New school plan drops park pledge

City leaders said they would create new public open space when they unveiled plans to build a 41.5 million new high school in Portobello Park.

But they now say that rather than turn the old school site in Duddingston Road into a replacement park, they must sell it for almost 4 million to developers, and they instead plan to spend 500,000 improving facilities in what will remain of the park and other local green spaces.

Campaigners plan to challenge the "undemocratic" move as the school plans were given the go-ahead on the understanding a new park would be created.

They are investigating what options are open to them, including whether they have a legal case against the council.

Ros Sutherland, chair of Portobello Park Action Group, said: "Their commitment that they made in a full council decision was replacement open space and they are now stepping back on their decision. It was voted on and agreed on and became part of the decision.

"They are now attempting to step back on that so what faith can voters put in their decision- making process? We will challenge anything that we believe to be undemocratic."

Council officials argue that residents would be better off than they are now should the proposed improvements be carried out.

A report prepared on the future of the school development, which will be discussed by councillors tomorrow, describes the existing park as "poor quality" and says residents make "limited use" of the green space.

The area the council plans to build on is beside a busy road and an audit carried out over four weeks last summer found dog walkers were the main users of the land. It also found that it was hardly ever used for sports or relaxation and picnics.

Other local green spaces such as Joppa Quarry Park could benefit from the 500,000 investment.

But Ms Sutherland questioned the validity of the audit. She said: "Footfall doesn't take into account the value of green space – is it only valuable if lots of people use it? Are pavements only valuable if they are well used?"

A city council spokesman said today: "We want to make improvements so that more local people can take advantage of better park space that would be created as a result of the school development.

"Access can be improved to the local care home, footpaths and facilities can be improved and, of course, we would make sure that existing users such as dog walkers are catered for too."