Outraged locals say new Edinburgh development will leave 'no green spaces' and 'must be stopped'

Outraged locals from south Edinburgh say the new development planned in Ferniehill will leave “no green space” and “must be stopped”.

The local area on the edge of the city is a protected greenbelt space which attracted many of the current homeowners to the area.

However, residents of Ferniehill have been left looking on in dismay as four huge building developments have led to a total of 1,009 new houses built on the surrounding fields and parks.

On top of the loss of green space, locals say that the traffic has become so busy to the point of being unmanageable and insist the air quality dropped significantly.

Residents were left shocked after they were told that a further planning application from Taylor Wimpey, which would destroy one of the last havens for wildlife in the area, was being considered.

In response, a group of four homeowners, who prefer to remain nameless, have set up the Ferniehill Action Group to oppose this build.

A spokesperson of the group said: “I have lived here for 25-years and in the last year we have seen enormous housing developments built all around us.

“We were not consulted about any of these private projects and the first we knew the building was already under way.

“We can’t do anything about the properties already built but when we found out a planning application for another development had come through we knew we had to take action.”

Residents say that the new development, which will be built by Taylor Wimpey on the corner of Ferniehill Drive and the Old Dalkeith Road will bring even more traffic, noise and pollution to the area.

Locals are also concerned that the land the development company wishes to build on is not safe.

In 2001 a row of 30 houses collapsed in Ferniehill as it was built on an old mining area. This ground has large voids and mined areas beneath it and has the potential to form a sinkhole.

The 50-year-old resident heading the action group said: “Why are the council even considering this area?

“After those houses collapsed they said there should be no more buildings in Ferniehill.”

She went on to say that another reason the community is having standing up to the development is that many of the residents are extremely old and vulnerable. She said: “The age and frailty of the population in Ferniehill has made the previous year of constant construction work extremely difficult for residents.

“We attempted to set up a petition previously but again, because of the age of residents it was a paper petition rather than an online one, and in the current climate it is, of course, impossible to collect signatures that way.”

The petition which can be found on the Change website has received 1213 signatures and requires 287 more.

On top of signing the petition, the action group is asking people who are concerned with the development to send a personal complaint to Edinburgh City Council planning department.

The house building company Taylor Wimpey was contacted for comment but did not respond to the request.