Save Bellfield Campaign Update:
The next stage of the push to Save Bellfield was launched at the fundraising Cabaret at Bellfield Old Parish Church on Sunday night.
It was full house with 140 people of all ages attending. It raised over £1,500 for the campaign, and most importantly over 25 people signed up to be responsible for gathering signatures of support from people on their street (or on another street) to petition the Scottish Government to make Portobello the first urban community to be granted the Community Right to Buy in relation to Bellfield.
What we now need are another 20 people willing to take on another street. We are trying to reach 3,300 households in Portobello and need a minimum of 15% support from the community*. Contact Mary Campbell if you are willing to help**
Meanwhile we have secured £16,315 from the Scottish Land Fund for the Stage One work, and have just sent out the tender brief so that we can appoint consultants to carry out the options appraisal and feasibility study needed to develop a business case for how to use the buildings in a way that meets the community’s needs and is financially viable.
Our key point is that the population of Portobello is expanding every year, yet the spaces for the community to meet in are vanishing. This needs to be addressed head on or a dynamic community will lose much of what enables it to be a community.
*In case anyone asks: the petition has to be a paper one, the Scottish Government does not accept online signatures.
** Mary Campbell <mary_the_marshwiggle@hotmail.com>