Edinburgh
City Centre
Residents
seeking to maintain / improve the quality of their
lives
Keep your EAR
to the ground
The idea that house prices only ever go up is deeply embedded into the British mentality. The realization that prices can fall too will only dawn upon people slowly. The danger has to be, however, that eventually the British public will overreact. As we told yesterday, overreaction from the individuals involved is about the one thing all economic cycles, booms and crashes have in common. The real danger sits with buy-to-let investing. A recent report from the Halifax found that the average total return for a buy-to-let investor was 16.3 per cent in the year to December 2007. Of that return, 5.4 per cent came in the form of yield.
Now, let’s assume that voids, agent fees, and maintenance costs come to, say, 1 per cent of a property’s value. If Capital Economics is right, and house prices fall by 5 per cent this year, then buy-to-let investing, even for investors who don’t even have a mortgage, will make a loss.
In an environment in which demand for properties is low, it will only take a small rise in supply to tip the market over the edge. If some buy-to-let investors conclude that house prices are likely to fall, and that their business will make a loss for a couple of years, they may well be tempted to liquidate. This could in turn lead to even bigger falls, creating even less confidence. Capital Economics’ projections of 8 per cent falls next year could end up looking like naive optimism.
Thursday 20th March 2008
Over the past three months visitors to springside.co.uk has dropped by 40% according to Alexa and the site ranking has fallen to 4,453,197 - a drop of 1,717,363.
Is the business going to Quartermile instead? - qmile.com has risen in the rankings to number 2,754,504 a leap of 1,250,416 or 181%.
The council's Waterfront development waterfront-ed.com is static at the 4,084,747th most viewed web-site.
Plenty of free city centre parking when you are in the know
Empty office space on the rise in
Capital
Evening News March 15th 2008
More office space is lying empty in the Capital now than in any year
since 2003, new research has revealed.Property firm CB Richard Ellis's annual review of commercial property has found that there is currently 2.4 million square feet of office space available in Edinburgh. See here for up-to-date links and figures
It means that Edinburgh has double the amount of space available in the central business district of Glasgow.
Are AMA, Grosvenor and Co being
Gazumped?
The Scotsman March 4th 2008
The banking giant HBOS is planning to create a massive new global headquarters' complex in Edinburgh city centre, The Scotsman has learned.
The company is in advanced talks to buy a historic former brewery site in Fountainbridge for a state-of-the-art base for around 6,000 staff.
HBOS confirmed last night that it had entered exclusive talks with Scottish & Newcastle to snap up the site of the former Fountain Brewery, which closed in June 2005. The bank hopes to have the development up and running within five years.
But the move, which would transform the brewery sites on the banks of the Union Canal, has gazumped two development companies that have spent years negotiating with the brewer over the prime sites.
more from http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/HBOS-unveils-plans-for-global.3838380.jp
An important web site to bookmark and
an organisation to join
03-03-2008
03-03-2008
You can make a Freedom of Information request
to Edinburgh Council here:
http://foi.mysociety.org/new/185
Hopefully by having requests in public, we will help put pressure on them to answer them well!
http://foi.mysociety.org/new/185
Hopefully by having requests in public, we will help put pressure on them to answer them well!
Community service for teen who burned
face while torching car
29-02-08 - Edinburgh Evening News
29-02-08 - Edinburgh Evening News
A teenager who burned his face while setting fire to a car has been ordered to carry out 150 hours of community service. Daryl Ness, 19, was left screaming in agony when the fuel vapour exploded back at him, leaving him with serious burns to his face neck and hand.
His friend tried to cover up what had happened by telling police Ness had been attacked by a someone wielding a blowtorch.
Sheriff Fiona Reith said she could have jailed Ness for the fire-raising but was ordering him to complete unpaid community work instead.
[Lets hope that police eradicate this kind of behaviour from the area before potential owners, tenants and businesses are scared off]
Repossession on the rise
10-02-08 - Scotland on Sunday
New flats and developments
Many such properties were blatantly overpriced, and their prices have tumbled as the market has softened, leaving borrowers to take fright and hand back the keys.
However, evidence is emerging that special incentives and offers muddied the waters even further.
The prices some of these flats were purportedly sold for were registered on the Land Registry at inflated values. For example, if a developer knocked £50,000 off the price of a unit selling at £200,000, the flat was still registered for £200,000, even though the purchaser only paid £150,000.
This gave other new buyers an entirely false picture of the true value of these properties. Meanwhile, lenders have reduced the amount they are prepared to lend on these properties, making selling your way out of trouble more problematic.
Sadly, crooks and cowboys always move in to make a killing at any boom.
Buy-to-let
Not only have buy-to-let investors been particularly vulnerable to fraudulent activities and tumbling new development prices, but rents are falling too in some areas.
There is mounting evidence that in some areas buy-to-let landlords are rushing for the door and handing back their keys to the bank.
more from http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business/Repossessions-on-rise-as-debt.3762418.jp
Thursday 7th February 2008
By Gordon Smith - Edinburgh
Evening News - 18-12-2007
A teenager who poured petrol over the inside of a parked car and then used his lighter to start a fire suffered burns to his face, neck and hands when the petrol vapour exploded.
Because of his injuries, Daryl Ness, 19, now has to stay out of direct sunlight for a year and wear sun block.
Sitting in Edinburgh today, Sheriff Fiona Reith heard that Ness' friend, Craig Walker, also 19, told the police that somebody had assaulted Ness with a blowtorch.
Ness, of Upper Grove Place, Edinburgh, had previously pleaded guilty to wilfully setting fire to the car in Brandfield Street on August 5 last year; and Walker of Hermiston Court, also Edinburgh, had admitted wasting police time by making a false statement. Sentence had been deferred for background reports.
Fiscal Malcolm Stewart said Ness had found a petrol canister inside the car, doused the inside of the vehicle with the petrol and lit his lighter, at which point the petrol vapour exploded back into his face.
The two youths, who lived in the Broomhouse area at the time of the incident, went back to Walker's home. Ness' injuries were becoming so painful that he stood under a cold shower to try and ease the pain, but eventually the pair decided to call an ambulance.
Mr Stewart said it was obvious to the ambulance crew that Ness needed treatment and he was taken to St John's Hospital in Livingston.
When Walker was being interviewed by police he told them that somebody had got hold of Ness in the Broomhouse underpass and held a blowtorch to his face.
The Fiscal said the officers became suspicious and "put two and two together" with the car being set on fire
Sentence was again deferred on the two teenagers to allow a psychological report to be prepared on Ness.
Poor wee Donald Trump is not happy that an application for his scheme for a luxury golf course, including a hotel and 500 holiday homes, was turned down by Aberdeenshire council last week.
His chosen location is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and there would be considerable environmental damage if this went ahead. The usual claims of job and wealth creation in the community are as always unproven and highly unlikely.
Following enormous pressure from vested interests the Scottish Executive has now called the application in under rarely used powers in the 1997 Town and Country Planning Act on the grounds that it "raises issues of importance that require consideration at a national level".
So, instead of the applicant being required to go through the appeal process or submitting revised plans, this means that local democracy is being bypassed and would set a DANGEROUS PRECEDENT for planning applications throughout Scotland.
If you wish to support the campaign to protect this important site from damaging development, here is the link to the petition. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/trumpoff/
Its been a bad week for Trump as
shown in this
Newsday article
.... At least one proposed sale of the company to outside investors has fallen through this year, but company chairman Donald Trump said recently there are still several parties interested in buying all or parts of the company.
Trump's casinos are trying to whittle down $1.5 billion in debt that remains despite a 2005 bankruptcy reorganization.
Its stock hit a 52-week low on Tuesday, closing down more than 6 percent at $4.62. It had traded as high as $23.47 within the previous year.
3rd December 2007
According to economist Roger Bootle, in October, mortgage approvals for new house purchases fell to 88,000, the lowest level since February 2005. In recent weeks, Nationwide, Halifax, Hometrack, the RICS and Rightmove have all reported house price falls.
Moreover, this chimes in with evidence from the Home Builders' Federation. Their site visit balance has already fallen below its 2004 low. Interestingly, in the past six months house builders' share prices have fallen by 50pc. Falls on that scale have only been seen three times in the past: in 1974, 1976 and 1992. Each of the three major house price corrections of the past 30 years has been preceded by a collapse in house builders' share prices.
Meanwhile, gross rental yields on property are running at around 5.3pc - below mortgage rates of roughly 6pc. This means that once you take account of all the incidental costs, landlords are making a running loss. It is only the hope of future capital gains that can justify hanging on.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/12/03/ccom103.xml
29th October 2007
"The focus over the last few months has very much been on subprime borrowers, but they are only the tip of the iceberg," said Mintel yesterday. And with those words Mintel put the Fear Of God up the UK property market.
Mintel reckons 9 per cent of mortgage holders in the UK are subprime, but that another 24 per cent were non-standard with irregular incomes. And that's a problem, says Mintel, because when these mortgageholders come to move, and need to get a new mortgage, or if they want to re-mortgage their property, they are going to find it a whole lot harder and more expensive than they were expecting. "In today's more-conservative lending climate, the unconventional financial situation of these homeowners means that they will now face higher repayments and increased lenders' fees when remortgaging or moving house," said Mintel.
It does seem to us that many economists have underestimated how serious the current credit crunch is. If you remove from people the ability to borrow in order to repay borrowings, then all of a sudden you may well find a rapid rise in possessions, which in turn could lead to a rush of cut-price properties coming on the market.
2008 is likely to see this partially reflected in house prices, but given the time lags entailed in property possessions, 2009 may well be the year when things hit bottom.
From http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/nov2007/biznews644.html#shock
How the land lies
Richard Wachman The Observer November
11 2007
Investors have been dumping shares in commercial property companies: Land Securities has seen its stock price plunge by 30 per cent since January. British Land spooked the City last month when it failed to sell a stake in the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield because of the credit crunch. Analysts fear that capital values of all commercial property could fall by up to 20 per cent. Expect writedowns to become a feature of the reporting season. The sector has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years, but now the chickens are coming home to roost.
25th October 2007
October 2007 Issue No 22 - (page 29)
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk
Another potentially vulnerable component of the UK non-financial corporate sector is commercial property companies. Returns on commercial property companies are highly cyclical. Between 2002 and mid-2006, commercial property price inflation rose to a peak of 15%.
With property prices growing considerably faster than rental yields, initial yields on commercial property have fallen substantially over the past few years and are now well below the cost of finance (as proxied by the five-year swap rate).
Since mid-2006, commercial property price inflation has weakened markedly, with the level of prices falling slightly in August. The price of commercial property derivative contracts suggests further falls.
Contacts are surprised at the speed of this slowdown, which they expected to be more pronounced for secondary than prime commercial property.
…recent first-time buyers...(page26)
Another group of potentially vulnerable households are recent first-time buyers. The increase in house prices relative to income in the United Kingdom may mean that they have had to stretch themselves more than would normally be the case in order to get on the housing ladder.
This is evident in the sharp increase in the proportion of new mortgages with high loan to income multiples since 2004.
Alongside the rise in interest rates, this has resulted in interest payments reaching 20% of first-time buyers’ average incomes, the highest share since 1991.
These households may be hoping that house price inflation will remain high to lower their leverage ratio. But anecdotal evidence suggests first-time buyers are now feeling priced out of the market, which suggests that an important source of housing demand may drop out of the market.
…and buy-to-let investors... (page26)
Buy-to-let yields continue to be squeezed, with rental growth remaining weak (relative to house price growth) and borrowing costs having risen. Net rental yields remain negative: Bank staff estimate that after deducting costs, the rental yield was about 2.3 percentage points lower than the mortgage rate in 2007 Q3. Recent investors are relying on continued house price appreciation to earn positive returns. Buy-to-let investors have often invested in new-build flats in the United Kingdom, which have experienced much lower rates of price appreciation than houses. Some UK property investors are also exposed to international property markets, where there are some signs that the cycle may have peaked.
Grosvenor has completed the first ever
Italian property derivative transaction.
By Mike Phillips - PropertyWeek - 24.10.07
The trade was an all-property total return swap based on the IPD Italian Property Index, and has a two-year life span.
It was executed with BNP Paribas and brokered by ICAP.
Grosvenor has been at the forefront of the emerging property derivatives market, and earlier this year it undertook the first derivatives trades in Japan and Australia.
Hedge
In the UK, the level of derivatives trades dropped in the second quarter, down 67% to £970m. However, anecdotal evidence for the third quarter suggests that the sector has seen increased activity, partly because investors are using derivatives to hedge against falling values in the direct property market.
Nick Scarles, group finance director at Grosvenor Group, said: ‘This test trade is another step towards our using property derivatives as a tool to meet our strategic objectives and adjust our economic exposure to real estate between markets.’
So who now 'owns' the Fountain South /
Springside development?
Traffic chaos hits Grove Street, Morrison Street, Dalry Road, Shandwick Place. In case you were one of the thousands delayed here is the reason. Note that this is not connected with the Trams project which will see two seperate sets of roads disruption and it is before the hugely expanded number of residents, workers and visitors cars arrives. Fountain North is expected to add at least 600 vehicles, The Marcos 'student' flats plan could attract several hundred 'tourist' in the holiday season, several thousand new office based job spaces are already under construction, a failed nightclub at Fountain Park is seeking permission to transform into a six storey hotel. And thats before the Canalside Fountain South area starts building.
'Rent gap' fear in buy-to-let market
By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs
Correspondent Daily Telegraph
24/09/2007
Fresh fears for the buy-to-let market were raised last night, after figures showed that most investors face not receiving enough from their properties to pay their mortgage payments.
The figures show that the rental returns from most properties have fallen below the cost of the average buy-to-let loan – a blow to the sector, which has surged ahead in recent years, providing valuable income for an estimated 400,000 private investors.
According to research from the Association of Residential Letting Agents, which represents buy-to-let mortgage lenders, 67 per cent of all landlords were making rental returns of 5 per cent or less in August.
This rate of return is much lower than all of the best buy-to-let mortgages available in the market. MoneyFacts, the financial research website, currently lists 10 top buy-to-let mortgages, ranging between 5.09 per cent and 5.84 per cent, many of them with a hefty arrangement fee.
The fear is that buy-to-let landlords are starting to sell their properties, in an attempt to avoid an imminent downturn. Tim Warrington, of landlord.co.uk, which has 14,000 registered landlord users, said: "Too many landlords selling in the UK could send the property market into freefall."
Most property economists have already downgraded their forecasts for house price growth in the wake of the credit crunch and the Northern Rock fiasco. Ed Stansfield, of Capital Economics, is predicting house prices in 2008 will show no level of growth at all – a fall in prices, in real terms.
Previously
FIVE YEARS AGO
Flooding sparks city canal probe
June 24th 2002 Edinburgh Evening News
Flooding sparks city canal probe
June 24th 2002 Edinburgh Evening News
A full
investigation into the soundness of the banks on a section of the Union
Canal has been launched following extensive flooding after it burst its
banks.Parts of the Fountainbridge area in the city centre were under five feet of water yesterday morning after a section of the canal collapsed near the Leamington Lift Bridge at Lochrin Basin.
Eight people had to be evacuated from nearby flats by Police Marine Unit boats, others sought refuge with neighbours, and workers at the Scottish Courage brewery were evacuated as millions of gallons of water poured onto the streets.
Emergency crews worked flat out to contain the flood, using heavy machinery to pile rubble into the hole in the canal bank.
Some years ago the Canal basin 'leaked' onto
the Fountain North / Springfield site. Today's
picture shows that water a plenty still proves a problem in the
area. Of course one of the reasons for building a brewery in the area
was
the ready supply of spring water. Earlier problems of flooding were
also experienced at part of the Exchange.
Recent excavations at Fountain North - aka Springfield - for the mega sized underground carpark have smashed through numerous pipes probably from earlier industrial workings. Does any reader have an idea if this was connected to the rubber factory? info@gardyloo.org
Hopefully our politicians watched last night's Dispatches documentary on Channel 4 Television (it should be available soon at http://www.channel4.com/news/dispatches/) which reported on the scandals surrounding UK house building, abuses of the planning process and the abdication of responsibility by councillors. Hopefully Andrew Gilligan will follow up his good work with an examination of the Scottish Common Good scandal.
Well our July 13th warning proved prescient with some 300 homes in the area losing Telephone, TV and broadband services over that weekend. According to Virgin Media engineers this has been a regular occurence with the Fountain North / HBG / Springfield workforce. To be fair however they have yet to emulate the incompetance of workers at the old ScotMid building near Edinburgh Quay. They simply demolished an expensive fibre cable head with a crane.
Edinburgh folks and even the Faculty of Advocates seem to be getting onboard the EAR planning bandwagon. Follow some new links here
Commercial property property was, for a time, riding on the crest of a wave. Given the excellent returns it was delivering, investors piled their money into bricks and mortar and it was seen as an excellent way of diversifying a portfolio away from equities.
In 2006, commercial property was the most popular asset class among retail investors - not surprisingly, given that investors have enjoyed returns of close to 20 per cent a year for three years.
But over the past six months, year-on-year returns have fallen drastically for UK commercial property, with some seeing negative figures.
Tempting again fate today ...
Watch out for a loss of cable services in the Grove Street area
Developers seem to have acquired even more land at Brandfield Street and taken over the pavement along with a Telewest/Virgin Media cable box. (arrowed on right).
While we are at it - HSE regulations require a hard hat be worn at ALL times.
Just how much land did the former Edinburgh Council sell off at Fountainbridge?
As well as ridding the area of a substantial chunk of green space at Grove Park, Labour Councillors appear to have also sold off the pavements and a drying green adjacant to a former children's playground.
However they forgot to mention that the Council had no rights over the latter land which is in the title deeds of some flats in Grove Street. Tonight's talk by Andy Wightman will be of interest to all concerned at the legality of this 'rip-off' of public and private land by a council desperate to raise money for it's pet Trams project.
Some questions:
(1) How much HAS BEEN PAID by the developers for the Grove Park land and playground and drying green?
(2) How much money HAS BEEN PAID towards the Trams project?
(3) What percentage of 'affordable housing' will now be included in the Springfield (AKA Fountain North) Site?
(4) What will happen to the 'donation' towards the Trams project if it is cancelled by the SE?
Is student buy-to-let now a
'disaster'?
Edinburgh City Centre property could yield an annual loss of over £6500 according to a new survey from Landlord Mortgages. http://www.lml.co.uk This is the worst performance for University Cites in the UK.
"Household income has grown 52%* since Blair first came into power in 1997, and for the sake of affordability, the housing market must cool, with growth a predicted 24% over the next five years", says LML MD Lee Grandin.
Commercial property prices will fall by
12% by 2010
Capital Economics property economist Kelvin Davidson quoted in the Daily Telegtaph said that its forecast marked "a distinct change to our expectations for the commercial property market. We have been warning about the upside risks to interest rates and the downside risks to commercial property prices for some time."
"With the Bank of England increasingly worried about the need to address building inflation pressures, these risks are now out central view. While rising rents will limit falls in cap[ital values but not prevent them. Property yields have been left stranded about 80-90 basis points below 10 year bond yields. We view that as unsustainable"
http://www.capitaleconomics.com/
To see some commercial property available in Edinburgh go here
Price drops starting for Edinburgh Housing
Market underway?
An interesting site that you should peruse if you are considering buying or selling property in Edinburgh EH3 (or elsewhere in Britain) http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/postcode/eh3
Just how legal was the previous Edinburgh council sell-off of public parkland to the AMA - Grosvenor - RBS consortium? What remedies exist under UK, Scots and European Law?
An important lecture and evening with Andy Wightman on Edinburgh's Common Good has been organised by EdinburghAtRisk. See here for details.
Reopen the South Sub!
This is the website for the campaign to reopen the Edinburgh South Suburban Railway ('South Sub') to passenger rail services. This campaign has been launched by the Capital Rail Action Group (CRAG) in support of the petition lodged in the Scottish Parliament in March 2007. As the existing rail can be largely used there is much less disruption than the blessed Tram idea. Please support their petition http://www.reopenthesouthsub.org.uk/
So now it becomes clear why the Fountain North developers wanted to buy the Park Land at Grove Street - they want to build a 'loop road' between Upper Grove Place and Brandfield Street. No mentioned of course in the original 'application' for the development although many who objected to the scheme warned of the impact on traffic of the scheme. Since then of course Marcos wants to build 350 student residences, Fountain South is still to appear, The Morrison Street Carpark and Haymarket developments have appeared. Nore details when the 'plans' become available.
The application is being made under the Roads (Scotland) Act of 1984.
The smart money moves into German
offices
Is European commercial property the next
big thing?
John Duffield, one of the country’s savviest investors, has put millions of pounds of his family’s money into overseas commercial property, including German offices and Polish warehouses, as property chiefs warn that the British market is past its best.
Millions of ordinary investors who have piled into UK commercial-property funds in recent years will now be wondering whether they should dump Britain and back Europe too.
Investors have poured £5 billion into commercial-property funds over the past year alone, with the bulk of the money going into funds that invest in bricks and mortar here in Britain. Interest in the funds, which invest in shops, offices and industrial premises, was sparked by stellar returns: 65 per cent over the past three years, according to the Investment Property Databank (IPD), against 58 per cent for the FTSE All-Share index.
The consensus, though, is that the UK market has peaked. The chief executive of Britain’s largest commercial-property firm, Land Securities, took the unusual step last week of warning that the returns available to investors are set to decline. Francis Sal-way said that some of his firm’s properties had fallen in value since the autumn. “This is a big deal,” he said. “We have had four years when everything was going up.”
His warning came a day after Savills, the estate agent, said almost a third of the properties at its last commercial auction had failed to sell.
And Spanish company Metrovacesa has recently bought HSBC’s Canary Wharf headquarters for a record £1.09 billion, with a yield – rental income as a portion of the property’s value – of just 3.8 per cent. This is an extremely low return with interest rates at 5.5 per cent and many analysts suggest it signals the top of the market.
See more at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/investment/article1813028.ece
A typical experience at the Fountain North (aka Springfield) site. What is the point of speaking with developers, health and safety folk and environmental services when the rules continue to be ignored. See below for assurances which were given regarding dust, asbestos and 'fly'.
Why is there still no sign of promised figures on air quality measurements and the method statement for this work or does City of Edinburgh Council not bother with such boring matters?
Edinburgh At Risk (EAR) is to release the contents of 'Brown Envelopes'
House prices are at their least affordable level for a generation according to the Daily Telegraph. It now costs nearly seven times the annual wage to afford an ordinary home and mortgages are taking 45% of the average salary. The figures have not been at this level since the housing crash of 1989. With further interest rates rises expected this and next month, economists have warned of a dramatic 'cooling' of the housing market.
Is affordable housing on the way?
From The Scotsman House-price boom may be stalling amid fear of higher interest rates, according to figures which show the number of mortgages approved last month was 12 per cent down on last year.
The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said just over 198,000 loans were agreed during March - 19,000 lower than the same period in 2006, a sign that some of the heat may be coming out of the market.
April 27th 2007
Earlier in the week complaints were received by Edinburgh Council's Environmental officers concerning the quantity of dust flying off the Fountain North Site. Following their visit contractiors tapped into the water main running under the former park and started to spray the growing mounds of material which is being 'processed'.
This action resulted in a severe loss of pressure to the upper stories of nearby tenements. Following discussions with Scottish Water the situation seems to have improved somewhat but if residents face any re-occurence it is suggested that they contact site manager Malcolm Boyd on 0791 7227 371
As we have still not received promised information regarding monitoring during asbestos removal and the impact of weather conditions on site working, those concerned might also wish to approach Mr Boyd .
April 26th 2007
Earlier in the week complaints were received by Edinburgh Council's Environmental officers concerning the quantity of dust flying off the Fountain North Site. Following their visit contractiors tapped into the water main running under the former park and started to spray the growing mounds of material which is being 'processed'.
This action resulted in a severe loss of pressure to the upper stories of nearby tenements. Following discussions with Scottish Water the situation seems to have improved somewhat but if residents face any re-occurence it is suggested that they contact site manager Malcolm Boyd on 0791 7227 371
As we have still not received promised information regarding monitoring during asbestos removal and the impact of weather conditions on site working, those concerned might also wish to approach Mr Boyd .
April 26th 2007
While Gardyloo is non-party political,
we were impressed with
the records and aspirations of Brian Ferrier and John
Anderson who are standing as independent candidates in the
forthcoming council election. Take a look at their website for some
refreshingly sensible views. http://www.stockweb.net/independent/
Some interesting and serious allegations have been flagged up this morning at http://www.edinburghsucks.com/
April 25th 2007
Edinburgh At Risk Launched
As AMA / Grosvenor / Fountain North attempts to
woo investors and public opinion with a freebie at Edinburgh
Castle, signs that Edinburgh's public have had enough of the
destruction of their City in the name of Development.
EDINBURGH AT RISK is a 'support network' which aims to address the 'democratic deficit' that many feel is occuring with recent planning decisions in the City. Amongst its supporters is Sir Bernard Crick. For the press release and links to a video read the release here.
EDINBURGH AT RISK is a 'support network' which aims to address the 'democratic deficit' that many feel is occuring with recent planning decisions in the City. Amongst its supporters is Sir Bernard Crick. For the press release and links to a video read the release here.
£80m scheme dropped
Edinburgh Evening News 19-04-07
Plans for a massive extension of Edinburgh's flagship conference centre are in tatters after the developers behind the project pulled the plug on their involvement.
The £80 million scheme, a joint venture between Cala and AWG, would have seen an eight-storey office block created on top of a major new underground banqueting and events space for the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The shelving of the scheme is expected to have a major impact on Edinburgh's ability to attract major conferences and events. However, the council and the EICC said they would be working to try to rescue the scheme by trying to get other developers involved.
Work had been due to get under way within months on the project - which has been more than five years in the planning stages - after it received planning permission last August.
Developers said the project is no longer viable because of spiralling construction industry costs.
A report to be published tomorrow (Thursday 19th April) is expected to show that higher stamp duty has reduced housing transactions by ½ million and by restricting supply in the upturn and by reducing demand in the downturn has added to volatility in the housing market.
The report will claim that with housing accounting for 55% of private individuals’ net worth, introducing an additional element of volatility into the housing market is dangerous. If and when the housing psychology becomes negative, it suggests that the consequences will be unnecessarily severe.
Apologies for the delay in publishing the results of Asbestos Monitoring and Answers to questions concerning windspeed maxima during the recent demolition. Promised figures and a report have still not arrived from AMA.
Some residents remain concerned at the degree of 'stoor' blowing from the site.
March
23rd 2007 Jumping through Hoops
Property investors want to be in on the ground floor of any opportunity.
Actually, they want in earlier than that.
While helping Grosvenor develop the brand for an important new mixed use scheme in central Edinburgh, we simultaneously created a holding brand for the investment community.
Rule No.1 is to look like you’ve spent no money on marketing to investors. Rule No.2 is to make the opportunity utterly compelling and apparently exclusive.
Taken from Fountain North's new website for investors and their web developers Hoop
Please compare the building massing shown in the website image with plans submitted the Council and shown to residents.
From Gordon (Stalin) Brown's budget speech today:
The system of business rates includes a number of reliefs and exemptions. The Inquiry recommends that some of these should be reformed. In response to these recommendations and those of the Barker Review of Land Use Planning, as described above, the Government today announces its intention to modernise empty property relief from business rates.
These reforms will reduce the duration of the existing empty property relief to three months for all properties and six months for industrial and warehouse properties. These reforms will reduce the current distinction between different types of property.
The duration of empty property relief (EPR) will be limited to three months for all property when they first fall empty with a further three months for industrial and warehouse properties only. Complete exemptions from rates will be awarded to empty properties held by charities.
This will enhance the supply of commercial property, reducing rents and improving access for new and existing firms. Downward pressure on rents will have significant benefits for UK business and wider UK competitiveness with particular benefits for new starters, and companies investing in additional property, in addition to all companies – especially SMEs – who rent their premises.
With any luck this should place some checks on the ever expasnding quantity iof unsold office space in Edinburgh's City Centre. A link to the present situation can be found here.
Comment
on the US and UK Housing Market
......Why are the investment
bankers so nervous about their own debt? Both Wall Street and the City
of London earned record sums in the last 12 months. But at the top of
the credit cycle – and with global asset values tumbling as the flood
of easy money dries up thanks to rising rates in Japan, higher real
rates in the US, and the threat of rising rates in Switzerland – the
biggest security firms are starting to look awfully insecure.In the United Kingdom for instance, 125% mortgages lent at 7 times income for 50 years were packaged and sold – retail – to house-hungry consumers now struggling to make interest-only payments each month. Then the City of London bundled that risk along with yet more subprime debt and sold it again – wholesale – to pension and insurance funds.
Double the fun, in other words – plus a high-risk investment for unwitting pension savers, and "negative equity" for the homeowner without house prices needing to drop....
.
More on Controlled Parking - a further
email from 'Simon' 15th March 2007
After spending many hours trying to call the City Of Edinburgh council regarding the Zone 8 parking fiasco. I have at last found the person and the phone number to call should you have any complaints regarding this situation.
The person is an Andrew McKay and the phone number is 0131 469 3577.
There is currently a dispensation for some Zone 8 residents to park in S1 - although those living in Viewforth / Fountainbridge do not get this benefit. This seems very unfair considering we all pay the same amount of money for a parking permit.
I would like to see the same benefits applied to the residents of Fountainbridage and Viewforth, to be allowed to park in the new S2 and S3 zones that are currently lying empty. I would love if all the locals could band together here and complain to the council, as this is what the Marchmont group did and they won their case.
March
8th 2007
Gardyloo is happy to post this email regarding parking zones. Edinburgh Council, of course, has for years oversold the number of permits, whilst 'Traffic Calming' has shrunk the number of available residential parking spaces. Anyone else 'selling a service' in this manner would run foul of the Sale of Goods Act, and Trading Standards.
And now CEC are selling £1000 per year licences to tradesmen who will also be able to park in resident bays. Fountain North will have spaces for 650 cars when their project is complete. Whoever gets the Fountain South franchise will, no doubt, add to the dreadful congestion and then there are all these other city centre office blocks, budget hotels and student flats to consider. We hope the Dundee Street traffic flow estimates have been based on better research than a recent occasion which consisted of conducting a census on one Tuesday in the Summer during school holidays. A net daily increase of 12 journeys was forecast by the 'experts'!
Hi there,
I recently noticed your site and wondered if you'd been affected by the new controlled parking zones.
I live in the Viewforth/Fountainbridge area and ever since the new CPZ's have came into existence I've literally had nowhere to park. I don't really use my car much, but I cannot believe the council has taken no interest in the Zone 8 residents.
I have tried speaking to the council on numerous occasions but get the same answer "we'll look into it". I'm guessing that if they admit a problem it may make them look stupid.
I was told to email the following address ( cpz.extension@edinburgh.gov.uk ) if I wanted to complain about the Zone 8 parking situation. The S2 and S3 zone which join the Viewforth area have on most evenings been derelict.
A group of residents in the Marchmont area of Zone 8 complained strongly enough that they now have a dispensation to park in S1. I was wondering if you could post these details on your site for the residents of Zone 8 to make their voice heard.
They should also call the council as I have a feeling they're not overly concerned about reading emails...
Keep up the good work with your site...
Many Thanks
Simon
(Indeed
a little bird tells us that RBS are concerned at delays at the Fountain
North project)
Despite Edinburgh's bank workers bonuses much of the planned 'luxury'
apartments will be beyond reach and likely to end up being flogged to
buy-to-let absentee landlords. When lending rates increase will
the rents they have to charge remain affordable? See http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/See also: http://www.moneyweek.com/file/25283/is-the-housing-crash-coming-this-year.html
Here are some other campaigning sites worth visiting. Our anger is not alone.
http://thelondonparticular.org/
Why cannot Edinburgh planners and developers aspire to the imagination and sensivity of Adriaan Geuze and his team at West 8 in the Netherlands.?
Recently described as the UK's dirtiest, but with asprirations to be a world class city, Edinburgh should start to encompass the greening of urban spaces rather than flog off land.
To see how it can be done visit:
http://www.west8.nl/
Note: West 8 does not represent or endorse any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided by gardyloo.org
Note: West 8 does not represent or endorse any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided by gardyloo.org
Meanwhile back in Edinburgh another play area is closed
|
...Equally
good-quality public services such as transport, education and parks are essential to making the
city region attractive for the long term...
Greg
Clark, an advisor to the OECD quoted in the winter edition of Capital
Review
|
The same review shows the residential land values for flats as
£7.5million per hectare.
So HOW MUCH WAS THE COUNCIL PAID FOR GROVE PARK?
So HOW MUCH WAS THE COUNCIL PAID FOR GROVE PARK?
Some interesting pix from adjacant West Tollcross
http://www.myedinburgh.org/?page=3089&screen=1&custom=1
Residents in Edinburgh's Upper Grove Place had a pleasant surprise on Saturday. They found their vehicles had been washed by workers from the Fountain North site.
As you can see (below) assurances regarding the damping of buildings to suppress dust were underway on the 8 acre site. The degree of muck on cars and windows in the area however, casts serious doubts on the effectiveness of the procedures put in place.
Can
you Spot the Unhealthy Trees.
Of course the final planning consent has NOT YET BEEN GIVEN but obviously is expected as a fâit accompli.
February 6th 2007
Here's a PFI type plan which
Edinburgh Council's planning committee is being asked to approve for 'affordable social housing' at
Fountain North. Documents lodged yesterday (- see here )
show that:
Your new 'social landlord'
will be The Merchant Company.protecting the interests of traders in the city..
Best know for their private
schools the following is taken from their website http://www.edinburghmerchantcompany.org/
The Merchant Company’s original purpose was to protect trading rights in the City of Edinburgh. Rules were drawn up for better regulation of trade and for punishing offenders. Then, as now, the term merchant covered a wide field but all Members, including a few women, shared common interests and purpose. Issues discussed included the city’s water supply, smuggling, taxation, Sabbath observance and postal services. From its earliest days, the Merchant Company was involved in educational and charitable work. As a result, when the monopolies of trade guilds were ended by the Trading Within Burghs Act 1849, the Merchant Company continued to flourish and play an important role in the life in the city.
Is this the shape of things to come from Edinburgh's Nu-Labour councillors following the rejection of plans to transfer council housing? . We understand that The Merchant Company will 'buy' property from Fountain North and then lease it to the Dunmore - Canmore Housing Association.
January 30th 2007 - Who will be taking the planning decisions?
With 3d models showing 8 story block of flats on the adjacant Fountain South site here is the run-down on local planning decision making in Edinburgh.
Coming shortly: pictures showing the 'green spaces' enjoyed by the developers and their funders.
January 16th 2007 Update Edinburgh offers least playground space in Scotland, according to a new survey.
The Capital has just 177 public spaces where youngsters can play, a third of the total in Fife and Glasgow.
There is just one city council play area for every 400 children according to a survey by SportScotland
If you have Google Earth installed, you can double-click on this placemark file and it will fly you to the site of Fountain North's destruction of green space. If not, you will need to install Google Earth first
(free and available at http://earth.google.com)
|
This is taken from a personal view by the Editor of Money Week, Merryn Somerset Webb which appeared in the Sunday Times edition of December 24th. ...My other mistake has been on the demand side. I didn't anticipate that lenders would loosen their lending criteria quite as much as they have. I have a friend who was recently offered a self-certification mortgage for five times his income (in other words, the bank didn't check on his income or his ability to repay the loan, they just took his word for it). It is now perfectly possible to get a mortgage for six times your income or for 125% of the value of your home. This clearly has a huge effect on demand because it allows people to carry on buying houses they can't really afford, however high prices go. So what next? I still think that UK house prices are far too high. Over the long term, the price of the average house in Britain has been three times average earnings, but today-one will set you back six times average earnings. This is unsustainable and I think that the market will crash. It is being kept going by technical factors and by speculation, but that can't go on indefinitely. When will prices actually start to fall? I can't tell you the answer to that one — I don't know exactly when common sense will return — but I do know there is no way I'd buy a house in 2007. My own is still for sale.... |
||||||||||||
|
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
|
||||||||||||
|
Britain's property bubble will burst in one or two years, a prominent economist and former adviser to Gordon Brown warned yesterday. House-price growth has been based on unrealistic expectations and "significant" falls in value are likely, according to a report by David Miles, chief UK economist at the investment bank Morgan Stanley. It is the latest in a series of black warnings about the collapse of the property market, all of which have so far failed to come true. But economists yesterday agreed that, while a drop in prices may not take place, a sharp slowdown in growth was long overdue. And Scotland, where the annual rate of house-price inflation is double the UK average, is unlikely to escape any drop in prices as it did in the crash of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mr Miles estimates homebuyers are expecting prices to continue rising by as much as 10 per cent a year, compared with 2 per cent in 1996. A slowdown in house-price rises would trigger a reappraisal of home-buyer expectations and lead to a slump in prices, it was suggested. The report concludes: "A sharp fall in real house prices is likely at some point in the relatively near future, though it could yet be one to two years away." |
Update as at 17th November 2006
| "In 95 per cent of suburban housing
developments I see no change from
the Noddy-box mentality, which litters the landscape from Caithness to
Cornwall. "In Britain generally, let alone Scotland, I don't want to live in a country where we are producing a few jewels in a whole pile of rubbish - which it is, frankly." |
| Award-winning Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy quoted in The Scotsman. The cream of Scotland's architects had gathered in Edinburgh to celebrate the best of the country's design renaissance. |
Update as of 2nd November 2006
Its good to see that cross party support is growing to save green space and play facilites in Edinburgh's City Centre. Joining our local MSP, Sarah Boyack and Green MSP Mark Ballard is Scottish Conservative candidate Gordon Buchan who has included a petition form in his
latest newsletter. Hopefully many more signatures will result.
Update of 17th October 2006
Are there to be Public AND Privet (private?) parks within the Fountain North Development ?
see emails below
Update of 14th October 2006
TREE FELLING PLANNED BY AMA
The emails below are
self-explanatory and appear to conveniently show that Fountain North
have been given the go-ahead by the Edinburgh Council to remove
established trees in the Grove Park area. As of last night (Tuesday
10th October) a member of the planning committee confirmed that only
OUTLINE planning approval has been granted so far to the Fountain North
scheme.
Can you
spot which of these 25 year
old trees are in 'poor
condition'?
| From:
David Liddle To: malcolmboyd@hbgc.co.uk Cc: hbgedinburgh@hbgc.co.uk , Sarah Boyack <sarah.boyack.msp@scottish.parliament.uk> Date: 04-Oct-2006 10:52 Subject: Fountain North Ltd - structural monitoring Dear Malcolm Boyd Before I return your note of September 29th 2006 regarding the establishment of base points on our property can you reassure me that there will be no cutting down of any trees surrounding the park area at Brandfield Street? It seemed that foilage and branches might obstruct line of sight of your proposed reflectors but hopefully you can explain how measurements can be made? David Liddle 3 Brandfield Street Edinburgh EH3 8AS |
From:
Bright,
Richard To: David Liddle Date: 05-Oct-2006 14:48 Subject: Fountain North - Revised Start Date for Demolition David The start date for the first demolition phase for the Fountain North site has now been set for January 2007. The development team felt it was best to have a clear run at the demolition works following Christmas and New Year, without the interruption of various regulations (e.g. regulation of road restrictions) surrounding the festive period. Hopefully, the start date will be more suitable to residents too. The demolition period will be approximately 32 weeks. I am aware that at the Public Meeting on August 31 we indicated that work would start imminently. I would therefore be grateful if you could make the revised start date known to your immediate contacts. As you are aware, a letter from contractors HBG requesting structural monitoring on selected buildings in the area during the demolition and construction period has been issued this week to a number of residents in Upper Grove Place, Grove Street and Brandfield Street. Please get in touch in you need any more information. Best regards Richard Weber Shandwick |
| From:
David Liddle To: "Bright, Richard Date: 05-Oct-2006 18:46 Subject: Re: Fountain North - Revised Start Date for Demolition Thanks for that Richard. I am still waiting for a reply from HBG to my email regarding an assurance that they will not be clearing any existing trees from the park area. I asked them to explain how they would be able to take measurements through foilage. sincerely David Liddle |
From:
Bright,
Richard To: David Liddle Cc: "Halstead, Sam Date: 06-Oct-2006 10:20 Subject: RE: Fountain North - Revised Start Date for Demolition David Either HBG or ourselves will get back to you about this important issue early next week. I’m on leave next week, so it will be my colleague Sam Halstead who will be following it up. Cheers Richard |
| From:
Halstead, Sam To: david.liddle Date: 09-Oct-2006 13:37 Subject: Trees Hi David, Richard Bright asked me to look into your enquiry about the trees. I have had a chat with the contractors who have advised me that following an analysis in conjunction with the City of Edinburgh Council’s tree officer, it has been determined that the trees are generally in a poor condition. The council has approved the removal of seven of these trees, but 15 new trees will be replanted within the same location. There will also be extensive tree planting over the entire Fountain North site. If you have any further questions, please let me know. Kind regards, Sam Halstead |
From: David Liddle
To: "Halstead, Sam Date: 09-Oct-2006 14:36 Subject: Re: Trees Thanks you for your note which is rather distressing. Can you or the council tell me which trees are in a poor condition and where they are sited? The reason I ask is that I had a conversation with the park workforce who removed one tree which had been left in a dangerous condition. David Liddle |
| From:
Halstead, Sam To: David Liddle Date: 11-Oct-2006 12:36 Hi David, Just to keep you in the loop. I haven't forgotten you! The person I need to speak to is out of the office at the moment, but as soon as I track him down, I'll get back to you. Cheers, Sam Halstead |
From: David Liddle
To: "Halstead, Sam Date: 11-Oct-2006 12:40 Subject: Re: Surely you can just ask the Edinburgh tree officer? David Liddle |
| From:
Boyd, Malcolm (Scotland) To: David Liddle Date: 13-Oct-2006 13:56 Subject: RE: Fountain North Ltd - structural monitoring Dear Mr. Liddle Further to your e mail we write to advise that their will be no requirement to remove any trees or foliage to allow monitoring surveys to be carried out to your property. Base stations will be set up in open area adjacent to your property where readings will be taken by the surveyor. We trust this answers your queries and allows you to return note of September 29th 2006 regarding the establishment of base point. Regards, Malcolm Boyd |
From: David Liddle
To: malcolmboyd@hbgc.co.uk Bcc: Sarah Boyack <sarah.boyack.msp@scottish.parliament.uk> Date: 13-Oct-2006 15:18 Subject: Trees at Grove Park Dear Malcolm Boyd Thanks for your reply which I will forward to Sarah Boyack MSP. I am glad that there will be no need to remove any trees or foilage although your comments seem to be at variance with those from the PR company who stated that some trees will be cut down. Can I assume that HBG have now decided that this is unnecessary? Sincerely David Liddle |
| From:
Cooper, Martin <mcooper@hbgc.co.uk> Date: 17-Oct-2006 13:00 Subject: Trees at Grove Park Dear Mr Liddle The Landscaping of all public and privet parks within the development will be subject to a 'Public Realm Application' which will be subject to public notice and comment. Regards, Martin Cooper Construction Manager |
From: David
Liddle To: "Cooper, Martin" <mcooper@hbgc.co.uk> Date: 17-Oct-2006 13:10 Subject: Re: Trees at Grove Park Dear Mr Cooper Thank you for that - I'll have to see what that entails and means. |
Update of 12th September
Political
support for attempts to retain the public park space at Grove Street.
Today Green MSP Mark Ballard
and Scottish Conservative Candidate
Gordon Buchan expressed
support for our attempts to retain and improve the existing parkland at
Grove Street. The Edinburgh Evening News is understood to be
investigating the sell-off plan.Update of 1st September
Asbestos is an emotive word and its presence and removal creates problems and dangers for all. This is especially the case when working in confined spaces or when particles can be disturbed and travel in the air. The following links may go some way to provide some authoritative information for anyone concerned.
http://www.workershealth.com.au/facts001.html
http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/books/asbestos/asb10.htm
http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/books/asbestos/asb_toc.htm
http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/books/asbestos/asb10.htm
http://www.lhc.org.uk/members/pubs/books/asbestos/asb_toc.htm
Update of 31st August
A full report of the AMA
meeting last night will appear here once recordings and notes are
examined. The
experts and
representatives from Grosvenor, AMA, HWG and Masterton Demolition, who
will be removing asbestos from the site, announced that they objected
to the proceedings being recorded and threatened to call off the
meeting before it started. They were not expecting recording and
felt somewhat intimidated not
being used to public speaking.
The platform party included the Head of PR for the builders and a PR account director from a McCann Erickson subsidiary. Maybe a little media training is required.
Apparently the platform party were also worried that the material might be selectively edited as one developer put it "..the material would not be under our control we wouldn't mind the BBC because we could go to the Press Complaints body if we objected ..."
An official from the nearby Fountain Park entertainment complex said she wanted to hear about the planned work. Not suprising as the work is likely to impact on an entertainment complex which has suffered several major failures in recent years. Two theme pub closed in rapid sucession, a nightclub was shut down following police and financial problems.
Its not all bad news for Fountain Park - while eleven cinema screen and ten pin polling couldn't even sustain a McDonalds, Mecca Electronic Bingo has recently arrived and a Stanley Casino is apparently on the way...both are likely to appeal to the construction workforce over the next six years.
The platform party included the Head of PR for the builders and a PR account director from a McCann Erickson subsidiary. Maybe a little media training is required.
Apparently the platform party were also worried that the material might be selectively edited as one developer put it "..the material would not be under our control we wouldn't mind the BBC because we could go to the Press Complaints body if we objected ..."
| The
whole point about recording public meetings is to ensure a full and accurate record of what is said.
This avoids 'mistakes',
'misunderstandings' and 'selective'
recall. Modern technology and communications permit a degree of control being returned to the voter, taxpayers and private citizen in their scutiny of officialdom and commercial interest. This process is rapidly becoming the norm as as evidenced by the growth in blogging and online social networking and the resulting transparency should be welcomed by all who have nothing to hide. |
An official from the nearby Fountain Park entertainment complex said she wanted to hear about the planned work. Not suprising as the work is likely to impact on an entertainment complex which has suffered several major failures in recent years. Two theme pub closed in rapid sucession, a nightclub was shut down following police and financial problems.
Its not all bad news for Fountain Park - while eleven cinema screen and ten pin polling couldn't even sustain a McDonalds, Mecca Electronic Bingo has recently arrived and a Stanley Casino is apparently on the way...both are likely to appeal to the construction workforce over the next six years.
A reminder on what green space is likely to be lost
The Organisation Green Space can help with an alternative strategy PARKS FOR PEOPLE (pdf)
|
|
||||
|
Update
of August 30th 2006
House prices - crash warnings on both sides
of the Pacific
Across the Anglo Saxon World
the housing market seems to follow the
sun. The cycle tends to kick off Down Under followed by the UK some 12
to 18 months later, with Uncle Sam's market coming last. If we want to
know what is going to happen, then a look at the market in Australia
gives a good indicator, while in the US they often take a look at the
British market.
Except, that is, for this. While the UK has got away with a soft landing - so far - talk of a crash is getting more urgent on either side of the Pacific pond. According to a recent article in Sydney Morning Herald house prices are falling. The article cited as an example a property in Sydney which recently sold for $260,000, 42 percent less than it was bought for in 2003. Meanwhile, this weekend, the Observer business section led with the headline "US housing slump fuels crash fears." It focused on a report saying that the number of new homes sold in July were 22 percent down on a year earlier, and quoted Paul Ashworth, chief Us economist from Capital Economics who said "Freefall is a strong word, but I think it's the right one to use here." In fact, economists are beginning to bandy about a nasty word when describing the US economy at the moment: recession. The same Observer report also referred to a recent prediction from Stephen Roach, chief economist from Morgan Stanley who reckons US growth will drop by 2 percentage points next year, thanks to the weak US property market. In the second quarter of this year, the US economy expanded by an annual rate of just 2.5 percent, which was half the rate enjoyed in the previous quarter. A further 2 percent off that, and the US will be dangerously close to experiencing the R word again. These worrying sentiments, are not just restricted to Morgan Stanley. Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. in New York reckons the chances of a US recession next year are 50-50. A US slow down was always inevitable. The US consumer could not possibly continue to prop up the global economy by spending borrowed money for much longer. The hope was that as the US took its feet off the consumer spending pedal, Japan and the EU would take up the slack. But recent evidence suggests that even the Eurozone recovery seems to be slowing. We will report on the latest data when it is available, but the fear has to be we are returning to an environment of sluggish growth and rising inflation. That would spell an era of higher interest rates at a time when the economy badly needs lower interest to kick start demand. Update as of 24th August Local Councillor Kingsley Thomas and the AMA developers have organised a public meeting Wednesday (Aug 30) at Tollcross Community Centre - 7.30pm to
discuss demolition arrangements - it is believed that AMA wish to tell
us how they intend to go about demolishing the Fountain North site and
dig up a great chunk of Grove Park. Hopefully they will
also address concerns about the removal of asbestos from the
site, and other matters which are outlined below.
It
should be a very lively meeting. Anyone concerned about the Labour
Council's continuing green space sell-offs might wish to question
Councillor Thomas and Denis Dixon of GRAND
(Grove Residents and Neighbouring District) about the illogicality of
this action when European and National Government are re-iterating the
need for a better quality of city centre life.
One wonders if it has been deliberate Council Policy over recent years to 'run down' the Grove Park asset by (i) refusing to increase lighting (ii) refusing to impliment CCTV in the area and (iii) imposing the Stopover Facility against residents wishes. It is understood that Councillor Thomas is unlikely to seek re-election in 2007. Update on Tuesday 8th August at 1400 GMT Seems that the authorities don't like pictures of the reality of Edinburgh City Centre life to be made public - this morning two environmental wardens afixed a notice to this vehicle, which awaiting uplift by a representative of the insurance company. The notice states that a penalty charge will be imposed on the vehicle owner unless it is removed within 24 hours. When a call was placed to the Lothian and Borders Police to ascertain progress on the crime investigation the owner was informed that as the vehicle was not displaying a valid tax disk she was liable to receive a further penalty notice. Those attending the Edinburgh Festival should be aware that if their vehicle is subjected to an arson attack they may face similar hassles.. Saturday August 5th 2006  This car in Brandfield Street was set on fire
Saturday morning, August 5th.The car was used to make daily visits to two elderly (97 years old and 92 years old) ladies who are in different hospitals. It takes nearly an hour each way to do the journey on the bus and when you work for yourself taking 6 hours out of a working day costs a load of money. At least three people, including a Spanish and a German tourist saw two youths, one wearing white, running away from the blaze. You can call 07906 035 443 or if you prefer call the West End Police at Trophichen Street. A reward is offered for information leading to a conviction. If the AMA project goes ahead maybe more attention will be paid by the authorities to preventing such. See also: A further example of Edinburgh City Centre's night life |
||||
It is often said that trends in the United
States preceed the UK by some 18 months - if so this article, based
on a US Government report is somewhat worrying. We understand
that a certain supermarket chain has pulled out from the Fountain
plan citing over capacity and lack of demand..........Glut of unsold new homes across US hits record highJul 27
2006
The glut of brand new unsold
homes
for sale across the United States hit a record high in June, a
government report showed, as some economists warned of a worsening
market in coming months.
The latest data appeared to confirm a cooling trend in the housing market, following a boom and sky-rocketing prices of recent years that have priced many hopeful new home owners out of the market. In recent months, a steady rise in interest rates hikes has prompted a downturn in home buying. Sales of new US homes declined three percent in June to a weaker-than-anticipated annualized rate of 1.131 million units, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The drop in new home sales was steeper that most market-watchers had expected. Wall Street economists had only predicted sales to decline to 1.164 million units. Analysts also zeroed in on the inventory of unsold new homes which leapt to a record high last month. The government said the inventory of unsold new homes on the market rose 0.7 percent in June to a record 566,000, representing a 6.1-month supply of brand new homes at the June sales pace. Most of the unsold new homes are located in the south of the country, the report showed. Apart from a slight one month drop in the inventory in May, the stock of unsold new homes on the market has risen steady over the last 12 months. "Many individuals, who signed a (purchase) contract in what they had believed was a booming housing market, may now be backing out of those contracts," said Phillip Neuhart, an analyst at Wachovia Securities. "Thus, the new home market is likely weaker than new home sales reflects. We expect both existing and new home sales to continue their slide throughout this year and the next," Neuhart said. Some analysts are calling for a bursting of what they see as a property bubble and the report could exert fresh pressure on the Federal Reserve to pause its cycle of rate hikes. The home sales market has been one of the key pillars propping up the world's largest economy, and while inflation is rising, the Fed will not want to jack up interest rates too much and risk a property market crash. New homes sales across the United States have now fallen 11.1 percent compared to June 2005, and as the federal funds interest rate has risen to 5.25 percent. "This was a weak report," observed Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight. "Our view remains that sales will continue to slow over the course of this year and into next, because higher interest rates and rising home prices have reduced demand by raising the price of housing," he said. Aside from rising interest rates, American homeowners have also been buffetted by rising energy prices as the economy shows signs of cooling. The government also issued a sharp downward revision for its May figures, to show new home sales of 1.166 million rather than 1.234 million initially estimated. The median price of a new US home meanwhile dropped 1.6 percent in June to 231,300 dollars from the prior month. On Wednesday, a separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed existing home sales fell 1.3 percent .....July 14th 2006 House of Lords judgement details to follow shortly ..... ....... EU regulations on competitive tendering to follow shortly ....... UPDATE 27th July 2006 we have been advised to keep our powder dry so no details right now.. July 6th - shape of things to come?  |
||||
| Just how much asbestos is present at the
Fountain Bottling Plant and Brewery sites? Today's picture shows uncontrolled dust
and
debris from another development - the old ScotMid building at
Lochrin Square.
Despite complaints to environmental health department no attempt has been been made by Sir Robert McAlpin's to reduce dust pollution. The Fountain North site is admitted by the developers to contain asbestos (see below) - but no word is available on their plans to prevent, control and monitor any release of this dangerous substance. One industry expert has stated that in his view the entire site would need to be sealed (tented) during removal of any asbestos. Removal of some machinary at the (south) brewery site has commenced over the past month. We can only hope the council is ware of the potential dangers and has undertaken risk assessements. If not locals can always wander along to the numerous legal firms such as Tods Murray, (in the tall building on left), who have moved into the area. |
||||
| June 21st - at a public meeting
organised last night (Tuesday 20th June 2006) by Merchiston
Community Council it was stated that Edinburgh Council has had to
accept a LOWER contribution from the sale of the Grove Park and
that the percentage of 'affordable / social' housing has been
reduced to just 22% . Apparently the Developers (a consortium including Grosvenor, RBS and two Iranian brothers) threatened to walk away from the deal as they would be unable to make sufficient return on the site. A panicked estates department immediately reacted to 'save' the vast sums which will enter council coffers in time to make a difference before next year's elections - they include £650,000 for the tramways fiasco. Are these the same people who 'gave' £1million of money to Harvey Nicks when the pauper store announced it might be forced to re-locate to Glasgow without the bung? Has New Labour learned nothing despite all the fraternisation with the wealthy? A further proble - apparently there is no requirement for any particular proportion of the 'social / affordable' housing to be suitable for families and it was also stated that the housing will be offered frst to EXISTING tenants of the Canmore / Dunedin operation. So much for housing essential workers in key public services! One wonders how councillors will react if / when legal proceedings are taken against those who voted to sell off this public park land ignoring a House of Lords Judgement - a possible breach of human rights for local residents and workers - without establishing a competitive tendering process to ensure best value for city rates and taxpayers. This appears to be a requirement of European legislation. Watch this space...... |
||||
| June 20th - a reply
from the Fountain North PR
agency |
||||
WHO NEEDS MORE OFFICE SPACE?One of the main objections to the Fountain North Development is the fact that it will continue to add office space to the existing over-supply. A cursory walk around the City Centre will reveal the extent of recently built property lying vacant.Some of the major developments are listed below - readers are invited to send in details of other properties or development either planned or approved. More details will be added shortly. |
||||
EMPTY OFFICE SPACE (existing & planned) in Central EDINBURGH at 08th August 2006 62,341 square metres 684,227 square feet total doesn't include the Fountain North or South proposals, nor office sites in Leith, Granton, Gyle etc see also: http://www.cityoffices.net/uk/edinburgh/available.cfm |
||||
 |
||||
| ||||