Portobello PONGS

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VICTORY PARTY!
Dear PONGS supporter

Now that most folk have returned from their holidays (or will have done by 21 August) we have planned a victory party to celebrate our fantastic community success in winning the public inquiry into the waste transfer site.

Date: Saturday 21 August
Time: 7.30 pm till late
Venue: Portobello community centre, Adelphi Grove.
Entertainment will be provided by Porty musicians, so bring your dancing shoes.

Please BYOB - glasses will be provided - and some food to share if you like.

ALL WELCOME (including children). Look forward to seeing you there!

Diana and Caroline
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BBC article giving the news of the rejection of Viridor's Planning Application for the Waste Transfer Station

Two letters written by Diana Cairns, Chair of PONGS in response to Viridor's reaction to the decision to refuse planning permission for the waste transfer station....

Letter to the Edinburgh Evening News, Tuesday 15 June 2010

In your article "Campaigners hail decision to throw out waste depot" (Thursday 10 June), Viridor's spokesman, commenting on the decision by Scottish Government Reporters to refuse planning permission for a waste transfer station in Portobello, claims that it is a bitter blow in the light of the new Zero Waste strategy and that there is a need for "next generation" facilities to deal with waste. However, it is disingenuous to argue that this decision is somehow not consistent with the strategy, as what was proposed for Portobello was not a "next generation" facility. It was a massive waste transfer facility which would have depended on vast quantities of residual waste (the very thing that the Zero Waste strategy is trying to eliminate) in order to ensure its financial viability, in other words it would have been a "last century" operation.

We argued from the word go that this facility was not needed in Portobello (or anywhere else for that matter), that it would have a detrimental visual impact on the surrounding residential conservation area, and have been vindicated by the Reporters' decision.

Letter to The Scotsman, 15 June 2010

Your report about the refusal of planning permission for a waste transfer station in Portobello ("Plans for £7m waste plant on the waterfront are rejected", Thursday 10 June) quotes Viridor's spokesman Colin Paterson as saying that: "It is frustrating that the visual impact of an industrial type building in an industrial location has ultimately led to the refusal". The reality is that, whilst the proposed waste transfer station would have been sited on a former freightliner terminal, it would have been in close proximity to many residential properties in the Portobello conservation area. The massive shed-like structure would have been a blot on Portobello's landscape and visible from several sections of the conservation area, as noted by the Scottish Government's Reporters in their decision.

Coupled with the lack of an identified need for the facility in the public interest in this location and of the scale proposed, this amounts to pretty robust reasons for refusal, vindicating the concerns that the community has had from the outset about this proposal.