🟢 Major Campaign Progress: Productive Site Inspection with Calum Kerr MSP 🌲

Following the formal closure of the public portal, our campaign team executed a highly productive on-the-ground briefing and site walkthrough with Calum Kerr MSP this afternoon.

The purpose of this meeting was to move past standard planning commentary and physically show our parliamentary representatives the infrastructure boundaries, network delivery deficits, and environmental constraints that compromise the western ridge.

Our leaders guided the him down the public footways of the catchment corridor, delivering a comprehensive brief on the revelations secured by the community during the final week of the consultation:

The Talla Aqueduct Realignment: We presented a development plan mapping showing where the high-pressure raw water pipeline bisects the proposed housing footprints. We briefed the MSP on the strict statutory 18.5-metre each side absolute easement constraints mandated by Scottish Water, creating an unbuildable structural corridor that shatters the promoter's density mathematics.

Admitted Road Adoption Standoffs: We reviewed the contemporary corporate disclosures confirming that years post-construction, the primary downslope link infrastructure remains unadopted by the local authority due to outstanding drainage improvement failures and unresolved compliance checks.

Subsurface Hydrology & Ochre Hazards: We physically demonstrated the volatile nature of this active aquifer, highlighting the local authority's own operations documents regarding reactive dredging alongside the heavy risks of biological iron-oxidising sludge clogging lower catchment drainage baskets.

A Clearer Path Forward

We are incredibly encouraged by the outcome of today's review. After evaluating the files and observing the physical network constraints on the ground, Calum expressed a clearer understanding of the severe infrastructure challenges facing these fields. Crucially, it was his informed opinion that given the cumulative weight of these documented educational, transport, and water management problems, there is a strong probability that development across these specific sites will not be able to proceed.

This is a massive step forward for Protect Penicuik Green Spaces. The independent Scottish Government Planning Reporter will audit the infrastructure gaps over the winter, and we now hold the vital political backing required to carry this challenge to the highest levels of government.

A massive thank you to Calum Kerr MSP and his team for their time, engagement, and focus today.

The big portal push is complete, but our work behind the scenes continues. We will keep you updated as the statutory modification report phase begins.

Protect Penicuik Green Spaces Campaign Group