http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/villagers-fight-lord-s-green-belt-housing-plan-1-3555010
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Villagers fight lord’s green belt housing plan" (Balerno)
(13 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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The rosebery estate strategy seems to be to have multiple planning applications for disparate parcels of land around Balerno all on the go at one time. They all get knocked back but they then wait six months and submit same plans with maybe one house changed. The villagers are very organised and largely moved to Balerno when the farm land was first built on in the early 1970s. They are retired. They have time on their hands to fight the developer. So nil-nil at the moment but if rosebery ever score then might open the floodgates. There is a very narrow strip of land actually within Balerno boundary that isn't built on that could maybe mean Balerno is separate from currie.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Curious that nobody ever plans to demolish the existing thousands of cookie-cutter houses that were built around the "real" Balerno, Currie etc. in the 60s, but the people who live in them are the most vociferous when it comes to opposing more houses following identical principles.
Personally, I think it would be smarter to allow controlled sprawl, ensuring proper amenity (e.g. green spaces and parks as part of the sprawl) than the alternative approach which emphasises infill of all the city's brownfield and park land supply instead. I'd rather have some sprawl with parks than build on all the parks to preserve some illusion of a 'green belt'.
You can walk across Balerno's "green belt" into Currie in about three seconds.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Balerno also needs youth to go to the school as roll is not massive. School is good, any youth on the 44 bus route or otherwise, most welcome.
Seems original white settlers moved with their families but when their families grew up and left, they stayed. Thus for any real expansion to happen there needs to be housing development.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Without wishing to sound unfeeling, these things go in generational cycles and the demographic issue in Balerno will resolve itself as the 'white settlers' depart this mortal earth for a better place. The same thing happened in Currie a few years ago. Families moved in to new-build estates in the 60s, the school rolls shot up and three primaries were needed. Then their families started to get older, the rolls fell and one of the schools was shut. Now the original generation are gettng to their 70s and 80s, passing on or moving to care homes and new families are coming into the area in greater numbers - and the remaining schools are bursting again. Much of the housing in Balerno was developed a bit later than Currie so the same effect would be noticeable later.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Without wishing to sound unfeeling,"
Don't think that's unfeeling - useful historical context.
In some ways it highlights the predictability of human life/lives and (to some extent) their future(s).
I don't suppose many planners/politicians have ever adequately 'assumed the future' particularly when planning 'community facilities'.
Realistically it can't be easy.
If you build an estate of 'starter homes' do you predict that people will move out before their child/ren need a primary school? Or allow for them not wanting to move (or being able to afford it)?
The CEC plan to shut many schools (just before an increase in the birth rate) looks like carelessness - not just with hindsight.
The topic of this (and other) thread(s) is providing for increasing population/aspirations without destroying/altering adversely) the places people live/like.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Couldn't quite work it out from the article, but is the land owned by Lord Fauntleberry, or are they just proposing the development?
Are these houses being built because Balerno desperately needs a small number of mid-upper market houses with an even smaller sprinkling of "social" housing (I assume that makes the majority of the development "antisocial housing?") or are they being built to "maximise value" of the estate's land by converting greenbelt farmland that brings in a small and unpredictable income into prime middle class real estate?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Few of them are starter homes any more - there can't be more than a couple of unaltered houses on our street, the rest are massively extended.
I've often wondered if this plays a significant part in driving affordable housing demand - people buy the affordable homes then extend them so they're no longer affordable?
Posted 10 years ago # -
"The CEC plan to shut many schools (just before an increase in the birth rate) looks like carelessness - not just with hindsight."
Perhaps it was carelessness but I suspect it is more a symptom of the democratic structure we enjoy in this country. Each administration is only concerned with saving money before the next election. So closing schools which wont be needed for the next couple of years saves money which can be spent on popular projects elsewhere. Selling the land off can leave even more money to spend on popularism.
Of course the fact that the next administration will need to buy land and reopen schools isn't their problem...
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Perhaps it was carelessness"
I think I was being slightly ironic...
"but I suspect it is more a symptom of the democratic structure we enjoy in this country."
Only too true.
"Each administration is only concerned with saving money before the next election."
That's part of the problem, but another is that officials press on (sometimes) ignoring the wishes/policies of politicians, on the basis that 'we know best'/'we'll still be here to deal with any problems after any change of power'.
In the case of the proposed school closures, the LibDems had not been in long and officials presented a list of schools that 'must be closed to balance the books' - *knowing* that councillors would say 'you can't shut this, that, other school'. Councillors went more like 'well if that's what officials recommend, we'd better do it.
The result was a massive public backlash and hardly any schools closed. I don't if/how the books were subsequently 'balanced'.
Posted 10 years ago # -
The closure of schools was done on capacity basis. Schools with low rolls in comparison to their capacity were closed. Six primaries in total. two in pilton one in wester hailes, the tiny wee one that we all liked in Dalry and bonnington and lismore.
The previous director of education a likeable if non George Clooney chap fronted up the closures and attended a meeting in muirhouse where he explained that falling birth rates were the problem. He was then asked by local what he intended to do about this problem. Much mirth amongst his bag carriers.
There was a plan to close circa twenty schools This might have been careless or an attempt to shut some schools knowing there would be resistance (see the castlebrae situation).
The influx of poles and other nationalities has caused a boom in the RC schools that was not predicted.
The developments proposed in my backyard are all Lord dangleberry attempting to divest himself of land.
The citizens of Balerno live long and prosper. Their children grow up and have to live in Livingston until they have saved enough to move back and buy extended properties belonging to their parents friends who have moved to the nursing home.The primary roll remains very high but the secondary toils a bit because it has the feeder primary in the village and then two small primaries in Ratho and Kirknewton.
The secondary in Currie also has low roll.
However, the much maligned planners are predicting a surge in secondary rolls in 2019 based on current primary rolls.
Don't worry about the children of the original white settlers, they live in murieston or belsquarry until returning.these are nice places to live.
In conclusion the narrow ribbon of greenbelt therefore still has a chance of surviving.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Schools with low rolls in comparison to their capacity were closed"
Generally yes, though I think most on your list were 'previous'.
The 'later' ones included Burdiehouse and Fort.
"The influx of poles and other nationalities has caused a boom in the RC schools that was not predicted."
Yes, but I think it could/should have been!
Bonnington re-opened as the Gaelic school - after costing a lot more money than would have been necessary if it had been 'mothballed' properly...
Posted 10 years ago # -
Fort and burdiehouse too for sure. I had in head went down from 93 to 87 primaries but must have been 95
Tried to close Hillwood but despite being tiny it was full. All the others were under capacity.
Yes I know all about the bun Sgiol but make no comment
Posted 10 years ago #
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