Funding has been awarded by The City of Edinburgh Council to enable Places for People, on behalf of Castle Rock Edinvar, to complete their development at West Pilton, just off the Granton Access Road. With the start on site being planned for Spring 2012 the build period is likely to be around 18 months, and the first homes should be available in Spring 2013.
Places for People
Alister Steele, Managing Director at Castle Rock Edinvar, said “We are delighted that with the funding now in place we can complete this site. It has been a long process as a result of issues with access coupled with changes to economic conditions, leading to the need to revise our plans. The City of Edinburgh Council has worked closely with us to help us to find solutions”.
The proposals comprise 93 units, a mixture of houses and flats. There will be a mix of tenures, social rented homes, mid-market rented homes and low cost home ownership. The design of the new buildings will be similar to that of Castle Rock Edinvar’s adjacent development to ensure the two developments complement each other with a few changes such as the replacement of the timber cladding with a different finish which looks similar and a buff coloured brick finish instead of white render.
The new development will have secure back court areas, with drying greens, children’s play areas and seating, as well as careful lighting to enhance security. There will be trees between the development and Granton Access Road. Private gardens will be provided to the front and back of most ground floor properties, with the majority of front gardens to be provided with low maintenance durable planting and clearly laid out public and private spaces.
For further information, please contact Diana Harries, Development Manager, Places for People Developments (diana.harries@placesforpeople.co.uk, Tel 559 2200) with any queries regarding the development.
Last month saw the Show Racism the Red Card fortnight of action come to Spartans Academy and local people were able to take part in a multicultural football event organised by Spartans.
Kenny Cameron is joined by Jordan at Spartans for the Show Racism the Red Card event.
After the event Kenny said “We have sixty young people from the local area come along and take part, after the games the young people will be treated to some food from around the world, so its not just about the football. Today was an opportunity for young people from North Edinburgh to meet up and take part in the beautiful game. Spartans sees itself as a fabric of the North Edinburgh area and these events strengthen our relationships with young people and other service providers. Events like tonight can only be a good thing and will help make a positive contribution to the local community.”
To find out more about what goes on at Spartans give them a call on 552 7854.
Cancer Research fashion night. (Picture: Carrie Lennon)
The cancer Research shop in Stockbridge hosted a fashion night last month at the Edinburgh Academy. This is the third year that shop manager Carrie Lennon has organised the event and after excellent evening was over Carrie said
“We raised £2600 on the night showcasing charity chic at our Charity Catwalk. The models were friends, family, volunteers and regular customers and they showed off top brands including Versace and Dolce and Gabanna. All of the clothes were items that had been donated to the Stockbridge branch by the public, and were all for sale after the show. We wanted to show off the amazing things that we get regularly donated to our store and show just how fashion forward you can be while supporting a worthy cause.”
A large number of people turned out for the Cancer Research fashion night. (Picture: Carrie Lennon)
“This is the third time that myself and key volunteers at the Stockbridge branch have hosted this fashion night, and this year our grand total was £500 more than last years”!
‘Bearing in mind the financial situation, what actions can we take to maintain, develop and improve services in Edinburgh?’
That was the question posed to Forth and Inverleith residents at a meeting held in Heriots Rugby Club last week and more than 40 participants took the opportunity to express their views on what the council’s spending priorities should be at the local event. The meeting was the last in a series of six consultation events organised by the city council across Edinburgh over recent weeks.
Opening the meeting Chief Financial Officer Karen Kelly gave a summary of where the City Council currently spends it’s money and went on to look at spending projections. It was a gloomy prognosis – there’s no doubt Edinburgh, like all local authorities, faces tough financial challenges over the coming years, with significant savings needing to be made. Longer term, it looks even tougher: demographic indicators suggest the city’s older population will grow considerably – the forecast is that there will be a 72% increase in the number of citizens over the age of 75 by the year 2035, putting added pressure on already stretched spending on health and social care budgets.
So how does the city address the challenges ahead? It was over to Children and Families’ Gillian Hunt to conduct the main part of the exercise; facilitating small workshop groups to encourage ideas and discussion. Individuals were asked to come up with ideas which were then fed into the bigger group and noted on flipcharts. There was no shortage of ideas and suggestions – from the ‘do-able’ to the downright loopy – and the exercise ended with individuals being asked to prioritise their three ‘favourites’ and allocate points from some pretty long lists. A bit like the Eurovision Song Contest …
Unfortunately – as inevitably happens at events like this – time was at a premium and some enthusiastic discussions were cut short as time ran out. There was no time, either, for feedback from the various groups or an opportunity to elaborate on points raised in workshops. Services for Communities chief Mark Turley, however, thought that the exercise proved very worthwhile. Thanking participants, he said: “I hope you have found this useful – I thought it was a very good event and we could have used a lot more time. The findings of tonight’s workshops will be posted on the Neighbourhood Partnership websites and each of the political groups will receive a copy of the report.”
A summary of the workshop findings will appear on the Neighbourhood Partnership website soon: go to:
With the first snows of winter falling over the weekend, Pilton Equalities Project has drafted a severe weather contingency plan and circulated it to other local organisations for comment and suggestion. PEP staff and volunteers came to the aid of many vulnerable local people last winter and manager Helen Tait is making sure that processes are in place to ensure that frail and elderly residents are protected as winter bites.
“Last winter’s weather was awful and we are making sure we are prepared just in case we see a repeat”, said Helen. “We have contacted other local groups across the area to ensure that we are organised. By working together and supporting each other there is no duplication – it’s important that the help available goes to where it’s most needed”.
Base on three priorities – Food, Heat and Health – PEP’s severe weather plan aims to get assistance to the most isolated members of the community – be that shopping, clearing paths, emergency heating or even setting up soup kitchens if it proves necessary.
Local organisations have been asked to contact PEP with suggestions by telephone on 315 4466 or by email pepequalities@btconnect.com
Community activists from across the city have been urged to attend a ‘vital’ meeting of the Edinburgh Community Representatives Network (ECRN) tonight. The meeting will decide the future direction of the organisation which was set up to give communities a voice in decisions that affect them.
ECRN provides a forum for city activists to come together to discuss issues of common concern, but in March this year the organisation lost it’s funding for a part-time support worker. This seriously curtailed ECRN activities and the organisation’s office bearers stood down at ECRN’s annual general meeting in July. Since then, however, office bearers have had a change of mind and tonight’s meeting has been organised to thrash out a way ahead for ECRN.
In ‘Something Needs To Be Done’, a discussion document tabled for tonight’s meeting, ECRN chairman George Pitcher argues that the need for the organisation to continue is as great as ever, although he believes ECRN should not become a campaigning group.
Mr. Pitcher said: “Anything which will help people, as groups or as individuals to become involved in community representation is what ECRN should be about. Building up people’s knowledge and confidence to do things for themselves is the name of the game. It is certainly not to give clout to ECRN, but to help give clout to the citizens of Edinburgh, whether it be Muirhouse or Marchmont, Cramond or Craigmillar, enabling them to play a vital part in defining and servicing the needs of those very communities in which they live out their lives. My answer to the question, ‘Does ECRN need to change?’ is a big NO!”
Mr. Pitcher urges ECRN members old and new to attend tonight’s meeting, which will be held in Southside Community Centre on Nicholson Street at 7pm. “To influence policy decisions, etc., you need to be there so come along and play a part in what could be the most vital meeting ever organised under the Edinburgh Community Representatives’ Network banner”, he said.
For further information on the ECRN or more details of tonight’s meeting call George on 0754 980 9206 or email geo.pitcher@o2.co.uk
This year we have busy programme of activities over the festive season. Everyone is invited to come and share the celebration with us…
Saturday 10th December at 6.30pm
The Muirhouse Christmas Show—fun and entertainment from our choir, our youngsters, and a good few grown ups who still know how to have a laugh.
Saturday 17th December 10am-12noon
Nativity Cocoa Morning – A coffee morning with a difference – as well as the usual tea, coffee and eats there will be winter warming hot chocolate AND a host of nativity sets on display.
Sunday 18th December at 11am
4th Sunday in Advent – Family Service with our Children’s Nativity Play
Sunday 18th December at 3pm
Blue Christmas Service—a quieter reflective service for those who struggle with all the merriment of Christmas because life for them is hard, lonely or sad.
Christmas Eve Watchnight Service at 8.00pm
Christingle Service—a magical service for all ages as we prepare to celebrate Christmas
Granton Information Centre has received the prestigious Scottish National Standards certificate for the quality of their information and advice provision at a reception at the City Chambers.
GIC is the first Edinburgh organisation – and one of only a few advice agencies in Scotland – to achieve the award at this level, and their certificate was presented by Sheriff Principal Edward T Bowen QC.
The certificate presentation was the centrepiece of an event organised to celebrate the success of EHAP (Edinburgh Housing Advice Partnership), a consortium set up to provide housing advice services across the city in a contract with the city council. The consortium partners – Granton Information Centre, Community Health and Information (CHAI), Move On and FourSquare – offer a comprehensive range of housing advice services to the people of Edinburgh. EHAP provides a prison outreach project, a schools peer education service for S4 and S5 school leavers, housing advice in local neighbourhood settings and also provides representation at court – both for pre-prepared cases and also through an ‘emergency first aid’ service for people who turn up at court without representation. The EHAP event offered an opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved so far and to look ahead to future challenges.
Frances Durie and the staff team of Granton Information Centre receive their award. (Pic: Dave Pickering)
Welcoming delegates, Councillor Paul Edie (Chair of the Health, Social Care and Housing Committee) said: “Homelessness is something I’m very passionate about and I’m very proud of this council’s record. In Scotland, we have an obligation to eradicating unintentional homelessness by 2012 – not something that applies south of the border – and I think that’s a sign of what a progressive country Scotland is and how our social conscience reflects on public policy”.
He went on: “This council has a very radical strategy to tackle homelessness, developed in partnership with our colleagues in the voluntary sector and rolled out over the last couple of years. Critical to that strategy has been the provision of good quality ‘right first time’ housing advice to our service users. I’m really proud that last year homelessness dropped by 13% in Edinburgh, and EHAP are very important players in that strategy. No less than 99% of people who have used EHAP have not subsequently gone on to present themselves as homeless – that’s a jaw-dropping statistic; in any walk of life if you get that level of satisfaction rating you’d be entirely happy. I’d like to thank our EHAP partners for the great work they are doing to stop people losing their homes – a terrible thing to happen to anyone – and I wish you every success in the year ahead”.
One of Sherriff Principal Bowen’s responsibilities is to ensure ‘the efficient dispersal of Sherriff Court business’ and he explained that, while criminal cases take up the bulk of time at the court, civil business – including housing cases dealing with evictions and repossessions – take up a considerable amount of court time. He said that many of these cases could and should be resolved before they ever reached court, but added that there was also a need for suitable advice provision when cases did come to court.
“A recent review found that there is a need for proper advice – there remains a significant unmet need – and the EHAP service is critical to providing assistance prior to cases coming before the court system; providing there is a proper input by way of advice at an early stage, housing disputes can be resolved. The court needs to have confidence that suitable advice is available, so the service that EHAP provides is critical to the function of Edinburgh Sherriff Court. That’s demonstrated by the figures EHAP has provided for 2010 -11. We are indebted to all those involved in providing the EHAP service, which is widely acknowledged to be highly effective, and it gives me great pleasure to recognise that expertise by the presentation of these certificates today”.
Frances Durie, vice-chairperson of Granton Information Centre, received the award on the project’s behalf. She said: “This is a really tremendous achievement and a great honour for Granton Information Centre. Our staff have worked very hard over a long period to achieve the levels of professionalism that they have, and it’s good that this effort has been rewarded. We’ve always known that people coming to Granton Information Centre will get the highest standard of independent advice available anywhere, but it’s nice to receive wider recognition for the quality of our advice work”.
Granton Information Centre (GIC) provides free, impartial and confidential advice and assistance on a range of issues including welfare benefits, housing advice, tax credits and debt. If you would benefit from any advice you can visit them at their surgeries as per the details below.
Drop in sessions (Granton Information Centre):
Monday & Wednesday: All HOUSING issues: 9.30 – 12.30
Craigroyston Community High School is now the proud owner of a swim team, the Craigroyston Dolphins! This is supported by Active Schools. The team is open to P7 to S6 pupils, who can swim 2 lengths’ of the pool without float aids. Team members get trained on their swimming technique and then can compete at Edinburgh events if they choose to.
The Dolphins swim team showing of their new kit courtesy of Scottish Gas (pic: Ricky Karoyan)
Our team has just competed at the Edinburgh and Midlothian Schools Championship which took place On Sunday 20th November at Ainslie Park Leisure Centre.
Active Schools Coordinator Ricky Karoyan said, “I was very impressed by the participants positive attitude and performance. They ALL beat their personal best times too which is a fantastic achievement.”
“The team was commented upon by other club coaches about how smart they looked in their team kit and how well they behaved and supported each other. Clubs also commented on how nice it was to have another public school entered in the competition (in a very private school dominated event). Craigroyston Dolphins were faced with tough competition from teams who are more established and experienced, but it didn’t stop them enjoying the day and proving their worth.”
The new Dolphins swim team are now ready for action. (pic: Ricky Karoyan)
Karoyan added “One of our team members finished 13th overall in her age group, was 5th in the 100 freestyle and 6thin the 200 butterfly. Our swim team is kindly being sponsored by Scottish Gas who has provided each Craigroyston Dolphin a kit bag, team T-shirt, goggles and other exciting things to use during competitions.”
The training sessions take place every Thursday (term time) 3.30 – 4.30pm at the High School. To find out more or to get involved call Ricky on 07825386846
