It’s not exciting but it is important. Objections to Edinburgh City Local Plan modification required before next Friday 11th July.

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The Council’s latest attempt to push through the downsizing and selling off of Meadowbank comes in the shape of their proposed modifications to the Edinburgh City Local Plan (ECLP).

The proposed modifications  would make it much easier for developers to build housing on huge chunks of the site.

See link to Edinburgh City Local Plan for more details, and use our sample email or letter to help prevent this.

Objections must be in by Fri 11th July, so please pass this on to your contacts before it’s too late.

News Release: Local Plan small print shows that Meadowbank is NOT saved

With the deadline for objections to the City of Edinburgh Council’s modified Local Plan looming on July 11th, Save Meadowbank campaigners are preparing their latest publicity initiative for mobilizing concern about the terms of the revised document.

People who had formally opposed the original plan were written letters inviting them to specify their preferred means of objection. But they were contacted again only shortly afterwards to be told that the plan had been dropped, and directed instead to the modified Meadowbank reference in the document.

Section 5.14 of the original document includes Council proposals to “replace Meadowbank Centre with a new athletics stadium at Sighthill Park”.

This will now be replaced with a declaration that “Meadowbank is no longer fit-for-purpose” and that “a replacement stadium and other facilities are proposed to be built within the existing site”.

The implications of this amendment are far from clear and to many, this wording will be taken to mean that Meadowbank has been saved and that no further action is necessary.

But according to Save Meadowbank Campaign spokesman Kevin Connor, this is far from the case. He points out that the wording is not specific about exactly how much land of the “existing site” will actually be used for sport and how much sold off. 

The reworked paragraph concludes “These proposals including their funding are in course of detailed appraisal in consultation with the relevant sporting bodies”.

More ambiguous still is the planning committee statement which initially confirms that “In the circumstances, all references to housing redevelopment will be deleted from the plan” but then goes on to say “this does not preclude the possibility of a housing proposal being brought forward for any parts of the existing site found to be surplus to sporting needs once appraisal and consultation with sporting bodies is complete”. 

In effect, the failure to block this modification of the plan will present the Council with a green light to slice the existing land up however it wants.

“If we build enough opposition and it is withdrawn,” Mr Connor said, ”it makes it much more difficult for developers to get planning permission to build what they like.” 

Save Meadowbank Campaigners will now be leafleting hard to try and ensure that this message gets out to all those who already thought the fight was won.

• View indicative diagrams of Edinburgh Council’s latest plan for Meadowbank, showing the size and location of any future sports centre and the area that is to become a housing scheme.

News Release: Meadowbank is hot topic for Currie

Currie’s Community Council is the latest to object to Edinburgh Council’s plan to scale-down Meadowbank Stadium and replace much of it with housing.

“Currie Community Council considered that the campaign to retain Meadowbank, and not sell off part of the site for housing, was one worth supporting. Currie may be several miles away from Meadowbank but it is on a direct bus route to the stadium,” said their planning convenor, Archie Clark. He knows quite a bit about the subject because he is a qualified architect who in 1986 worked at several of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Games sites.

“This was a national facility and not one that should be seen solely as a provision for Edinburgh. As a Capital city, Edinburgh acts as caretakers for buildings for national functions so it consequently requires national funding. At present it looks as though the Scottish Government is happy for Edinburgh to deal with the Commonwealth Pool and Meadowbank as though they were local assets. Edinburgh therefore has to compete on equal terms which inevitably means a dilution of quality in terms of facilities, open space provisions, transport links and so on.

“Sadly there is also no joined-up thinking when it comes to recognising that exisiting Commonwealth facilities in Edinburgh are close enough to be seen as a “Games Village”. Scattering facilities across the City - or wider - dilutes the ability to provide a powerful focus in superb surroundings with potentially excellent road and rail links.”

Currie is the fourth Community Council to publicly object to the decision made by Edinburgh councillors earlier this year to demolish Meadowbank.

• View indicative diagrams of Edinburgh Council’s latest plan for Meadowbank, showing the size and location of any future sports centre and the area that is to become a housing scheme.

News Release: Maintaining existing facilities would be suitable Games legacy

The Government should look to maintain existing facilities if they are serious about wanting to provide the country with a lasting legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

That was the message campaigners delivered at a public meeting in Edinburgh last week when Government officials sought views on what legacy people would like Scotland to receive from hosting the event in six years time.

Edinburgh hosted the Games in both 1970 and 1986. Yet both the Royal Commonwealth Pool and Meadowbank Stadium have since been neglected financially. Meadowbank in particular faces total demolition with the loss of most of its facilities.

“Officials leading the 2014 team talk about learning from places like Melbourne and Manchester. They really ought to start closer to home and learn from what happened to Edinburgh,” said Save Meadowbank spokesman Kevin Connor.

“We need to maintain what we already have. Alex Salmond should match his rhetoric with cash and give Edinburgh Council more money so Scotland’s capital can retain the much loved and hugely popular facilities that were meant to be their long-term legacy from previous Games.”

• View indicative diagrams of Edinburgh Council’s latest plan for Meadowbank, showing the size and location of any future sports centre and the area that is to become a housing scheme.

News Release: Government should target Meadowbank refurbishment

The Scottish Government’s own targets should be enough reason for it to agree to fund Meadowbank’s refurbishment, according to campaigners.

Last November, as part of the Scottish Budget Spending Review, Alex Salmond’s Government announced a National Performance Framework with 15 outcomes and 45 targets. “Many of these outcomes are particularly relevent to the saving of sports facilities at Meadowbank,” said Save Meadowbank spokesman Kevin Connor.

“For example, the ones about living longer, healthier lives with access to high-quality public services we need that are responsive to local people’s needs.

“The Government must follow its own agenda and work within this National Performance Framework. Selling a third of Meadowbank Stadium and downsizing facilities doesn’t fit in with their rhetoric.”

• View indicative diagrams of Edinburgh Council’s latest plan for Meadowbank, showing the size and location of any future sports centre and the area that is to become a housing scheme.