Communications

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Demolition to Start at the Former B&Q Site

Although there has been some minor exploratory work in the car park of the former B&Q store in Warriston Road, the developer (Artisan) now has in place the necessary permissions to start re-development of the site and intends to commence demolition, site clearance and other prestart works on Monday 23rd October.

The local residents group has raised an historical issue regarding the enforcement of the no parking restrictions mainly at the western end of Powderhall Road – it would seem that during the development of Powderhall Village, no relevant traffic orders were exercised at that time, such that parking restrictions are currently unenforceable. The necessary provisions are now belatedly being progressed by Edinburgh Council and thankfully, with the retrofit of the adjacent Fusion House from office use to residential now being complete, the pressure on parking on this section of Powderhall Road has eased somewhat but residents remain concerned about the impact of the low number of planned parking spaces in the new Canonmills garden development and the probable over-spill into Powderhall and the surrounding streets.

We are pleased that the developer for the B&Q site has at least made contractors aware of the limited car parking in the area and has arranged for all of their personnel to park within the B&Q site boundary.

The demolition contractors are Kinetic Demolition (www.kineticdemolition.com) who can be contacted on 0131-510-7170 in the event of a reoccurrence of irresponsible parking.

Coincident with the demolition,” a pro-active programme of tree maintenance that will involve some thinning and felling” will be undertaken in the existing tree belt at the eastern edge of the site.

Clearly, whilst some may miss the convenience of a DIY store in the locality, very few will miss the aesthetic contribution of the current shed, its yard or its car park – including its carrier-bag catching fencing.

NTBCC are overall supportive of the proposed development which will provide much needed new homes (including 25% “affordable" units) on a brownfield site that is no longer  deemed to have a viable commercial use.

Continue reading →

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NTBCC minutes – Monday 11 September 2017

Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s ordinary meeting, held in the Drummond Room, Broughton St Mary’s Church, Bellevue Crescent on Monday 11 September 2017 at 7.30pm

Actions and decisions are red italic underlined. Nem con means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision.

This minute is in the agenda order, but the chair re-ordered the meeting due to late arrivals from the Cockburn Association AGM. Continue reading →

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Edinburgh flat residents – what do you think of on street recycling bins?

(adapted from an email from Changeworks)

If you live in a flat in Edinburgh, Changeworks would like to ask your views of the shared waste and recycling bins on your street. The results of this survey will help the City of Edinburgh Council improve the service. The short online survey, which only takes 5-10 minutes to complete, is available to Edinburgh residents until 23 October 2017.

By taking part in the survey, you can enter a prize draw* with the chance to win several prizes including vouchers for Pizza Express and Cineworld, and family passes to the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh. You will also be offered the chance to attend a paid focus group, scheduled for November 2017, where feedback and ideas will be explored in more depth.

You can also follow @ChangeworksUK on Facebook and Twitter to share and retweet their posts about the recycling survey.

*Terms and conditions apply

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Calton Hill Draft Management Plan

(adapted from an email from Edinburgh Council)

This draft management plan (32 MB PDF) was commissioned by Edinburgh World Heritage on behalf of the Calton Hill Steering Group. It aims to direct future management and maintenance of this landmark site and will be presented to City of Edinburgh Council on 15 March 2018.

The Calton Hill Steering Group would welcome your views and feedback on this draft document.  Please see the link below which will take you directly to a survey through which any comments or suggestions can be made. This survey will close on Tuesday 7 November 2017.

https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/calton-hill-draft-management-plan-1

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Sarah Murphy (Edinburgh Council) using the details below.

Thank you in advance for taking part.

Continue reading →

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New Proposal – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Re-development – Dundas St / Fettes Row / Royal Crescent

Following on from the seemingly “stalled” planning application (16/05454/PPP) for the former RBS site in the New Town, NTBCC were recently invited to a meeting by GVA / Michael Laird Architects to have first sight of their latest (amended) proposals.

The original application attracted over 400 objections including one from Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The agents and architects have been in discussion with both the Planning Authority and HES with the objective of amending the their plans in light of the many concerns raised with their original proposal, primarily (but not exclusively) due to the impact on the views and amenity of Fettes Row & Royal Crescent and the users of King George V Park.

We understand from these recent discussions that the agents intend submitting a set of amended plans – replacing elements of the original plans to address (at least in part) the concerns raised by HES and many others. We also understand that a further consultation period of at least 21 days  is envisaged which will allow residents to look at the proposed changes and submit further comments. There may also be further "neighbourhood notifications" to alert local residents to these amended plans.

We also strongly encouraged the developers to engage in a face to face discussion to give residents more background and explain the reasoning behind these amendments.

We are pleased that representatives from GVA and Michael Laird Architects will be at the October NTBCC meeting on Monday October 9th at 7:30pm in Broughton St Mary’s (further details on  http://www.ntbcc.org.uk/ntbcc-agenda-monday-9-october-2017/) to discuss their latest thoughts.

The developers have indicated that their amended plans will be submitted for consideration in the next 1 – 2 months but  should provide a clearer timescale at the NTBCC meeting.

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Leith Street – Notice of Pedestrian Bridge Removal

We have been informed that the pedestrian bridge over Leith Street which connects the Q-Park with the former St James Shopping centre will be removed over the weekend 16 / 17 September.

As many will be aware, the Leith Street road closure is in place for vehicles, but Leith Street is still open for pedestrians and cyclists.  Given that safety of the public, as well as construction workers, is of the upmost priority, it has been agreed that it would be unsafe to allow pedestrian and cyclists to pass under the bridge during the removal process. However, the impact on residents will be minimised by removing the bridge during the night and early hours which should (weather and wind permitting) allow Leith Street to re-open to pedestrians and cyclists for usual daytime activities.

Therefore a section of Leith Street will be closed for all activities (pedestrians / cyclists)  from 01:00am to 08:00am on Saturday 16 September.

Further details on the planned works can be seen here.