I read with interest John McLellan’s denial in the Evening news (21/04/22) that the Edinburgh Tories were “siding with developers” to allocate more greenbelt to development.

If he checks his own column from September 2021 he will see that he extensively cites Robin Holder who he describes as a man whose “advice is keenly sought by developers” and suggests that not enough land had been allocated to development.

Additionally, residents in my Ward will recognise Robin Holder’s “Holder Planning” as being behind a  proposal  in 2019/20 to develop a large greenfield site on Frogston Road East (my video on this here). Indeed, in November 2021 Mr Holder wrote in the Evening news that “Edinburgh must expand”!

As if the implication of that is not clear, John McLellan ends his article with the line “There is nothing wrong with defending the greenbelt, but the council must be honest about the implications.”

I am proud to have reached the end of my 5 year term as your Councillor without any greenbelt land in my Ward being lost to development. No “Polo Fields” have been lost on my watch.

It has taken a lot of arguing, but the Council now accepts that it can meet its housing supply targets without allocating any further greenbelt for development. This will be agreed by the incoming Councillors after the election. If re-elected I’ll ensure our greenbelt is protected.