Day: May 4, 2012

Election Latest

Results in so far:

ALMOND: Paterson (Con), Work (SNP) and Shields (LD) elected.

DRUMBRAE/GYLE: Cairns (SNP), Aldridge (LD) and Keils (Lab) elected. Labour gain.

CORSTORPHINE/MURRAYFIELD: Balfour (Con), Edie (LD) and Ross (SNP) elected.

State of play: SNP 3, LD 3, Con 2, Lab 1.

NOTE: Congratulations to independent candidate Professor Pongoo (not pictured, that’s a penguin) who gained over 400 votes in Pentlands, beating one of the mainstream parties!

 

 

Election predictions at midday

Following on from the previous post, my predictions for the two local wards are:

FORTH:

Labour to return two councillors, SNP one (Steve Cardownie) and Conservative Allan Jackson will also be successful. The Lib-Dems to lose out.

Labour almost returned two Forth councillors (Billy Fitzpatrick just lost out) at the 2007 local council elections and can do so this time if the traditional vote has come out – turnout is pretty poor, though.

INVERLEITH:

Currently has one each of Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem and SNP, but both the Tories and the SNP are adopting the risky strategy of fielding two candidates.

This could backfire – my prediction is that the Green’s Nigel Bagshaw will pick up a seat – whether that’s at the expense of one of the SNP pair, Lib-Dem Tim McKay or Conservative Iaian Whyte is difficult to say.

More later …

Boswall community's united in celebration!

A celebration has been held to mark the opening on 15 new affordable homes and a church centre in Boswall Parkway by Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA).

The Association bought the Granton United Church site in 2010  and was committed to providing a centre for a local congregation as part of its  building plans. The development, built with £1m funding from the City of Edinburgh Council, has been shortlisted for a Scottish Home Award  for Community Partnership of the Year.

There are two one-bedroom, 10 two-bedroom and three  three-bedroom flats in the Boswall Parkway development . More than two-thirds of the properties feature solar thermal heating provided by panels located on the roof.

An opening ceremony was held at the Granton United Church last week and was attended by around 30 people including PoLHA  representatives, contractors and tenants, as well as local MSP Malcolm  Chisholm.

Cathy  King, Head of Housing and Regeneration at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “This development  is a great example of the council and Port of Leith Housing Association working  in partnership with the local community to deliver much-needed affordable homes.  The existing building has now been transformed into 15 energy-efficient flats  and a purpose-built church hall which everyone will be able to benefit from.”

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of PoLHA,  said: “This site, incorporating a church, is one that’s completely  unique for us and we’re delighted to have been able to  develop a centre as part of our plans. Creating communities in which people want to live is more than simply providing a roof over people’s  heads: it’s providing good-quality, energy-efficient housing people are proud of, and it’s supporting individuals, families  and local groups to help bring people together and be a  community.”

Granton United Church has around 35 members. Treasurer Ted Wallace  said: “The members all seem happy with the new  centre and we’ve settled in.”

Resident Paula McVay added: “Our new home is great and we’re really happy  with the energy-efficient measures.”

Boswall community’s united in celebration!

A celebration has been held to mark the opening on 15 new affordable homes and a church centre in Boswall Parkway by Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA).

The Association bought the Granton United Church site in 2010  and was committed to providing a centre for a local congregation as part of its  building plans. The development, built with £1m funding from the City of Edinburgh Council, has been shortlisted for a Scottish Home Award  for Community Partnership of the Year.

There are two one-bedroom, 10 two-bedroom and three  three-bedroom flats in the Boswall Parkway development . More than two-thirds of the properties feature solar thermal heating provided by panels located on the roof.

An opening ceremony was held at the Granton United Church last week and was attended by around 30 people including PoLHA  representatives, contractors and tenants, as well as local MSP Malcolm  Chisholm.

Cathy  King, Head of Housing and Regeneration at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “This development  is a great example of the council and Port of Leith Housing Association working  in partnership with the local community to deliver much-needed affordable homes.  The existing building has now been transformed into 15 energy-efficient flats  and a purpose-built church hall which everyone will be able to benefit from.”

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of PoLHA,  said: “This site, incorporating a church, is one that’s completely  unique for us and we’re delighted to have been able to  develop a centre as part of our plans. Creating communities in which people want to live is more than simply providing a roof over people’s  heads: it’s providing good-quality, energy-efficient housing people are proud of, and it’s supporting individuals, families  and local groups to help bring people together and be a  community.”

Granton United Church has around 35 members. Treasurer Ted Wallace  said: “The members all seem happy with the new  centre and we’ve settled in.”

Resident Paula McVay added: “Our new home is great and we’re really happy  with the energy-efficient measures.”

Crunch time for Council candidates as count begins

You’ve had your say and the count of votes cast in yesterday’s local council elections is now underway at Meadowbank Stadium, where Edinburgh will elect 58 councillors.

Early indications are that voter turnout is not as bad as first feared – there were gloomy predictions of 30% or even less in some areas yesterday. The political parties certainly can’t blame poor weather if the turnout is low – yesterday’s weather was fine.

The composition of the outgoing Council was: Lib-Dem 16, Labour 15, SNP 13, Conservative 11 and Green Party 3. Following that last council election in 2007, the Lib Dems and SNP entered into a coalition to form the administration, and despite directly opposing views on Edinburgh’s controversial tram project, the partnership held firm for the full five year term.

Last night’s results from England show a resurgent Labour party, but this is unsurprising given Labour started from a very low base, having been drubbed in the previous council elections down south. The current Conservative/Lib Dem coalition at Westminster is also particularly unpopular just now; party managers will claim the local election results are ‘mid-term protest votes’ – they usually do!

In Scotland, there is a different dynamic with the rise of the SNP and the party’s historic victory in last year’s Holyrood election. The challenge for the Nationalists is to maintain that momentum, or was last May the high-water mark?

Here in Edinburgh, it’s hard to tell what impact, if any, the trams fiasco had on the way voters cast their ballots. It does appear likely that the Lib Dems will pay the price for both being a partner in an unpopular Westminster government and, locally, the main party heading up a weak and indecisive administration.

What will happen to the Lib Dem vote if, as some predict, it collapses? Hard to say, but it could be the Green Party who are the main beneficiaries of disaffected Lib Dems.

Whatever the turnout, the result will be very tight and before the count no-one really knows how this is going to play out. If forced to make a prediction, I would say Labour will finish as the biggest party with perhaps sixteen councillors. The Greens in particular, the SNP and the Tories could all also pick up a seat or two at the Lib-Dems expense; my guess – and it is a guess – is that the Lib Dems could lose six seats.

One thing for certain is that no one political party can have an absolute majority in the City Chambers, and after the count (or perhaps even before!) the horse-trading begins. We will know the composition of the new Council by late this afternoon, but we may have to wait a while longer to find out who will be running our city.

NEN’s Thomas Brown will be ‘tweeting’ from Meadowbank throughout the course of the day