The Calton Hill Conservation Trust (CHCT) has declared an Erosion Emergency on the hill and will make a direct call to the council on Thursday asking for help to fix it.
The area is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is owned by the council as Common Good land. CHCT look after the top of one of Edinburgh’s hills where they say there is now a real problem as a result of the number of people who walk around there – but they also propose a solution.
At a meeting today CHCT will present their case to the Culture and Communities Committee asking for help to reseed and returf the area near the National Monument in particular where the grass has all but disappeared.
On a sunny Sunday morning in September the area is already busy with tourists admiring the view and climbing up on the National Monument.
The Chair of CHCT, Simon Holledge, met me there to take a look at the areas of erosion. He said: “We have looked at aerial photos for the last 20 years when the area to the front of the National Monument was all grassed – with small patches of erosion – but these have got bigger and bigger since.”
Looking up to the National Monument there are barriers around a 120 square metre area which has been rebanked and returfed in a 50/50 initiative between CHCT and The City of Edinburgh Council. This project cost less than £1,000 and CHCT would like to repeat it on other areas of the hill. Actually it is only the central section which was returfed – the rest was reseeded – but the whole area looks much the same in that it is completely covered by lush green grass. After re-seeding or re-turfing it needs to be roped off for at least eight weeks.
Mr Holledge declares the pilot scheme a success. He said: “We put down new earth here, and dug up the impacted earth with a rotovator, then the council put new earth on top. We want to extend the pilot now by seeding and turfing a larger area.”
He explained that this could be done while retaining passages for people to walk on – essentially walking anywhere except the areas under restoration which would be surrounded by barriers.
Funding available
Now the Trust is asking that the council spend money which Simon says they already hold. There is apparently around £6,000 held in the council coffers which came from the parks levy paid by the Beltane Society for the use of the hill for their celebrations.
The Trust has several times asked the council’s parks team to have a system of “resting” areas of the hill by roping/fencing them off, either on the basis of need or in rotation.
The best time to do re-banking, re-seeding and re-turfing is from October to December. But Simon said that “unfortunately the council are talking about holding over all the work until the spring – despite having the money sitting in the bank – and despite the spring not being the best time to do the work.”
In 2024 CHCT returfed four small areas with funding from a Community Grants Fund award. Simon said: “It was successful and came through the test of Beltane 2024 successfully. Unfortunately it was later over-cut and deteriorated, particularly in one area which we have now reseeded.”
CHCT would like the council to always follow the “one-third grass cutting rule — never cut more than on third of the height of the grass. b. Re-bank, re-seed and re-turf areas where the soil has been lost”. The body is also happy to apply for more funding and to participate in the work.
The public can help by joining the organisation, by reporting any vandalism or anti-social behaviour to the police and by reporting any vehicles which ar parked on the grass which is a major cause of the erosion.
https://caltonhilltrust.org/timeline/
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
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