Leith Links Masterplan

Feedback updated 27 Sep 2022

We asked

Working with the local community and landscape architects the Council’s Thriving Greenspaces Project has funded the development of a 10-year concept Masterplan for Leith Links to progress ideas for the future use and facilities in the parks.

A final draft Masterplan was agreed by the Working Group in March 2022 and using the Consultation Hub, comment and discussion were sought on the plan from the wider Leith community and park users to ensure it represented what people would like to see delivered (funding and resource permitting) to improve Leith Links over the next decade.

You said

We received 789 responses about the masterplan with nearly 70% of people stating that they lived in Leith. Overall, 90% of respondents thought that the proposals detailed in the Masterplan were positive. Regarding the features presented in the masterplan:

86% agreed they would enhance sense of arrival
87% agreed they would enhance sense of place
91% agreed they would increase activity
90% agreed that they would improve provision
88% agreed they would enhance Blue/Green infrastructure

We also received over 540 comments about the draft masterplan. Support for a skatepark/wheeled area/plaza (including pumptrack) was overwhelmingly positive with over 200 responses. The other top-ranked themes that attracted comment included:

Permanent provision of public toilets
Greenspace improvements (including floral meadows and climate change mitigations)
Improved cycling access and facilities
Activity Park (including provision of a Multi-Use Games Area)
Improved pedestrian crossing / traffic calming / road closure

We did

The finalised concept Masterplan will be signed-off by the Working Group and presented to Culture & Communities Committee for approval. The plan will then form the basis of an improvement plan for Leith Links over the next decade.

Overview

The City of Edinburgh Council’s Thriving Greenspaces Project has funded the development of 10-year concept Masterplans for Leith Links, West Pilton Park, Inch Park and Inverleith Park, working with local communities and landscape architects to develop ideas for future use and facilities in these parks.

Master planning gives an overall broad plan for an area and is a vision of what could happen, whether or not it is delivered in full depends on several things including local support, funding and resource.

A presentation was given by the council to members of Leith Links Community Council at the start of the Masterplan project in September 2021 to explain the concept and a Working Group was set up. This Working Group is made up of council staff, representatives from the community council, council partners, other local organisations and members of the Leith community.

To help develop the design the group have met a number of times since September including a park ‘walk-round’ in November. The council has also kept a wider park stakeholder group, including local sports teams, schools and elected members up-to-date with the proposals, inviting comment and discussion to help develop options for Leith Links. Landscape architects produced three versions of the plan, which were reviewed by both the Working Group and the Stakeholder Group in February.

A final draft Masterplan was agreed by the Working Group at the end of March and presented to the Stakeholder Group in mid-April and is now being used to seek comment on from the wider Leith community and park users. You also have the chance to view the proposals in-person at events such as Leith Gala Day.

Once the engagement exercise has ended, a finalised concept Masterplan will be completed and presented to Council Committee for approval, ensuring that it represents what the community would like to see delivered (funding and resource permitting) to improve Leith Links over the next decade.

Happy to Translate

You can get this actvity on audio CD, in Braille, large print if you ask us. Please contact Interpretation and Translation Service (ITS) on its@edinburgh.gov.uk and quote reference number 22-7799B. ITS can also give information on community language translations. You can get more copies of this activity by contacting thrivinggreenspaces@edinburgh.gov.uk

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