Friday 4 April 2014

Skylark Street


Imagine if these fields where skylarks sing and linnets and tree sparrows forage are replaced with housing, with streets being called Skylark Street, Tree Sparrow Lane and Linnet Place.
 


If you care about Edinburgh's Greenbelt, please take time to object to the plans (lower photo) to build 670 houses that Edinburgh Council are considering for the field (top photo) that is currently home to several important bird species.

The City of Edinburgh Council claims to consider the Local Biological Diversity Action Plan (LBAP) when making planning decisions. If that is really true then why are they even thinking about building houses on this field which is home to 4 species of birds specifically mentioned in the LBAP (tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting and linnet) and to two other species (skylark and, in winter, fieldfare) that are red listed as being of being priority conservation need in the UK ? 

A pre-planning application exhibition is currently showing at Cramond Kirk Halls today and this weekend. Please go along if you can and add your voice to the protest. Before we even think of building on biodiversity rich green spaces, we shold be looking at brownfield sites and bringing empty homes and other abandoned buildings back into use.  

If you can't attend the exhibition, you can contact the developers directly. You can also write to your Edinburgh councillor (whichever area of the city you live in) and write to the Edinburgh Evening News and to other relevant publications. If you live in the Cammo area, you can join Cammo Residents Association in their fight against this inappropriate development (they're on Facebook and Twitter too). .

I have written to the Edinburgh Evening News and to the members of City of Edinburgh's Planning Committee. You can read the text of my letter and a list I compiled of the committee members email addresses.

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.


7 comments:

Optimistic Existentialist said...

Oh wow that aerial view is fantastic!!!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Optimistic, the 'aerial view' is a fantasy plan of the developers who want to destroy an area of greenfields, something we want to prevent happening....

Naquillity said...

i opt for the first view and not the second. hope their plans are thwarted by many opposers. good luck~

Dartford Warbler said...

A timely poem. I hope that the developers don`t win in the end......

In the small country town where we once lived, a housing development filled a field next door to th River Avon water meadows. The main approach is via Kingfisher Drive, where kingfishers really did fly once.

Bill said...

That poem is off to a promising start.

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Juliet,

Seems like developers all around the world are always trying to do big developments. Hope that you get to keep the greenfields and a place for birds and animals. Good luck with this.

Enjoy the weekend
hugs
Carolyn

Little Miss Titch said...

why do they have to build on green fields,when there are sites that need to be redeveloped in stead,xx