Save Bellfield Update

120 people recently attended a Public Meeting which we organised to enable local people hear how our plans are progressing, and particularly to hear the thoughts and conclusions from our consultancy team.

There were good questions asked and useful comments made – and these have been reflected within the consultant’s final Options Report. Reassuringly, there seemed to be really strong support for our vision and plans for Bellfield.

We really appreciated Portobello and Joppa Church giving us their space for hosting the meeting!

You can click here to watch the Open Meeting https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1P4k7BMUwAHXX_Lx5596Qg/featured Thanks to Mark Macdonald-Scott and Edward Ross for the filming and editing.

The General Trustees of the Church of Scotland are now ‘triggering’ the Community Right To Buy process. Once this is finalised, we will have 8 months to raise the money and complete the acquisition of Bellfield. The Scottish Government Minister will now appoint the District Auditor to come up with an independent valuation of the property, and the next stage of the process is likely to involve a postal ballot of people in Portobello to test the level of local support. We will be in touch with everyone in due course, once the ballot arrangements are clear.

In addition, Action Porty has now submitted our stage 2 application to the Scottish Land Fund. If this application is successful (we should find out the outcome in mid-January) then this should provide funding for between 85% and 95% of the cost of purchasing Bellfield.

We have recently appointed Hazel Allen to help us develop a full business plan for the project. This includes projected timescales on when we are likely to be able re-open Bellfield and how the various development work to the property will be phased over a number of years.