Midmar Paddock
Midmar Paddock Update - October 2022
The image below shows the Masterplan for the paddock. The image shows an area in the centre that shows the Masterplan. This is all the Community Council has had sight so far.
Comments should be directed to savemidmarpaddock@gmail.com
September 2022
It has been a hot dry summer in the Paddock with, on the face of it, little happening.
However, in the background a local developer has been working up plans for an extensive development of the Paddock. In July, we understand that he received a cool reception when he briefed our four local councillors about his proposals. This should not have come as a surprise as, in their election flyers earlier this year, all four subsequently elected councillors had stated their support for preserving the public’s use of the Paddock.
Detailed plans were not released but the plans include two substantial detached houses, a large private care home and six special needs flats plus various amenities such as a publicly available café, children’s play area, and toilets. There would inevitably be a very extensive car park. The care home was originally to be located towards the south of the site but is now proposed more centrally and it would be accessed from some distance down Midmar Drive with the two houses in the south-west corner fronting on to Hermitage Drive.
The plans include 82 allotments on the northern and eastern sides of the field and the remaining land to the south might be transferred to the Council or the community.
Ahead of any planning application, this scale of development requires a 12-week public consultation which councillors were told would start in September. Details of this and the associated public meeting are awaited, and we will bring the details of this to the Friends as soon as they are announced. It will be very important for everyone to attend that consultation and give their views of the proposals.
Meantime, your committee is taking all necessary steps to prepare our opposition to such an extensive development of the site, whilst at the same time preparing our own vision for the site to be used as a basis for further community participation about the future of the Paddock.
The Trustees of the Friends of Midmar Paddock
Midmar Paddock Update - August 2022
As at August 2022, a developers have taken an option on the Paddock and announced that they plan
a care home, with some sheltered housing units, plus two high-end houses for their two directors,
82 allotments adjoining the existing ones, a children’s play area, a café and toilets. All this was
announced at a recent presentation to our councillors. The list reads like an attempt to tick every
possible box, but how many of these things would actually be built, in the unlikely event of the plans
being approved?
The developers have promised a public consultation on the plans during September. They say that
they will take their proposals all the way to Scottish Government, if necessary. They perhaps don’t
know that Scottish Government reviewed the use of the Paddock in 2016 and determined that it was
best left undeveloped as public open space. Public use of the space has since greatly increased
mainly as a result of the Covid pandemic. Surveys by NatureScot show that 77% of people were
getting outdoors at least once a week in September 2021, compared to just 60% in 2019 – source
Ramblers Scotland.