Seafield - What's Happening Next
Edinburgh Council has appointed a team led by 7N architects to develop a masterplan for the 30ha Seafield site. The Master Planning process will run from March to July 2023.
The Council has proposed that the 30 hectare Seafield site should be re-designated from industrial use to be allocated for "housing led mixed use development". There is still to be a public inquiry which will decide the merits of that, but the contents of this masterplan could play an important role in informing that outcome and ultimately provide the coordination on infrastructure and the hooks and guidance for individual applications and projects to follow.
Much earlier in the process, the 4 neighbouring Community Councils (Leith Harbour, Leith Links, Craigentinny and Porty) plus Action Porty got together to try to get hold of the agenda and provide a platform for participation and engagement. With the overall objective of us all seeking a planned and participatory approach to regeneration and neighbourhood creation.
It has been a huge effort to get to the stage where master planners and infrastructure consultants have been appointed to work with the community, landowners, developers and Council - to look at the bigger picture.
But the next steps are the most important ones. They are make or break.
Will we - citizens of Porty - seize the chance to engage and shape what happens at Seafield, or will we simply hope that the council (under inevitable sustained pressure from landowners and volume house developers) will do the right thing without our pressure and support?
The next phase over this spring and summer are crucial. The financial resources for doing infrastructure research and appraisals, masterplan and other design work and all the engagement/ participation is tight, so as a community we need to make our voices heard and we need to come together as communities to make this as good a process as possible.
Porty can work with the other communities to bring a strong voice, bring local knowledge and issues to the attention of the Masterplan/ infrastructure team to help shape the outcomes.
7N have been charged with enabling a coordinated approach to place design across the Seafield area - from the Arnold Clark and MacDonalds area to the Bus Depot (so not just the car showroom strip - this is the full length to Craigentinny golf course, a 30+ hectare site). 7N are planning online engagement, local meetings within Porty and meetings with the other neighbouring communities. Please participate!
This is our chance to connect our communities, improve our city infrastructure, address the climate resilience of our coast and deliver new homes and places that people want to live in.
But there are real threats to Porty if this is not done properly.
It could leave us with ugly and uncoordinated development with a lack of supporting infrastructure. Poorly planned housing, car-packed streets and lack of green spaces, and a lack of facilities, active travel, and infrastructure, will over-burden our existing communities. We need to ensure that any development has the facilities, green space, affordable and diverse housing, sustainable transport and climate response needed to ensure a vibrant sister community.
So the consultations need to reach enough people and be sufficiently deep, engaging, and genuine. For people in Portobello, Seafield is an extension of Porty because the beach makes for a continuity. What happens at Seafield impacts our beach, Prom, High Street, facilities and community. A bad development (whether piecemeal or mass density or without community provision) is going to be a lot worse for Portobello. A good development would be a welcome sister community. We need a consultation process with excellent community input and outcome.
This will only succeed if we work together to identify what is needed and how to go about delivering in everyone’s interest. Brownfield redevelopment on this scale is inevitably challenging, but this is an important chance for the future of Seafield and a new seaside community, that bridges between Leith and Portobello.
Justin Kenrick
Here is Action Porty’s earlier response to Edinburgh Council's Proposals for Seafield (17 Dec 2021): https://www.bellfield.scot/news-articles/seafield-action-portys-response-to-the-councils-proposals
Here are notes from the Heart Talk Porty community meeting on Seafield (21st November 2021)
https://hearttalkporty.wordpress.com/seafield-development-opportunity-or-threat/