sinking in the sands of time

[Guest]

Almost missed this story from yesterday's EN. Nothing really new, just a rehash of old stories. Apart, that is, from Brian Monteith's barmy idea of allowing people to drive on to the beach. Brian, do us a favour - if you have any more brainwaves, keep them to yourself!

http://news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=646822004

[wangi]

He'd be wanting the new gates torn down for sure!

[Guest]

From today's EN letters page at http://news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=654692004

Make plans for new Portobello

THERE is a certain irony attached to Portobello falling in popularity as a tourist attraction yet gaining a prestigious listing for the beach (News, June 7).

It is probably because there are less people visiting that the beach is cleaner and has thereby gained the listing.

As a child in the 1970s, I was often hauled along to Porty during the summer and it was very popular even then. Since then I have watched it decline into its present sorry state through lack of investment and have become frustrated that it could be so much more.

Whilst I support the council vision of a waterfront renewal from Musselburgh to Cramond, I still believe that Portobello requires its own specific plan.

Planning Convener Trevor Davies points out that there are no such separate plans for Gilmerton or Sighthill but these areas do not have beaches or the tourist potential of Portobello.

My ideas for Portobello are radical and include:

• The building of a new pier, which would attract not just sightseers but also anglers;

• Boat trips from said pier to Inchkeith, Inchcolm and other destinations;

• The removal or deep burying of the large iron pipe which runs into the Forth, which should not even exist in our environmentally-aware age;

• Making the Golden Days event an annual feature and working upon that idea to create a permanent Portobello Heritage Centre and Museum;

• Enhanced public transport links, including a new Portobello railway station;

• Working on the idea of the Waterfront redevelopment, we could have an Edinburgh Coastal Tramway, running all the way from Fisherrow to Cramond (and possibly building a branch over the causeway to Cramond Island). These ideas would, of course, need massive investment but one has to speculate to accumulate.

I believe to do so would once more make Portobello as attractive and as popular as it once was.

Leslie John Thomson Moredunvale Green, Gilmerton