Details of £235k Drumbrae park revealed

A NEW public park in the Capital is to feature tree-lined avenues and an outdoor gym.

Fresh details about the £235,000 Buttercup Farm Park in Drumbrae have been released ahead of work getting under way.

The city’s first new public park since Craigmillar Castle at the turn of the millennium will be created in two phases, with the first stage featuring a central pathway and circular path bordering the site.

The outdoor gym and a ball games court will follow in 2014/15 as well as seating areas and a children’s play area.

Landscaping works will see new trees being planted and the Dunblane memorial trees, uprooted from the area’s former primary school in 2011, will be reinstated.

Details of the new park follows concerns the city is losing many of its green spaces as the council looks to open up land to meet Edinburgh’s housing shortage.

The city council’s local development plan earmarked land at Maybury and Cammo, east of Edinburgh Airport, that would be reclassified to accommodate up to 2100 new homes to help meet a growing population.

And fears green belt land across the Capital could be carved up grew when the planning officials last week ruled in favour of allowing a 110-home development to go ahead at Edmonstone Estate on Old Dalkeith Road in Danderhall.

But green campaigners will be buoyed by details of the new park, positioned next to the flagship Drumbrae day care centre, and bids of £4 million being made to restore Saughton Park to its former glory.

The design was drawn up following extensive local consultation and the name, Buttercup Farm Park, was chosen by the community to reflect the site’s history.

In the early 20th century the site was the location of Buttercup Poultry Farm – the UK’s largest poultry farm at the time with over 200,000 laying hens.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s transport and environment convener, said: “This will be a modern, community park with exciting new features to make Drumbrae playing fields a publicly accessible green space again.

“We received huge, overwhelming local support for naming the new park after Buttercup Poultry Farm and it’s extremely exciting that work will soon begin to transform this area.”

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