Superstore - New Petrol Station - Parking - New Access

[dccairns]

The Council Planning department informed me today that the developers have appealed to the Scottish Executive because the planning application did not go to committee within the two-month statutory timeframe. No-one warned us of this possible scenario at any point up to now. Even though the developers have held the application up with their tardy delivery of reports they can now bypass the Planning Committee and go straight for a public enquiry which is what is going to happen. Apparently the letter signalling their intentions from the developers has just come in to the Council in the last couple of days so nothing much will happen for a while. It is unlikely that the public enquiry will take place until September/October time.

Will update the website as new information comes in.

[Cynthia]

So they don't even bother to wait for local democracy to take place - but this seems a tactic that developers seem to be using more now. Lets face it, they are just speculators on land values, they don't even own the land. There was a piece in the Evg News tonite re Tollcross and the developers there have done the very same thing, much to the annoyance of the local campaign. We have to remember Bath Street flats here again - if the Superstore got turned down by the local Council, as that did twice I believe, the developers would still go to the S Exec and maybe they didn't want the added evidence of it being turned down by the local Council. Who knows.

Hopefully our MSPs who have supported our campaign will now be able to argue our case in the Scottish Parliament, although it is I believe a nominated minister/civil servant who is responsible for the P Inquiry. If this goes through our MSPs will have a very annoyed community to cope with here I think!

Anyone with any expertise or experience re dealing with a Public Inquiry, please contact PCATS asap! We are in touch with another Campaign who have done this, but the more experience the better. email info@pcats.org.uk or post a private message to one of us through the forum, Carla

[Guest]

[dccairns]

[dccairns]

There will be a public meeting to discuss the forthcoming Public Inquiry and put forward your views about what you would like to see on the former Scottish Power site. There will be a speaker from Friends of the Earth, Scotland. Please put it in your diary. More details to follow.

Date: Monday 28 June
Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: Portobello Town Hall

[dccairns]

For those who would like to find out more about the debate on supermarkets, this evening's edition of "Tonight with Trevor MacDonald" focuses on the power of British supermarkets. It will be screened at 8.00 pm on ITV1.

[Guest]

[bellybabe]

[dccairns]

[wangi]

[dccairns]

[wangi]

[dccairns]

[dccairns]

This is to remind you about the Portobello Campaign Against the Superstore Public Meeting.

Date and time: 28 June at 7.30 pm

Venue: Portobello Town Hall

Come along to air your views and find out how you can help with the Public Inquiry.

A speaker from Friends of the Earth Scotland will be at the meeting to answer your questions about the Public Inquiry.

[dccairns]

[Guest]

Link to Evening News coverage of the Town Hall meeting:

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index ... 0629232406

[Guest]

[Mimpty]

I hope I am right in saying that at the public meeting Susan Deacon said that the Scottish Exec Reprters Unit were happy to receive letters from the public.

That being the case I contacted Susan's office and was given the Reporters Unit's address in order to write to them. For anyone who is interested, here it is:

Scottish Executive Enquiry Reporters Unit
4 The Courtyard
Callendar Business Park
Falkirk
FK1 1XR

tel.no: 01324 696 400

[Hell's Cat]

Spotted this in the Figgate Park on Sat. I wonder if they will start breeding if the new superstore opens?

[Hell's Cat]

Sorry, I think the image is too big to post on the forum. So have a look at-

http://www.visionsofscotland.co.uk/UrbanDecay.htm

[Guest]

[dccairns]

[ali]

[Guest]

[ecm]

[wangi]

[Gemini]

I well appreciate Mrs. Dignan's and ECM's reasons for a superstore.

We (Residents of Baileyfield Road) for obvious reasons are perhaps more than others anti this proposal as it will turn our street into an Island surrounded by vehicles of every size and description imaginable, this would be 24/7 - have a look at a map and consider the implications for the residents in this area!

We have a fair amount of senior citizens in this street along with children (who don't drive) most days we cannot walk down Fishwives Causeway due to indiscriminate parking (on pavements/double yellow lines) (please don't tell me to call the Police)!! The western end of Baileyfield Road fronts HLR, you will notice that the barrier has been crashed into again! The residents in this street often fear for their lives when accessing the bus stop at this end of B.R. Would you be happy for your child/mother to walk round this corner? It may be ok for ECM and Mrs. Dignan to think about how convenient it would be to nip over to the Superstore but who will pay the price? by all accounts not Mrs. Dignan as she lives in Westbank Street, therefore it will not distrupt her life to any great extent - No idea where ECM lives - however, I am 100% behind the Campaign against the Supersore as are 92% of the porty community - perhaps you should be looking at the bigger picture?

Should this Supersore get the go ahead you can forget Portobello as we know it, have a daunder down Easter Road, once a thriving area - now almost deserted.

(note: Harry Lauder Road now carries approx 18 million vehicles of which 10% are HGV - this is a conservative estimate) day and night. a mere 8 metres from Baileyfield Road - for the hard of thinking this is approx 24 feet.

Baileyfield Residents Group

[dccairns]

[xxxx]

[ceejam]

[bellybabe]

[Gemini]

[Guest]

[cornerboy]

I'm with dccairns and the other non-car households. One of the pleasures of living in Portobello is not having to go and do the weekly shop by car in some vast hangar filled with stuff. If the High St were to suffer because of a nearby superstore then our ability to wander out of the house every day and do the small amount of shopping required for that night's meal would be seriously undermined. We also have two small children and rely on buses, bikes and the occasional Car Club or hire to get around. All of these means of transport would be compromised by the increased traffic a supermarket would generate. What is precious (and precarious) about Porty is its human scale. People who plan, build and profit by superstores and projects of that ilk are working on a different scale - their actions and underlying philosophy are directly opposed to any kind of community. They want us to get into our cars, load up our monster fridges and fill our cupboards to overflowing because it suits them and their shareholders. We might think they are doing us all a favour, but ultimately they are harming us from the air we breathe to the food we eat.

[Mimpty]

I don't have a car either and tend to shop at Asda as I think Scotmid is quite expensive and it's frustrating when they don't have what you want, so I should probably support a new supermarket, but I don't.

I am against it as I think it is a stupid place to put something that will attract so much traffic. The congestion will be terrible and as a bus user my bus would be caught up in the tail-backs too, not just the cars. The high street isn't wide enough for bus lanes.