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| Does Anyone Care? The letter was to inform me that the application ,by the Scottish Ornithological Club (SOC), to build a bird centre at the Western entrance to the village, had been given the go ahead. Why, you may think, should that be a problem? To anyone who loves Aberlady there is much to be worried about. The character of the village has already been irreparably damaged by the 93 house development which now dominates the Southern boundary of the village and the bird centre will do the same on a smaller scale. Then there is the problem of traffic. In their campaign against the Cala development The Aberlady Conservation Society (ACS) consistently requested that ELC carry out a traffic survey as the 1000 extra vehicle journeys per day generated by the development would make our roads far more dangerous. ELC replied that there were not, and there would not be traffic problems in Aberlady because of the development. I wonder, why then do we need the speed bumps in School Road, Kirk Road and The Pleasance when in nearly 50 years in the village I do not recall an accident on any of these roads? Also remember this is not a resource for the general public, it is for members only. So there is no benefit to the local community if it goes ahead. You may ask, then how did the plans get approved? That is a question which spawns further questions, particularly the part of the Community Council in all this; a.) Did they not learn from their inadequacies over the Cala issue? b.) Has the Community Council now become an irrelevance? Is that why Dirleton set up their own community group - Dirleton Village Association? c.) Does local Councillor Gilbert Meikle have too close a relationship with the Community Council? But the two biggest questions are; 1.) Are the residents of Aberlady not part of the democratic process? I ask this as irrespective of their views they are ignored by the Community Council and walked all over by the planning department of ELC. 2.) Does nobody care about this historic conservation village? As I see it the answer to both is NO. What do you think? To all you new residents in 'calaland' - or Gosford Pond as it is known by some locals ( you may find out why eventually ) - who don't understand the uniqueness of a village community and are wondering what all the fuss is about, I would remind you that there is still a further planning application outstanding which could have a big impact on your outlook. Please tell your friends about The Aberlady Pages ( aberlady.net ) web site . |
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