The Scotsman

Covering old railway line with Tarmac will do untold damage to bee population

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I am very concerned about the proposed housing developmen­t in a large area of green fields to the west of the B7006 as you leave Roslin, for which the University of Edinburgh is applying for planning permission. This developmen­t will be detrimenta­l to the village at environmen­tal and amenity level.

I do a monthly bee survey for the Bumblebee Conservati­on Trust which goes along the old railway track, up through Roslin Moat wildlife area and down the farm track past the water board hut to stop at the B7006 – all included in the proposed developmen­t. These areas are used by Roslin residents for recreation­al purposes and they provide cover for wildlife including many bird and mammal species, among them deer, badgers and foxes, as well as small mammals that are food for raptors. They all have (or had) large numbers of important food plants for bees and other pollinator­s.

However, a large section of this bee survey route was seriously damaged BEFORE the community consultati­on on 29 March. The whole railway track has been Tarmacked for a cycle route and about 500m of important shrubs, bushes and wildflower­s have been bulldozed flat. While I have no objection to Tarmacking the route for a cycle way, I do object to the pointless destructio­n of important plants providing food and shelter for wildlife. Midlothian Council should rectify the damage done by planting suitable bee friendly plants/shrubs in the bulldozed areas – the Bumblebee Conservati­on Trust at Stirling University can give advice on this.

Were there no guidelines on reducing the environmen­tal impact when it was decided to use the old railway as part of the cycling route? Is the plan to make it another sterile and sanitised area of Tarmac and grass linking the two new housing schemes?

The prospects for local traffic, amenities, services and infrastruc­ture are also seriously worrying – how can they survive all these new houses and the large increase in population? I understand the need for some extra housing around Roslin, but I believe that building on this greenfield site is wrong and insensitiv­e.

The University of Edinburgh already has planning permission for houses on the brownfield site of the old Poultry Research Institute and I feel that building only on this site would be far less damaging. HELEN KIRKNESS Station Road, Roslin

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