Proposed new houses

Well, although other parts of the Lothians can expect to see increases in their populations over the coming years, it seems that Midlothian is likely to have a 4.4 percent fall. http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/news/Midlothian39s-population-predicted-to-drop.3720580.jp

The comment from the Midlothian spokesperson is interesting

Quote :

the decline in population, which is projected for Midlothian, is at odds with the large scale housing development, which is already committed and planned in Midlothian.

Midlothian has embarked on a programme of building 1000 council houses in the coming years. What about all the houses planned for Mauricewood way?

Seems strange - there are new houses springing up all over the place! What about all the new development planned for Bonnyrigg, for instance? There are also several large developments planned in and around the Gorebridge area, and what about the Shawfair development too - isn't it meant to be almost a small town in its own right?

Is it remotely possible that the council have got it wrong?

Yes.

The registrar overlooks that any economic growth in Edinburgh will require more housing and that Edinburgh is too expensive - Midlothian is near and cheaper, so I suspect the council may have a good eye on this.

I thought that at the time it was supposed to be down to demographics i.e. more single people living in houses than families. However, I bet that quite a few of the houses will be large ones.

Has anyone heard anything further about Wimpey's "Greenlaw Mill" development? No progress visible over a year since they put up the sign and with Cala appearing to have scrapped their site behind Mauricewood perhaps it is no longer economically viable, especially with the current housing market.
I just wish they would clear up the area as at the moment it looks like a wasteland and could surely be put back to its previous agricultural use.

I thought I read in the Midlothian Review that the Midlothian Plan was now agreed, reviewed and going ahead.

Well, as far as I'm concerned I prefer to have these sites looking like nature intended them rather than as building sites which they will eventually become

I may be wrong but was it not Cala homes that were building houses at the old Dalmore mill site? The sign that is there at the moment shows that it is Thomas Mitchell homes. Now that site does look like a mess.

Last thing I heard about Auchendinny developments was that they are waiting for the landfill site to be filled up and landscaped before proceeding which sounds sensible as not many people would list that as a "local amenity". There are loads of sites which all have permission including Mauricewood, Greenlaw Mill, Auchendinny (former golf range) but the only one actually going ahead at present is the Mauricewood Farm one.
Then we have the YMCA and Jackson Street school sites with more due in the future when Pentland House relocates to Eastfield and Ladywood Primary is demolished.
Will we get any new facilities to cater for all the new residents?????

I've just been for a cycle through Valleyfield and along the old railway to the site of the old Dalmore paper mill. I turned off and up towards Auchendinny and noticed that they had put two big wooden gates across the road Although there was a padlock, they were not locked. However, I spoke to a woman who told me that they were locked yesterday

It now seems likely that the development by Wimpey will not be going ahead any time soon after this news story.

http://business.scotsman.com/business/Fundraising-failure--rocks-Taylor.4249719.jp

I just hope that they do something with the site to make it look better and get rid of the sign as soon as possible. I guess that the Auchendinny gates are mainly to keep "travelling people" and fly tippers out.

There was already a metal barrier there to keep out vehicles. The wooden gates will now keep out pedestrians/pedal cyclists as well if they are locked. If travellers wanted to get in it would not be very difficult for them to overcome the wooden gate.

It looks like I'm not the only one who does not like this new gate. When I came back from a cycle this afternoon I noticed that someone must have kicked in the gate as the lock was broken off. Oh dear!

Can anyone suggest who to complain to about access to the old railway via the old Dalmore papermill road. The builders have completely blocked it off now There is no easy access for cyclists apart from Valleyfield and Rosewell. There is also no indication of how long the restriction it will last for.

Here is the text of a reply to a query I sent to the council about access

Quote :

Thank you for your recent email regarding access onto the walkway. It should have been part of the planning conditions that access to the walkway be maintained during the construction. However this seems to have been omitted by the planning section who are at present trying to reach agreement with the developers for the access to be reopened.

Glad to hear you got a reply on that, but it shows that the cooncil have obviously made a mess of it. You would think with the number of planning applications they deal with (especially over the past few years), they could at least get all the conditions sorted out.
Maybe a quick email to the Advertiser woudl result in the necessary "prompting" to make them get their finger out!

I was down there yesterday and there is another way to get down to the railway walk. However, previously it was restricted by an awkward to negotiate gate and not very convenient. Someone has now removed part of the gate and it is much easier to go through now.

I hope that the council can still persuade the builders to create a small corridor for pedestrians and cyclists to use to access the railway though. I will remind them in a couple of weeks if nothing has changed.

Well, the good news is that the builders seem to have opened access to the old railway walk. Let's hope it stays that way.

I have heard that houses are no longer going to be built at the back of Glencorse due to problems with drainage. Does anyone know if this is true?

There is no definite word about the houses (as with most things in Midlothian!!!) although Wimpey still have the development listed on their website with an October / November 2008 opening date - this keeps changing as it started off at April 2007!

http://www.georgewimpey.co.uk/newhomes/East+Scotland/GreenlawMill/

I have heard many stories about the site: gas from mineworkings, poor drainage, water table just below the surface, subsidence problems ( a big surprise on the site of an old mine!) and cost of roads, utilities etc too high now that Cala have scrapped their Mauricewood development. I think that the "credit crunch" is probably a major reason as other developments have stopped, even when they were more advanced with roads etc in place which is all quite understandable as there is no point building houses which no one can afford to buy. One day the council or someone might actually tell us what is happening / not happening but I would no hold my breath.

As far as I knew, the houses at the back of Mauricewood were still scheduled to go ahead and the link that you provided does seem to show this. However, there has been no word at all about what is happening at the back of Glencorse. At the very least I presume that it has been put on hold due to the credit crunch.

Hi

Were do you mean when you say the back of Glencorse. I know the ones at Mauricewood are behind Boyd-Or Drive. Are the Glencorse ones going in the fields next to it beside Bellwood Road.

I hope they are not going ahead as that is a great dog walking place and has its own K9 Social structure lol.

As far as I am aware Cala planned to build behind Mauricewood estate (to the south / left of Mauricewood Road while Wimpey's Greenlaw Mill development is to the north running from Mauricewood Road right across to Belwood Road. The plans they produce keep changing and don't usually show much detail.
If any of them are going to happen and when is something that can only be guessed at but I don't see Wimpey spending millions on infrastructure (roads, traffic lights etc have to be completed before any houses can be occupied) if they won't be able to sell the houses. I also would expect people to be unsure about buying property built on old mineworkings which are often waterlogged.

I thought that the sign for Wimpey's Greenlaw Mill development was at the back of Mauricewood estate right next to Mauricewood road which made me think that they would be building there first. Are you saying that Wimpey will be building across the back of both Mauricewood and Glencorse estates from one end to the other? If that is the case I'm not sure where Cala will be building.

SamTyler wrote:

As far as I am aware Cala planned to build behind Mauricewood estate (to the south / left of Mauricewood Road while Wimpey's Greenlaw Mill development is to the north running from Mauricewood Road right across to Belwood Road. The plans they produce keep changing and don't usually show much detail.
If any of them are going to happen and when is something that can only be guessed at but I don't see Wimpey spending millions on infrastructure (roads, traffic lights etc have to be completed before any houses can be occupied) if they won't be able to sell the houses. I also would expect people to be unsure about buying property built on old mineworkings which are often waterlogged.

With regards to your last point - I agree, I would definitely be concerned about that, but it doesn't appear to both many housebuyers. The amount of houses which have been built over old mineworkings in the Gorebridge and Newtongrange areas alone is testament to that - and there are more on the way. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, but maybe the buyers are unaware of the area's industrial history?