A reminder that North Edinburgh News’ annual general meeting will be held on Thursday (27 September) at 7pm in Drylaw Parish Church, Groathill Road North. All welcome.
For further information email northedinnews@gmail.com
Come along and support your community newspaper!
Singing Together Classes For Adults
at Craigroyston Community High School
on Thursdays from 1.45 – 3.20 pm
These sessions are for anyone who wants to sing. You might be someone who sings in the shower or someone who hasn’t sung since your school days or you could be the life and soul of every karaoke evening.
This class will be relaxed and fun – there is no need to be able to read music and no experience is necessary. There will be vocal warm ups and some breathing exercises which help you find your voice – and then there will be singing!
Call us on 538 -7285 or email admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk to book a place.
Starts this Thursday 27September
Muirhouse Salvesen Community Council will object to plans to develop the former Civil Service Playing Fields at Marine Drive. The playing fields, now managed by Edinburgh’s Telford College, have been earmarked for a World of Football sport and leisure complex but the local community council will not be supporting the initiative.
A local resident has written to the community council expressing concerns over the development. He says: ‘Some years ago there were plans to build the new Craigroyston High School on the Green Belt; the community successfully resisted and rejected the proposal. This new proposal, which is no doubt controversial but no more so than building a school, has as far as is known been agreed in a deal between World of Football and Telford College. The chipping away of open spaces, particularly the Green Belt, has to be vigorously opposed. Communities have had the benefit of the Green Belt through the foresight of past generations; we in turn must leave it for future generations. Will the community council take up this urgent issue?’
Muirhouse Salvesen Community Council chairman Roy Douglas (pictured above) confirmed that the community council will indeed take up the issue. He said: “The first we heard about these plans was when the story appeared in the NEN. why should
the college or anyone else come along and use up greenspace without consulting the community? As a Community Council we will be objecting to any planning for this type of change.”
Is your organisation looking for volunteers? Would you like to spread the word about your organisation? Edinburgh’s Volunteer Recruitment Fair takes place tomorrow at St Paul’s and St George’s Church on York Place from 11am – 7pm, and Kate Smith of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh North Edinburgh would love to display your leaflets and promotional material on the North Edinburgh Stall.
If you do want your name to get noticed, you’d better get your skates on – Kate needs your leaflets at the Volunteer Centre Edinburgh North office in Community Renewal (Pennywell Shopping Centre) before 3pm today!
If you are interested or have any questions email kate.smith@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk
Drylaw Telford Community Council’s regular monthly meeting will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre at 7pm.
Among items on the agenda is Drylaw Skate Park (which is not for fish but for young people, apparently).
All (people) welcome.
The lack of employment opportunities remains a problem in North Edinburgh, where unemployment figures remain stubbornly high. A conference held in North Edinburgh Arts Centre last week looked at what is being done to improve the life chances of people struggling to gain employment in Forth.
The city council recently introduced a new Integrated Employability Service (IES). The IES is set out in the Council’s new employability commissioning strategy and refocuses council investment on four priority areas: young people, early intervention to prevent future long-term unemployment, support for regeneration areas and action to reduce low pay.
There’s a lot of jargon and strange language used – hubs, strategic skills pipelines, sustained outcomes and gateways – but put simply IES will establish a clear local service framework to better align services and make it easier for those seeking information about work to get the appropriate support and advice. The IES will evolve over the next three years.
City council Employability Service official Brian Martin (pictured above)told around thirty delegates: “What we had before was a lot of money scattered around hither and thither, with no one department having overall responsibility for employability money. That’s changed, and we’re starting to work better together; aligning better with the national agencies and improving our communications. There’s a recognition that we need to be much more pro-active but we are also realistic – we can work with agencies to supply training opportunities but if there are no jobs it becomes meaningless for participants. What we need is early warnings from potential employers – what they are planning and what skills their workforce will need. The sooner we have this information, the more likely it is we ca have people ‘job ready’ when these opportunities arise”.
The forthcoming 21st Century Homes redevelopment in Pennywell and a possible hotel and leisure complex at Crewe Toll have been identified as two potential employment opportunities for local people, and others have been earmarked. 
Along with WEACT, Forth Sector and Volunteer Centre Edinburgh, local employment agency Community Renewal was part of the Stevenson Consortium which successfully bid for the citywide Employment Services Contract. The new service started on 1 May and is delivered from ‘hubs’ in Sighthill, the Community Renewal office in Muirhouse and Haywired in Craigmillar with an additional outreach service in Gilmerton.
Community Renewal’s Nigel Green (pictured above) explained how the new consortium works and went on to outline the various ways the partnership supports local people in their search for work – through referrals to the hubs and also through outreach work at a wide range of locations.
“It is early days for the consortium but we are pleased with how things have progressed so far”, he said. “Community Renewal is already quite well-known in North Edinburgh but we are now covering a much wider area with a much bigger client base. That presents new challenges, but the important thing for all of us is to make sure that the support for the client is there when they need it.”
Closing the meeting, Forth Neighbourhood Partnership convener Councillor Cammy Day said: “It’s clear that there is a lot of work going on to improve the employability chances of local people, and the challenge for us is just how to get that word out into the wider community. People need to know what support is available and we may try to do this through a wider, community conference type event.”
Church of Scotland to sell Malta House – LEAP must find new home by January
Campaigners are saddened and bitterly disappointed at news that Lothian and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP) is to lose it’s Malta House home. They had hoped that a last-ditch rescue package could be agreed to keep LEAP in Stockbridge, and blame Church of Scotland ‘greed’ for the failure to secure LEAP’s base.
NHS Lothian has leased the Stockbridge building from the Church of Scotland to house LEAP for over five years, but Crossreach – the Church’s social care arm – is selling the property to support it’s own social service provision – and LEAP must now move out of it’s Malta House home by next January.
In a statement issued last week, the Church of Scotland said: “Crossreach, the Social Care Arm of the Church of Scotland, is disappointed that NHS Lothian have not made a bid to purchase Malta House. The indication from NHS Lothian was of a valuation that was significantly below the current market value. The Church of Scotland which has a legal responsibility to be a good steward of its charitable resources is therefore proceeding with a sale to another bidder.
“One of the largest Third Sector care providers in Scotland, CrossReach counts some of the most vulnerable people among its service users. Over the past few years CrossReach has invested heavily in many of its services, particularly in Adult Care, Children and Families and Services to Older People.
“The sale of assets to support new builds and refurbishment of existing services has been an integral part of the strategy to both protect services and secure excellence in service delivery. Failure to achieve the best possible return on the sale of an asset such as Malta House would result in CrossReach’s investment costs being subsidised by its operations, which would not be sustainable, particularly in an already difficult financial climate.
“Peter Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of CrossReach, said: “As a charity the Church of Scotland has a legal responsibility to ensure that it is a good steward of its charitable resources. For the Social Care Council this means that we must use our resources to provide services to support the many vulnerable people throughout Scotland who depend on our seventy-plus projects.
“The Council was happy to discuss the option of sale with NHS Lothian but sadly the gap between the current market value of Malta House and the level of offer that NHS Lothian indicated they might be able to make in some six months’ time was so significant that the Trustees of the Church of Scotland would not have been acting responsibly by agreeing to delay the sale.
“We wish NHS Lothian LEAP well in the future and welcome the statement that NHS Lothian is confident that they can find suitable accommodation from within their existing buildings that will allow this excellent service to continue.
“The Church of Scotland is disappointed and saddened that NHS Lothian has failed to make a bid for Malta House, but quite clearly the Trustees of the Church of Scotland have a legal duty to protect its charitable assets, something that NHS Lothian are all too aware of. By not going with another purchaser, the Trustees would be failing in their duty to the many hundreds of CrossReach service users in Scotland.
“The Church of Scotland has been pleased to lease Malta House to NHS Lothian since 2007. In 2010 when the lease was renewed it was made clear that a sale would be made when conditions were right, and to that end break points were included in the contract. The Church of Scotland has given NHS Lothian adequate warning of possible sale but remains willing to work closely with LEAP to minimise disruption to service users over the next few months.”
However local campaigners believe that the Church of Scotland could have done much more to support LEAP, and say that greed is driving force behind the sale.
In a lengthy statement, campaigner Tim Birley, who is also LEAP’s Malta Row neighbour, said: “LEAP recently celebrated five years and more than 250 patient graduations in Malta House. People who have been treated there feel their lives have been saved. LEAP wanted to stay at Malta House and had been planning to expand. Malta House provides a secluded environment, yet very accessible: within walking distance of where patients stay, with a local pharmacy and health centre close by. Unusually for drug rehab, they found a safe, secure and welcoming community, and feel at home. For more than 100 years Malta House, under the ownership of the Church, has provided a social facility in the heart of Stockbridge.
“In mid-August it emerged that CrossReach (the Church of Scotland Social Care Council) had given six months notice to terminate the lease to LEAP, to sell the property. This action was explicitly kept secret from the local community. A bid had been received from a developer; there had been no open marketing of the property, no for sale sign, no inclusion on the Church’s list of properties for sale. The lease to LEAP had been renewed in 2010 for 5 years, with clauses to terminate included as is standard practice. LEAP had expected to stay and planned to expand its services there, and NHS Lothian had recently invested £10,000 in the property.
“The Church consulted no-one and made no assessment of the impact on LEAP of its decision. It is our understanding that no-one from CrossReach even spoke to LEAP until the story was in the Edinburgh Evening News. Patients and ex-patients asked for a meeting with CrossReach, but this never took place. Petitions and representations went unanswered; the Moderator said that CrossReach was not in his area of influence, just as he embarked on a week’s tour of CrossReach services.
“What the Church did do, when the campaign grew, was to try to ‘retrofit’ a justification for its actions. Despite the secrecy of the sale, the Church tried to argue that everyone knew all along that it planned to sell – even people such as Scottish Ministers who had no role in the lease whatsoever. Clearly everyone did not know: LEAP would not have invested in Malta House had they expected to leave at short notice. The Chairman of NHS Lothian only found that Malta House was being sold in the course of a Ministerial visit in mid August.
“The Church also argued that all its CrossReach services depended on the sale of Malta House, and circulated this widely throughout its facilities. Its own reports tell a different story. Each year CrossReach reports to the General Assembly. Clearly there was a financial crisis in 2009, when services were closed, staff made redundant and properties sold. Then a strategy to ensure financial sustainability was put in place, and by May 2011 CrossReach reported that “we will no longer be reliant on the sale of assets to achieve a balanced budget”, and reported on the continued success of this strategy in May 2012. This picture is confirmed by press reports and by the Church accounts published by OSCR. These show that the Church as a whole was in substantial surplus over the 5 years 2007-2011, with just one year in deficit: 2009. (Note that the lease to LEAP was given a 5 year renewal in 2010!)
“So if asset sales are no longer needed, why the need to sell Malta House and sell in a hurry? We think there are two possible explanations, which may well be linked. First as stated in the latest press release, “the sale of assets to support new builds and refurbishment of existing services has been an integral part of the strategy”. This suggests that the sale looks likely to be for building works elsewhere, and not to support the running costs of all of its services. Second, perhaps the Church simply received an offer to buy which it has found too attractive to refuse? Greed trumps all. Why try to put a smokescreen around this?
“The final insult to injury has been the attempt to blame others for what has happened. In wording worthy of Uriah Heep, Peter Bailey, CEO of CrossReach wrote about LEAP: “we have a great deal of sympathy for the situation they now find themselves in”. This, from a spokesperson for a landlord choosing to evict a tenant!
“Equally outrageous is the statement that “the Church of Scotland is disappointed and saddened that NHS Lothian has failed to make a bid for Malta House”. Only under pressure did CrossReach publicly express that it would be willing to listen to offers from the NHS. Against an impossibly tight timescale for a public body, the NHS started to put together a bid. As soon as the first hurdle was encountered, the Church pulled the plug on further discussion. That hurdle was technically over valuations: the NHS is constrained to value the existing building in its existing use, and not take account of the market value of the site. It would take time and goodwill to close the gap between the offer the Church has from a developer and what public or charitable bodies could raise, and both time and goodwill appear to be missing. The Church should not blame the NHS when it announced the end of discussion in a press release, and those campaigning had to inform the staff at LEAP! But that has been par for the course.
“Finally, the Church claims to be: ”willing to work closely with LEAP to minimise disruption to service users over the next few months.” In fact they have done nothing, and been totally inflexible about any extension of the lease beyond January 2013.
“There is a good side to the story. When LEAP was set up in Malta House in 2007 it was innovative and pioneering, but also experimental with no assurance of a long-term future. Five years later it has become established as providing a successful, significant and growing route out of dependency on drink and drugs. Our campaign has revealed the extent of cross-party political support, its international reputation and above all the moving stories of success by former patients and their families. During the campaign, the City of Edinburgh Council’s Health, Social Care and Housing Committee passed a motion in support of LEAP and expanding its activities, and NHS Lothian expressed total commitment to LEAP continuing. It will continue, and we hope be enabled to thrive.
“What has stood out more and more during this campaign has been the wonderful work which Dr David McCartney and his team undertake, and the courage and mutual support of those attending Malta House and their families. Stories have moved us to tears: the parents who emailed:
“as a family member visiting a patient during their stay at LEAP, Malta House has a seclusion and privacy about it, it also has a garden. For family members visiting patients it is a special place for us too. Just to be able to talk and chat in such a lovely, friendly setting puts us at our ease, especially at a difficult time right at the heart of recovery for our loved ones and at a time of real anxiety, fear and desperate hope for us for the future. Malta House has that effect on us. I wish us all the very best of luck.”
Or the two photos, one of the gaunt youngster, the other of the happy young man he has become, proudly on top of a Scottish hill. He writes:
‘After fourteen years as a heroin addict – and with many failed attempts at getting clean – I was referred to Malta House in October 2008. At that time the thought of walking the one mile to and from the accommodation at Randolph Crescent to Malta House seemed absolutely overwhelming. There was, however, no alternative and I just had to dig in and get on with it. For me that daily walk became an important aspect of my recovery. Yesterday I completed my 100th Munro.’
“What has also emerged is the strength of local community spirit. The character of Stockbridge is already under threat from loss of community facilities, loss of open space, lack of parking, and threats to independent shops. In this case, people fought to try to keep a drug rehab unit in their midst, seeking and getting political support for this. This is remarkable in itself. Over 600 people signed petitions to save Malta House for LEAP. Not one single voice said “get these people out of here”. Those campaigning are very grateful for all the support received, fighting a good fight for a noble cause. We are proud of the values we have sought to defend (in the face of the opposition and apparent indifference of the Church of Scotland).
“As for the Church, it is a very sad day. When offered a deal by a developer, they could not resist the money, indeed it was clearly the sole focus. All their claims of principles, their value statements, their advice to others that the purposes of economic activity should be about the disadvantaged, have been shown as hypocrisy to be set aside for immediate financial gain. So the outcome is the classic lose-lose: LEAP is forced to relocate (and there is no other Malta House!); Stockbridge loses a social care facility that has existed from more than 100 years; and the Church shows its lack of compassion and any vestige of Christian ethic.
“How different it could have been. If the Church did have a long-term plan, and been open about it (as their value statement says they will be), they could have discussed this with LEAP, the City of Edinburgh Council and the local community. They could have said “We are looking to sell, do you want to put together a bid to buy?” Then all options could have been explored including purchase by public bodies, charitable foundations or a community buy-out. The cause is so outstanding that there would have been every chance of the Church getting its money, and of LEAP being able to remain at Malta House. How sad this was given no chance.
We will miss our neighbours. We wish them well in their new home, wherever that may be.”
For NHS Lothian, the search is now on for that new home for LEAP.
UPDATE:
Following a meeting this morning, the Church of Scotland has issued the following statement:
‘The Church of Scotland first indicated to NHS Lothian in 2010 our intention to sell Malta House when conditions were right. Two weeks ago, NHS Lothian completed a valuation of the property. They then informed the Church that, even if they could put together the funding to make an offer for Malta House in six months’ time, public sector financial regulations would restrict the value of that offer to a sum less than 50% of the valuation to which we are working.
Given this disparity, and our need to protect our own vital CrossReach services which support many vulnerable people throughout Scotland, we are currently in final negotiations with another potential buyer.
We understand from this potential buyer that the current building will be incorporated into any new development on the site. However any proposals to that effect will have to go through the normal planning process where members of the local community will have the opportunity to raise concerns.
NHS Lothian have also indicated to us that they plan to continue with their Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP). They are confident that they can find suitable accommodation from within their existing buildings that will allow this excellent service to continue.’
North Edinburgh agencies will join together to launch a season of activities to tackle antisocial behaviour tomorrow. Local police are working with officers from the Fire and Rescue Service, City of Edinburgh Council and other agencies to focus on crime and antisocial behaviour in and around the West Pilton area in response to concerns raised by local residents.
To supplement existing work in the area, a season of co-ordinated crime prevention and environmental improvement activity will begin tomorrow (25 September) and continue into the Autumn.
As well as different council departments, other agencies including the DVLA and Trading Standards will be focusing on the area by co-ordinating their work in conjunction with the local police Safer Neighbourhood Team at Drylaw police station.
A series of activities are planned which will include community led clean-ups, targeting of fly tipping, cycle marking and bike security sessions, joint police / environmental patrols and road safety ‘parksmart’ sessions around primary schools. Free crime prevention surveys will also be offered to victims of housebreaking and hate crime and the police will also be visiting shops and licensed premises to assist them with security and safety advice as winter approaches.
Drop-in surgeries are also planned to allow residents to share their concerns with police and council officers and ensure that resources are focused to where they are needed.
Inspector Mark Rennie from Drylaw police station said: “By being smarter about when and where we use our resources in the area we will be able to have a greater impact on crime and antisocial behaviour over the autumn. We’ve received great support from partner agencies and there is a real willingness to maximise our efforts to tackle the underlying problems which have been reported to us by residents.”
Councillor Cammy Day, Community Safety Leader for Edinburgh, said: “The Capital Coalition is committed to keeping our communities safe. By listening to people and working in partnership with other agencies we can tackle the priority issues and improve the quality of life. I would like to encourage residents to take part in the organised activities aimed at making the area cleaner, greener and safer for all. Take time out to attend one of the many drop in surgeries that are being arranged and tell us what issues are affecting you. This is a great opportunity for our residents to help shape the services that are provided for their benefit. Speak to us about anti-social behaviour, graffiti, dog fouling or anything that you feel will improve life within your community.”
Regular updates on the progress of the operation and ongoing activities will be available on twitter via @LBP_Police and @north_team – and on the NEN blog, of course!
