At their meeting on Wednesday this week, the NHS Lothian Board unanimously approved our application to purchase Belhaven Community Garden at our valuation of £45,000.
Craig Marriott, Finance Director at NHS Lothian, said: “The Board’s approval of the Community Asset Transfer is an important milestone for Belhaven Community Garden and the local community. We are pleased to support the transfer to Sustaining Dunbar, recognising the garden’s value in bringing people together and supporting health and wellbeing. We wish the group every success in continuing the garden’s development.”
We are planning a wee, informal event in the garden to mark this occasion on Saturday 24th October, 2-4pm, to raise a glass and gather to present our plans for the next few years. Please join us if you can! And if you can’t, please still consider getting involved in the next, new phase at Belhaven Community Garden to help steer it into the future.
It has been a long and tortuous route to get to this point, not least because the NHS still had the BCG site valued in its books as housing land, at an estimated £1.1 million. It will be another few months before the sale goes through. But now, at last, we are excited to be able to focus our efforts on planning the future development of the garden as a resource for the whole community.
The support from across the community has played a crucial part in getting us to this stage and is greatly appreciated.