Category: Royston/Wardieburn

Edinburgh Living celebrates housing its first 250 tenants

Danielle Beatson, 42, who has recently moved into a three-bedroom home with her partner and three children

Two-hundred and fifty households are now in mid-market rent accommodation, thanks to the Council’s mid-market rent partnership, Edinburgh Living.

Edinburgh Living, the City of Edinburgh Council’s mid-market rent partnership, is celebrating hitting a key milestone with more than 250 families now in quality affordable homes thanks to the initiative, developed in partnership with infrastructure experts, Scottish Futures Trust.

Now in eight sites across the city, Edinburgh Living’s 250th tenant moved into their new home in Craigmillar last month.

Let and managed by Lowther Homes, part of Wheatley Group, Edinburgh Living has also launched its new website this week which will provide information about the initiative and help more individuals and families find their new home through links to what homes are available and what is coming soon.

Danielle Beatson, 42, who has recently moved into a three-bedroom home with her partner and three children, said: “We love our new home; it’s in the perfect area and is so spacious. The community is great; it’s a really family-friendly area, and my children are often outside playing with friends.

The home has made a big difference to Danielle’s life: “Our landlord was selling the home we were renting and we were struggling to find another suitable property at short notice. Mid-market rent was a fantastic, affordable option for us. The application process was simple, and we were able to move in quickly after applying.

“We feel so settled and secure now; my partner and I are really happy, and so are the kids, which is brilliant.”

Launched in Jan 2019, supported by the Scottish Government, the Council set up Edinburgh Living to address the lack of affordable housing available in Edinburgh by offering mid-market rent homes to households on low to middle incomes that were struggling to access property, either to purchase or rent, on the open market. 

The initiative is also supporting homelessness prevention, working together with Council services and Lowther Homes to raise the profile of mid-market rent as an option for lower income households at risk of homelessness. 

The Council and Scottish Futures Trust have strong ambitions to continue to grow Edinburgh Living, with an acquisition target of 500 homes by the end of 2022, and the long-term aim to provide 1,500 new mid-market rent and market rent homes over the next few years.

The Council is proactively identifying more homes to achieve this ambition, delivering well-built, well-managed and energy efficient new homes through its own housebuilding programme.

Councillor Kate Campbell, Edinburgh’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener said: “Hitting this big milestone and now having 250 family households in safe, warm and affordable homes, with more homes being identified to double that figure by the end of next year is just fantastic.

“Also hearing what a difference these bright and modern homes are making to people’s lives is the reason we started this programme in the first place.

“Making sure everyone has access to an affordable and energy efficient place to live has long been our priority. We have ambitious plans to grow the number of properties we own which we’ll do by purchasing homes, and by building homes through own housing development programme, delivering 20,000 affordable homes by 2027.

“As a Council we’re also committed to ending poverty, becoming more sustainable, while helping to foster greater wellbeing and inclusion, and so Edinburgh Living is just one of the ways we’re doing that for our residents and the city of Edinburgh.”

Councillor Mandy Watt, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Vice-Convener, added: “It’s a real joy to have families moving in and settling into their new homes through Edinburgh Living. And it’s great to see the new website provide more information about the partnership and signpost those looking for a mid-market rent home to what is currently available and under construction.

“We now have homes in eight locations which puts Edinburgh Living homes in three quarters of the city. These homes provide quality, stable accommodation to families, improving the diversity of communities and helping with the regeneration of parts of Edinburgh.”

Christa Reekie, director Development and Housing at the Scottish Futures Trust, said: “As infrastructure experts, we’re always looking for new and collaborative ways to maximise the delivery of affordable housing and boost the impact they have in communities right across Scotland. 

“Edinburgh Living is a case in point – a joint venture that is working towards the delivery of 1,500 much-needed, affordable and market rent homes in Edinburgh. Today’s milestone marks a significant step in the programme that is now benefitting 250 families and is increasing the supply of high quality, energy efficient homes for many years to come.”

Heather Voisey, Lowther Homes Managing Director, said: “We’re delighted to mark this important milestone in our partnership with Edinburgh Living.

“Mid-market rent flats offer much-needed affordable housing in sought-after locations, and it’s great to see the 250th tenant move in. We look forward to continuing to let and manage affordable Edinburgh Living homes across the city.”

Edinburgh Living has homes across eight locations in Edinburgh: Clermiston, Hailesland, Pennywell, Greendykes, North Sighthill, Royston, Dumbryden and Craigmillar.

£1.5 million Lottery support helps Edinburgh community groups adapt and recover from Covid-19

Edinburgh-based groups helping older people to re-connect, new parents feel less isolated and those with sight loss more empowered are amongst those today sharing in £1,483,518 of National Lottery funding.

The cash from The National Lottery Community Fund is being shared by 30 groups in the city helping local communities adapt and recover from COVID-19. 

As lockdown restrictions begin to lift members of the Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Spring Chicken’s group are hoping to reconnect in person and get back to the things they love with an award £9,940.

Neil Saddington, Equalities and Inclusion Worker with the group, said: “Most of the Spring Chickens group are elderly people who experience a variety of different health issues and disabilities.

“This essential National Lottery funding has enabled us to do valuable work to combat isolation and loneliness during the most recent lockdown. Now that restrictions are slowly being lifted, we are looking forward to one to one outdoor meet ups to support some of the most isolated members of the group get out and about again.”

There was more good news for another North Edinburgh project as FetLor youth club has also received National Lottery support.

The club said in a statement: “FetLor are delighted to have received an award from The National Lottery Community Fund.  We plan to use this funding to support our young people as they return to the Club after lockdown. 

“FetLor is a club at the heart of the north Edinburgh community and this funding will support the young people from that community as they make a return to what’s important; being with friends in a safe and supportive space.” 

FetLor Director, Richie Adams said, “This last year has been challenging both for our members and for our community.  As we move out of lockdown, we are delighted to be welcoming young people back into their club.  

“We are looking forward to supporting our members build resilience, achieve their potential and have great fun doing so!  The support from the National Lottery enables us to do all we can to make sure our members have a fun time thriving and growing at FetLor”  

Based in Edinburgh and working Scotland wide, Sight Scotland offers support to anyone impacted by sight loss, as well as their relatives, friends and carers.

Thanks to an award of £150,000, its Family Wellbeing service will providea range of support to address the loneliness and mental health impacts of sight-loss, and the additional impacts of Covid-19. 

Mark O’Donnell, Chief Executive of Sight Scotland, said: “A huge thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund for this funding. It will enable us to provide practical and emotional support to even more people affected by visual impairment in communities across Scotland via our recently established Family Wellbeing Service.

“With the number of people with sight loss in Scotland set to increase by 30,000 to over 200,000 in the next decade, it is vital that Sight Scotland is there for people with sight loss and their loved ones whenever and however they need us.”

An award of £107,000 goes to Passion4Fusion to deliver a health, wellbeing and support service for Black African people in Edinburgh and West Lothian.

Welcoming the award Jonathan Ssentamu of Passion4Fusion, said: “We are very excited and really grateful for the support of the National Lottery Community Fund to enable us to develop this much-needed project which will help to address the complex issues and needs that Black Africans are facing.

“Experience has shown us that many Black Africans living in poverty and deprivation would choose to be ‘invisible’ rather than admit to needing help and in turn seeking the help they need. Our Project will support people directly within their local community, making it as easy as possible to access culturally sensitive services that will allow them to thrive in life.”

“This essential National Lottery funding has enabled us to do valuable work to combat isolation and loneliness during the most recent lockdown. Now that restrictions are slowly being lifted, we are looking forward to one to one outdoor meet ups to support some of the most isolated members of the group get out and about again.”

Dads Rock will deliver group sessions to fathers on topics such as parenting advice, health and safety and mental health, thanks to an award of £9,950.

Lisa Holder, Fundraising Manager, said: “This funding will help us give online support to around 1000 parents across Scotland over the next year, helping them to feel less isolated and learn new skills.

“It will enable them to become more confident and resilient and their children will feel safe, loved and supported.”

Networking Key Services Limited is a community organisation working closely with South Asian and other ethnic minority communities in Edinburgh. 

Welcoming their £103,840 award, Naina Minhas, Manager, Networking Key Services Ltd, said: “The National Lottery funding we have received in the past has enabled us to set up a forum for South Asian female carers in Edinburgh.

“This new award will go a long way to address the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on South Asian communities and will enable us to support communities in their recovery from the challenges that have further widened pre-existing inequalities.”

Across the country 246 community projects are today sharing in £10,922,832. 

Announcing the funding, The National Lottery Community Fund’s Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “It’s great to see such a variety of projects being funded in Edinburgh to help local people adapt and recover from the physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19.

“National Lottery players can be proud to know that the money they raise is making such a difference, connecting local people to others in their communities.”

National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK. 

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk 

League tables don’t reflect our schools’ amazing work

A school feels ‘under attack’ when put at the bottom of a narrow-focused league table, says Craigroyston headteacher Shelley McLaren

Each year the release of newspaper school league tables for Scotland is a day I dread, and the publication of the 2021 results yesterday was no different. The language of the headlines – “Which school is the best in Scotland?” and “Scotland’s schools ranked best to worst” – is both incredibly damaging and demoralising for staff, pupils, parents and school communities across the country, not to mention the reputational harm it can cause for years to come (writes SHELLEY McLAREN).

The stories will continue today in the local news, where it feels like we need to put on our armour and prepare for attack. No matter how much we’ve done in all other parts of school life throughout the year, the focus to determine our worth and whether we are a “good” school seems to rest singlehandedly on the one measure of how many young people achieve five Highers in one sitting.

As a school, we pick up the pieces from this for months to come – only for it to come around again next year. It is not, of course, that we do not focus on trying to improve by the measure of five Highers, but, because of context and, indeed, probably our own vision and values, we will always be near the “bottom”.

Our main aims are educating our young people out of poverty and instilling in them the belief that no matter where you come from or the challenges you have faced in your life, you can still achieve your dreams and be the best you can be. University, a modern apprenticeship or a job are all given equal weighting; the most important thing is that the young person has achieved the best they can – and, believe me, every day we support, challenge, motivate, nurture and push high expectations to ensure this happens.

League tables aren’t fair on schools

I congratulate those top-performing schools where up to 86 per cent of young people have achieved the “gold standard” of five Highers. It is an incredible achievement and should be celebrated – but everything is about context, and schools should and need to be measured on so much more.

I am not shirking accountability or responsibility as a headteacher – the measure of five Highers is important – but if closing the attainment gap simply meant improving this one measure, and that determined whether we were a “good” or “bad” school, we would have used our Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) and Scottish Attainment Challenge funding very differently – and probably not made that many gains.

I could concentrate on the fact that 70 per cent of our young people live in SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 1 and 2 or that 20 per cent of each cohort arrive at us with a reading age of 8 or below, or that nearly 40 per cent of our students are on free school meals. This would make it easy to excuse why we are one of the “worst” schools in the league table – but I won’t, because that is not what we base our views of children on.

What I will focus on is that, in 2020, nearly 95 per cent of our young people left school to go into a positive destination – above the national average of 93.3 per cent – and that last session 100 per cent of our young people in S4 achieved five or more national qualifications (nobody was “left behind”, regardless of any barrier) and that this year 23 of our young people (almost a third of the cohort) are heading off to universities across the country – the same group of young people who didn’t achieve five Highers in one sitting.

I implore you, please don’t judge our incredible young people or our amazing school, filled with dedicated, passionate staff, on this one measure of five Highers – know that we are doing everything possible to ensure that our students are given a gold-star service to prepare them to have the best life possible after school, with or without the achievement of the “gold standard”.

Are we one of the “worst” schools in the country? Of course we’re not – and I would vehemently challenge anyone who considers this to be the case.

Shelley McLaren is headteacher at Craigroyston Community High School

This article first appeared in TES

What does living in North Edinburgh mean to you?

Fresh Start, with the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership, are running online events on 12th & 13th May to allow residents to discuss how our services can adapt to fit what matters to you, the people that live and work in the area!

Join the conversation on Wednesday 12th May, 1-2.30pm by registering here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZYsd…

Or Thursday 13th May, 7pm – 8.30pm, by registering here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZ0qcu…

Please share around your networks and get the conversation going!

Lib Dems announce candidate list and pledge to “Put Recovery First”

As nominations close, Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced their list of candidates for Lothian and are pledging their commitment to make recovery from the pandemic their number one priority as MSPs.

Today the Scottish Liberal Democrats submitted their nomination papers for the upcoming Scottish parliament election to be held on the 6th May.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh Northern and Leith will be Rebecca Bell (above). She is also the mental health spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Rebecca Bell said: “People are under huge pressure from the pandemic. There’s a lot of work to be done to recover from this crisis. It will not be easily done and we will need our complete focus on the project at hand.

“As an MSP, I want to focus on cutting mental health waits, a bounce back plan for education, creating jobs and tackling the climate emergency.

“After years of arguing about independence and Brexit, the last thing we need right now is another independence referendum.

“As the MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith, I will put the recovery first.”

Willie Rennie said: “This election is about priorities. Liberal Democrats will put recovery first. After the dreadful year we have endured, people want a needle-sharp focus on jobs, mental health, our NHS, schools and the climate crisis.

“With ten years of experience as leader I have won support for areas like mental health, education and nursery education.  For me it has always been about investing in people so they can do great things.

“For the next five years the divided nationalists will put independence first, dividing the country too.

“For the next five years I will put the recovery first, cut mental health waits, help pupils bounce back, create jobs and take action on the climate. The SNP will prioritise another independence referendum.