Midmar Paddock is privately owned and currently up for sale, advertised as a good place to build housing (rumour has it that an offer has been put in). Local residents and all of us who value Edinburgh's green spaces want this to remain a green space, part of the greenbelt and a continuation of the beautiful nature reserve that includes Blackford Hill and the Hermitage of Braid.
At last night's meeting we discussed how we can protect the land from development including surveying how people use the area to mark out rights of way (which can be protected and can make development very difficult) and to record the value of the area for recreation, and surveying the wildlife of the area. People are also looking into how to protect the land possibly as a 'Field in Trust'. We also formed subgroups to take action forward (I joined the Publicity group).
The City of Edinburgh Council is about to start discussions on its next local development plan and we want to make sure that Midmar Paddock remains designated open space in this plan.
The group needs yet to be formally constituted but a Friends of Midmar Paddock group has been set up and can be found on Facebook here and the group is now on Twitter here. We're hoping to hold some events in the near future, which may include a demonstration of support for the area to remain greenspace and a BioBlitz to find out what wildlife is currently found here.If you have good photos of any wildlife you've seen in or immediately next to the Paddock, then please email them to savemidmarpaddockATgmailDOTcom so that the group can build up a picture of the local wildlife.
It would be tragic to lose this beautiful patch of land to development (the paddock is the field in the foreground, the hill in the background is Blackford Hill, part of the local nature reserve)
It looks such a lovely area.
ReplyDeleteKeep us posted on how thing go …
All the best Jan