THIS is not really a Big Idea at all. In fact, it’s a very tiny one - at least in terms of its practical implications, were it to be implemented.

The city council’s determination to be as transparent as possible in its deliberations - not least when its elected members gather to take part in any of several committee meetings - is a bit like justice: not only being done, but being seen to be done.

As things stand, committee meetings are broadcast live, online, with a recording then available for later viewing. They are accompanied by extensive background papers, albeit some can be over-long and technical. And meeting decisions are eventually later communicated in the form of minutes.

It all adds up to a commendable commitment.

But there is one tiny aspect that could do with being thought about.

It is at most evident when main meeting motions are merged with amendments and addendums submitted by elected members on behalf of their political parties.

These additional documents are not always that straightforward to follow.

The language is often procedural and they can very quickly get referred to not by the substance of what is being called for, but simply a paragraph number (often in parts, eg 1.1.2.4).

And in a flash, the vote has taken place (with or without those numbered amendments / addendums meshed in) potentially leaving us mere onlookers - the general public and the media, alike - wondering what exactly has been decided.

In the absence of a plain language summary being voiced at the conclusion of a vote, the risk is misunderstanding (including among elected members themselves), misreporting and confusion.

It’s a two-minute gig, at worst, to neatly wrap up what has just taken place.

And it would certainly save BuildEdinburgh having to trouble the city council’s media team, asking: Have I got this right?

Mike Wilson (who still hasn’t quite worked out the difference between an amendment and an addendum) is editor of BuildEdinburgh

Image details: copyright Mike Wilson

THE concept of the ‘20-minute neighbourhood’ is all about providing important local amenities within a short distance from where people live.

And, clearly, that requires relatively dense housing. Four-storey apartment blocks hugging narrow, intimate streets - anyone?

Edinburgh now operates a city plan - City Plan 2030, adopted in November two years ago - that explicitly includes the ‘20-minute’ neighbourhood principle (beginning on page eight of the document).

Back in 2021, the Royal Town Planning Institute was recommending (here) 65 homes per hectare, a figure that has been often referenced since (including here and here).

And there is no reason to believe that this position has since changed.

To get a sense of what 65 dwellings per hectare might look like, there is a handy set of examples compiled (here) by the now-closed Manchester design practice, Urbed (that has since enjoyed something of a renaissance, as a Trust, here).

Under the heading, ‘low density’ (ie 40-50 dwellings per hectare), cited as examples are Water Colour (Redhill, Surrey), Selwyn Street (Oldham, Greater Manchester), Trafalgar Street (Rochdale, Greater Manchester), Donnybrook Quarter (London), and Chimney Port Park (Salford, Greater Manchester).

Meanwhile, under ‘medium density’ (65-75 dwellings per hectare): West Side Street Housing (London), Sharrow Point, Cemetery Road (Sheffield), Temple Quay (Bristol) and Western Harbour (Malmo, Sweden)

And in the high density section (120-160 dwellings per hectare): New England Quarter (Brighton, East Sussex) and Hammerby Sjöstad (Stockholm, Sweden).

Mike Wilson is editor of BuildEdinburgh

Images details: Copenhagen, Denmark, apartment block, set at 90 degrees to the pavement and guarded by a buzzer-controlled gate; copyright: Mike Wilson

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A FRIEND’S scepticism got me thinking.

Without sharing exactly the expletives attached to his email, he did have a point when suggesting my article (here) about ‘Woonerfs’ (described here on Wikipedia) in Amsterdam amounted to a re-heating of an old story.

For those of you who have still to read the article, in summary it was about narrow streets hugged b…

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IT might well be that the battles that often take place around a major planning application are, to coin a phrase, ‘water off a developer’s back’ - where the sometimes huge costs of preparing a plan, and any rejection, are absorbed into successful later applications and prices.

But that’s not to say that developers are glad of the rough ride that they mi…

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THEY pretty much always find a way, on Amsterdam’s ‘Woonerf’-style streets in the city’s Old Town districts.

Whether small van, car, sit-up-and-beg bicycle, cargo bike or fat-tyred electric bike, the weaving in and out seems to just work.

If there is anything to be concerned about, it is most likely with the electric bikes, which can be ridden at some spe…

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THE word, ‘prevention’, appeared at least once in the letters pages of the Guardian newspaper, the other day.

It was in response to an article (here) by the columnist, Polly Townbee, who was considering a commission on adult social care (here), being chaired by Baroness Louise Casey.

Said Townbee: “With her trademark brutal honesty, [Baroness Casey] laid …

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THIS is an idea that needs people’s help; needs people willing to share their expertise.

And maybe even their labour.

While many cities operate their own architecture and design centres - eg London, Milan, etc - Edinburgh has only intermittently come close (indeed, the chief executive of the London centre recently wrote about it, for BuildEdinburgh, here).

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THERE is no obvious reason why the city council does not require development proposals for ‘significant’ sites in the capital - say all those over one acre in size - to be the subject of a design competition.

Maybe developers have consistently and successfully lobbied against it, because they have done the numbers and the numbers tell them that a design …

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THERE are quite a few parts of Edinburgh just crying out for what you would call ‘masterplanning’, imagining what might be for a whole area.

BuildEdinburgh has already advanced the idea of thinking comprehensively (here) about the acres and acres of land to the west of Seafield (for which there is a masterplan) that is currently being, developed bit by b…

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VIEWED from the air, the layout of the housing estate bounded by Stenhouse Drive and Saughton Road is almost skeletal, such is the volume of mostly unloved ‘municipal grass’.

In a city where land is at such a premium, the solution seems a no-brainer: fill the gaps with new housing, not least because, almost certainly, the land belongs to the council.

A fe…

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TO watch a football match taking place on the artificial surface 11-a-side pitch at Saughton Arena involves having to stand on the other side of a high fence.

It is not the only experience that is less than optimal, the lack of decent spectator facilities joined by a nearby changing rooms block that is definitely showing its age.

Meanwhile, a stone’s thro…

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IDEAS are not cheap - as some might be tempted to claim: they are the foundation stones of prosperity and progress.

And with regard to the ambitions of BuildEdinburgh, they are central to its very being.

Without ideas, BuildEdinburgh would be just a gathering of news links, with several ideas having already been aired in the site’s Saturday column section.

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