📢 CRITICAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Let’s Fill Penicuik Library on Tuesday! 📢

Our petition to reject housing sites R25, R26, and R27 is growing faster than we ever imagined, but signing online is only step one. To truly force Midlothian Council to protect our green spaces, we need to show up in person.

The council is hosting its official public consultation drop-in event right here in Penicuik. This is our biggest opportunity to look planners in the eye, hand over our objections, and prove that our community will not accept urban sprawl on our countryside borders.

📍 Event Details 

When: Tuesday, 11 August 2026
Time: Drop in anytime between 12:00 pm and 7:00 pm
Where: Penicuik Library (Carlops Road) 
 

⚠️ Things You Must Do on Tuesday:

🗣️ Ask Specific, Strategic Questions

Avoid vague complaints. Ask planners hard, technical questions that require a direct response:

Brownfield options: "Where is the sequential assessment proving that all available brownfield sites across Midlothian were exhausted before selecting these greenfield plots?"
Local infrastructure: "How will local infrastructure, specifically Penicuik’s medical practices, roads, and schools, absorb the impact of 438 new families?"
Green Belt protection: "What mitigation or protection boundaries are planned to prevent this housing from bleeding into the official Policy ENV1 Green Belt land directly adjacent to it?"

🦅 Bring Your Wildlife Evidence

Show your photos or records of protected species (like badgers, owls, or bats) in the R25/R26/R27 field areas directly to the planning team.

📝 Note Down Planning Officer Responses

Write down what the officers say. If different staff give conflicting information about why these fields were picked, it can be used to build a stronger community appeal later.

Signing this petition builds essential community momentum, but the planning authorities legally require an individual, formal objection to officially count your voice. If you cannot make the library event on Tuesday, you must still submit your views via the official Midlothian Citizen Space Hub or by emailing ldp@midlothian.gov.uk before the 25 September 2026 deadline. 

Let’s make sure the council hears Penicuik loud and clear on Tuesday!