History of Leith, Edinburgh

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to halt controversial plans for a massive waste plant in Leith amid claims council leaders have tried to keep the project quiet.

Protesters have set up an action group to oppose the proposed waste transfer facility at an industrial yard in Salamander Street.

Petitions have collected 3000 signatures and city planners have been bombarded with more than 100 objections.

Community groups, businesses and residents plan to demonstrate outside the City Chambers.

The complex is intended to replace the ageing waste transfer facility at Powderhall, which had to be temporarily shut down two years ago after the discovery of asbestos.

Around 250,000 tonnes of rubbish are expected to be processed every year at the Leith facility.

Local councillor Phil Attridge, who is helping to organise the protest, said officials had tried to quietly “dump” the site in the area. But the council has denied any responsibility for informing people as the planning application has been lodged under the name of the yard’s owners, the hauliers John G Russell Transport Limited.

However, the applicants say they are acting on the instruction of the council and that the site was identified by officials in its environment department.

The protesters’ main concerns are additional noise, an increase in traffic, the threat of vermin and the possible impact on property prices.

City planners had recommended the application be approved when it came before councillors last month, when just nine objections had been recorded.

But a decision was deferred to give the council’s full planning committee a chance to discuss the application when it meets in November.

The council has since received dozens of objections, and Cllr Attridge said people were still coming to terms with the proposal.

He said today: “The council is just trying to dump this on the people of Leith and have deliberately tried to keep it quiet. The whole thing quite literally stinks and people are rightly very upset about it. Leith isn’t Edinburgh’s dustbin, and people in the area aren’t prepared to accept this.”

The Leith Action Group was formed after a public meeting on Sunday night and plans to lobby the council and the Scottish Executive on the issue.

Spokeswoman Cathy McCulloch, chairwoman of St Mary’s RC Primary School Board, said: “The frightening thing is this planning application could have been approved without anyone in the area knowing about it.

“People just don’t understand why they’ve not been consulted on something of this scale.”

City environment leader Bob Cairns dismissed claims that the council had deliberately kept quiet about the application, insisting that was a matter for the developers. He added: “It’s not our project, it’s a private contractor that has submitted the planning application and we have no direct involvement in it.”

However, John Russell, chairman of the hauliers firm, said: “It was the council that asked us to submit this planning application. They’ve been looking for a site to replace Powderhall for some time and they were satisfied that this was the most appropriate place for it.”

BRIAN FERGUSON
CITY COUNCIL REPORTER

source-Scotsman

In response to my request for support for the parents of St Mary’s, the Links Community Council and the people of Leith. I have received the following from ex pats. However I need a lot more if we are to make a difference. Please let me know what you think. Your opinion is important. (more…)

All it takes for evil to exist is for good men to say nothing up to now you have said nothing about this important issue. How about some support or do you honestly believe the right place for this is beside a school who is kidding who!

This is not strictly about the history of Leith nor the history of Scotland that impacted on Leith. However it is about the future of the town and Port of Leith and I am seeking as much support from ex Leithers, People of Leith descent and people who care for the future of Leith. let me hear from you as soon as possible as this is vital!!

Thank you

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This is a collection of articles and resources aimed at anyone interested in Scotland between A.D. 500 and 1603, from about when the King of Dál Riata moved from Ireland to Argyll to when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne. Because medieval Scotland was not isolated from its surroundings in either space or time, there are also some articles concerning related regions and the focus time span is somewhat flexible. (more…)

The fortification of Berwick gives the best impression of what the walls of Leith were like in 1560.

The substantially Elizabethan military fortifications around the old town of Berwick-Upon-Tweed are a fascinating way of exploring the troubled and intricate history of this border town. When they were built from 1558 onwards, the threat of attack from Scotland was once again a real one and the earlier Tudor earth ramparts and medieval stone walls were incorporated into the latest technological design for defense. (more…)

Edward was the eldest son of Henry III, King of England and was born in 1239. Henry III had a long reign and this meant that Edward was in his thirties before he became king himself. In 1254 at the age of fifteen, Edward was married to Eleanor of Castile. Eleanor was the thirteen year old half-sister of Alfonso, the King of Castile and the marriage was designed to help protect the lands of Gascony which England still owned. Edward was awarded the lands of Gascony through the marriage and took over from Simon de Montfort whose improper running of the area had lead to revolt. Henry III was eager to provide Edward with more experience and in the same year granted him lands in Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands. Edward and Eleanor were married in Castile and returned to England in October of 1255.

For more information and Timelines go to the link on the rhs

England did not have a standing army at that time, and relied on the strength of the ‘Trayned Bandes’, who acted as a sort of National Guard. The trained bands were made up mostly of the middle-class, who gathered together once a month to train as a unit, and to socialize with other town-folk. (more…)

The smoothbore cannon, first appearing in the early 14th century in Europe, assumed its classic form at the beginning of the 17th century, which persisted unchanged to the mid-19th century, when it was superseded by the breechloading rifled gun. It perhaps still remains in modified form as the infantry or trench mortar, and a few other smooth-bore weapons. (more…)

James V (April, 1512 – December 14, 1542) was king of Scotland (September 9, 1513- December 14,1542). (more…)

Marie de Guise (in English, Mary of Guise) (November 22,1515 – June,1560) was the queen consort of James V of Scotland and the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The eldest daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, head of the French House of Guise, and his wife Antoinette of Bourbon, Marie was married at the age of 19 to Louis of Orleans, Duke of Longueville. They had one son, Francis, before Marie’s husband died in June 1537; their second son was born posthumously but did not survive.
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