Success for protesters in Moredun may lead to improvements

July 14, 2020 6:04 pm

Over the last few weeks residents in Moredun have had to get out of their homes to protest against the council undertaking exploratory work on the large green space beside the multi-storey flats.

Now it seems that their hard work making banners and speaking to the press has paid off.

Yesterday at a meeting of the representatives of Moredun Multis & Maisonettes Residents Association (MMMRA), the City of Edinburgh Council and local councillors the matter appears to have been resolved, perhaps once and for all. The council has given a cast iron promise that there will be no further attempt to build on the green space for the lifetime of the current Local Development Plan, nor while the next one is being drafted. This means that they have secured the future of the green area until 2022.

Robyn Kane, Chair of the MMMRA, said: “The way that residents and local people came together so quickly to demonstrate their solidarity and support of the MMMRA campaign to #SaveMoredunParkLife has been so positive and heartening for us both as a Residents Association and as a local community.
“Meeting the Council gave us an opportunity to talk directly about the issues we would like to be addressed such as improvements to the existing housing; reductions in waiting times for repairs to happen; and better coordination of more complex repairs, eg boiler breakdowns, which often need different tradesmen (plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, painting/decorators).
“The MMMRA campaign is committed to protecting our green space and we are excited and look forward to discussIng our ideas, aspirations and possibilities for physical improvements to the green space and also to our housing. We hope that local residents will continue to participate in the campaign and contribute to these discussions with the Council.
“Ultimately, we want to see our housing and environmental concerns addressed; our green space to be protected from development in perpetuity;. and for the Council to keep its recent promise to keep residents fully informed, and to keep the open dialogue that’s now established.”

Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron said: “I am thrilled for the residents of Moredun Multis and Maisonettes and everyone in the local area who has been part of this brilliant community led campaign to date and who have signed the petition. This decision is a massive boost for MMMRA and the wider Moredun community, which they so richly deserve.
“The meeting between MMMRA representatives, CEC officers and local Cllrs, and kindly facilitated through the Tenants’ Information Service, covered a variety of topics.
“Residents’ representatives confidently and clearly conveyed their shared sense of disappointment at they way in which matters had thus far been handled, and expressed their strong desire for better and more timely communications and also for an acceptance and acknowledgement of what residents’ concerns and aspirations are.
“In addition to the concerns about the loss of green space, requests were made for swifter responses to housing repairs and to lifts, and for long-standing issues concerning fire windows, and the problem of condensation occurring in the windows within flats to be addressed.”

The council has said it is open to proposals for improving the park.

Niel Hansen Secretary of Moredun Multis and Maisonettes Residents Association said: “We are very, very pleased.

“We’re absolutely delighted that the council has recognised the extent of the opposition to the proposed development and we look forward to working constructively with them to improve the local area and its facilities.

“And we’re very encouraged that the first meeting was so constructive.

“What we would like to see now is a version of what has already been consulted on. Around ten years ago a community development worker did some consultation work in the area. They went into schools and sports centres, youth centres, churches and talked to people going round door to door. They produced a proposal based on all the responses that they got. They even went to the length of getting an architect to draw up a plan and getting quotes.

“So although it is a few years ago now this is by far the most extensive consultation ever done in this area as to what people wanted to see here. I think we would probably say that this would be a really good starting point.

“We are trying to get this online somehow but at present it exists on a piece of A3 paper.

“The proposals include paths to cross the park with lighting, orchards and wild flower beds, an outdoor gym, children’s play area. It all looks fantastic with bike tracks and an amphitheatre seating area. Even a tree house.”