Growing concern amongst local residents about the town that won’t stop growing By Elliot Jones & Jamie Napier Midlothian correspondents
5 years of heavy construction traffic, noise and chaos. That is what the residents of Baird’s Way and Gladstone’s Gate fear is their future. 30 years ago, Bonnyrigg was a small mining town built up mainly of local council housing. Then there came a large period of private housing development. This has resulted in local areas like Hawthornden, Polton and Cockpen being swallowed up by the quickly growing Bonnyrigg. This has allowed Bonnyrigg to grow into a well thought of town with good schools, good health centres and good supermarkets now with a population of 15,000, enough to fill most premier league stadiums. None of this had caused any real concern until recently when it was announced that Walker Homes would be building a new development on the HS10 site behind the Bonnyrigg health centre. There is now concern that this development on one of the last remaining green spaces is a development too far.
© Reproduced with acknowledgement to John Smith, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Around 500 children live in the estate behind the HS10 site and the issue of construction traffic going through the streets has been weighing down heavily on the mind of many parents. This traffic is due to last for about 5 years. The subject of children does not end there, as there is also the fact that many of the local primary schools are at bursting point. The local doctor’s surgery and health centre are both also struggling to facilitate all of the local people. So, this raises the question of whether there should be any new schools or health centres built to accommodate the new residents.