TAYLOR WIMPEY PROPOSE EXTENSION TO SCOTSTOUN HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Taylor Wimpey is to submit a plan to extend the scope of the new housing development at South Scotstoun in Queensferry.


SNP and Labour councillors voted last year to approve building 340 new homes on the Scotstoun fields.


Taylor Wimpey are now suggested adding a further phase to the development of around 40 additional homes. This would be on the last just to the south east of the agreed development, just south of Dimma Park.
There will be a public exhibition of the plans 4-7pm on 30 April at the Queensferry Community Centre, just off Kirkliston Road.

Residents will be able to see the plans before the Council starts the formal consultation period.

Major road works on Main Street, Kirkliston in April

Council roads officials have agreed to major works on Kirkliston Main Street in April.

The works are to allow for the sewer connection to the new restaurant. This has been scheduled to take place 13-21 April during the second week of the Easter school holidays.

This will require two way temporary traffic lights on the road as well as the temporary relocation of the west bound and east bound bus stops.

Hopefully, this advance notice will give residents some time to plan ahead.

Anger over delay to Queensferry High Street project

We are very frustrated to have to report a delay of one year to the project to upgrade and improve the High Street in Queensferry.

Work has been ongoing over the last year to develop detailed plans for the new High Street. It comes after two round of consultation where residents were able to feed in their ideas.

The final consultation is now due to take place in April. However, the significant changes planned for traffic control, parking and servicing of the shops mean new traffic regulation orders will be needed.

This means the construction tender is now expected to be issued in the autumn of this year with site works to start in early 2020. This represents a delay of about a year.

We have written to the Council’s local transport manager about the extremely poor communication around this delay. It is frustrating given all the hard work to engage residents on what should be an exciting project for the Ferry over the last year.

Kirkliston primary 1 / nursery update

Following the recent public meeting in Kirkliston, Council education officials are currently working on two options for P1/nursery provision in the village:

  1. Nursery on the Leisure Centre site with modular P1 classrooms also on the Leisure Centre site;
  2. Nursery on the Leisure Centre site with modular P1 classrooms on the main school site.

The public meeting showed there a clear desire for the nursery on the leisure centre site but people were less convinced that P1 pupils should be based there too.  The officials heard the concern in particular about the logistics of operation on the Leisure Centre site, the accommodation the P1 classes would have access to and the timescales for delivery.

Accordingly, they are working on progressing a design for the layout of the Leisure Centre site that will allow them to discuss in more detail how the proposal would work in practice; the timescales for delivery and the financial implications.

In terms of current work;

  • They have appointed a full design team and project management.
  • Site investigations on the leisure centre site to identify ground conditions, services, etc. are about to start.
  • They are contacting Edinburgh Leisure to discuss school use of facilities within the Leisure Centre (regardless of the solution progressed) – how this would be managed, what this might mean in cost terms, etc.
  • They have met with SportScotland and had a positive meeting in regard to the use of the “playing field” as a nursery and P1 classroom site.

They have told us that more developed design layouts should be back in the next few weeks which they intend to discuss with school management in the first instance.

They also plan to set up a working group with representatives from the Parent Council that would feed into the early design process and assist the school particularly in the transition to the new accommodation.

Why this isn’t the right time to extend the tram

The Council vote on whether to extend the tram to Newhaven will take place next month. After much consideration, we have concluded that now is not the time to progress the extension.

There are five critical reasons why:

1. The fact Lord Hardie has yet to report his final recommendations following his independent inquiry into the first tram project.  We promised that we would learn the lessons from the first project and we simply can’t do that at the moment. Council officials have admitted that Lord Hardie could make recommendations which we can’t then incorporate if we sign the contracts now.

2. The failure of the SNP/ Labour administration to show how the tram extension will be linked to wider public transport improvements , especially in our area of west Edinburgh. We pushed hard for a dedicated action plan to improve public transport in rural west Edinburgh and the SNP voted it down. If we are to spend £200m on a tram extension to Leith then we need to know how people in this area are going to benefit from improved public transport too.

3. Insufficient information to explain what impact the £20m special dividend from Lothian buses could have on bus routes, fares and other operations. We have no guarantee that the extra money being taken from Lothian won’t result in a ticket increase or cutbacks.

4. The substantial impact the project could have on the Council’s reserves at a time of wider economic uncertainty. It would eat into our reserves leaving us severely exposed if another unexpected event came along.

5. The impact of Brexit which could affect the assumptions on which the business case has been based.

This has not been an easy decision for us to take. However, we need to do what we think is right and given all of the problems above, we just don’t think we can, in good conscience, vote to approve such a major and expensive project.

Major new housing plan for Craigiehall / Burnshot

A new planning application has been submitted for over 1,000 new homes on and around the Ministry of Defence land at Craigiehall just to the south of Burnshot Road.

Plans for housing on the site were first suggested back in 2016.  The new application includes;

  • a total of 1,151 new homes, including affordable housing
  • retaining the existing homes on the site including Hillisde Road and Riverside Road.
  • a possible new primary school
  • a park and ride facility at the north east of the site nearest to Burnshot Bridge

You can see the full plans here.

The Council has now commenced the statutory consultation period for people to lodge comments. You can submit views by Sunday 24 February via the online planning portal.

Because this development is proposed on land currently designated as green belt, the decision will be taken by all 63 councillors and not just the planning committee.  This means we are not allowed to express a view at this stage. If we do then we will not be able to vote on the application when it comes to full Council.  We hope our constituents understand this.

We would encourage constituents to have a good look at the plans and make their views known by the deadline.

Harvest Drive, Ratho Station to close for three weeks

Harvest Drive, one of the two main roads in and out of Ratho Station, is to be closed for up to three weeks.  This is to carry out emergency repair work and follows a recent inspection.

The road will be closed at the south end from 14 January. A diversion will be in place with signage put up around the area.  However, it will mean the only road in and out of Ratho Station during this time will be via Station Road/Glasgow Road.

Click here for the full map and diversion plan

Whilst the work could take up to three weeks, transport officials have told us that, with good weather, they may be able to complete it in a shorter period.

Queensferry High School update

The contractors involved in building the new Queensferry High School have issued their latest newsletter.  You can read it in full here.

The key highlights are;

  • the project remains on track to complete in March 2020.
  • The structural steel frame has been completed. Most of ground and upper floor concrete floors have been cast and they have now commenced construction of the roof and walls.
  • The volume of traffic movement through the area will reduce significantly in February when
    concrete floor slabs are completed.
  • They have just started to construct the main entrance and school social space at the heart of the new school.

Major new development proposed between Maybury and Barnton

A major new development of around 500 new homes, retail and offices is being proposed on the land to the west of Maybury Road and north of Craigs Road.

It is important to say this development would be over and above the plan for new housing at Cammo which is currently with the Council planning department for consideration.

The developers are currently undertaking the required consultation before they can submit a planning application.  The consultation boards are available on the images below.

You can submit views by 17 December by emailing glasgow@iceniprojects.com

Because this development is proposed on land currently designated as greenbelt, a final decision would need to be taken by the full Council and not just the planning committee. This means both of us as Councillors would be able to vote.

As a result, we are not allowed to comment on these proposals ahead of the final Council debate and decision. Doing so could bar us from voting. We hope people will understand this.

However, as ward councillors, we are still allowed to ask for and listen to our constituents’ views before a decision is taken.

We would strongly encourage folks to submit their views.  Please copy us into any submission you make (kevin.lang@edinburgh.gov.uk / louise.young@edinburgh.gov.uk)