Over the summer I have been meeting communities all over Edinburgh South to discuss my Building Better Places campaign. Too often big developers get away with building housing estates with little or no upgrading in the local facilities. From both my own experience and speaking to local people it is clear that in many parts of Edinburgh South it’s now impossible to register with a GP, roads are congested because of a huge increase in traffic with active travel and public transport options not improving, high quality green leisure space and children’s play areas are non-existent and there is a dearth of local shops and community facilities.

I have spoken to residents at Gilmerton Station Road, High Brae, Heritage Grange and Liberton Grange. Although different developments have different issues, a common theme is a sense of powerlessness when developers hand over shared amenity land to factors.

Although factors are supposed to act on behalf of residents too often they take on poor quality land from developers without any prior consultation with residents. This leaves residents responsible for additional upkeep costs associated with inheriting low-quality land.

If you are having issues, please do feel free to get in touch and please sign my petition here.