CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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MORE than 1000 people are expected to attend a public meeting tonight in Prestonpans over plans to build an industrial complex on the site of a famous 1745 battle.
Locals are up in arms over proposals to build a huge marine energy park and substation on the site where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army defeated government forces.
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http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/battle-of-prestonpans-site-plan-protest-1-3556005
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CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to build a huge power plant on the site of a Jacobite battle last night said the proposals would lead to “cataclysmic devastation”.
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http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/power-plant-protesters-warn-of-devastatation-1-3557354
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Great controversy has arisen in 2014 as proposals to redevelop the industrial activities close by the battlesite have actually impinged on it. Historic Scotland has taken the view that such activities will have a minimal impact and it is in the national interest that they must be allowed. The local community has refused to accept such an outcome and is pledged to campaign to have it reversed.
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Can I bump this up the system to invite people to take more notice? Perhaps a subject change might help too if this is possible. Plans (even at this early stage) would seem to be for something with much bigger consequences than anything to do with a battle site.
If I understand much from a quick read of this planning document (link) then we're talking about the potential closure of all through routes here (map). A barrier to travel from the coast to about 1km inland - and yes we're talking about the removal of the road too, not just the path along the coast.
I've not had chance to follow this up properly, but from what I can see it looks like one of those situations where you can't quite believe that people are seriously considering what they have written.
In this case we seem to be talking about work on more environmentally friendly power, which will entirely divide the coastal communities to all those without a car - with major consequences for the National Cycle Network route here, and the John Muir Way too, never mind the general ability for folk to walk and cycle through the area for local purposes. It would even have an effect on Edinburgh's large number of people who attend the ERC Saturday road bike rides.
I'd be happy to be proved wrong - like I say I've not read this in any detail.
Do they seriously want to build this and think it won't be anything other than a white hefalump? There are enormous fabrication yards in the Highlands that have sat nearly dormant for years (Nigg, Arderseir), under-utilised fabrication capacity in Burntisland and the recently bankrupted (and rescued) Ferguson's yard in Port Glasgow and something very similar going down on old colliery / fabrication land in Methil that also failed as an oil industry fabrication yard. Oh and then there's Kishorn which long ago closed, Ardyne which built only 3 rigs before closing and Polphail which was built and never even opened (google it if you like 1970s ghost towns). I think businesses in Campbletown and Stornoway that were building turbine parts have gone out of business in the last few years also.
Anyway, there's a big supply of underutilised fabrication land in Scotland that hasn't yet reliably tapped the vein of gold which is windmill fabrication. Desecrating another piece of coast land isn't going to do anything about the simple and harsh economics of supply, demand and profitability.
Sadly I don't think they take this sort of thing into consideration when members of the public reply to consultations?
"There are enormous fabrication yards in the Highlands that have sat nearly dormant for years (Nigg, Arderseir) ... "
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In August, the Scottish Government gave the green light for a 400-acre site at Ardersier, near Inverness, to become a base for offshore wind turbine construction. Other sites are being touted. Kishorn, Cromarty and Nigg have all signed agreements with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to develop land for similar production and repair facilities.
Faced with such competition, the cost of developing the Cockenzie site looks excessive. According to Scottish Enterprise, the new quay would cover nearly 24 acres. Access to the new industrial plant would necessitate realigning the B1348 Edinburgh Road and re-routing the recently completed John Muir Way. Can you really see Scottish Enterprise paying for all that, because Scottish Power won’t.
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http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/george-kerevan-the-second-battle-of-prestonpans-1-3647694
You heard it here first...
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Scottish Enterprise said the time was not right to build a huge offshore wind turbine factory and deep water port, which would have involved reclaiming over 11 hectares of land from the sea.
There had been strong local opposition to the energy park from those who feared it would mean increased traffic on nearby roads and damage to the environment as well as encroaching on the historic battlefield at Prestonpans and disturbing underground coal seams which could “turn the beaches of East Lothian black”.
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http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/cockenzie-marine-energy-bid-axed-1-3733833
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