Plans for new housing at Dalmeny approved

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The Council’s new planning committee has approved the proposals to build 15 new homes next to Bankhead Road on the field behind Wester Dalmeny cottages.

The decision was reached after a site visit by committee members and officials.  Cllr Kevin Lang, representatives of the Queensferry & District Community Council and some local residents were also present.

As your local councillors, we had submitted a formal request for a full hearing at the planning committee before a decision was taken.  This would have allowed us and the community council to talk to our detailed concerns on the development, specifically the issues around safe access from Bankhead Road as well as the size and shape of the proposed houses. Unfortunately, the committee decided against holding a hearing and instead proceeded to support the application.

Whilst we are obviously disappointed with the decision, we want to thank the local residents who worked so hard to try and suggest improvements to the proposals.  We still think a more appropriate development could have been agreed for this site and one which commanded more support from people in the village.

We will always work hard to represent local views and protect the unique character of Dalmeny as an important conservation area.

Queensferry High – Lib Dems push for community facilities

Earlier in the week and in response to the comments we received by email and through Facebook, we promised to raise the Queensferry High proposals with the new Council Leader at this week’s full Council meeting.

Kevin did so and highlighted how the project needed to provide, not just a world class educational facility but also enhanced community facilities. Kevin also explained that many felt the current proposals are simply not ambitious enough.

The Council Leader accepted the principle of the need for improved community facilities. We’re pleased to say the new Convener of Education agreed to come out and meet with us and other interested residents to discuss this.

Don’t forget, there is still time to feed your views into the consultation. The Council is still receiving comments by 11 August 2017.

https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/…/newqueensferryh…/

Rubbish/recycling collection – have your say

Complete Louise’s survey here.

Later this week, Cllr Louise Young will be asking the Council’s new convener of environment about the problem of waste collection across north and west Edinburgh.  She wants to hear about your own experiences in your street.  Her survey takes no more than five minutes to complete.

So if you’ve suffered from missed collection or broken bins then let her know by using the link below.

Complete Louise’s survey here.

Edinburgh Airport update

One of our first acts as your new local councillors has been to submit our response to Edinburgh Airport’s second consultation on flight path changes.

During our campaign, we promised to do three things;
1. To oppose the changes towhich would see aircraft routed over Queensferry when departing to the west,…
2. To push for changes to the easterly departure route so aircraft are flown further away from Cramond and Barnton,
3. To campaign for the same kind of night time flying restrictions which already exist for Stasted, Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

We have worked with Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP and submitted a detailed response on these points.

We have explained how horrified we and the local community is by the airport’s U-turn. This came after earlier assurances that Queensferry would not be impacted by the flight path changes. We have submitted our petition of over 1,000 names against the propose new route.

On Cramond, we have worked with the Cramond Noise Action Group and endorsed their constructive ideas for changes which could also help reduce noise from arriving aircraft from the east.

We will be looking to meet with the airport in the coming weeks to discuss all these issues.

Dalmeny update

There have been a fair few updates for the village of Dalmeny recently.  Here’s all the latest news.

PROPOSED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

As you may be aware, Westpoint Homes has submitted a planning application to build 15 new houses on the field behind Wester Dalmeny Cottages.

The biggest concern is the proposed access road into the development from Bankhead Road.  We do not think this is appropriate, particularly given the close proximity to the hill and the poor visibility which exists.  This could make it dangerous for cars and other vehicles when they are entering or exiting the development.  The proposed housing designs are also not in keeping with the conservation nature of the village.

The community council and a number of residents raised objections to the proposals during the consultation period earlier in the year.

The planning application is due to the considered by the new planning committee later this month.  As councillors, we have already submitted a formal request for a formal hearing on the application.  This would allow us, the community council and others to present our concerns to the committee before members make a final decision on whether to approve or reject the application.

We will keep you posted on this.  In the meantime, we want to thank and congratulate all those residents in Dalmeny who have been campaigning hard on this issue and have been so effective in highlighting local concerns.

SCOTTISH WATER ROAD WORKS

Scottish Water recently carried out works which involved resurfacing on Carlowrie Avenue and Crescent.  Unfortunately, the company made a mistake and laid the wrong type of tarmac on the small stretch of road between Standingstane Road and Carlowrie Crescent.

Scottish Water initially planned to correct the problem and carry out replacement works last week.  However, after we contacted Council officials, it was agreed the work would be delayed until the school summer holidays.  This should help to reduce the disruption which will be caused.

THE GLEBE PARK

Council officials have now agreed to remove the tarmac paths in the park at The Glebe. These were put down last year without consultation and against the wishes of local people.  The more recent consultation with residents showed massive support for returning the park to its original condition.

We are very frustrated that money was wasted on this especially when there is so much needing done both here in Dalmeny and in other parts of West Edinburgh.  We have made it clear to the Council that processes need to be improved stop this kind of money wasting exercise from being repeated.

Queensferry High School update

The Council has started a 12 week consultation on the replacement Queensferry High School.

This is a pre-planning consultation so that initial designs can be shared with the community as well as information on the impact on surrounding areas.

The plan is to have two ‘drop-in’ events, both running 4-8pm at the high school on 13 and 22 June. There will likely to be another presentation on 26 June, so plenty of opportunity for folk to see what is being considered and feed in thoughts, ideas and concerns.

You can find out more here.

Good news as Lothian announce new service to Queensferry

Lothian Buses has now published details of the new service which will start in Queensferry and Dalmeny next month.

There is some great news here;
– Lothian Bus passes (Ridacard) can be used on the new service. It means regular bus users in Queensferry will pay the same for a bus pass as the rest of Edinburgh.…
– This will be a ‘double decker’ service helping to address the problems we had with Stagecoach where people often failed to get on the bus at peak periods, particularly at the West End of Edinburgh.
– The cost of single tickets will be cheaper than Stagecoach.
– The services will run from early in the morning to late at night.

You can see all the information at www.lothiancountry.co.uk

Working with Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, we fought hard to get Lothian to start a new service. We were only able to do that because of the huge support we received, with thousands signing our petition and over 50% of people in Queensferry and Dalmeny backing us in the recent council elections.

THANK YOU!

Cllr Kevin Lang and Cllr Louise Young

Liberal Democrats score HUGE victory in Almond ward

New councillors, Kevin Lang and Louise Young want to say a huge THANK YOU for the fantastic support they received in the recent council election. The result was pretty overwhelming – just look at the party first preferences totals:

Liberal Democrats – 7,217 (51%)
SNP – 3,211 (22%)
Con – 2,395 (17%)…
Lab – 786 (6%)
Green – 375 (3%)

Kevin and Louise said, “During the campaign, we promised to be a hard working and effective team of local councillors. That’s why we are getting straight to work, holding our first meetings in the City Chambers.

“We will be getting our telephone, email and surgery details all confirmed over the coming days. We will also start work on the issues we campaigned on so strongly over the last few weeks. As promised, we will keep in touch through regular newsletters and email updates.

“We are honoured to be your voices on Edinburgh City Council. We will now work as hard as we can to repay the trust which local people have placed in us.”

Street light out in your area? – let us know

streetlights

The local Lib Dem team always work to ensure broken street lights are replaced as quickly as possible.

Click here to report a broken street light in your area

Lib Dem council candidate Kevin Lang said, “I’ve already managed to get a number of broken street lights fixed by the council.  I report lights and ensure that they are monitored until fixed. Street lighting is important for safety and security of road users and pedestrians. For street lamp repairs it helps to know what address the lamp is located by, or the number from the lighting column.”

You can report street lighting by filling in this form and Kevin will make the report.

Kevin said, “If you notice a problem in the local area then please report it. It takes just a couple of minutes to let us know and it helps us look after the area.”