Edinburgh Should Value It's Greenbelt Land
I’m urging Edinburgh residents concerned at the proposed Local Development Plan to have their say before the city council’s consultation closes later this week (14 June).
A number of constituents have contacted me in recent weeks concerned that the plan will steer house builders towards greenbelt land.
Edinburgh needs housing but I’m concerned the council’s plan relies too much on greenbelt land. People at Cammo near the airport and in south-eastern districts like Gilmerton and Broomhills are rightly questioning what’s going on.
It’s incredibly important that local people are involved in these plans, and I urge the council to consult fully with residents about the scale and location of any proposed developments. It seems to me there are plenty of brownfield sites and other areas of land that developers have banked but not built on that we could be prioritising.
We need to retain green spaces for leisure and health, and farmland for growing food. We must ensure developments are sustainable both in terms of the efficiency of the buildings and in terms of making it easy to walk, cycle or catch a bus to work, school and shops.