Sandport Boardwalk plan surfaces on The Shore

Former Leith Ward Councillor Rob Munn has started a new blog called Leith Notes. One of his first posts reports from a recent public meeting where developers outlined their ideas for a new boardwalk running along the Shore. We're grateful to Rob for letting us republish his report below. 

Sandport Boadwalk is the working title for a plan to change the Water of Leith basin as we know it.

Some years back a company called Water of Leith 2000 put forward plans for barges along the shore line for use as houseboats. However the plans changed to office use and today the barges moored between Malmaison and the Ship on the Shore house a variety of offices.

Expansion of this scheme upstream through the inner basin and on to Bonnington weir at the Quilts had so far not materialised. Water of Leith 2000 put their property (the shoreline on both sides) up for sale by auction in 2009 but failed to find a single bidder.

Recently it was revealed that Water of Leith 2000 had changed into Bluefield and that a new plan was in the offing. Friends of the Water of Leith Basin made contact and suggested that once they had some ideas to share they would be happy to host a presentation at one of their meetings. On 4th April as part of a General Meeting of FoWL.B a presentation was made of the proposal 'Sandport Boardwalk' by well known Edinburgh architect Malcolm Fraser.

It was tentative - Malcolm had only got involved about a week before the meeting. He stressed that what was proposed would balance commercial use (that's the bit that will make the proposal economically viable) and public space (the boardwalk bit). There are no definite plans yet and planning permission will have to be sought and further detailed public consultation would be required.

Concerns were raised at the meeting regarding visual impact, the consequences of changing the Shore in this way, practicalities such as access and increased pressure on parking in the area. As the proposed structures are intended to float as the barges do it was pointed out that the silting up of the inner basin could scupper the plans.

Another concern was the effect of 'deadening' the Shore - before the barges went in people used to spill out of the bars and restaurants on the Shore on warm summer days and evenings animating the area in a social way. By contrast while the office barges are visually interesting their effect creates a barrier between the shore and the Water of Leith. This could be the effect of the what is being proposed for the upper reaches though to be fair the boardwalk could alleviate this effect by allowing people to walk around these units.

The plans need to be fully fleshed out before being exposed to full public scrutiny and consultation. I certainly want to see more about what these structures would look like and how they might look on the Leith Shore. It may be that some of it will find support and some of it won't. Malcolm Fraser is a renowned architect and capable of coming up with something interesting and challenging. Interestingly there were other locally based architects present at the meeting perhaps most notably Groves Raines Architects who have recent restored Lamb's House as a home and working architects office. Their response at this initial stage seemed to sit between lukewarm and hostile.

The Council has recently spent a lot of public money improving the road, footways and general public realm at the Shore and it looks fantastic. These plans could change the whole look of those improvements and it could be argued exploit this public investment for private gain.

One thing is clear - more public debate is needed on these proposals and much more detail of what is proposed needs to come into the public domain to allow as full a discussion as possible. There will be great interest in these proposals as the plans come forward and the public debate will be lively.
The Friends of the Water of Leith Basin are to be thanked for organising this initial presentation on Bluefield's proposals.

You can read more from Rob Munn on his blog at http://leithnotes.blogspot.co.uk/

If you would like to write a guest post for Greener Leith, get in touch.

Lochend Park - teeming with bird life

Everyone together - awwww. 

This short video clip of goslings in Lochend Park was shot at the weekend, but the baby geese are not the only bird life to be seen there. 

There's a whole load more photos on the Friends of Lochend Park Facebook page including this one of a little grebe. 

And of course, if you are interested in finding out more about some of the other Spring birds you might see around Leith, check out this recent guest post by Elaine O'Mahony.

Leith Central Community Council writes to Westminster over VAT changes

Leith Central Community Council has written to the Westminster Government backing a campaign to abolish proposals to charge 20% VAT on alterations to historic buildings. Currently alterations are zero-rated for VAT. This helps to keep the costs of maintaining and restoring old buildings low. Adding 20% to the VAT bill will make paying for alterations much more expensive.

Given the age of many buildings in Leith, it is likely that a change of this nature could have a disproportionate effect in this area.

The letter to the Minister, from Roland Reid, Secretary of the Community Council reads:

"I am writing to you on behalf of Leith Central Community Council, Edinburgh.  We discussed the implications of the changes to VAT exemption for our community at our meeting of 14 May.  Our area forms part of the historic port of Edinburgh and is predominantly late Georgian/Victorian in date.

"We have a number of vacant listed community and former church buildings including some on the "Buildings at Risk" register.    We are keen to see these properties sensitively altered in order that they can be brought back into use and contribute to the area's regeneration.

"However, projects involving alterations to listed buildings are often complex and costly and so the application of 20% VAT to building works will add a further disincentive to both community groups and commercial developers.  The churches are no longer places of worship so would not be eligible for the newly extended ecclesiastical grant scheme.

"Listing may safeguard properties from demolition but not from vandalism and water ingress resulting from the theft of lead.  Derelict buildings in key locations can have a disproportionately negative impact on a community.  We therefore request that the UK government review its current budget proposal before it comes into force this October."

The community council is not alone in voicing concern over the VAT proposal. The Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland have also written to the Government calling for an urgent review of the proposals.

You can read their letter here.

Local MP, Mark Lazarowicz, has also called for the government to abandon these proposals, citing a specific concern that the proposal could hamper efforts to bring older buildings back into community use.  He said:

“Alterations to buildings such as historic churches and other community buildings can be essential to enable them to continue as living buildings and to open them out to wider use by the community.

"That ought to be a good fit with the Government’s idea of the Big Society but instead it intends to introduce a massive hike in VAT which could stifle community projects like this.

"Edinburgh is world famous for its architectural heritage but our historic buildings are also widely used especially at Festival time and often that’s only possible because of alterations of this kind.

"Fundraising is already difficult enough in the current climate without increasing the target still further and I am urging the Government to think again.

"Edinburgh North and Leith includes many historic buildings in areas such as Leith and the New Town, and is likely to be particularly badly hit by the change if it goes ahead."

Although the formal consultation date on this proposal is over, if you want to make your opposition heard on this issue there is an online petition here, which has already gained more than 11,000 signatures.

Leith Central Community Council is also leading efforts to establish much of Pilrig as a Conservation Area.

Leithers invited to take part in the Big Lunch

At Greener Leith we like the idea of The Big Lunch, so we invited Emily Watts from the Big Lunch Scotland to explain a bit more about the project in this guest post, below.

The Big Lunch is a simple idea from the Eden Project that aims to get as many people in the UK as possible to come together and have lunch with their neighbours, on one day.

This year we’re working towards the 3rd June, which is a Sunday. Our Big Lunch pack is undated though, so you can have your lunch whenever best suits you. We know already that there’s a fair bit of activity in Edinburgh, and we’ve spoken to a few Leith Lunchers.

If you haven’t heard anything, but fancy the idea – there’s still time! A Big Lunch can be anything from a small picnic in a green space, to a full blown street party involving hundreds. You can even have one inside if you prefer – or if the Harr dictates.

We offer packs to help you get started – they’re downloadable and contain posters, invites, a growing planner (though two weeks might be pushing anything but cress), a crowd cooking recipe book and various other goodies. You can get hold of yours at www.thebiglunch.com

We offer the idea as an invitation – what you do with your Big Lunch is entirely up to you.

The Big Lunch happens every year – this is our fourth! We’re really hoping to get more Scottish communities on board and the team up here (Emily and Emma) are really keen to hear from folk planning lunches big and small. We know that good things happen when people get together to talk and eat – what will you bring to the table?

The only thing we ask is that you let us know if you go ahead. You can send your tales to stories@thebiglunch.com and photos to photos@thebiglunch.com

At Greener Leith at the moment we're super busy at present on other projects, but if any readers wanted help to promote or organise a Big Lunch in Leith - tell us and we'll do our best to support. As a starter for ten, posting your event details to thegreenerleithsocial.org is a really good way to reach a lot of local folk. 

Real nappy world record smashed in Leith

Well it's got to be one of the more obscure world records in the Guiness book of records, but this week it was confirmed that around 30 parents and babies who gathered in the Calton Centre last month made a successful contribution towards a global attempt to smash the world record for the 'largest simultaneous real nappy change in the world.'

The new world record which they helped to set saw 8,251 nappies changed at the same time. This was 3,225 more than last year.  Events were held in 11 different countries.

Leslie Dible, Changeworks' Real Nappy Project Co-ordinator said: "We're delighted to take part in this fantastic event. It was great fun and demonstrates how people can do amazing things which, when brought together, make a real impact. In this case, Edinburgh's tots helped trump a world record for real nappies and waste prevention."

Should you be curious about real nappies you can find out more here: http://www.goreal.org.uk/

Changeworks volunteers organise 'napachino events' in Leith fairly frequently where Mums can find out more about using real nappies - details are usually posted to thegreenerleithsocial.org

What do you want to know about your local park?

Some months ago, the City of Edinburgh Council were amongst five Scottish local authorities to be awarded some cash from the NESTA Make it Local Scotland programme. 

They were awarded money to help them develop a web based service, and some mobile phone applications, that would help people to find out more about their local parks. And in somewhat radical move for the City of Edinburgh Council they suggest that this could even include "user generated" information, such as people's photos, or stories about their parks.

The people involved in developing the service are currently calling on Edinburgh residents to let them know what kind of information they'd most like to see and how they might use this sort of a service. 

Before we put our ideas in, we'd thought we'd ask for your ideas and throw out some suggestions we can think of, that aren't already on the list. 

• Number of Dog Fouling and Litter fines issued in the park
• Location of nearest bus stops and bus services (bus tracker)
• Geo-tagged photos from Flickr
• Latest nearby Fixmystreet.com reports
• The park quality score and development plan
• Information about local Friend of Parks group
• "Virtual park notice board"

There are probably loads of other things that people might find useful. Can you think of them?

If so, you can tell the council here:

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/674/consultations/1729/help_shape_our_new_digital_service/1

But feel free to also share your ideas with the world by sharing with us in the comments for this blog post.

Leith MSP Malcolm Chisholm praises city coalition deal

Stewart Lochhead from Three Men In A Blog recently posted this audio interview with Leith MSP Malcolm Chisholm to Soundcloud. In the interview they discuss the new Labour/SNP coalition deal at the City Chambers.

Whilst the chairs are still being shuffled on the Royal Mile, it looks as though Leith councillors are set to take up some key roles in the new administration.

Leith Walk councillor Deidre Brock is lined up to become Deputy Provost, after serving as Convenor of Culture and Leisure in the previous administration. In the same ward Labour Councillor Angela Blacklock is set to become vice-convenor of the Regulatory Committee according to the Edinburgh Labour website, whilst her party colleague in the Leith Ward, Gordon Munro, is lined up for the vice-convernorship of the Economic Development Committee.  

You can read the Labour and SNP coalition agreement in full below: 

A New Contract With the Capital

Leithers will be interested to note that one of the more specific pledges in the document is a commitment to oppose commercial biomass plants. This will give some comfort to No Leith Biomass campaigners, who remain concerned that Forth Energy will return with a new proposal for another large biomass power plant on the docks. 

Leith Waterworld survey

Locals working on their bid to re-open Leith Waterworld need your help.

They're doing a bit of research into how people used the pool, and what people's ideas for the future of the pool - if it were to re-open - might be.

So, please help them by taking a couple of minutes to fill out this online survey:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHJRYmN3OTJXUC1Ya0Y5dDdnLVZqVlE6MQ

The more people that fill it out, the greater the chance that volunteers will be able to put together a realistic, and convincing, business case to re-open the pool.

And you can win £33.20 in a prize draw if you do it too (This is the cost of train travel to and from Burntisland and entry to Beacon Leisure Pool for two adults and two children).