[ACE] letters to planning deparment

[Melanie Scott]

Dear all

This is what we are sending to the Planning Department:



  Re Planning Application 07/02348/FUL

  17 West Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA


Dear Kirsty,

We wish to object to the application for planning permission to  
convert the above property into a flat.  We were very shocked to hear  
about this as it would mean that the thriving and very valuable  
community facility currently provided in these premises would be lost.

We consider that the ACE charity operating at 17 West Montgomery  
Place provides a very useful resource in this neighbourhood, and  
serves a real local need. One of us works as a doctor in Edinburgh  
with people many of whom are from deprived backgrounds and is aware  
that the centre has played a meaningful role in advising people  
regarding benefit entitlements. He is also aware that occasionally  
the centre has usefully informed people from the community who had  
previously been unwilling to seek appropriate health care to come  
forward and approach local NHS services. One of us works as a  
disability adviser in Edinburgh and has been impressed with the way  
in which this charity has made a conscious effort to ensure that the  
premises are accessible. We are both also aware of the important  
whole food coop sited in the project, which has been instrumental in  
providing organic and whole food at affordable prices to the local  
community, thereby contributing to a more healthy diet to the local  
community.

So for the above reasons and because we place a very high value on  
all of the community-based initiatives ACE have been developing,  
including the regular free film showings, women’s health groups and  
massage classes, the support group working to raise awareness of  
other local impoverished communities internationally, and many more  
initiatives, we wish to urge that the policy of protecting local  
shops, community halls and meeting rooms is adhered to and that this  
planning application be refused.

Yours sincerely,

Ms Melanie Scott

Dr Michael Orgel



Best wishes - we are now away for a while but back in August. xx
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