CAN you handle it? Double-header this weekend!

It’s all happening in Muirhouse this weekend with a Shopping Centre event on Friday followed by the North Edinburgh Community Conference this Saturday!

All welcome – both events are FREE!

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What next for our community?

COMMUNITY CONFERENCE

Saturday 13 February 

Craigroyston Community High Schoolcomm conferenceNorth Edinburgh is facing tough times. Services are being cut, good jobs are hard to come by and some of our projects are struggling to survive.

But maybe it’s not all doom and gloom. Our community has some great resources, and chief among these is our people: the activists and the volunteers, young and old.

This important conference will discuss what our community needs – and work out how, together, we can get where we want to be.

We believe the people who know best are the people who live here. North Edinburgh needs YOUR ideas – come along and help us to map out a positive future for our community.

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Lunch provided.

Free creche available but MUST be booked in advance.

For further information call Andy or Dave at CAN on 315 6405 or email communityactionnorth@gmail.com

Forth Neighbourhood Partnership meets today

Forth NP logoForth Neighbourhood Partnership Public Meeting

Wednesday 3 February at 2pm

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre

Come along and hear about:

West Pilton Park improvement plans

The Neighbourhood Environment Programme Fund (NEPs)

Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden group

All welcome

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For further information contact Jim Pattison:
telephone 529 5082 or email jim.pattison@edinburgh.gov.uk

Community ‘the key’ to tackling crime

Chief Constable praises local residents who ‘make a difference’

Police at shops Drylaw

Recently-appointed Chief Constable Phil Gormley said community is they key to tackling crime during a visit to Leith with Justice Secretary Michael Mathieson last week. The visit coincided with news that reported crime in the North Edinburgh area has dropped by almost a quarter, with over 1700 fewer crimes reported in the last nine months. Continue reading Community ‘the key’ to tackling crime

Forth Neighbourhood Partnership to meet on 3 February

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Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Public Meeting

Wednesday 3 February, 2pm

West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre 

Come along and hear about: 

Plans for the improvement of West Pilton Park 

  • Increasing the use of the park for physical activity
  • Improving the park environment
  • Improving people’s perception of the park

The Neighbourhood Environment Programme Fund (NEPs)

  • A presentation on some of the projects carried out locally to improve our open spaces.
  • How you can get involved in identifying future projects.

Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden Group

  • A presentation on Granton’s ‘forgotten’ walled garden – dating from Jacobean times.
  • Proposals from local people to safeguard and restore the garden.

There will also be a short period at the start of the meeting for Neighbourhood Partnership business. For further information contact Jim Pattison, 529 5082 – jim.pattison@edinburgh.gov.uk

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Hotel donation will support specialist bed at local Hospice

Mandy Reid, Charge Nurse, and Sarah Firth of Crear Hotels Trust (2)

Crerar Hotels Trust has donated £3,000 to St Columba’s Hospice to fund a specialist bed at the charity’s inpatient unit in Edinburgh. The support was celebrated during a special cheque presentation from Sarah Firth, on behalf of Crerar Hotels Trust to St Columba’s Hospice. Continue reading Hotel donation will support specialist bed at local Hospice

Brock calls for support to scrap ‘appalling’ rape clause

Deidre Brock MP

Edinburgh North and Leith MP Deirdre Brock is calling upon constituents to sign a petition which seeks to scrap the UK Government’s rape clause. Continue reading Brock calls for support to scrap ‘appalling’ rape clause

Trinity Community Council – January Update

Trinity CC met on 11 January. Here are the main points:

Ed sculture workshop

Goodwill to all men?

Happily criminal activity was subdued over the Festive period. But for the unlucky few, and there were some, a housebreaking is still traumatic. Thieves now seem to be targeting houses with sash and casement windows i.e. much of Trinity! So take care to secure tools like spades which might be used to lever open sash windows. And remember all those other security messages about locks, burglar alarms, keeping car keys out of sight etc. Jewellery seems to be the current target.

Clean, Green, Safe & Engaged Report

This quarterly report from Forth Neighbourhood Partnership sets out how well local services are being delivered and our environment maintained.
Unsurprisingly, Trinity’s parks shine brightly in these statistics and, despite a couple of recent headlines, we can claim to be rather a safe place to live with reasonable levels of community engagement.

Street cleanliness was generally close to target but we are pursuing CEC for clarification on its policy for clearing leaves. This appears to happen in a rather random fashion and, if not cleared e.g. Clark Road, Craighall Rd, Denham Green Pl, the new tennis courts, cycle path, South Trinity Rd, leaves have quickly succumbed to recent weather and deteriorated into a slippy, slimy mess.

But overall it was clear that the issue of greatest concern to residents was rubbish and recycling and the new recycling arrangements in particular. This is crystal clear from the level of complaints with the most recent figures being more than three times the target level – a substantial rise on the previous month. While this appears to be starting to settle down there are still problems with bins not being emptied on the scheduled day. Big green bins are seen as a bit of a problem for the elderly.

Victoria Park – Gourmet Destination?

CEC is tendering for food outlets at several sites including a mobile unit in Victoria Park. We have not been consulted but believe it is to some extent a response to the recurring suggestion of using either the Bowl House or the Pump house as a café. We are informally advised that as/when any bid is received, we will have an opportunity to feed in comments and concerns.

We will monitor developments closely to ensure that the promised consultation is delivered and we hope that by then that Friends of Victoria Park is up and running and will be able to comment in its own right. Concerns include increased litter and sale of burgers and fizzy drinks to school children but overall, the proposal seems to have general support as, among other things, it would provide a focus for people to meet up for coffee etc.

Do you have a view? Write and let us know – or grab a word with your local community councillor.

Fringe Benefits 1: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

The final phase of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s new building opened in March 2015, marking completion of a world class arts facility right on our doorstep in Hawthornvale (pictured, top). As well as 26 artist studios it has specially equipped workshops to enable artists and organisations to test ideas and develop projects. Across the building, indoor and outdoor spaces support a range of different sculptural activities and provide viewing areas to enable visitors to see work in progress.

Want to know more? You can join a contemporary sculpture course or just drop by to see what free exhibitions and talks are on. Maybe just relax in the new café, accessible directly from the cycle path or Hawthornvale and open seven days a week? Tours of the building can be arranged for groups or individuals by phoning 0131 551 4490.

Fringe Benefits 2: Ocean Terminal

Ocean Terminal Ltd has plans for a major hotel development. At present we only know the outline. If, like us, you’d like to know more, there will be a public exhibition of the proposals on 10 February at Ocean Terminal Community Room, First Floor besides Debenhams, 3.30 to 7.30pm.

Street Lighting

Regular readers can’t fail to have noticed the repeated concerns about the effectiveness of the new street lighting in some, particularly wider, streets. Some problem sites, but not all, have been picked up. The CEC replacement programme is now moving to its next phase and we are asking for clarification of what this means and how the earlier problems will be tackled in this new phase.

Neighbourhood Environment Fund

It’s that time of year again where we put forward ideas bidding for funds to invest in our local environment. Current candidates include the Vennel to the north of Trinity Academy, Trinity Road Tunnel and Wardie Bay Foreshore. Have you got any ideas? Also time to start planning our annual Walkabout. Is there a particular part of Trinity which needs to be looked over? Do let us know if you think there’s something we should be looking at.

Goldenacre Planters

As 2016 begins, discussions continue concerning funding of planters outside the old RBS Goldenacre branch. We live in hope!

Much more at our next meeting on Monday 8 February at 7 pm in Wardie Parish Church, Primrose Bank Road. Open to all. Come along and give us your thoughts, or contact a Community Councillor – we need to know your views so that we can represent them!

Did you find this bulletin useful or informative? If so, why not show it to a neighbour? Anyone in Trinity can subscribe to the bulletin simply by emailing tcc-comms@outlook.com Or drop us a line and tell us what you think could be better.

SOS – Save Our Services!

lobby

Members of the Power to the People group are calling on local groups and individuals from North Edinburgh to  join them at a lobby of the full council meeting on Thursday 21 January to protest against what Unison describe as the “worst cuts in living memory”.   Continue reading SOS – Save Our Services!