{"total_entries":6,"feed_entries":"[{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2012-05-05T18:34:26+01:00\",\"title\":\"Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine hits stumbling block in land negotiations\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:16055827\",\"updated_at\":\"2012-05-05T18:34:26+01:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/DyYO04Kp_gU/portobello-and-leith-community-wind-turbine-hits-stumbling-b.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":480358,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\"Portobello and Leith locals show their support for a community owned turbine at Seafield Regular Greener Leith readers will know that we have been working for more than twelve months to develop a community owned wind turbine on land at Seafield, in partnership with PEDAL Portobello. Below, is an update and press release on the project.  Plans for the first urban community wind turbine in Scotland have hit a stumbling block after the landowner, Scottish Water changed their stance on the project at the start of this year. Negotiations stalled after the private sector companies that manage the PFI contract at the treatment works demanded that Scottish Water accept liability for any accidents involving the proposed turbine on the site. Although the risk of the wind turbine damaging the sewage works is extremely small, Scottish Water have said they are not willing to accept the risk, even though PEDAL and Greener Leith would fund an insurance policy as part of the project. Talks with the landowner, Scottish Water, and the companies that manage the Seafield site through a Private Finance Initiative began in February 2011. Despite receiving several written assurances from senior staff representing the organisations involved that they would back a turbine on this site, it was not until 19th January 2012, nearly a year later, that Scottish Water changed their stance on the crucial land deal. The two sides last met on 1 February 2012 in an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the issue. Since then community volunteers, having already put in many hundreds of hours over many months to get the project to this stage, have attempted to lobby Scottish Government ministers, who are the sole shareholders of Scottish Water, in a bid to find a way forward. To date Scottish Water has not changed its stance on the project. Proposals to build a single wind turbine on the site are the result of long standing collaboration between neighbouring community groups PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith. The extent of the influence of private contractors over Scottish Water is unclear as the project requires a land deal that would last longer than the current PFI contract at Seafield – and the land, like Scottish Water, is ultimately owned by the public sector. We have called on Scottish Government ministers to direct Scottish Water to indemnify the PFI contract holders from any risk associated with this project. Alternatively, the Scottish Government should create an indemnity bond to cover community renewable projects on land subject to PFI. This could be covered in the future from the proceeds from community projects that have benefited from it. PEDAL and Greener Leith already have funding from the Scottish Government and British Gas Energyshare in place to take the project to planning application. Expert opinion suggests that the Seafield site is the most productive site in the area. To date, the groups' feasibility work has not uncovered any environmental or engineering reason why the Seafield project could not proceed. Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said: “We are bitterly disappointed to have got this far only for the project to be stalled on what looks like a technicality. “We are exploring every available option to resolve this impasse, and will not give up on the project yet. “We owe it to the thousands of supporters who voted for us on Energyshare.com; the hundreds of local people who will benefit and our project funders to try to find a way to break the deadlock.” Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said: \\\"We are particularly frustrated that Scottish Water has taken a whole year to identify these issues, during which a huge number of volunteer hours have been put into the project. “Our feasibility work shows there are no technical ‘show-stoppers’ to building a turbine here, we are the most supported of nearly 1000 projects across the UK that took part in the Energyshare competition, and we have all the funds in place to take the project to planning submission. “We continue to try to resolve the issue of liability through negotiations and political solutions. It seems extraordinary that dozens of wind turbines operate without incident on sewage works around the world, but this cannot be done on public land in Edinburgh. “We simply cannot accept that, which is why we are determined to find a way forward.” Georgy Davis of Community Energy Scotland, a membership organisation that represents community renewable energy projects in Scotland said: “This is a disappointing turn of affairs for this inspirational project that is a result of significant community efforts. “The issue of indemnity for third parties in relation to land that has existing infrastructure on it is one that could be of increasing significance for community-led renewable projects particularly in the urban environment potentially hampering the Scottish Government’s ability to achieve it's target for renewables in general and community renewables in particular. “We believe the issue needs resolved.” You can download this post as complete press release in pdf format by clicking here. Update: Since we posted this on our blog, Scottish Land Ownership expert Andy Wightman pointed out that the Scottish Government could simply direct Scottish Water to allow the project to go ahead if they wished to.  @PEDALPortobello Section 56 (3) of Water Indutry Act gives @AlexNeilSNP the power of direction over Scottish Water. goo.gl/iK057— Andy Wightman (@andywightman) April 30, 2012    \",\"published_at\":\"2012-04-29T20:41:41+01:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}},{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2011-10-05T14:41:06+01:00\",\"title\":\"Leith and Portobello community wind turbine project receives loan boost\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:13086237\",\"updated_at\":\"2011-10-05T14:41:06+01:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/h9OyFzjh664/leith-and-portobello-community-wind-turbine-project-receives.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":456636,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\"A predicted view of how the turbine might look Scotland’s first community-owned urban wind turbine took a step closer to reality today with the announcement of a £118,000 loan to Greener Leith to undertake preparatory works on the project.Members of the community group expressed delight at the award from the Scottish Government under the Community and Renewable Energy Scotland loans fund, which covers 90% of the costs of pre-planning submission work for the proposed wind turbine on the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. The group are still fundraising for the remaining 10% of project costs, but are hopeful the remaining costs can be raised soon.The project, which is a joint venture between Greener Leith and neighbouring community group PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town, proposes to build a single wind turbine on the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Site of between 500kw and 2,300kw. The electricity would be sold locally and the surplus from the turbine would allow a community fund to benefit the communities of Leith, Portobello and Craigentinny.Commenting on the announcement, Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said:\\\"We’re delighted to receive this backing from the Scottish Government, which will help us take this exciting project forward. \\\"If the wind turbine goes ahead, its surplus will allow a community fund that will directly benefit people living in Portobello, Craigentinny and Leith. Not only will it will provide the resources for green projects that in the current economic climate may not receive funding, we hope it will become an inspiration for other communities to do the same for themselves. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done before the project gets the final green light, but we hope that the proposed wind turbine will become a landmark and a source of local pride; an example of what can be achieved when local communities work together towards a common purpose.”Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said:\\\"PEDAL have worked hard with Greener Leith to secure this finance for Portobello & Leith Community Wind Energy Project. If it goes ahead it will bring material benefits to the local area as well as wider society and could also provide an inspiring visual focus for real sustainability on Edinburgh's seafront. Clearly there is much still to do, not least in consulting fully with those who will be affected, but this award means we now have the majority of funds in place to take this exciting project to planning submission.”    \",\"published_at\":\"2011-10-05T14:08:34+01:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}},{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2011-06-24T00:36:35+01:00\",\"title\":\"Seafield wind turbine generates debate in Holyrood and The Evening News\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:11888630\",\"updated_at\":\"2011-06-24T00:36:35+01:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/RmdKlra9ysg/seafield-wind-turbine-generates-debate-in-holyrood-and-the-e.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":387413,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\"We are delighted to report that our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine within Seafield Waste Water treatment works has been the subject of motion at the Holyrood parliament, thanks to new Edinburgh MSP Kezia Dugdale. It reads:  S4M-00300 Kezia Dugdale: Scotland's First Urban Community Wind Turbine? —That the Parliament notes the joint venture between Greener Leith and PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) to build and operate the first 100% community-owned urban wind turbine at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Plant; commends their drive in pursuing the feasibility of such a project; considers the costs involved in producing noise and wildlife impact assessments prohibitive and encourages the Scottish Government to maintain and develop the schemes that it operates to ease the burden of such explorative work; considers that the development could generate tens of thousands of pounds for the local community; recognises that the environmental impact on the landscape must be assessed alongside its value as an asset to the whole community, and looks forward to seeing the results of the feasibility study in due course. The motion currently has the support of the following MSP's:  Jamie Hepburn, John Pentland, Bill Kidd, Elaine Murray, Mark Griffin, Sarah Boyack, Mike MacKenzie & John Park Should you wish to use a service like www.writetothem.com to encourage further sign-up by your local MSP's then we'd be most grateful. Recently, the Evening News published an opinion piece by a Mr Robert Duncan, who is sceptical of our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine at Seafield waste water treatment works. You can find his opinion piece here As we felt that the piece was somewhat misleading, we are delighted that the Evening News published an edited version of a letter we put together in response to Mr Duncans letter. We publish our response in full below here too:  Sir,Robert Duncan made some interesting points in his opinion piece, “Why sewage plant turbine plan is such a stinker, Monday 21 June.While it is unfortunate that the 1kw wind turbine on his roof performed poorly, this does not necessarily mean that the proposed community turbine at Seafield will also fail. The obvious difference is that Seafield is on the coast, and therefore windier than the city centre. But our proposed turbine will also be installed at a hub height of between 60 and 98 metres, where wind speeds are considerably higher than at roof level. The rated output of our turbine will also be between 500 and 2,300 times greater than roof-mounted turbines. We will be measuring the wind resource at Seafield as part of our feasibility study, and if the wind is shown to be insufficient, we will not proceed with the project.Mr Duncan’s assertion that urban wind turbines are unsuccessful would be disputed by the managers at the Michelin factory in Dundee, where two turbines have generated nearly 30 million kwh since they were installed 5 years ago. That’s equivalent to a third of the plant’s electricity needs.Mr Duncan asserts that solar power, not wind, is the answer. We agree that solar can play a big role in cutting emissions, which is why PEDAL last year promoted this through its “Solar Porty” scheme. It’s also possible that the revenue from the Seafield turbine could subsidise the installation of solar panels on local residents’ homes.We hope that the urban communities of Portobello, Leith and Craigentinny will not miss out on the opportunities that this renewable revolution holds.Yours faithfullyJane LewisChairPEDAL – Portobello Transition TownCharlotte EncombeChairGreener Leith Lastly, if there is anything you can do to help to encourage more people to sign-up to support our bid on Energy Share we'd be most grateful. If you have a Facebook account or a Twitter account please share this link with anyone who you think would be willing to support the plan now: http://bit.ly/kAwGL4      \",\"published_at\":\"2011-06-23T22:59:26+01:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}},{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2011-06-09T00:38:53+01:00\",\"title\":\"200 back the Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine in 6 days\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:11738583\",\"updated_at\":\"2011-06-09T00:38:53+01:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/l1Y7PAfu6Ss/200-back-the-portobello-and-leith-community-wind-turbine-in.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":376729,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\" Greener Leith would like to thank everyone who has signed up to support our Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine bid. We've been blown away by the backing we've received from local people, politicians and media. Your continued support is really important to the sucess of the project, and it really will make it more likely that we will get funding to take the project forwards. At present, our project is the most popular project in the entire UK on the Energyshare.com website - where the projects with the most support at the end of the month are more likely to gain funding. However, we need to keep adding supporters to stay in the top 5 as lot's of other bids are also still adding supporters every day. Therefore, if you haven't signed up as a supporter yet please do it straight away! You can do it here: http://www.energyshare.com/portobello-leith-community-wind-energy-project/ If you have already signed-up as a supporter, please take action to encourage other people you know to sign-up as supporters of the bid. Email them, post the link to Facebook, or Tweet about it. Please help us keep the momentum going in any social network you're involved in. Already 127 people have shared the group on Facebook - but please keep doing it as sometimes people need a second reminder! If they need more information you can send them this link too: http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-leith-news/2011/6/3/back-our-energyshare-bid-to-boost-community-power.html The project has had some fantastic coverage in the local media: On Wednesday evening STV broadcast a package about the project featuring Justin Kendrick from PEDAL Portobello, Kenny MacAskill MSP and Greener Leith Board member Chas Booth. You can watch it here: Scotland's first urban wind turbine could be built in Edinburgh Earlier in the week the Evening News ran a number of stories online and in the paper:  Evening News Editorial - More than hot air Blow Me - An urban wind farm Turbine plan for Seafield STV also published this post on last Friday:  Community groups propse Scotland's first urban wind turbine for Edinburgh We are also grateful for the visible support of local politicians including Kenny MacAskill MSP, Kezia Dugdale MSP, and Sheila Gilmore MP. If there are any other local politicians reading this, who are not on the planning committee - then please do sign-up too. And whilst the vast majority of people supporting the bid are from Edinburgh, it's also nice to see that the Isle of Eigg have backed our plan too - as they have been a trail blazing community in the field of community energy. Greener Leith and PEDAL volunteers have also been doing our best to share as much detail as we can with local residents at public meetings. Last week Greener Leith members discussed the project at the Leith Links Community Council and this week we attended the Friends of the Water of Leith Basin, and the Leith Central Community Council planning sub-committee. If you would like us to attend a meeting of your community group to discuss the plans then please get in touch.  You can read the FAQ about the project here.    \",\"published_at\":\"2011-06-08T21:27:28+01:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}},{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2011-06-03T10:34:30+01:00\",\"title\":\"Back our Energyshare bid to boost community power\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:11668046\",\"updated_at\":\"2011-06-03T10:34:30+01:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/_N0pwkBJ6eA/back-our-energyshare-bid-to-boost-community-power.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":372996,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\"  A unique partnership between two Edinburgh community groups has been established to develop a community owned wind turbine on the coast between Portobello and Leith. PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith have joined forces to conduct detailed feasibility work on a site within the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. Early surveys suggest a wind turbine on this site has the potential to generate enough renewable energy to supply the annual electricity needs of 300 - 1300 households, depending on the size of turbine installed.The generator would be the first community-owned urban wind turbine in Scotland.The project would see substantial sums raised for local community projects over the lifetime of the project. The two groups have now launched a campaign to raise funding to develop the project, and are urging local residents to help win funding by supporting a bid to the Energyshare Fund.The projects with the most supporters on the Energyshare website have the greatest chance of winning funding. Therefore, both community groups are urging Edinburgh residents to register their support on the Energyshare website before the 30th June at:http://tiny.cc/porty-leith-windThe project also has the backing of local Members of the Scottish Parliament Malcolm Chisholm and Kenny MacAskill. The proposed site sits on the boundary of their two constituencies.Jane Lewis, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said:“\\\"We have been working hard to find suitable renewable energy projects that will deliver carbon savings, a long-term source of funding for local community projects, and also provide a visible demonstration of the renewable resources to be found locally. We think this proposal has real promise, and we’re asking for community support to take it forward.”Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said:\\\"This project could create a community fund to help thousands of local people for many years into the future. Whilst there's still a lot of work to do before the project gets the final green light, we hope that the proposed wind turbine will become a landmark and a source of local pride, as well as power.”Kenny MacAskill, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Eastern said,“I fully support this excellent proposal from Pedal and Greener Leith which chimes well with our national moves to develop Scotland as the Green Energy Powerhouse of Europe, and to encourage community ownership of renewables. I’m pleased to hear that Pedal will be seeking local residents’ views.”Malcolm Chisholm, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Northern and Leith said,“A community-owned wind turbine in Leith could be a real asset for the area, since it would harness the power of the wind for community benefit. Many of my constituents are concerned about climate change, and this proposal could be a visible sign that the community wants to tackle that. I commend Greener Leith and Pedal for bringing this idea forward, and look forward to hearing what local residents think of the proposals.” Everybody is quite clear that the project will only be able to go ahead with the backing of local residents, and many details of the project remain to be worked out, including the size of the turbine, the way any financial surplus is distributed from the project, and what types of activities the money would be used to fund.     The images above illustrate what the turbine would look like if the largest feasible turbine was supported by the public. You can see a larger version of the images by clicking on them. We should add that these images are just to give you an idea of what the turbine would look like and the final appearance could vary depending upon the outcome of the public consultation process that we intend to announce shortly. You can find out more details about the project in this Frequently Asked Questions document that we have prepared: Portobello & Leith Community Wind Energy Project FAQ Final(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(\\\"script\\\"); scribd.type = \\\"text/javascript\\\"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = \\\"http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js\\\"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(\\\"script\\\")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })(); Lastly, you may think that building a community owned wind turbine is an off the wall idea that could never happen. Well you may be surprised to learn that this week, the first ever community owned wind turbine project on mainland Scotland is about to start generating power, after five years work by local volunteers in the Aberdeenshire area of Udny. Alastair Tibbitt from Greener Leith managed to catch up with two of those volunteers, Brian MacDougall and Mike MacDonald, after they'd been speaking at a meeting on energy policy called by Friends of the Earth Scotland. They shared their thoughts on their five year journey from idea to turbine construction in an audio interview that you can listen to below:  Listen! Would you like to get involved in helping to develop a community wind turbine project at Seafield? The first thing you need to do is back our bid on the Energyshare website here: http://tiny.cc/porty-leith-wind    \",\"published_at\":\"2011-06-03T08:43:19+01:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}},{\"feed_entry\":{\"created_at\":\"2010-12-03T12:35:22+00:00\",\"title\":\"Work to start soon on Leith path network upgrade\",\"guid\":\"74974:644605:9627822\",\"updated_at\":\"2010-12-03T12:35:22+00:00\",\"url\":\"http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenerLeithNews/~3/YgC8ezjM6j8/work-to-start-soon-on-leith-path-network-upgrade.html\",\"lng\":null,\"id\":247578,\"feed_owner_type\":\"HyperlocalSite\",\"summary\":\" The City of Edinburgh Council has just released details of a confirmed plan to upgrade the existing cycle/pedestrian path running from Easter Road to Seafield Street, via Lochend. The path is currently poorly surfaced, full of muddy puddles, and unlit for a great deal of it's length, so we're sure this investment will go a long way to encourage more people to use the path. This path is particularly important as it runs close to three different schools, including Leith Academy, and connects pretty well with Lochend Park and Easter Road stadium too. Work is due to start in February next year. The intention is that this upgrade will connect at the Seafield end with plans to improve the mainly off-road route between Portobello Promenade - Leith Links - Sandport Place. This further improvement is currently at the design stage, and identified as a priority in the councils Active Travel Plan with a target completion date of April 2014. If you have any questions about the detail of the Lochend Path upgrade, you should contact the council officer developing the detailed design, Mr Andrew Easson on 0131 469 3643. Greener Leith is unsurprisingly delighted that these routes are set for improvement so early, and together, they'll help to make cycling and walking a much more attractive option for residents of Lochend, Restalrig, and folk in the Pirniefield area. We note that \\\"build a cross Leith cycle route\\\" has come out in the top 5 on the list of priorities local residents would like to see when it comes to transport - so it's clear that there will be plenty of other local residents who will be delighted with this news too. If you click on the image above, you should be able to view a larger map.    \",\"published_at\":\"2010-12-03T09:12:03+00:00\",\"feed_owner_id\":150,\"lat\":null}}]","page":1,"per_page":30}