New Portobello High School - PPAG win legal appeal

[Betty Windsor]

Geoff -Re consultation. Is the website you mention the official place for parents to put in their comments? If so who wrote the pros and cons? There appear to be a lot of assumptions being made. Were these timescales etc taken directly from the council officials or are PFANS making it up to suit their own agenda?
Did the parent councils set this website up? I haven't heard from the school or the parent council about this and as comments need to be in by end of next week I wonder how they plan to let people know about?
Many parents I have spoken to do not feel there has been any consultation since the very emphatic ruling by Scotland's highest court that to build on the park would be illegal. Not all parents support the council's attempted illegal land grab of the park.
I also believe this issue is so important, there should be consultation in the wider community.

[seanie]

No, the website isn't the official place for parents to put their comments, but all comments will be passed on to the Council. I wrote the pros and cons, partly based on information available, partly based on my own knowledge and experience. Having discussed the issues with Council officials, and having shown them my list of pros and cons, I have to say we were pretty much in agreement, although there have been a few developments since that mean not all the options proposed are covered. However, the Council have produced summaries for all the options now on the table.

The Parent Councils didn't set up the web-site and, as far as I'm aware are taking different approaches to providing feedback. However, given the tight timescales, the web-site is there to be used by parents should they so wish, whatever proposal they favour.

As to wider Community Consultation, that should happen in due course. For now, the Council are attempting to get an initial idea of the feelings of the school communities on the respective options.

[portygeoff]

[David Robertson]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob0131]

Perhaps we will see a call for dog swimming lessons at Porty baths to help reduce the canine fatalities. So what if it renders the pool unusable for children and other human lifeforms - DOGS DIE IN FIGGY POND!

[Makaveli]

I have never seen a more compelling argument for the school to not be build on Porty Park than dog suicide.

Maybe we have all been wrong all along and need to rethink our options - how many dogs have to kill themsleves before we do the right thing???!!!

[wangi]

I know this is frivolous (although not for those who have unfortunately lost a dog) but in the circumstance that part of the existing PHS site is turned into a new park then it would surely improve this situation? There would be a new park, without dangerous boardwalk, available for the exercise of dogs. It would not be an extension of Figgate Park - the houses of Hamilton Drive are between the two!

[SoupDragon]

Is there any concrete evidence for the dog deaths in Figgate Park?

Someone wouldn't just make that up, would they?

Though maybe if the dogs were on a lead they wouldn't leap into the pond.
Is there a case for publicising that dogs should be kept on a tight lead especially on the walkway

[Epykat]

On the contrary - it's an absolute MUST that the school has to now go on the Figgy. Dogs are being WALKED there It must therefore be a dogs' toilet and that is the main criteria for building apparently. In fact, there are so many dogs' toilets in Porty that we could have a campus on each space. Better still, go the whole way and exterminate the lot of them in the Figgy Pond. Leaves the door wide open for the important members of the community

[seanie]

[Bob0131]

I'm aghast that the owners of the "several" dead dogs did not care enough about their canine companions to dive into the pond and rescue them. Or perhaps the "reel me in master" function on their extendable leads were faulty, have Flexi recalled these products? Is there such a thing as a dog lifebelt?

[Pal of Porty]

This should fix the problem:



Simples.

[Franck]

I've got two dugs,both are fond of chasing the ducks in the figgie pond, neither are deed because of it.Never heard of a dug drowning in the pond in my entire puff.

[lg1726]

Likewise, have two dog, one a rescue and very neurotic, on doggy prozac, but has not shown any signs of topping herself of the board-walk. I have to say, this is taking the objections to whole new level!!!

[Epykat]

[seanie]

Very few people have the ability to change their mind all the way back to the beginning again.

In fact, you may be unique in that.

[gillian]

Sorry I seem to have lost the plot again. At what point has it been suggested that the Figgy be made bigger?

[Porty]

Should I tell my dog suicide story again? It happened in the figgy.
L

[Bob Jefferson]

Yes, do tell. Meanwhile...

[Bob0131]

What is this? Some sort of deviant version of Lassie?

[Betty Windsor]

[little miss moffat]

[seanie]

I can perhaps offer some insight by way of example.

Back during the pre-planning consultation on the Hogh School, Towerbank surveyed parents & carers on the proposals. It was an entirely neutral and unbiased survey; you simply had to rate the proposals on a scale 0-10, comment on what you did or didn't like, and add any other comments. All responses, even anonymous ones, were handed on to the Council.

However, whilst a response from the School Council based on the outcomes of the survey was accepted as a response to the consultation, all the individual responses and comments were discounted. PPAG and (then Cllr) Stephen Hawkins had lobbied hard to have them excluded on the basis that the survey was 'not official'.

[little miss moffat]

Porty High Update
November 1st, 2012 | Author: keziadugdale
Every week, the Parliament has something called General Questions and it’s usually the 20 mins before First Minister’s Questions. It works on a sort of ballot or raffle system in the sense that you can only table a question if your name is pulled out of the hat. This week was my lucky week and I chose to ask the Government about the future of Portobello High School. The detail of the exchange is below.

I also have a number of Parliamentary Questions in the system and have letters into Government Ministers awaiting a response. Once I have received responses, which should be in the next couple of days, I will seek to contact everyone who has been in touch about Portobello High School with a more fullsome report of what I’ve been doing recently to make the school on the park a reality as soon as possible. If you’d like a copy of that update and haven’t been in touch already, sign up here.

Portobello High School

3. Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had discussions with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the future of Portobello high school. (S4O-01418)

The Minister for Local Government and Planning (Derek Mackay): The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth and I have offered to meet council representatives to discuss possible options, work through next steps and consider what appropriate support the Scottish Government can provide to assist the City of Edinburgh Council to fulfil its responsibilities.

Kezia Dugdale: Will the minister clarify whether he is looking at the power to advance wellbeing in those discussions? Can he assure my constituents, who have a deep sense of anger and disappointment that the school has yet again been delayed, that the Government will do everything that it can to see the new Portobello high school built on the park as soon as possible?

Derek Mackay: I thank the member for the constructive tone in which she asked the question. The SNP Government is outcome focused. We will work to try to deliver the aspirations of the City of Edinburgh Council, and its preferred site is indeed the park. The problem has come about because of a legal determination. We will work through the options.

The exploratory consultation on the community empowerment and renewal bill covers the issue of common good land, but it might not be timeous enough to give rise to a solution to this particular issue.

I guarantee that the Government will be proactive and take a constructive approach to the meeting with the City of Edinburgh Council. I am informed that it has been scheduled for 13 November. I will be happy to update the member on the outcome of those discussions.

[little miss moffat]

[seanie]

No. This isn't a formal consultation, they're looking for informal feedback, and given the tight timescales anything that makes that easier helps.

[fresian]

Perhaps the old school building could be retained, with a kind of roof garden/park built on the roof. This could then be separated into places where dogs can excercise, dog loos could be provided as well, any depressed or bipolar dogs could simply jump off the roof if life was getting to be unbearable

[Porty]

[Scoop]

Off topic, or WHAT!!!

[Scoop]

"Sexto. That if my said disponees or their foresaids shall act contrary to any of the reservations, conditions, provisions and declarations herein expressed then this Feu Right and all that may have followed upon the same shall become void and null and the said area or piece of ground hereby disponed shall revert to me or my foresaids in like manner as if this Feu had never been granted."

Forgive me if this has already been covered, but this reads to me like Portobello Park will be returned to the heirs of Sir James Miller if the council try to build a school on it. I'm sure the council will have been in touch with them though.....

[seashell]

Scoop - Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act 2000 extinguished feudal burdens like these, unless preserved (action taken by the feudal superior). So the clause is meaningless.

[Scoop]

Umless it has indeed been preserved. Wonder how we can find out.

[Porty]

Registers of Scotland? It was not preserved. We had that discussion back in 2006.

[seashell]

Scoop - as Porty says, this has been looked into before. For the record, only a tiny percentage of burdens were actually preserved.

But if you want to double check, then that's easy: the Registers of Scotland are all open to the public to consult, and have been since 1617. Just nip along to Meadowbank House, where the staff in the Customer Service Centre will be only too pleased to help you. There is a fee payable for this service, of course. Just tell them you want to search the Sasine Register, for the county of Midlothian.