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.