Dean Valley Regeneration Ltd (DVR) held its second public meeting on Saturday morning to share outline proposals for the ‘linear public park’ between Dean Bridge and Stockbridge.
Around 60 people attended.
In the event, there was little information to be gleaned that was not already available in our article of 22 October and the comprehensive Dean Valley Conservation Statement appended to it.
Of more interest was the reaction from ‘stakeholders’, whose response was a lot more nuanced than Spurtle at least had first expected. There was certainly applause for each speaker, but also some articulately expressed reservations afterwards. We summarise those questions and answers below.
Those who asked this question included the West End Community Council, and some representatives of those residents’ management committees that look after the three private communal gardens along the gorge.
DVR representatives said they (DVR) were few in number and had had limited time.
Nevertheless, so far they had spoken to the Council, Inverleith and City Centre Neighbourhood Partnerships, Edinburgh World Heritage, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, Dean Village Association, Historic Scotland, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Spokes, Sustrans, Stockbridge/Inverleith Community Council and the Edinburgh and Lothian Greenspace Trust.
Further detailed consultation with other local stakeholders would come later, once more detailed possible proposals had been drawn up.
Are you planning to do away with the garden committees? Do you mean to compulsorily purchase the gardens? Why not leave the committees to carry on doing what they have done for years without interference, and instead focus on genuinely problematic areas such as walkway flooding and river bank degradation?
DVR said they had absolutely no plans to purchase or otherwise assume control of the private gardens. Rather, they wanted a coordinated response from public and private partners to preserve and improve an outstanding picturesque landscape. Private gardens would, for the most part, simply provide a backdrop to the main activities of the regeneration project.
Why involve a private company/soon-to-be charity in areas along the river and walkway which are Council owned? Surely the Council should take control and pay for repairs?
DVR replied that whatever it might wish to achieve, City of Edinburgh Council does not currently have the budget to carry out the scale of works which are necessary. A dedicated charity, however, could access significant sums of money from other sources. As much as £5 million could be required.
The beauty of the Dean Valley is that it’s wild. Do we really want to cut down trees in order to restore a ‘prettified’ picturesque parkland like Princes Street Gardens?
DVR replied that the Dean Valley is not a wilderness, but an artfully designed landscape in an urban setting which has been allowed to become overgrown. Too many trees in the wrong places are damaging the site, reducing biodiversity above and below the water, and restricting key views. DVR’s primary focus would be on remedial work.
DVR has absolutely no intention of creating anything like Princes Street Gardens. Nor is there any possibility that the designed landscape as originally conceived in the 18th century – with far more areas of open ground – could be re-created now. However, some judicious felling would prevent further damage to built structures, embankments and railings, would reduce the risk of flooding, and produce light-filled glades with a greater variety of ground-level plants.
If you improve the Dean Valley, more people will come and ruin the area’s tranquility. We don’t want more people. We don’t want cafés and interpretation centres or a hydro-electric scheme. We don’t want hordes of tourists. Stockbridge in particular is already too busy on Sundays, with people munching their lunches beside the Water of Leith.
Spurtle's hackles began to rise at this stage. We understood the attractions of tranquility, but we detected too what smelt like a steaming dollop of New Town NIMBYism. It became clear that the discussion had now reached some key points around which local opinion for or against the plan may well be formed.
DVR explained that the walkway is publicly owned and people are perfectly at liberty to wander along it. Increasing numbers are doing so, and the consequences of their presence – in terms of safety, congestion, wear and tear – must be addressed.
As previously stated, City of Edinburgh Council cannot afford to do as much as required in any coherent or long-term fashion, so other funding sources must be found. To secure these from the Heritage Lottery Fund, for example, would require a guarantee to maintain any improvements to at least Green Flag standard for at least 15 years (hence consideration of a café or hydro-electric plant to pay for this).
Big choices
The big choices are stark:
- Do nothing or do little in a piecemeal fashion, and watch Nature reclaim the area in a way which eventually makes much of today's publicly accessible Dean Valley unstable, unusable, and too expensive to fix.
- Start doing something according to an overall plan, and accept that the price for safeguarding the area will likely be some element of commercialisation and larger visitor numbers.
Which way to go, or which level of compromise to adopt, will be clearer when DVR comes forward with more detailed proposals.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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@theSpurtle I'm concerned they'll 'sanitise' what feels like a semi-wild place to walk. We need natural places and are lucky to have WoL
Marquis Melrose @MasterMelrose
@theSpurtle is there any beautiful part of this city that's not going to be turdified? Leave the trees alone!
Greg McMillan The proposals sound sound to me.
Lorraine Moore In theory this sounds ok and so long as all the relevant stakeholders are consulted and work together - good BUT if they put a Starbucks down there I will be cross!!!
@MasterMelrose and *don't* commercialise yet another place cherished for its natural beauty @theSpurtle
@theSpurtle What she said
@theSpurtle Similar to the National Parks debate. Needs deft handling.
@CityCycling @theSpurtle If a tree falls in the forest does that mean Edinburgh CC has overlooked it?
@MasterMelrose ermm. What forest? @theSpurtle
@CityCycling @theSpurtle Quite. I rest my case.
@MasterMelrose I want the WoL to remain an uncommercialised informal semi natural space for folks to enjoy on a personal level @theSpurtle
@CityCycling @MasterMelrose Fair enough to want minimum intervention. But even that may necessitate non-CEC funding & so commercial input.
@theSpurtle maybe. But I am thinking re St Andrews Sq fiasco. Its all money grabbing stuff & no time for the grass to recover @MasterMelrose
@theSpurtle @CityCycling I'd go for no intervention and no commercial involvement if I ruled the world.
@MasterMelrose me too. And in this case I'm not sure how the value added stuff could improve the natural experience @theSpurtle
@theSpurtle There's a lot of non-NIMBY disquiet about the plans, particularly with regard to consultation and removal of trees to make views
@CityCycling @MasterMelrose @theSpurtle it needs maintenance . I like the hydro idea as a genuine benefit to community but not the cafe.
@inchmama yes. The hydro idea seems good. Depending on how it sits in the river valley and landscape. @MasterMelrose @theSpurtle
@CityCycling @MasterMelrose @theSpurtle many mills on the river not so long ago - can still see traces of Greenland Mill just below Dean B
@theSpurtle Huge part of its appeal is the air of 'wilderness' - so close to city centre but feels like you're in the countryside.
@GinAndCuriosity Agreed. But cannot be maintained or enhanced without costly intervention. If CEC can't afford that, who can and how?
@theSpurtle Woodland, dappled light, moss - all just as important as formal views, of which there are many along there anyway.
@theSpurtle 'What would the world be, once bereft / Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left / O let them be left, wildness and wet... 1/2
Gin & Curiosity @GinAndCuriosity @theSpurtle Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. (Gerard Manley Hopkins.)@theSpurtle well as this is a core path, @Edinburgh_CC have a statuatory duty to maintain it. Also @WOLCT have obligations @GinAndCuriosity
@theSpurtle "At what cost?" is, of course, a question that encompasses more than just the financial.
@theSpurtle I really feel if maintenance grants are required, why @WOLCT should not apply for them. @GinAndCuriosity
@CityCycling @theSpurtle @WOLCT Agreed - we already have an excellent group with existing expertise and local knowledge.
@GinAndCuriosity so this new initiative just has to be a negative force. The Dean Valley is fine as it is. @theSpurtle @WOLCT
Lizzie Rynne @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity I just could not bear the WoL to be turned into yet another money grabbing playground. It would be awful @theSpurtle @WOLCT
Beth Thomson Why oh why can't places be left alone? I don't care about some 18th Century vision or plan, this is one of the few genuinely wild places in this area and an area where you can escape from everything. Comment about the Council not being able to afford 'work' would make more sense of the 'work' was detailed?
papa was a rodeo @papawasarodeo @CityCycling @theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity @WOLCT where's the commercialisation proposal? Have I missed something?@papawasarodeo I'd say yes, you have missed some of the business plan. @theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity @WOLCT
@theSpurtle @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity I'm missing any ref to a cafe in the report, was it just at the meeting? Not that I'd mind...
@theSpurtle well. Thank god for that. There are worrying elements of commercialisation here. @papawasarodeo @GinAndCuriosity @WOLCT
@CityCycling @papawasarodeo @GinAndCuriosity DVR raised café in flyer and Sat meeting. Possibly locate in former 5s court below Dean Bridge.
@CityCycling @papawasarodeo @GinAndCuriosity On Sat, DVR also said Dean Village Assoc had examined case for café nearby, and would't work.
@theSpurtle @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity seems like a good location for one. A cafe in a building in a village.
@theSpurtle @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity knowing some of the people involved makes me doubt rapacious commercialisation is planned.
@papawasarodeo @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity @WOLCT Not exactly Disney World.
@theSpurtle yes...but neither was St Andrews Sq at the outset @papawasarodeo @GinAndCuriosity @WOLCT
@papawasarodeo @theSpurtle @CityCycling @GinAndCuriosity I think a cafe in the Dean Village could be lovely - if an indy not a chain.
.@papawasarodeo the cafe is a good idea. My concerns relate to the proposed treatment of the valley as a whole. @theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity
@theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity type of issue that's an ideal example of how we choose to react to austerity: higher taxes or reduced service
@CityCycling @EyeEdinburgh @theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity the Dean Valley needs better managed & I'm glad someone's doing something about it.
@theSpurtle @GinAndCuriosity the public are only beginning to see and understand the true scale & impact of George Osborne's #austerity
@theSpurtle Unspoiled green space, please leave well alone! #plans
@lattegirl10 @theSpurtle But the space could be let for events & maybe a Tesco Metro & outdoor eating. Don't be put off by previous form.
Ghastly utilitarian fencing.
Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@NTCleanStreets @papawasarodeo Oh, I don't know ... as peace walls go, I quite like it.
@theSpurtle great discussion about future of Dean Valley, opinions matter, we want to keep it a wild space but investment is needed #joinin