a hefty, hefty profit. By dressing it up as a "garden district" (on closer inspection, motorway-connected suburbia) I assume he hoped to greenwash it up enough to get it past the planning committees.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    "

    A THREAT of legal action by residents campaigning against hundreds of homes being built on their doorstep has forced the city to put a 20-year planning blueprint on ice. Cammo Residents Association claims the proposal for 600 houses would cause gridlock at the nearby Barnton junction.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/residents-legal-threat-stalls-city-s-20-year-plan-1-3438782

    Posted 9 years ago #
  10. crowriver
    Member

    @kappers, I believe that is called "land banking".

    Re: gridlock, I have noticed that Albion Road (adjacent to Easter Road stadium) has been transformed from a very quiet street to a rather busy one. The cause is a recent development of hundreds of new flats, with ample car parking provided of course: all the residents now to and fro in their cars via Albion Road, the only way in or out of the development.

    What I find odd (thougfh unsurprising) is that no pedestrian bridge has been built across the railway to connect this development with. say Moray Park or Dalgety Avenue, thus allowing folk to walk to the shops. Mind you that might have been expensive. So much cheaaper to overload the public road network instead, eh developers? For them, not for the rest of us.

    When the Lochend Butterfly is eventually developed, that traffic is only going to get much worse. This is a "good" development on a brownfield site too!

    Posted 9 years ago #
  11. wingpig
    Member

    There is a bridge across the railway at the back of the Lochend development, presumably to access the next chunk of development on the SW side of the tracks, next to Sainsbury. People can be viewed sneaking through the gap in the end of the fence to get to and from Sainsbury. It would be utter barmitude if a development on the other side of the tracks was not allowed to join up with Marionville Road in some capacity...

    Posted 9 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

    "It would be utter barmitude if a development on the other side of the tracks was not allowed to join up with Marionville Road"

    True, but it 'involves' Network Rail who are not co-operating over Waverley and previously at Newcraighall.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  13. chdot
    Admin

    Seems the Abbeyhill "turnback" is finally being created -

    But I presume there is still no plan to put track on the rest of the loop, so 'no reason' why there shouldn't be a (proper) path from the Butterfly to the shops.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  14. kaputnik
    Moderator

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-27812488

    Plan to demolish Gorebridge homes after carbon dioxide gas leak
    Houses built on a former Midlothian coal mine are set to be demolished after carbon dioxide was discovered seeping into the properties.

    The perils of building over old mineshafts. These houses are only 8 years old and cost £6m in total to build. They will be pulled down and rebuilt at a cost of £12m.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  15. Stickman
    Member

    Does anyone know if the plans went through at today's planning meeting?

    Posted 9 years ago #
  16. chdot
    Admin

    "

    There were also ideas for a cycle track and a running track around the park. It’s nice and hilly – it would be ideal for mountain biking.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/housing-proposals-halt-ideas-for-green-space-1-3443209

    Posted 9 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

    "
    But rather than lose their place in the administration, the Nationalists have now agreed a compromise which will see controversial decisions on the Local Development Plan (LDP) put off until February next year.

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/labour-threaten-to-end-city-council-coalition-1-3447266

    Posted 9 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Planning authorities are to be told there should be a “presumption” in favour of new developments as part of a major drive to boost economic growth and house-building in Scotland.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/planning-rules-relaxed-in-favour-of-developers-1-3454306

    Posted 9 years ago #
  19. gembo
    Member

    Local development plan certainly assumes David Murray is getting the go ahead for his garden city or shall we call it housing estates.

    Throws up an interesting phenomenon

    New housing estates do not produce secondary age children. Talking to the statisticians this depends on the size of houses built. However I think families move to new builds on the outskirts when the children are twinkles/toddlers. This created demand at primary in a specific area that is worn away by divorce, moving to a different / bigger house for another reason, going private etc.

    My view given the under capacity in all secondaries compared with seven years ago is the LDP should only focus on primary schools.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  20. chdot
    Admin

    "New housing estates do not produce secondary age children. Talking to the statisticians this depends on the size of houses built. However I think families move to new builds on the outskirts when the children are twinkles/toddlers. This created demand at primary in a specific area that is worn away by divorce, moving to a different / bigger house for another reason, going private etc."

    I know what you mean, but...

    CEC severely underestimated the recent birth boom when it planned to shut so many primaries a few years. But these children currently putting pressure on primaries will soon become secondary students.

    I don't think that many more private places are going to be created, so there must be some clear idea of numbers over the next few years(?)

    Where they will be living is less certain.

    It's certainly true that people tend to move when they have one (and more) child(ren). Whether they move again will depend on personal economics and the availability of 'suitable' houses.

    I don't know if the present planning system/developers' business plans can (or even try to) adequately produce 'the right mix' of housing for future needs/aspirations.

    Presumably it's relatively easily to predict the numbers that will move from primary to secondary staying in the same houses(?) Also have some certainty about the number of people/families moving to 'replace' school leavers with new S1s(?)

    In short, either 'the council'/government isn't looking adequately at the consequences of its various policies or not doing it well enough or it really is a bit too random/unpredictable(?)

    Posted 9 years ago #
  21. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    I believe that is called "land banking".

    I think land is sometimes used as security on loans which might make it impossible to redevelop.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  22. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Craigmillar Eco Housing Co-operative is a group of Edinburgh residents who are working together to build ten new, highly sustainable and affordable homes at Greendykes Road, Craigmillar that implement a national plan for self-build and co-operative housing initiatives.

    "

    http://www.johngilbert.co.uk/?q=node/512

    Posted 9 years ago #
  23. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Residents at Cammo – who are opposing plans for new housing in their area over fears of traffic gridlock on already congested roads – said they have repeatedly called for a plan to deal with congestion in event of development going forward.

    A spokeswoman for the Cammo Residents’ Association said: “We are very, very concerned about the roads infrastructure, and we haven’t seen anything in all the material that’s been produced that makes us feel that those issues are going to be addressed.”

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/council-planning-delay-puts-infrastructure-at-risk-1-3707148

    Posted 9 years ago #
  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I take it by "a plan to deal with congestion" they aren't looking for a good network of cycle paths and side-street traffic calming and people-friendly design? Awful hard to get the Range Rover down, what.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  25. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Didn't seem to stop them on George St, mind.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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