Donald Anderson: Craigmillar improvements are fit for a king – and an Edinburgher
This Saturday morning sees the first clean up organised by the new Friends of Craigmillar Group.
Having been involved in regeneration over many decades I’ve been inspired by what I’ve been seeing in Craigmillar in recent weeks, and this weekend will be another big step forward for one of Edinburgh’s most important communities.
My interest in Craigmillar stems from my dad being brought up in Newcraighall and he was a pupil of Niddrie Mill Primary School. I also love the fantastic history of the area written in the early 1890s by Tom Speedy, who was a local naturalist and author.
At that time Craigmillar and not Liberton was seen as the posher and more important community. Speedy’s book is a gold mine of valuable information about the area, including the history of what is Edinburgh’s other fabulous castle, Craigmillar Castle. Craigmillar Castle still stands proudly overlooking a community that’s again on the up.
Craigmillar has seen huge investment in new housing in and around the area. When it came to deciding on a new site for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Craigmillar was the obvious choice, and of course the area now has one of the highest concentrations of scientists in Britain thanks to the creation of the city’s Bioquarter.
More than that, the community is flanked by two of Scotland’s finest Parks at Craigmillar Castle and Little France Parks.
Craigmillar will also be on the new tram route and consultation on that takes place this year. In addition to the major investment, the recent focus has been on making the area better and nicer for local residents. New local heroes in that regard have been the council’s cleansing team led by the wonderful Robert Farquhar.
After a walkabout to review Craigmillar’s High Street – Niddrie Mains Road, Robert had his team out clearing up the area the day after. The progress in a short space of time has been little short of miraculous. Not only was the street thoroughly cleaned, but all of the weeds were removed from the pavements and public places.
Then the following week the cleansing team were out giving the main street a deep clean with all of the bus shelters, bins and other street furniture being given a thorough washing down. The reaction from the local residents was genuinely uplifting with long term community activist Susan Carr of the Community Alliance Trust saying that, ‘They (council staff) did an amazing job and over 70+ people took to Facebook to comment on the improvement.’
Apparently one local resident even asked if ‘the King was visiting’, because there’s been such an effort to make the area better. No is the answer to that. It was all done for ordinary residents, but it’s great to know that someone thought the improvements were ‘fit for a King’. That’s a benchmark worth aiming for.
So, this Saturday an important next step takes place with The Friends of Craigmillar clean up kicking off outside the Library on Niddrie Mains Road at 10am and at 2pm.
That’s been organised by another local hero Elly Kinross who works for the wonderful people at Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust. So, if you’re keen to help make a fabulous area even better, come along and play your part. You’ll have great fun too, I’m sure.