It is estimated that over 1000 individual letters of objection have been submitted to the planning department. The planning department have been putting them onto the portal over the last few weeks so the final number is yet to be verified but this is absolutely fantastic!

This fabulous picture of the castle from Craighouse was taken by Stephen L D’Agostino – click to see his set of Craighouse photos on Flickr. Thanks, Stephen, for kindly letting us reproduce this here!

It is extremely unusual to get these kind of numbers for a planning application and from the letters that have been forwarded to the Friends, the overall quality of the objections has been very high, with many long and detailed letters – which is even more impressive. Many knowledgeable groups and organisations have also written in.

In addition, thousands signed the petition which has been submitted.

Thank you everyone who wrote in and all who spread the word!

This is an overwhelming demonstration of the value of this site to people as well as its great importance in terms of the wider city and nationally in terms of its landscape, buildings, history, status as one of Edinburgh’s seven hills, wildlife habitat and as an Area of Great Landscape Value. We will keep you updated on any news.

COUNCIL CONSULTATION AND DATE FOR THE DIARY

A Council consultation is taking place about whether people would like to see community/Council ownership of some areas at Craighouse. Some local people have had letters through their doors – and others haven’t, even though they live right next to the site, so the consultation is rather patchy at the moment. However, there is a meeting arranged by the Council looking at this issue on Thursday 21 February 2013 from 7.30 – 9.30pm at Meggetland Sports Complex, Function Suite, 60J Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH14 1AS. So we look forward to more discussion of these issues there.

Some people have expressed concern to us that the information being put out by the Council (particularly the map of areas under discussion) seems to presuppose the present plans. Councillor Gavin Corbett assures on his blog that this is not the case. The motion that set this consultation in motion, put forward by Councillor Andrew Burns and passed by the Council, also made it clear that is not the case. (Both Councillor Corbett and Councillor Burns have objected to the current scheme.)

The Friends have always supported the idea of community or community and Council ownership and will be writing in to that effect and with our comments. We will try to put that letter on the website. However, we think the map the Council is using is unfortunate and don’t believe the Council should be limiting discussion to a map based on the Craighouse Partnership’s current plans. These unpopular and unacceptable plans shouldn’t be the limiting factor on the in-principle discussion and offer from Council and community.

We will study the information in more detail and try and write it up on the website in more detail and send out further info to members as soon as we can and if people have comments for us that might be helpful – let us know. Thanks so much!