The next meeting of Leith Links Community Council will be on Monday 1st March at 6:30pm. Please note that this is a slight change from routine (usually the last Monday in the month) due to a clash of important meetings.
Leith Links Community Council has been informed that there is going to be filming carried out on and around The Shore area, and Cables Wynd House, on Friday 5th February.
This may slightly affect traffic flow at times, and will also affect parking, while a few small areas may be blocked off from pedestrians for short periods of time.
For more precise details, see the attached letter.
Are you going to tune in to the online consultation by Manse (Seafield ) LLP, 3-7pm Thursday 28th January?
You are of course entirely free to ask whatever you want, but here are some examples of the sort of questions we think are appropriate – please download and have a read to get ideas, and feel free to use or adapt any you feel hit the spot: Possible Questions for Manse28 Jan
Please note – At this stage, Manse is presenting a PAN (Pre-Application Notice) not an actual planning application. So their proposal is very broad-brush and lacking in specifics – this is standard, for a PAN. So there is not much point in asking them very specific questions about eg. exactly how many parking spaces etc.
Apart from the fact that they won’t answer them anyway, going straight to specifics gives this PAN status it doesn’t have. We think it is better at this stage to highlight some of the strategic issues of design such as……maintaining and enhancing the quality of the Prom and beach, avoiding overshadowing, and negative spaces, safety on Seafield road, the need for co-ordination and delivery of social/green/transport and other infrastructure etc…..
There is an online public consultation event on Thursday 28th January, by Manse (Seafield) LLP, between 3pm and 7pm. You can attend and give your views.
Manse are proposing to submit a planning application for the Peter Vardy Vauxhall site, at 22-25 Seafield Road, where they want to build 2 very large blocks of flats. This is not strictly speaking in the Leith Links area, but it borders on it. Any new development along there will undoubtedly impact upon the Leith Links area. We would urge you to look not only at the plans Manse bring forward, but to think about them in the wider context of what the whole Seafield Road area could become.
Is developing individual segments like this the right way to go? Or could this proposal be be seen as leading to uncoordinated piecemeal development?
Overall, Seafield is a huge site stretching from the Sewage works right along to the erstwhile bus garage at the Portobello end. We all want to see new homes built, but do we want just any old blocks of flats, or could we aspire to more, for this unique seaside site?
The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will take place on Monday 25th November, at 6:30pm, online, via Microsoft Teams.
The link for the meeting will be sent out by email.
The meeting is open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and ask to be sent an invitation /link for the meeting.
Here are
(1) The Agenda for the meeting.
(2) The LCC MINUTES November 2020 (draft until adopted at next week’s meeting).
These are also stored for access at any time in our online Library.
Local residents have received notification in advance of work to demolish the old footbridge which crosses the railway line at the entrance to Seafield Sewage Works. The area can already be a bottleneck for due to two sets of traffic lights between Seafield and Mcdonalds not synchronised which can lead to tail backs even when traffic flows should have reduced during lockdown. Work to remove the bridge will start on Thursday, 21st January until Monday, 1st February and will require a temporary 4 way light system so if you do have to travel then this could be the time to consider taking another route.
Well, here we are, locked down again… These are difficult times for us all, and we wish good luck to you all. Please do everything you can to stay safe and to keep others safe. Please ask for help if you need it.
Our website does not attempt to provide rolling updates on the current Coronavirus situation, as information can change very rapidly, and we do not wish to circulate information that may be incomplete or no longer applicable.
However we can direct you to the following sources of information, which are updated regularly;
Local Situation
Local sources of support
National Scottish and UK situation
Worried about Brexit?
This time last year when we watched television reports of a new virus in
China followed by people being trapped on cruise ships and then as it progressed through Italy. Even at that point I don’t think it sunk in that within months we would be under similar lockdowns. Like many other people I was sent home from my job in March and from May I have had to learn to work from home.
I don’t like it as I miss the social interaction with colleagues but importantly I’m safe, healthy and employed.
As Chair of Leith Links Community Council I’m extremely proud of our team of community councillors who adapted quickly to the changing ways we had to engage with the community.
From March we moved to having our meetings on line using Zoom and then Teams so we could continue to work on issues where we have an input including areas like planning and Seafield Sewage plant.
It’s been a difficult year for members of our community and on behalf of Leith Links CC I wish to say our thoughts are with you if you have lost love ones as a result of this pandemic or have found yourself unemployed through no fault of your own.
The discovery of new vaccines which have been produced in record time give us some hope that next year we may see the return of some normality in our lives and be able to meet up again with friends and family.
I hope that 2021 is good to you but for the time being please stay safe.
Community Councillor Jim Scanlon MBE
Chair of Leith Links Community Council
This Christmas, many people may not be able to spend time or as much time with their families in the same way as they did last year.
It is true that we have been stressed and put to the test but overall, our community spirit has shone through, our NHS colleagues stepped up and now it seems normal before going out to check we have our mask along with our keys, money and phone! 2020 has been a long, difficult and very strange year but it is nearly at an end and with news about vaccines becoming available, there is hope that next Christmas things will be back to normal.
In the meantime, Persevere and seasons greetings to you all.
Community Councillor Gail Clapton
Vice Chair of Leith Links Community Council
A planning application has been lodged by the Merith House Hotel at 2-3 Hermitage Place for a “change of use from hotel to mixed use of hotel and HMO [house in multiple occupation] and erection of a new 2 storey building on land to the rear of the hotel”.
The land for the new building sits at the junction of Somerset Place and Burns Street, EH6 8AF
The application – case number 20/03011/FUL – can be viewed on the city council’s planning portal:
The plans show that the 2 storey building at the rear of the hotel (which already has planning permission but is not built yet) would be altered internally to contain more bedrooms than originally planned (when it was to be an ‘annexe’ to the hotel). It is now proposed to contain 11 bedrooms intended to be occupied by residents on a long term / permanent basis. Most rooms will be 10.2 square metres in total (including the ensuite bathroom).
There would not be any communal space or cooking facilities but the hotel kitchen in the main building would be available to them for cooking, it seems.
It is not clear yet – we are checking this out currently – whether the hotel in the main building is also intended to be changed from a hotel to an HMO, or whether a ‘mixed’ hotel and HMO facility is proposed. We will update with this information asap.
The last date for comments on this application is Friday, 18 December.
Members of the community can submit their responses directly onto the planning portal, as above, and / or you could make your views on this known via the form below. (and we will forward it along with the Community Council’s own response).
If you wish to contact the Community Council on this matter with a fuller response, please email planning@leithlinkscc.org.uk
