Did other readers spot the deliberate mistake in the artist’s impression of the proposed new theme park at East Fortune Farm on the front page of last week’s Courier? No cars!

A picture of the green fields of our beautiful county is more palatable than the reality of a car park for 200 cars. Yet this inappropriate development on prime agricultural land in contravention of planning policy is only part of the story.

As a near-neighbour and regular user of the B1377 past the farm entrance, I know only too well the dangers of that particular road. From the east is a blind S bend over a humpbacked bridge next to the entrance to the East Fortune race circuit and to the west a blind summit and S bend next to the farm entrance.

My own son had a crash at the bridge due to not being able to see a car emerging from the race circuit entrance. Add in an additional daily 800 car trips at peak time in the summer and we will have a real problem.

One would have expected that the transport assessment of the planning application would have evaluated the impact of 800 car trips on congestion, safety and the environment, but no! Another deliberate mistake?

Traffic was measured on a wet Saturday in March, not in the summer, so therefore by definition the following has been ignored:

  • The safety of cyclists;
  • The impact of farm traffic wider than the carriageway: sprayers, combines and trailers of vegetables, cereals, hay and straw at harvest time;
  • Wagons to Forth Resource Management at Drylaw Hill Farm;
  • Monthly racing at East Fortune;
  • Traffic to the air museum;
  • Traffic to Merryhatton Garden Centre;
  • Traffic to East Fortune Farm’s own caravan park.

I urge fellow readers to ask themselves if a car park, polluting congestion and more accidents on the roads is a price worth paying for another theme park in this beautiful corner of our county. Please visit keepeast lothianbeautiful.org and object to this application.

Simon Winpenny

Howden

East Linton