Balerno residents on the outskirts of Edinburgh have raised concerns about plans for a new £15m church in the village’s Conservation Area.
St. Mungo’s Church in Balerno, a traditional, “evangelical” episcopal congregation, has been operating out of the local high school for years, having long exceeded the capacity for their small location in the north of the village.
Some residents in the picturesque village have raised strong concerns about the scale of the church and the strain such a large development could put on the area.
St. Mungo’s is proposing to construct a large, modern church complete with a 350-person sanctuary for large services, offices, toilets, a kitchen, and additional rooms.
The church’s proposed location on a field across from Balerno High School on Bridge Road bequeathed to the church by a former congregant decades ago serves as an important green space for the village, and Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled currently uses the field for horse riding for the disabled events.
They say the new church, given its large scale, will deprive the village of a large green space and add to parking pressures within the village, given no provisions for additional parking are included within the plans.
One concerned local, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The majority of their parishioners come from East Calder, Livingston, West Calder.
“They have lots of other places they could do it. You’re talking about a huge green space, part of the Green Belt, you’re talking about something that’s backed onto wooded land, a completely modern building will completely dominate the visual aspect of what you see when you come into the village.
“You would see a completely modern building, as opposed to green space, and grazing on that space would be restricted.”
She added: “Also from a transport point of view, access would be on a very narrow road on the left-hand side next to a large high school which my children attend.”
She said that often bus drivers are forced to enter the current makeshift church in the high school to ask parishioners to move their car during school loading and unloading times.
A formal planning application has not yet been submitted as St. Mungo’s remain in negotiations with the council, but some have accused the church of attempting to cut locals out of the early planning process.
Consultation and planning documents show that detailed plans were shared with the congregation – only 38.9% of whom are from the village – last year, with the wider public given their first look at a meeting of Balerno Community Council earlier this month.
Eric Adair, project manager for the Gateway Project at St. Mungo’s, also acknowledged that three sitting community councillors in Balerno are church congregants.
Paul Morris, a web designer who lives in the area, who has been vocal in his opposition to the Gateway Project, said: “They haven’t sought any input from any of the wider balerno community. They have not consulted with us at all, because they’re doing their best to get this through into planning without objections, and that is really what they’re doing.
“So we want to raise awareness of this to the greater, wider community.”
Eric Adair, project manager for the Gateway Project at St. Mungo’s, did admit that the church subscribes to “traditional, evangelical” values, however, and does not sanction same-sex marriage.
He also batted off suggestions that the community was being kept in the dark about plans.
He said: “We recognise it as a significant piece of green belt and rural setting in the village, we’re very conscious of that.
“So we know its significance, and we appreciate that, and that has been for us, a big concern to make sure that we respond properly to what is a very open, publicly seen piece of green space.
“It’s not used by anyone other than Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled. No one has access to it, other than half a dozen horses.
“But nevertheless, everyone drives past it and sees it, so we’re very conscious that what we do in this field has to look good.
“And beyond that, we are conscious that whatever we put there and whatever we end up with, we want to make it a more open space for the community, and we want to improve the biodiversity.”
On how the public will be consulted on the process, he said: “We’ve spoken twice to Balerno Community Council.
“We haven’t done a wider open event yet. There’s quite a difference between how we’re doing this and something like a house builder, because the house builder has standard house designs, even standard street designs – we’ve spent twelve months saying ‘what is it we’re building and why?’.”
On the parking issue, he added: “We’re aware of the issues on Bridge Road. It’s difficult parking at regular times throughout the week, and we make it difficult driving on a Sunday morning, but we’re effectively flipping from one side of the road to the other.
“We don’t feel that we’re making it worse, but we’re not going to make it better, because we’re not going to turn the field into a vast car park, for example, to deal with the car parking issue.
“But that would be completely against the principles of Edinburgh Council and completely against the principles of how to develop a rural site.”
In a statement, the community council said that, at the April meeting, the church said they were currently working with architects and landscape specialists who were preparing designs for the site in Bridge Road, directly across from the high school.
They said: “The Church stressed that they were being open about their plans and that details are available for scrutiny on the St Mungo’s website.”
The Church is also understood to be in talks with officials in the City of Edinburgh Council’s planning department.
Local MP, Dr Scott Arthur, will be looking closely at the plans.
He said: “I feel genuinely blessed to have faith communities in Edinburgh South West that are thriving and deeply committed to serving local people. St Mungo’s is a great example of that.
“When the application is submitted, I’ll be encouraging local residents to look over the plans and share their views, and I will work to ensure the final outcome reflects the needs and priorities of the local community.”
St. Mungo’s Church is expected to submit a formal planning application sometime in the spring.
