Chris Young is a landscape gardener who lives locally with his family and became a homemaker to his and his wife’s “two lovely children” who keep him busy. He is an active travel campaigner and has been involved in that for some time.
On the matter of the Roseburn traders Chris Young is a lone voice among the candidates as he clearly stands with the Greens and would NOT have given compensation to the business owners in Roseburn who claim the roadworks have caused significant loss of business.
Chris said: “I think that the changes that are being made there will bring enormous improvement to the infrastructure and the placemaking around Roseburn, and we know from lots of studies that the pedestrian pound is very strong. So where you have pedestrian improvement and cycling improvements you have better spend and an increase in business for business local to those schemes.”
One of the options to creating new cycling infrastructure on the main road was to simply route cyclists through Roseburn Park. But Young has a view on that. He said: “We need direct cycle lanes in full vision – so visible cycleways that are protected because those are the ones that commuters will use. A lot of the cycleways that we have in the West of Edinburgh are lovely for leisure pursuits, they are fantastic for taking the kids along, they are safe and slow. They are good for that but they are not good for higher speed or busier cycle ways particularly for commuting – because they are not direct.
“For years cars have had the direct routes and we need to move that – to move people away from cars towards cycling, towards public transport so increasing visible direct cycleways is the way to go.
He said he is standing on “good old -fashioned green principles”.
He said: “I am very involved in climate campaigning and I am very interested in air pollution and air quality particularly in Corstorphine/Murrayfield where St John’s Road is consistently categorised in the top three most polluted streets in Scotland. I want to act to address that. We have politicians in our area who have been talking and thinking about this for over 30 years. I think it’s time we did something about it and actually help to put the policies that make that happen in place.”
Blue spaces and green spaces are important to him. He explains what these are. He said: “Blue spaces are rivers and natural water courses, and in Roseburn Park there is a perfect example of that being used – with an engineering fix – to flooding the Water of Leith and in fact when there was all that rain before Christmas, the park flooded as it is supposed and designed to do to take pressure off downstream. So that sort of infrastructure and engineering fix that nature has led is really really important. It is also a really valuable green space and we know that that benefits people both in physical and mental health. We want these green spaces to be joined up. At the moment they are very fragmented and we have lots of isolated little parks and green spaces around.
“We want everybody to have direct access to these green spaces. It is so good for societal health.”
If Young is elected he would be the 11th Green councillor on the city council. He said that the number of Green councillors on the council has put a very firm Green stamp to ensure all the council’s policies adhere to climate targets.
He continued: “The big one is the Net Zero 2030, but there is also the City Mobility Plan which is all about mobility, active travel and public transport – all things which the Greens have been pushing really hard on. We have the rent freezes, the ban on evictions. These are all things which the Greens have supported and pushed through and as an 11th Green on the council I would be firmly pushing in that direction for the benefit of everybody across Edinburgh.
“I live in Broomhall, in Corstorphine, and have lived there for about 19 years. It is a lovely space, though a little car driven maybe, and that is one of the reasons we have so much pollution in St John’s Road. But yes, Edinburgh is home.”
Chris is also appearing as Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream in June which will be performed in the open air at Saughton Park with the Forth Act a new community theatre group based in West Edinburgh. On 21,22 and 23 June the first of their productions will be performed in the sunken garden in the park. The choice of venue reflects part of the ethos of the theatre company which is to bring drama into the community by using spaces familiar to people. So even if you don’t vote for him you could go and see his play.
The by election takes place on 9 March 2023. Further details here.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
