Superstore - New Petrol Station - Parking - New Access

[Bob Jefferson]

[Gemini]

[wangi]

[dccairns]

That's a great picture - it makes the pig look almost three-dimensional and thanks for the publicity for the campaign.

[Gemini]

[nickchild]

Don't know if this is new or not to this thread, cos I'm too active in other web/communities to read everything here! Sorry if it's old hat or just wrong.

I heard the following from an authoritative Planner pal. The longer a developer has to spend in enquiries and appeals, the more they have to keep paying a fairly significant lot of rates if the plan is for a superstore. So to drag things out is a good thing to do if you want to defeat that plan

Also, if the plan is for housing, then rates don't need to begin to be paid until the houses are up or occupied. So there is an inducement to move towards the sorts of things Porty would like to see on this site.

Nick

[Bob Jefferson]

[dccairns]

[dccairns]

[Mimpty]

[Bob Jefferson]

[dccairns]

[Bob Jefferson]

Nothing you don't already know, but good to see the campaign continuing to attract city-wide attention. We must have a good press-officer.

[Mimpty]

[Bob Jefferson]

Here is Lawrence Marshall's precognition to the Superstore Public Inquiry. I believe that a limit of 2000 words is imposed, so it is of necessity condensed to key arguments.

[Gemini]

Precognitions if over 2000 words, had to be condensed into a 2000 word summary.

Suffice to say, many of the precognitions topped 2000 words eg. if the witness was dealing with one or more topics.

The full precognitions have been sent to the Reporter and Appellants, only the summaries will be read out at the PLI

The following article is just one more reason to halt the Superstore Car Magnet.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/enviro ... ory=612888

[Bob Jefferson]

Here is the full version of Stephen Hawkins' precognition statement:

[Bob Jefferson]

Next up is the full text of Graham Kitchener's statement:

[Bob Jefferson]

Here is John Stewart's statement:

[Bob Jefferson]

And here is Joanna Blythman's statement:

[dccairns]

This is a reminder that the public inquiry into the superstore application will start on Tuesday 1 March at 10 am in the British Legion club, Baileyfield Road. It is expected to last until Friday 11 March, with closing submissions being heard the week commencing 14 March.

As soon as we find out what the timetable for evidence is we will let you know. Please try to come along for at least some of the time to hear what is being said and see what all the money you have so generously donated is being spent on. You can drop in and out as you like so don't need to commit a whole day or even half a day to attending.

If we think that a certain day is going to be particularly interesting we will let you know. Attending is a way of showing your support for the campaign and the Reporter will take public objection into account. If you feel it will help you to commit to attending, you might want to arrange a rota with friends and / or neighbours.

Please also put a window poster up to show your support, even if it's just for the duration of the inquiry.

Thanks for all your support so far. This is the big one - let's hope all our hard work pays off.

[Ned Ludd]

[dccairns]

[Maria]

[dccairns]

[Porty]

[dccairns]

[Bob Jefferson]

From today's EN:

[dccairns]

[Hawkeye]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Hawkeye]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

From today's EN:

[Hawkeye]

Today at the Inquiry.

Well, what a day of two halves. Another great turn out from our community.

Firstly we had Robert Drysdale who is the retail expert for Duddingston House Properties and the main one justifying why we need a new superstore. It was pointed out that only one person could be found in the local community who had been surveyed and he based his idea of need on the fact that most people use the four supermarkets within a 2 km radius of the town hall. And, in answering a question from the floor about his objection to the proposed tramway system as it would hold him up in traffic he side-stepped the issue about why he felt it good for Portobello residents to have more congestion.

In the end, it boiled down to him implementing the wishes of the Scottish Executive through their planning policies and guidelines - he is only following orders. Comments been passed that he has a passing resemblance to Herr Flick, whoever he was. At least the arguments and issues raised were understandable and one or two humorous quips helped along a marathon session that only ended at 1.15pm.

In the afternoon the council opened their case with their expert on urban design. This was quickly reduced to some fairly lengthy, tedious discussion on how the statement of design principles for Baileyfield site had come about. Unfortunately, this pushed out time for evidence to be heard from the first community witness. Woodwares had offered to bring round some emergency tins of paint so that we might watch it drying in order to liven up the afternoon.

A pity really as the day had started on a light note with the reporter telling us that she had been looking at aerial photographs of Portobello and in particular the Bridge Street car park. The previous afternoon the developers had possibly thought they had refuted suggestions from the community that this car park was little used as the photos showed the car park full. However, as it was sunny and the trees were in leaf that it might have been a sunny weekend day with trippers enjoying our famous sea front and beach rather than shoppers in the town. Who says the camera never lies?

Anyway - tomorrow promises to be far more interesting with Trevor Davies, the chair of the planning committee, possibly followed by the community’s retail expert and John Stewart from the Community Council appearing. Starting time 9:30.

Please note that due to the developers not knowing about the Seafield roundabout improvements the inquiry is likely to be suspended from next Tuesday and will re-convene on Wednesday 16th March to hear traffic evidence.