Easter Drylaw Residents Association (EDRA) are holding their annual general meeting next Monday 10 November at 7pm in Drylaw Parish Church, Groathill Road North.
All welcome – come along and support your local tenants and residents association. New members particularly welcome!
#StrongerNorth initiaitive launched in WestPilton
Police Scotland, the city council and the local community have joined forces to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in North Edinburgh. Working together under the #StrongerNorth banner, they will work together to address community safety concerns across the area.
Last month, residents expressed anger at an apparent failure by local agencies to respond to concerns over antisocial behaviour in West Pilton. A public meeting followed the stabbing of a Chinese takeaway shop owner and residents demanded action to tackle gangs of ‘out of control’ youths. Last night’s meeting, again organised by West Pilton West Granton Community Council, was an opportunity for the authorities to respond.
Around twenty local residents attended the meeting in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre, and heard that both police and the city council have poured extra resources into the area to address community concerns. The agencies are working closely together on a number of initiaitives to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in the area and local residents were told that ‘West Pilton will remain a high priority for us as long as it needs to be’.
Local area Commander Sarah Buchanan acknowledged that communication with the local community was not as good as it should have been and told the meeting that this now being addressed. “We are very aware of your concerns and we are acting to address these”, she said. ” It is really important to share information about what we are doing at all sorts of different levels and we will continue to do this. #StrongerNorth will help to improve communications with the local community- we will endeavour to get out as much information about what we are doing as we can, as quickly as we can.”
North Neighbourhood Manager Peter Strong highlighted a number of ongoing initiatives and assured the meeting that community concerns are being taken seriously. “We recognise there is a crisis, and we are here to help. This is not just about the council, or the police. It’s about all of us working together to make this a good community to stay in.”
Concerns were raised again over punishments and ‘rewards’ – there is still a perception that the ‘bad’ kids get all the treats to encourage them to change their behaviour, while ‘good’ kids go without.
Senior Children & Families official Alistair Gaw outlined procedures for dealing with offending children, and said: “The Children’s Hearings have substantial powers, but we are dealing with very serious problems. A number of these young people have had hundreds of charges”.
Community councillor Willie Black called for the local community to rally round to to support – and lead – efforts to change the area. “It’s fight or flight”, he said. “We don’t want to see people leaving the area, we’ve got to fight to make our community a vibrant place that people want to come to. There are some truly great things happening all across this area and we’ve got to build on that.
“We’re here – it’s our patch and we need to get it sorted. We can build an area where everyone can feel welcome – an area everyone can be proud of.”
A team of volunteers from Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) and the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) have taken part in their first clean up together.
The POLCATS (Port of Leith Community Action Team) and the CEC’s City Centre Leith Neighbourhood team, spent two days litter picking, weeding, sweeping, removing graffiti from bins and removing dumped items from Pitt Street and Trafalgar Lane.
Claire Ironside, Director of Customer Services at PoLHA, said: “We have several properties in Trafalgar Lane and Pitt Street, so it was a natural choice for us to target these streets first. We were also helped by local businesses that went out of their way to move cars and vans to allow access to the streets.
“We have received some very positive feedback from our first community clean up and are looking forward to carrying out similar activities in the future to ensure our neighbourhoods are looking clean and tidy.”
… after
Broughton High School Community Learning & Development (CLD) Team is launching a fun new activity this weekend.
Drylaw and Inverleith Parks will be the venues for young people to get out to enjoy games, sports, trips, arts, challenges – and more!
Weekly ‘Play in the Park’ sessions start this Sunday (9 November) in Drylaw Park from 1 – 3pm and will also be taking place in Inverleith Park on Sturdays from 2.30 – 4.30pm – starting date details will be announced later.
For further information contact Callum McLeod at Broughton High School CLD, telephone 332 6316.
Weekends will never be the same again!
Local councillor Lesley Hinds outlined initiatives to keep the city moving at last week’s Inverleith Community Conference. You can be involved …
A recruitment drive is now under way for members of two groups involved in developing active travel policy for Edinburgh.
The Council is setting up a new Active Travel Forum, to be chaired by Transport Convener Councillor Lesley Hinds (above), which will be supplemented by a Cycling Forum and a Walking Forum.
Applications are now being sought from four members of the public to join the Cycling and Walking Forum (ie eight in total), alongside one lobby group representative for each group.
The Council is also looking for a business representative to join the Active Travel Forum, to give a perspective on active travel and staff commuting.
Councillor Adam McVey, Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, will chair both the Cycling and Walking Forums. He said: “This is a great opportunity for anyone who’s interested in active travel in Edinburgh. We want these forums to reflect a broad range of viewpoints to help us develop new policies and design principles for future walking and cycling initiatives. If you’ve got ideas on how we can do things differently or if you just want to play a bigger role in the City’s active travel plans, we’d love to hear from you.”
The full membership of the Cycling and Walking Forums will be made up of existing Transport Forum members, elected members and officers from the Council’s Transport division.
The first meetings of the Active Travel Forum, Cycling Forum and Walking Forum will take place on Wednesday 26 November 2014.
To apply, complete the online application form by Friday 14 November.
Six of the Best Ten from the Archives
Trawling through old memory cards looking for a picture I got sidetracked when I came across these ‘old school’ images. Stir any memories?
Winter is coming – and the city council is getting ready for it …
Salt has been stockpiled, gritting lorries have been serviced and tried and tested plans have been reviewed and refreshed to help the Capital deal with whatever the weather has in store for us over the coming months.
Twenty four/seven stand-by arrangements for treating the roads and pavements came into force late last month [October] and salt bins throughout Edinburgh are being checked and topped up where necessary.
A Ready for Winter communications campaign, launched yesterday, will see information leaflets and posters distributed to neighbourhood offices, libraries and doctor and dental surgeries.
The leaflets provide useful information about being prepared for winter and contact information so that residents can readily access the help and services they need.
A total of 16,000 tonnes of salt have been stockpiled; levels are monitored throughout the winter and topped up when required.
Local farmers, who have worked with the Council over the past three years gritting rural routes, have been engaged again this year. Contracts are also in place with external contractors should the Council need access to additional staff and equipment in extreme winter conditions.
The Council website’s live winter weather pages provide information about priority road, cycle path and pavement gritting routes. Also on the site is an interactive map so that residents can find out where their nearest salt bin is.
If and when severe weather strikes, the Council will use its social media channels, website and local radio stations to keep residents updated on any impact on services.
Waste services skip locations have also been identified. If the weather deteriorates and prevents waste collections from being made, skips will be installed at these locations for public use.
Councillor Adam McVey, Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, said: “We’ve had a few mild winters in recent years but we are never complacent – the harsh winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 are still fresh in everyone’s memory. It’s impossible to know at this stage what the weather has in store for us this year but we’ve been busy making sure we’re as prepared as we can be to keep the city moving, whatever the elements throw our way. Our staff are all trained up, our equipment is ready for use and our salt stocks are topped up, with more available should it be needed.
“As ever, we’d encourage residents to ensure they find out everything they need to know about keeping themselves safe during the winter months. Pick up one of our Ready for Winter leaflets at your local library or doctors’ surgery, visit our web pages or consult the Scottish Government’s advice at www.readyscotland.org.”
Snowplough at Oaklands 2010
Ratho residential for JASS groups
Muirhouse Community Centre and the Junior Award Scheme Scotland (JASS) which is based in the Centre held a joint residential during the October break.
The residential was at the ever popular Pilton Retreat at Ratho. The first group (girls) went on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and when they arrived back at 4 pm it was a quick change over with the boys jumping onto the minibus for the Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday!
The young people had a brilliant time as did the staff and the volunteers (apart from the age old residential problem of trying to get ten hyper children to settle down at bedtime! The children took masses of photos and the best ones will be copied to a CD as a memento of their trip (a wee selection of the photos are pasted below).
A special thanks to Donna (Youth Worker) and Tyler Sherriff (our new local volunteer with the girls) and Chris and Paul (our boys group volunteers). Also thanks to Ken and Paul at Ratho for all their help and their local knowledge when planning our activities.
Peter Airlie(Muirhouse Community Centre Manager) and Allan Hosey(CLD) were there for all five days and by the boys group’s return on Friday night the workers were moving like zombies … this was due to sleep deprivation rather than the approach of Halloween!
It was the first time for several years that the Centre has been able to organise a residential for primary school aged children and the initial evaluation from all involved was very positive.
James McGinty
WEST PILTON UPDATE
Meeting Tuesday 4 November
The Community Council meeting will discuss their normal agenda business from 6pm to 7:30 pm which is open to all. Anyone interested in joining our Community Council is most welcome as are observers.
At 7:30 pm in the main Function Hall of the West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre there will be the report back from Area Commander Sarah Buchanan and Police Inspector David Happs on what has been happening, what is being done, and their plans for our future policing in our area.
You are all cordially invited to attend and voice your opinions and ask your questions. We would ask you to conduct these in a polite way just as you did at the last meeting.
Any persons attending from a Community Group can address the meeting – giving an update on their involvement and actions to create a better living environment.
Young people are especially welcome to come and give their views.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow evening.
West Pilton West Granton Community Council
Over five hundred P7 children representing thirteen North Edinburgh primary schools took part in the Active Schools Autumn Games at a blustery Broughton High School last Monday (27 October).
There was a sport to suit all tastes: football,ultimate frisbee, rugby, fencing, basketball and athletics were all on offer.
Report to follow
