BROUGHTON'S SANDY HILL – SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY?

Locals report that, as feared, ground has begun to slip down the steep bank between the Claremonts and Broughton Road following pre-development preparation work on the narrow strip of land there (Breaking news 11.3.14; 19.3.14).

Contractors were spotted shoring up sections of the area with lopped wood and debris late last week, but their efforts were in vain. Unbalanced by the earlier felling of trees and bushes, and removal of supporting earth below and 3–4 feet into the private property of 55 Claremont Bank, a fence toppled down and over on Saturday. Owners face replacing it 4–5 feet nearer their house, and cutting down garden trees to make space for it, at a quoted cost of £1,500.

Furious, they first reported the development to police, but were advised that the problem is a civil matter. They want the land strengthened and replaced, and have now written to Mark Dunlop at City of Edinburgh Council's Planning Department, enclosing the photos shown here and others.

They also want further study of work on the site, for which residents have still to receive any explanation from the owner. After an earlier investigation (Ref. 14/0015/EOPDEV), Council officers told locals at the end of March that they had found no breach of regulations at that stage.

Downhill, owners at 40 Broughton Road are concerned about any disturbance to the area's geology since only recently their building was badly affected by water from a burst main. Ground-floor flats had to be vacated for two years as underpinning work was completed to halt subsidence. Trees in their back green either fell over or had to be chopped as their waterlogged roots had rotted.

Local resident Jen Clark says, ‘The ripped and open scar of an access track which has been bulldozed along the length of the hill has been left without any support in place. This has seriously disturbed the structural integrity of the hill. What was a compact and secure bank is now exposed loose soil and debris open to erosion from the elements’.

So, in the absence of stable and well vegetated ground, she and others worry that unprecedented amounts of rainwater may now reach the foot of the slope behind Broughton Road and cause further damage to homes.

A meeting of concerned neighbours has already been scheduled for early May. An extra, emergency meeting is now being scheduled earlier. We will post confirmed details, here and in Events, when we have them.

UPDATE: A meeting has now been set for 6.30pm on Wednesday 16 April in Elbow on East Claremont Street.