Consultation events this week about Meadowbank
There will be consultations beginning tomorrow 20 August 2018 about the council’s development of the new sports centre in Meadowbank.
On 29 June 2018 the council deliberated over two separate planning applications for Meadowbank at a special sitting of the planning committee.
The £47 million project to redevelop the sports centre was approved by councillors and a new community sports facility will be built on the site of the stadium built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games. The scheme will include redevelopment of surplus land for residential use, student accommodation, hotel and commercial uses along with car parking and landscaping. The council also approved in principle development of the wider site allowing affordable homes to be built there. The council promised in June to begin a comprehensive consultation after the summer, and that begins this week.
As this is a major project the council is holding a series of engagement events.
Initial ‘Tell Us About Meadowbank’ events are planned for:
Monday 20th August between 4pm and 7pm – Willowbrae Church Centre, 1a Willowbrae Road, Edinburgh EH8 7EJ
Wednesday 22nd August between 12.30pm and 3pm – Craigentinny Community Centre, 9 Loaning Road, Edinburgh EH7 6JE
The consultation page will go live on 20 August 2018, to coincide with the first event.
Councillor Kate Campbell, Housing and Economy Convener, said: “We want to deliver an amazing development for the people of Meadowbank. Not only affordable homes, but beautiful buildings, bringing some of the history of the area back to life and accessible, safe public realm that the community will benefit from and enjoy.
“To get this right we need to make sure that we listen to local people and that they shape the plans that come forward. These consultation events are the first step in that process. I hope lots of people take part and tell us what is important to them about this part of town.”
Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, Vice Convener of the Housing and Economy Committee, said: “I look forward to engaging with local people during the forthcoming consultation events and, as a result, trust that the revised proposals will succeed in attracting further external funding and enable the community’s aspirations to be fully met.”
Councillor Chas Booth was one of two dissenting voices at the June planning meeting objecting on the grounds that the new facilities were not the same as those which they were replacing, and there was a question over trees on the site which will be felled. While Councillor Neil Ross seconded this position, the planning convener Councillor Neil Gardiner explained that while it is regrettable that trees would be affected, this was an application which requires to be balanced on many other grounds. Six members of the planning committee voted in favour of approval.
The planning hearings in June followed a 12 week consultation period during which over 500 responses were received, many of them dissenting.
More detailed plans will now be drafted and taken back to the planning committee after the consultations which are about to start, but in the meantime the demolition of Meadowbank has begun.
The Save Meadowbank campaign carries on trying to do just that. Today they claim that the council is in breach of its own planning decision by demolishing the Meadowbank velodrome before the consultation begins. They say that although the council appears to have imposed six conditions including one that demands the detailed layout of the site is approved before any work is begun, the council has breached those by allowing demolition to proceed.
They also claim that the artwork at the velodrome should have been retained. Save Meadowbank spokesperson Heather Peacock said : “It is bad enough for the Council to do with this before it has even started the promised consultation, but to go about it in such an uncontrolled fashion makes it worse.
“The artwork on the velodrome was legendary. Any demolition should have been done in such a way to preserve this artwork. Unceremoniously ripping it down just demonstrates again how little Edinburgh Council appreciates both sport and art.
“The campaign is also disappointed to note comments on social media that the Council has refused to let people obtain parts of the site as a souvenir.”
The campaign has enlisted the help of notable athletes and sports professionals along the way.
These include Olympic gold medal winning cyclist Callum Skinner and campaigners say his ideas as to what might replace the Meadowbank velodrome should be considered as part of what they see as the current ‘fresh start’ consultation for the site.
Skinner, who grew up in Edinburgh and used the Meadowbank facility, has called on Edinburgh Council to replace it with a 250 metre track, ideally covered to allow for the Scottish weather.
On his website he refers to the Dudenhofen track in Germany which he says “presents significant advantages over many outdoor tracks that currently exist in the UK.
“Ultimately I hope that when times are less austere at the council a covering could be built and Edinburgh will have the velodrome it deserves.”
The consultation about Meadowbank goes live tomorrow 20 August at this link.