Jean Douglas

The Editor
Edinburgh Evening News

Dear Sir,

There have been a number of letters published in the Evening News recently (Neil Mitchard 9th June, Karen Matthews 10th June, Stephen Scott 13th June , Giles Greenside 19th June) advocating the siting of a new Portobello High School on the Portobello golf course, and insisting that this be done “as soon as possible”, although they pay lip-service to the need for proper option appraisal and consultation. Many of these contributors have already decided that the golf course “is the only option”, despite no full option evaluation having yet been prepared. These advocates are ignoring a couple of crucial points.

The first is that the plan to build the High School, along with a new St John’s Primary, includes funding the school developments by building housing on some of the remaining space. How much open space will remain if the council raise enough capital to make this project self-funding? How many houses do you need to sell to raise £43million which is the Council’s estimated cost for building 2 new schools and a replacement golf course at Brunstane (the cost of purchasing the land at Brunstane is not included in the £43million)? Are those with visions of schools in a parkland setting not going to be very disappointed?

The second point is that a number of letters suggest that the only opponents to the plan are a “handful of residents who overlook the park”. This is a glib statement, made by those who are unwilling to heed the considerable opposition voiced to the proposal. It seems very blinkered of those who rubbish the park as “wasteland” to ignore the voices of a large number of people (a much more diverse group than the “handful of residents” suggested) who consider the park and golf course to be valuable recreation space. One only has to look at the signatures on the e- petitions organised for both sides of the argument to see that many more oppose building on the park than those who advocate it.

So I maintain that we must wait until the Council provide a full option appraisal. We cannot rush the golf course proposal through as the only option without full evaluation and documentation of the alternatives, including financial and other costs. Only then the Council can make an informed decision, backed up with evidence to support it, and we can all be assured that the best is being done for education and for the local community.

Yours faithfully,
Mrs Jean Douglas