Just got a letter through the door about a trail development at the Hermitage Golf Course- some of us went along to the earlier planning meeting a year or two back, Autism Scotland want to redevelop their 9 hole golf course into mtb trails and disc golf. Whatever that is. Ric from Drumlanrig was doing the planning, though it looks like it’s passed over to Cycletherapy who built Learnie and Laggan among others.

Anyway. The bike plans are currently unavailable- last I saw it was to be pretty compact but a lot of variety, basically a perfect little scheme for quick rides, kids, learners, coaching etc. It’s designed as a revenue generator for Autism Initiatives Scotland so it’s all pretty virtuous. But, it seems to be facing a lot of nimbyism- people like having a barely-used golf course to walk dogs on it seems, and the Friends of the Hermitage’s committee decided to stick their oar in because all groups that have “Friends of the” in the name like to cause trouble…

So, it’s IMBY and the back yard of a decent chunk of scottish STWers, some more support and comments might help.

https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NVA0ALEWH2300

(the summary doesn’t mention the bike trails incidentally, I think we’re ” associated. ancillary landscaping” :lol:)

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🙁

Huh. Well that’s bloody marvellous, our notification is 30/11 and it’s supposed to stay open for 21 days but on the website it says expires 1/12! I’ve contacted them… STAND DOWN, IMBY HORDE!

I wouldn’t worry, it would take Rik at least 3 months to get out of his bed….

people like having a barely-used golf course to walk dogs on it seems

that should be irrelavent though as its a golf course not a dog walking park. I would have thought having dogs pissing and shitting on the fairways and greens to be a bad idea.

people like having a barely-used golf course to walk dogs on it seems

In my experience nearly all green/open spaces in Edinburgh have now been taken over and are now overrun with dogs and their owners. Has there been a massive increase in ownership? The change in Council policy a couple of years ago didn’t help. Not going to be easy to build support if it upsets the majority of dog walkers!

@Northwind. Are you a direct neighbour of the site? If so you should have received notification at end Oct and your 21 days start from then. If it was a local group who leafleted you, they weren’t very organised (by which time it was almost pointless).

I notice from the most recent report it says:

Environmental Protection raised concerns with the initial plans for this application due to the wide ranging use of the whole site incorporating a disc golf course and a mountain bike track in currently unused parts of the site. The mountain bike track was particular cause for concern due to the proposal for its development in the western portion of the site, bordering the residential dwelling. The plans included no physical means of noise mitigation that could have reduced noise break-out from this activity to an acceptable level in the adjacent dwelling or garden. In addition, as there were no plans to enclose or restrict access to the site, uncontrolled use of the mountain bike track would have been possible outwith the operational hours of the golf course.

And continues…

A revised plan has now been submitted which removes the majority of development proposed in the original plans; the demolition/erection of a new clubhouse and formation of a new car parking area now forming the bulk of the work. As such, Environmental Protection’s concerns regarding the possible impact on residential amenity have been negated.

It seem the consultants consider mtb a noisy sport!

It’s not clear from any of the recent documents what is happening with the mtb trails. This seems odd!
Does anyone know?

I would certainly add my (near) IMBY support if I had the chance, and would use it too!

Noise mitigation for mountain bikes? Lol wut?

Hmm, as of July it still had the bike development and there’s a lot of reference to it in the application. But that definitely sounds like they’ve binned the bike part 🙁 Amazed there’s enough left to be going ahead, without it.

E_G – Member

@Northwind. Are you a direct neighbour of the site? If so you should have received notification at end Oct and your 21 days start from then. If it was a local group who leafleted you, they weren’t very organised (by which time it was almost pointless).

Not a direct neighbour but it’s a neighbour notification direct from the cooncil. TBH I probably shouldn’t have got one 😆

I got a notification of the new planning application a couple of weeks ago. I saw the lack of MTB mentioned and assumed the Nimbys had won leading to all MTB to be dropped. It is sad that its getting dropped due to noise of all things. It only borders on one house FFS!