Dear City of Edinburgh Council Planning Committee Member

I am contacting you before the Committee's meeting in May 2015 to request you reject proposals to develop housing on the greenbelt in the areas of Brunstane and Newcraighall, as set out in the Second Proposed Local Plan. 

The building of up to 1300 houses - in addition to 600 dwellings already designated for an adjacent agricultural area - on the only greenbelt /agricultural land that still separates the urban areas of southeast Edinburgh and Musselburgh, will severely degrade the natural and human environment at this location in many ways.  These include:

• Housing development on this area will have a negative impact on the wider landscape setting of both Edinburgh and Musselburgh and will result in coalescence between the two settlements.
• There are no existing public transport links to the land at Brunstane. Creating such links will result in extensive problems for the communities surrounding the area, and be hugely expensive.  This would also involve building roads across the John Muir Way, as well as the main east coast railway line and would have a negative impact on walkers, cyclists and the natural environment.  City Council Planning Officers have estimated that peak hour traffic flows would increase by 63% on the surrounding road network if development is permitted on this site, resulting in major congestion, pollution and road safety issues.
• There are already plans to build 600 houses in and around Newcraighall, a further 1300 will completely engulf the village and destroy the character and heritage of Edinburgh's last remaining mining village.  The proposal to build further units on the site at Brunstane will also have a significant detrimental effect on the landscape settings of the two significant historically and architecturally important buildings in the area, Newhailes and Brunstane House.

Additionally, the proposed housing on greenbelt at Brunstane is not identified as a priority for development, or as a Strategic Development Area, in the Strategic Development Plan for Edinburgh and Southeast Scotland (SESplan).  Planning Officials have ignored the guiding principles of the SESplan and failed to identify significantly more appropriate sites in the West (Murray Estates land at Milburn Tower, where substantial improvements to public transport are already planned) and the North of the City (Leith Docks, a brown-field site which presents significantly less environmental impact) for future housing development.

I recognise that that there is a need for more housing - and in particular affordable housing - in Edinburgh.  However, this should be developed in a manner that demonstrates proper consideration of the environment and the appropriate needs and quality of life of existing AND new communities. The proposed Brunstane / Newcraighall development fulfils none of these criteria, whilst other proposed sites in our city offer significantly better options in terms of environmentally and societally sustainable housing.

For the above reasons, I urge you to reject this massive development of southeast Edinburgh’s greenbelt, at Brunstane.