10-mile city waterfront revamp plan

[wangi]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=37592006

A SEASIDE resort fit for the 21st century will be created in Edinburgh if plans to bring visitors flooding back to the city's waterfront get the green light.

The council chiefs' vision would see nearly a mile of beach opened up by moving car showrooms and warehouses from the seafront at Seafield.

A massive pleasure park, possibly including fairground rides, amusement arcades, a theatre or concert venue and sports facilities, would take their place.

The plans are part of a blueprint for a ten-mile "boardwalk" along Edinburgh's Waterfront, from Cramond to Joppa.

...

[Porty]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=37592006

A SEASIDE resort fit for the 21st century will be created in Edinburgh if plans to bring visitors flooding back to the city's waterfront get the green light.

The council chiefs' vision would see nearly a mile of beach opened up by moving car showrooms and warehouses from the seafront at Seafield.

A massive pleasure park, possibly including fairground rides, amusement arcades, a theatre or concert venue and sports facilities, would take their place.

The plans are part of a blueprint for a ten-mile "boardwalk" along Edinburgh's Waterfront, from Cramond to Joppa.

...

There are some cracking quotes in that article.

"I suppose people might enjoy it...."

"I would like to cycle from cramond to musselburgh someday...."

[Epykat]

A massive pleasure park, possibly including fairground rides, amusement arcades, a theatre or concert venue and sports facilities...

Em.......am I missing something or didn't we have all that and it all went because of lack of interest?

And after the masses of tourists have walked the ten miles from Cramond to Joppa they could pop into Wangi's for a cuppa

[rathbone]

A massive pleasure park, possibly including fairground rides, amusement arcades, a theatre or concert venue and sports facilities...

Em.......am I missing something or didn't we have all that and it all went because of lack of interest?

No, it went because the Government requisitioned it at the outbreak of the Second World War and converted it into a factory making amphibious landing craft, the factory being run by SMT. After the war SMT started up a bus fleet and a bus depot. After that it was downhill all the way.

[Bob Jefferson]

I have offered to make a copy of the PowerPoint presentation Lawrence refers to available on Portobello Online, so prepare to be very excited!

Dear All

I thought that you might well be interested in looking at the report to yesterday's Planning Committee proposing a 10-mile Edinburgh Boardwalk from the Almond to the Esk. The "Evening News" gave this coverage on Monday 9th January. The report can be accessed at http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=75863

This envisages upgrading of Portobello Promenade from King's Road to Joppa as well as westwards to Seafield. It raises, by reference to the former Marine Gardens, the possibility of re-developing the land between King's Road and Seafield as a lesiure complex accomodating the 21st century equivalents of traditional seaside activities. It also mentions that the site is so large as to be able potentially to include a range of uses, including some residential.

In presenting the report to the Planning Committee, the officer who wrote it also gave a Powerpoint slide show which many councillors thought of great interest and very exciting. It was suggested that this could be e-mailed to committee members. If I receive this, I'll let you know and see whether it can be further e-mailed out to folk without clogging up their computers!

I'm sure that we'll here more about all this in the coming months and years with presentations locally by officials.

Lawrence

[wangi]

Now online at edinburgh.gov.uk:

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/CEC/CityDev ... dwalk.html
http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/Edinbu ... Report.pdf

Bob, got that powerpoint?

[Bob Jefferson]

Not yet - I'll try to chase it up this week.

[Maria]

From today's Scotsman :The 17km prom beside the seaside

Work on the first phase, costing £7.5m, will begin next year with a plaza area built in Portobello,

[wangi]

I don't suppose there's a planning application yet? As is what are they thinking about creating, and will it improve the prom?

For the record here's an excerpt from the report last year (linked a few posts up):

4.1 Former Marine Gardens Promenade (Ikm): a long, wide (12-14m) stretch of well-constructed promenade with a good quality beach, but little known except to locals. On the landward side it is blighted by the blank rear walls of car showrooms and bus depots, which fail to engage with the walkway or take advantage of it. The tragedy is that this was once the site of the Marine Gardens, a leisure complex with a ballroom, theatre and amusement park noted for its massive figure-of-eight rollercoaster.
The buildings had been transferred from the 1908 Scottish National Exhibition at Saughtonhall Park, but were taken over by the military in 1914 as billets. Many attractions never re-opened although the ballroom survived until 1939. Now the promenade is somewhat desolate; there is seating, but many of the Edwardian railings have decayed, and at one point part of the seawall has been rebuilt after a collapse. There are no remaining facilities.
Opportunities: the immediate need is for repair and restoration, and the provision of street furniture and repaving. However, this is currently the only part of the Boardwalk where increased activity would not impinge on the amenity of neighbouring residents. It will therefore be the subject of a study to investigate the potential to relocate the motor showrooms to an alternative site, and re-create a leisure complex which could accommodate 21 st-century equivalents of the traditional seaside activities. Indeed the area is so large, it may be possible to include a range of uses, including some residential.
Summary of works required: Repair and upgrading and integration into the Boardwalk
concept. Responsibility for Implementation: City of Edinburgh Council, with contributions from the proprietors on Seafield Road
Safeguarding Required: existing promenade. Examine potential of land between promenade and Seafield Road for seafront leisure uses
Additional facilities required: promenade; access; street furniture; toilets; beach facilities; commercial / leisure /retail facilities; food and drink
Current status / authorisation: existing

4.2 Portobello Promenade (2km): this traditional Victorian promenade is the most historic part of the potential Boardwalk and is a fitting conclusion to it. It has a traffic-free pedestrian walkway of some 6 - 7m width, and a popular sandy beach, both great assets to the locality, but currently underused. The public toilets on the Promenade use solar power to heat water and to provide electricity for the pump; and there are nature interpretation boards of seabirds at the eastern end.
The section east of Pittville Street generally has a residential character, with the traditional seafront activities - amusements, leisure and sports activities, food and drink - located on the western stretch to King’s Road. However, the city’s increasing demand for housing has lead to pressure for residential conversion and new build along the “commercial” part of the promenade. Although the current North East Local Plan refers to the balance between the interests of the residential community and the commercial and visitor development required for economic revival and identifies some areas for environmental improvement, housing development has begun to infiltrate the commercial stretch, particularly around Bath Street, although other leisure facilities are also under threat. The absence of strong policy guidance makes it difficult to defend refusals at appeals.
Essentially, the central issue is how far Portobello will continue to be a valuable asset for the city as a whole, as well as a residential community with a particularly fortunate marine aspect. To reap maximum benefit from the Boardwalk proposals, it will need to be supported by a strong clearly-argued complementary policy which defines the future character of the Promenade, and sets out a strategy for achieving it, including exploration of new uses and their integration with the largely-domestic hinterland. The Boardwalk concept, by defining the stretch of the Promenade between King’s Road and Bath Street as an important nodal activity point along its route, will strengthen the argument for resisting any further residential incursion along this stretch of seafront. However, a strategy for redeveloping Marine Gardens as the focus for commercial leisure uses could allow the existing Portobello stretch to be confined to those uses which are compatible with surrounding residential use.
The Boardwalk terminates at Joppa, where there is an existing information point, toilets and public transport connections alongside Seafield Road. Enhancement of the terminal point will need to be considered.
Summary of works required: Minor physical upgrading and integration into the Boardwalk concept. Responsibility for Implementation: City of Edinburgh Council
Safeguarding Required: existing promenade
Additional facilities required: promenade; access; street furniture; upgrade existing toilets; beach facilities; commercial / leisure /retail facilities; food and drink
Supplementary Policy requirement: Portobello Promenade Strategy
Current status / authorisation: existing.

Nothing there about a plaza.

[Bob Jefferson]

Not yet - I'll try to chase it up this week.

I did get a copy of the presentation eventually, but it didn't make a lot of sense without a commentary - just the usual vague looking artist's impression stuff.