Protect Penicuik Green Spaces: Reject Housing Sites R25, R26, and R27!
The Issue
Why Our Green Spaces Matter: A Community Voice for Penicuik
Every single day, Penicuik residents use the open grassland trails tracking the north-west edge of our town. It is a peaceful, vital breathing space where our children safely play, neighbours stop to chat, dog walkers meet, and our entire community connects with nature right on our doorstep.
If Midlothian Council's Proposed Local Development Plan 2 (MLDP2) goes ahead, this invaluable landscape will be permanently destroyed. It is earmarked to be replaced by a dense concrete urban extension. The peace, the wildlife, and the open vistas that define our town's unique character will be lost for future generations.
As a community, we have watched Penicuik grow rapidly over the years and we welcome sustainable progress. However, there is a massive difference between well-planned development and the reckless destruction of our remaining green infrastructure. As local residents, we are refusing to stay silent and let corporate developers wipe out our green spaces simply because it is the cheapest, easiest option for them.
The Hard Facts and Statistics
We are not just protecting a view; we are fighting an unsustainable plan that completely ignores the physical limits of Penicuik’s infrastructure. The proposed allocations include Site R26 Rullion Road (222 homes), Site R27 Silurian Road (200 homes), and Site R25 Dykes Road (16 homes).
Forcing 438 new residential units onto this specific boundary will trigger severe local consequences for all of us:
Severe Flooding Hazards: Site R26 features a steep 1-in-10 southward gradient. Removing 17.78 hectares of natural, absorbing grassland soakaway to build concrete foundations will drastically accelerate surface water runoff. This creates a direct, unmanageable flood risk for the established lower-lying homes directly below at Deanburn.
Complete Traffic Gridlock: An influx of over 400 households means hundreds of additional commuter cars will be funnelled daily onto Rullion Road and Silurian Road. Our northern exit roads and the critical junctions connecting to the A701 and A702 commuter corridors are already over capacity at peak times and cannot safely handle this cumulative volume.
Public Services at Breaking Point: Penicuik’s primary schools and local GP practices are already operating at maximum capacity, with residents waiting weeks for basic medical appointments. This population surge is being planned at the exact same time that the council is enacting parallel budget cuts to adult social care and deleting local environmental health enforcement posts.
The Legal Alternative: "Brownfield First"
We are frequently told by planners that people need places to live and that this development is inevitable. This is completely false.
Under Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4 Policy 9: Brownfield, Vacant and Derelict Land), Midlothian Council is legally required to exhaust all available urban regeneration, infill, and town-centre brownfield capacities before destroying green spaces.
Penicuik possesses highly viable, commercial alternative sites. The council is currently building 46 homes on former mining land on the north side of Rullion Road, proving they have the engineering skills to adapt industrial topographies. Housing targets must be redirected toward vacant town-centre builder yards, obsolete retail spaces, and redundant civic plots across the county. This protects our countryside boundary while driving economic footfall directly into our local high street.
Our Direct Demand
We call on Midlothian Council, our Ward Councillors, and our MSP to uphold national planning rules, completely remove housing allocations R25, R26, and R27 from the development plan, and enforce a strict "Brownfield First" spatial strategy.
⚠️ CRITICAL STEP TO MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT:
Signing this petition builds essential community momentum, but the planning authorities legally require an individual objection from your household to count your voice. After signing, please email your objections directly to ldp@midlothian.gov.uk before the 25 September 2026 deadline.
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The Issue
Why Our Green Spaces Matter: A Community Voice for Penicuik
Every single day, Penicuik residents use the open grassland trails tracking the north-west edge of our town. It is a peaceful, vital breathing space where our children safely play, neighbours stop to chat, dog walkers meet, and our entire community connects with nature right on our doorstep.
If Midlothian Council's Proposed Local Development Plan 2 (MLDP2) goes ahead, this invaluable landscape will be permanently destroyed. It is earmarked to be replaced by a dense concrete urban extension. The peace, the wildlife, and the open vistas that define our town's unique character will be lost for future generations.
As a community, we have watched Penicuik grow rapidly over the years and we welcome sustainable progress. However, there is a massive difference between well-planned development and the reckless destruction of our remaining green infrastructure. As local residents, we are refusing to stay silent and let corporate developers wipe out our green spaces simply because it is the cheapest, easiest option for them.
The Hard Facts and Statistics
We are not just protecting a view; we are fighting an unsustainable plan that completely ignores the physical limits of Penicuik’s infrastructure. The proposed allocations include Site R26 Rullion Road (222 homes), Site R27 Silurian Road (200 homes), and Site R25 Dykes Road (16 homes).
Forcing 438 new residential units onto this specific boundary will trigger severe local consequences for all of us:
Severe Flooding Hazards: Site R26 features a steep 1-in-10 southward gradient. Removing 17.78 hectares of natural, absorbing grassland soakaway to build concrete foundations will drastically accelerate surface water runoff. This creates a direct, unmanageable flood risk for the established lower-lying homes directly below at Deanburn.
Complete Traffic Gridlock: An influx of over 400 households means hundreds of additional commuter cars will be funnelled daily onto Rullion Road and Silurian Road. Our northern exit roads and the critical junctions connecting to the A701 and A702 commuter corridors are already over capacity at peak times and cannot safely handle this cumulative volume.
Public Services at Breaking Point: Penicuik’s primary schools and local GP practices are already operating at maximum capacity, with residents waiting weeks for basic medical appointments. This population surge is being planned at the exact same time that the council is enacting parallel budget cuts to adult social care and deleting local environmental health enforcement posts.
The Legal Alternative: "Brownfield First"
We are frequently told by planners that people need places to live and that this development is inevitable. This is completely false.
Under Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4 Policy 9: Brownfield, Vacant and Derelict Land), Midlothian Council is legally required to exhaust all available urban regeneration, infill, and town-centre brownfield capacities before destroying green spaces.
Penicuik possesses highly viable, commercial alternative sites. The council is currently building 46 homes on former mining land on the north side of Rullion Road, proving they have the engineering skills to adapt industrial topographies. Housing targets must be redirected toward vacant town-centre builder yards, obsolete retail spaces, and redundant civic plots across the county. This protects our countryside boundary while driving economic footfall directly into our local high street.
Our Direct Demand
We call on Midlothian Council, our Ward Councillors, and our MSP to uphold national planning rules, completely remove housing allocations R25, R26, and R27 from the development plan, and enforce a strict "Brownfield First" spatial strategy.
⚠️ CRITICAL STEP TO MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT:
Signing this petition builds essential community momentum, but the planning authorities legally require an individual objection from your household to count your voice. After signing, please email your objections directly to ldp@midlothian.gov.uk before the 25 September 2026 deadline.
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Petition created on 1 August 2026