Opponents of flats for Inverleith stage guerilla lighting campaign

CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans to develop luxury housing at a site next to Inverleith Park have staged a dazzling show to highlight their concerns.

• The guerilla lighting event aimed to suggest alternative uses for the former depot site.

The "guerilla lighting" spectacle, which saw trees, shrubs and the Sundial Garden glow in a brilliant cascade of colour, was organised by Friends of Inverleith Park in protest against council plans to build seven flats at a former council depot.

Community activists are concerned about losing a public asset as well as the visual impact on views of the park and Edinburgh..

A team from Kevan Shaw Lighting Design (KSLD) created the eye-catching scenes with the help of 50 volunteers aged from ten to 70 years old.

Although no planning application has been lodged for the area, council chiefs have pledged to hold further consultation talks with residents.

The council has estimated the sale of the former depot to a housing developer could herald a multi-million-pound windfall but has never specified when a sale could take place.

In the wake of the colourful protest, Tony Cook, convenor of Friends of Inverleith Park, said: "Once this land is sold it is lost to the people of Edinburgh forever.

"The council has sneaked through a change in planning designation for this site without the community, or even our local councillors, knowing about it, so that they can sell it off to the highest bidder.

"We realise the council is short of cash, but selling off one of the city's finest views is short sighted to say the least."

Claire Hope, one of the lighting designers with KSLD who helped organise the event said: "Guerrilla lighting is all about highlighting a specific cause but it's also about having fun.

"We're hoping that some experimenting with light will spark some great ideas for how this space can be used by the community instead of being lost for housing."

A spokesman for the council said: "There will be extensive consultation once the planning consultation comes forward but, prior to that, the director has offered to meet with local residents to discuss the proposals further."

Nigel Bagshaw, chairman of the Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council, which has amassed more than 3000 signatures against selling off the land, previously explained that the area is an "integral" part of the park which people would prefer to be transformed into an orchard or public toilets rather than flats.

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