The plans for the development would mean building on green belt land and would lead to the destruction of mature trees and threatening the habitat of the wildlife. - In the midst of a climate crisis in which our environment is at stake, our green spaces need protection. 

Scotland is in the grips of a housing crisis. Nowhere is this more true than in Muirhouse.  To help end Scotland's housing problem, any new builds need to be entirely social housing - instead of overpriced supposedly ‘affordable’ properties such as mid-market rent.

The Silverknowes Parkway is already one of the most dangerous roads in the city and with the new development only planning on providing 25% parking capacity, the number of cars parked on the Parkway will only increase. This will lead to even more congestion and potential accidents. We need any new development to have a plan around transportation and parking.

Finally, our local schools are at capacity and other services and resources are vastly over stretched - there isn’t the capacity for more residents unless more funding and support is provided. Connect resources with new builds making sure existing services are able to meet the demands of new and existing residents.

Join us to demand that The City of Edinburgh Council:

• Builds on other existing brown sites in the area; for example, in the unused land near the Oaklands Special School, protecting the greenbelt, mature trees and local wildlife at Silverlea
• Makes sure that all new housing in the area is social housing that is truly affordable for new residents,
• Invests in local services- including schools- so that existing services are not overwhelmed with more users.

Object to the proposal under the material considerations listed from the Edinburgh Local Development Plan 2016 and associated guidance. In summary, the proposed development will

• Remove critical greenspace from the Muirhouse community violating 2016 LDP policies: Des 1, Des 3, Des 5, Hou 3, and Env 18. It also violates high-level goals stated in Edinburgh Design Guidance (EDG) and Draft 2030 plan as well as explicit itemised policies in the Draft 2030 plan. 

• Destroy an important greenbelt site, changing the character of the area and harming secondary objectives including preserving wildlife habitat (incl protected species bats),  preserving wildlife corridors, and the principle of maintaining a Green Network, thereby violating 2016 LDP policies: Des 9, Env 10, Env 12, Env 16, Hou 1, and potentially Env 11 due to an upcoming petition for this site to be considered an SLA.  The importance of this site is established by principles stated in the 2019-2021 Biodiversity plan and the EDG. 

• Cause significant parking congestion both on the site and surrounding areas  and as a result will have significant issues relating to layout or density that is inappropriate for the area, thereby violating LDP Policies: Tra 1, Tra 2, Hou 8

• Have inadequate access for people with disabilities due to lack of car park spaces, violating LDP Policies Tra 2, Des 5 

• Increase danger for both cars, cycles, and pedestrians due to traffic congestion, violating LDP Policy Tra 8.  

• Lead to increased noise and pollution from resulting Traffic congestion on the Parkway, violating LDP Policy Env 22

• Have a cumulative impact alongside other developments, and will cumulatively, with other recent ongoing development, overload existing community facilities including schools, community centres, medical facilities, and youth facilities, violating LDP policies Del 1, Hou 1, Hou 4, and Hou 10.  

• Not provide enough genuinely affordable homes, given the number of mid-market rentals proposed, violating LDP Policy Hou 2, and Hou 6.
  

• Fail to provide transparent and meaningful consultation (Edinburgh Development Concordat).

You can read the full objection here with full explanations and submit your own comment here on the council website.