A Local Place Plan for the Astley Ainslie Hospital site
On Saturday 27 September, we organised a community drop-in event at the Eric Liddell Centre in Morningside. The aim was to enable people from the local community to contribute their thoughts and ideas to a Local Place Plan for the Astley Ainslie site. To help, we prepared a series of display boards about the site, its past and its possible futures. You can see those here.
The event was a great success with more than 300 people joining in on the day. We were also keen that as many other people as possible should be able to express their views and so we set up an online survey to enable that. That ran until 12 October, enabling more than 100 people to add their views, so that in total we’ve received well over 400 individual contributions.
We are very grateful for all of these contributions and the wealth of ideas contained. We are now collating them and we’ll share the results shortly. Everyone’s contributions will then help inform preparation of our Local Place Plan, which we will share in draft for your further comments later in the Autumn.
Background
The Astley Ainslie Community Trust (AACT) was established in 2018, some while after the NHS first announced plans to vacate the Astley Ainslie Hospital site. In 2019 we carried out an extensive community visioning exercise, funded by the Scottish Government, which suggested future uses and principles for the future of the site.
Water has flowed under the bridge since then. In 2024, the Council adopted City Plan 2030, which incorporates some elements of our 2019 vision for the site. This plan sets an important strategic context for the future of the site but its implementation will be influenced by many considerations as planning proposals for the site develop and evolve.
Also since 2019, new planning legislation means that AACT, like other local organisations, is able – indeed encouraged – to prepare what is called a Local Place Plan (LPP). This new kind of plan, prepared by the local community, must legally be taken into account in the preparation of Edinburgh’s local planning policies. In practice the next stage of that is the development of a 'Place Brief' that the Council has committed to preparing for the Astley Ainslie site. The LPP will also formally contribute to the successor to City Plan 2030, though that is some way off.
AACT is working hard to make the best of our opportunity to prepare a Local Place Plan. We believe it can play an important role in helping to achieve our Vision: “that the Astley Ainslie will be a thriving greenspace managed by the local community, providing health, housing, jobs, and enjoyment to the people of Edinburgh”.
The AACT is committed to doing all we can to ensure that the LLP reflects community aspirations. To support that, we organised the 27 September event to enable people to:
● find out more about the local place planning and what it can achieve;
● express their views and ideas for the future of the site;
● Identify special parts of the site that should be protected;
● give views on the kind of developments that could be supported.
The results will help AACT to review and refresh the 2019 community vision to reflect new times and the opportunity presented by the Local Place Plan.
What next?
We are now collating everyone’s contributions, which we’ll share shortly in a report. Those contributions will then inform preparation of our Local Place Plan, which we will share with you for your further comments later in the Autumn.
The LPP will then be updated, finalised and formally submitted to Council towards the end of the year.
We are grateful to the City of Edinburgh Council Community Grants Fund for their support for the consultation.
Photographs by Simon Williams Photography, Edinburgh