Edinburgh Sucks! | Dick Dastardly calls for change

City Development

Dick Dastardly calls for change

By The Basa ⋅ June 17, 2006 ⋅

Little Dick Dastardly - Trevor Davies Trevor (little) Dick Dastardly Davies, wannabe council leader and Convenor of the Planning Committee has had an earful of complaints from interested parties in the Mountgrange devleopment to take over a huge part of the Canongate.Â Interestingly his quotes in the Scotsman shows that even he has doubts:

“The proposed development could be very exciting and beneficial for Edinburgh, but we need to get it right.”

Notice that the words “will” and “would” have now been replaced by “could”.

Mr Davies said: “The provision of housing in the masterplan was a common concern, with some respondents questioning the affordability and range of housing proposed. Should the development go ahead, it would have to comply with council guidelines that ensure 25 per cent of such a development would be allocated for affordable housing.”

Let’s hope Cllr Dastardly remembers that percentage when he is approving the regeneration of Craigmillar where the Council’s wholly owned company PARC are only speaking about 20-25% of affordable housing.Â Let’s also hope that little Dick also manages to get ALL the information from his council officials this time – not just what they want him and his committee to see.

While we are on the topic of affordable housing, what exactly is that.Â Is there a figure which makes it affordable and if so, what is that figure and where is it published?Â There is also a question over what made these developers think they could get away with not having affordable housing when it is supposed to be council policy.

More Info: Caltongate developer told to provide affordable housing

Update: Was mail delivery just coincidence?

ON Thursday, as Labour councillors moved closer to approving the Mountgrange plans to destroy part of the character of the Royal Mile, I simultaneously received two pieces of unsolicited mail by hand.

The first was a political leaflet from Trevor Davies, the councillor pushing the Mountgrange development, part of the early election campaign.

The second item I received was a large colourful piece of Mountgrange propaganda, claiming to be a “community newsletter” about the project, which somehow ignored the community’s overwhelming opposition to the project.

The question is this: did Mountgrange pay for the delivery of political leaflets to support the Trevor Davies campaign, or did Trevor Davies get his Labour volunteers to deliver material for a commercial developer? Or is it, however unlikely it seems, a coincidence?

James Mackenzie
Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Well, was it?