On Saturday 11th January we held our now traditional, and very well attended, annual ‘Wassail‘ to bless the 140+ trees in our community orchard and encourage a good harvest this year.
Meanwhile, following the approval of our Stage One application to the Scottish Land Fund, our appointed consultants have started work to support us with developing our ‘community asset transfer’ application to NHS Lothian.
As explained in the December update, a key issue for us is around how the land is valued and this depends on the designation of the land in East Lothian Council’s ‘Local Development Plan’ (LDP). Before Christmas we wrote to the East Lothian Council Planning Department to formally request that the designation in the next LDP, which is currently in the process of being developed, be updated to zone the two acres of Belhaven Community Garden as greenspace for community growing, biodiversity and health/wellbeing. The full text of this letter is below:
11th December 2024
Keith Dingwall
Service Manager -Planning Dept.
East Lothian Council
I am writing on behalf of the Board of Sustaining Dunbar to formally request that the area of land currently used as Belhaven Community Garden in the grounds of Belhaven Hospital be designated as greenspace for community growing, biodiversity and health/wellbeing in the new Local Development Plan.
As you may know, Sustaining Dunbar has developed and has been running Belhaven Community Garden since 2012, with the full cooperation and support of NHS Lothian. As well as the polytunnel, raised beds and field-plot growing areas, the garden includes a large orchard with over 140 fruit trees (apple, pear and plum -including many traditional Scottish varieties) along with walnut and cobnut trees plus a wildflower meadow, a hazel coppice, broadleaf woodland, hedgerows and a range of other habitats that are contributing to a flourishing of bird and insect life. The biodiversity of the site has increased hugely since 2012 when the whole area was rough grassland.
Apart from functioning as a space for food growing and regenerating biodiversity, the garden has become an important resource for the community that is helping to enhance the mental and physical health and wellbeing of a wide range of local people and groups, that supports a deeper connection to nature through a range of formal and informal activities and which provides training and sharing of practical food growing and regenerative land-care skills, for all ages and abilities.
We are aware that outline planning permission for housing was granted in 2002 and that the land is designated as a windfall housing site in the current Local Development Plan. However, we note that the 2023 guidance from the Scottish Government states that sites should not be rolled forward from one plan to the next and that your ‘call for sites’ also requires allocation of land for allotments and community-growing.
It is clear that changing the designation of this land is in line with all national and local policies, including Scotland’s National Performance Framework, the Community Empowerment Act, NPF4, the East Lothian Plan, the East Lothian Community Wealth Building Charter etc. as well as with the draft East Lothian Climate Change Strategy and the Dunbar and West Barns Local Place Plan. It would also fit with the original bequest from the Warrender Estate that in 1905 gifted the land for the benefit of the community.
We note in particular that the high level outcomes required by NPF4 include ‘improving the health and wellbeing of people living in Scotland’ and ‘securing positive effects for biodiversity’ and that it also requires that Local Development Plans support:
- A ‘just transition’ that will empower people to shape their places and ensure the transition to net zero is fair and inclusive
- Conserving and recycling assets –to make productive use of existing buildings and places……
- Local living –to support local liveability and improve community health and wellbeing by ensuring people can easily access services, greenspace, learning, work and leisure locally.
We also note that NHS Lothian’s own ‘Greenspace Strategy’ emphasises the benefits of using greenspace, on and off the NHS estate, as part of a preventative approach to future health and wellbeing.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Jo McNamara
Chair