The Friends Group were overjoyed by news that we have reached the target number of signatures needed for a hearing at the city chambers. Thankyou to everyone who signed and shared ‘Save Granton Castle Walled Garden’, we got to 694 in the end. Council Petition Page
What now?
On Thursday the 8th Sept three of our members will attend the Petitions Committee meeting at the city chambers: to plead the case for protection of the lost castle’s late-medieval walled garden from unnecessary development.
Dreams and Ideas for the garden’s restoration: raising awareness
Friends Group Draft Plans were drawn up to help developers understand our ideas, and show how the garden could be retained in the new Masterplan for Granton’s Waterfront.
Members have been busy over August with another article published ‘Last Days of Granton Castle’ in Scottish Local History, meetings with architects and developers to convey the community aspirations for regeneration of the historic garden. We feel its potential for health and wellbeing benefits are great, being ideally placed on the waterfront to form a green jewel in the network of openspaces and wildlife corridors essential to healthy living in North Edinburgh.
A big thankyou to all the supporters and members working hard to safeguard a little piece of paradise and Scotland’s history for future generations to enjoy. Our draft plans for the gardens restoration and supporting documents are to be presented to the owners Waterfront Edinburgh Limited on the 5th October, as will repeated plans for housing… Waterfront Edinburgh Limited’s senior management team will then decide on the future use of the walled garden in their upcoming outline planning application.
Housing Development or Openspace? Fertile land to grow food sustainably is incredibly rare on the waterfront’s industrialised area, making the historic environment of the B-listed walled garden even more precious. A great example of good land stewardship and regeneration of neglected greenspaces is being set locally by associate group Granton Community Gardeners. Social inclusion, civic pride, increased biodiversity, skillsharing and simple joy can be the outcomes of community growing, not just a bag of tatties.
Get in touch if you want to join the Friends Group, attend monthly meetings or even do a bit of gardening.
