19/11/2020 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

The motorists’ guide to driving in winter

Ice, wind and snow are some of the driving conditions motorists have been advised how to tackle in a new driving guide.

Driving experts from LeaseVan.co.uk have created a guide to driving in winter so motorists are prepared and safe on the roads no matter what the weather.

The key in most difficult conditions is to slow down and ensure drivers are in complete control of the vehicle.

Watching how other motorists are tackling the weather will also help prepare drivers for what is coming up ahead of them.

A spokesperson for LeaseVan.co.uk said: “Wintertime is undoubtedly the hardest time of year to be hitting the roads.

“With short days it means that many journeys are taken in the dark and the unpredictable weather could mean you’re tackling wind one day and snow the next.

“This handy little guide provides the key points you should be aware of when driving in all winter weather conditions.”

This is LeaseVan.co.uk’s ultimate winter driving guide:

1. Ice

Ensure your vehicle is fully defrosted if there’s been a particularly cold night. Check your tyre tread and inflation levels in order to give you as much traction as possible when on icy surfaces. Driving slowly and in higher gears will give you more control over the vehicle and helping you cope with increased stopping distances. It’s important to remember not to brake or accelerate too quickly as this is a sure way to lose control.

2. Wind

It’s important to keep a firm grip on your steering wheel when tackling strong winds. As always, you should be driving in the centre of the lane as this allows a small amount of wiggle space if the wind does push you to one side. Take special care when overtaking – beware of sudden gusts as you clear the vehicle, especially if it is large.

3. Heavy rain

It’s important to driver slower when it’s raining due to the roads being wetter giving the vehicle less grip. This means that you will need a bigger space to come to a complete stop than when driving in the dry. Heavy rain can also have a large impact on visibility, which again means you should slow down. Reducing speed will also help reduce the risk of aquaplaning.

4. Darkness

Your lights are your best friends when driving in the dark, but it’s important to use them responsibly. Many vehicles now come with automatic lights, but if you have a vehicle which doesn’t it’s important to remember to turn them on, and off, when needed. Stick to full beam lights if you’re on a motorway or lit road. If you’re on a quiet country road remember to turn your fog lights on and off as and when you approach other vehicles.

5. Snow

If you end up in snow, set off in second gear as this helps avoid wheelspin. Stay in the lower gears to keep as much control as possible, even when going downhill. The key to driving in snow is to break, accelerate and change gears as smoothly and gently as you can.

Apple Teacher Programme endorsed by Education Scotland

The Apple Teacher Programme, a free professional learning programme that supports educators by training them how to make best use of Apple’s extensive digital learning resources, has received a special endorsement from Education Scotland recommending it to schools and teachers across the country.

With digital learning now becoming a core element of mainstream education and schools investing in iPad deployments to support teaching programmes, the number of educators who have gained Apple Teacher accreditation since February 2020 has increased by 36% in the UK and the number of registrations to begin the programme has increased by 25%.

A number of local authorities across Scotland are investing in iPad deployments to support their teaching programmes including Glasgow City Council, Scottish Borders Council and Edinburgh City Council.

The Apple Teacher Programme provides educators with access to the Apple Teacher Learning Centre where teachers can build skills at their own pace, learn how to use apple apps and products effectively within the classroom, as well as providing new teaching ideas.

The endorsement from Education Scotland recognises the positive impact of the programme across schools in Scotland, allowing educators to inspire creativity across a wide range of subjects, and further engage and motivate pupils.

Gillian Hamilton, Strategic Director at Education Scotland, said: “We are delighted to endorse the Apple Teacher Programme, and recognise the benefits that this presents to educators across early years, primary and secondary settings.

“This will ultimately help to enrich learning experiences by supporting educators to expand their professional learning, knowledge, skills and understanding.”

Mary Gunn, Digital Leader of Learning at Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow is an accredited Apple Teacher. She said: “The Apple Teacher training programme gives you the insight you need to understand the device, and ensures you get the most out of it.

“It’s focused on showing you how iPads can be used to support your lesson delivery, not just on how to work the technology, and it helps you effectively integrate digital learning into the curriculum.”

To find out more about Apple’s teacher resourced and the Apple Teacher Programme visit www.apple.com/uk/education.

Green light for ‘town centre’ regeneration projects

Funding for Pennywell Culture & Learning Hub and Granton Station

Five projects across the city are to benefit from the city council’s Town Centre Fund. Gracemount public realm, Craigmillar town centre, Westside Plaza Phase 3, Granton Station, Pentlands Community Space and Pennywell Hub have all been chosen to receive a share of the £1.454 million being allocated.

The funding for all of these local projects was passed at today’s City of Edinburgh Council full council meeting.

The money is part of £3.567 million of total investment that the City of Edinburgh Council received, over two rounds, from the Scottish Government Town Centre Fund. The funding seeks to drive local economic activity and invest in inclusive growth which supports town centres to become more diverse and sustainable, creating more vibrant, creative, enterprising and accessible places for their communities.

Local MSP, Ben Macpherson, has said that “the £747,000 investment for the Granton Station project will create a new destination in the heart of North Edinburgh for locals and visitors alike, and is an exciting aspect of the wider Waterfront development.”

Edinburgh Pentlands MSP, Gordon MacDonald, was also delighted to see “two brilliant local projects in Edinburgh Pentlands receiving the backing they need to take them another step closer to becoming a reality” as Westside Plaza Phase 3 and Pentlands Community Space were confirmed as they received £300,000 and £75,000 respectively.

The projects receiving funding also includes the Craigmillar town centre project and their bid to receive £170,000.

This funding will support them to turn a vacant site in the heart of the Craigmillar regeneration area into a hub for the local community and provide spaces for new and existing businesses.

The Edinburgh East MP, Tommy Sheppard, has said “This is an imaginative project that can help stimulate business in Craigmillar in a way that works with the grain of social distancing. It’s the kind of smart, targeted investment we need to bounce back from the pandemic.”

Commenting on the city wide funding, Convener of Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work, Cllr Kate Campbell, said: “We know that the impact on businesses from the pandemic has been especially hard, and that jobs and livelihoods are at risk. It’s important that we are doing everything we can to boost economic activity in our town centres so this allocation of additional funding to the Town Centres fund could not have come at a better time.

“We’re investing in public realm in areas of the city that we know have high levels of poverty. These are communities that need this investment.

“Most of these projects focus on transforming public realm. At Granton and Craigmillar this is going further, and creating a space that can be used for outdoor markets and pop up food and drink stalls.

“I’m really pleased that we are creating economic opportunities in the communities that will really feel the benefit. It’s about quality of life – creating public space that is safe, well designed, pedestrian and cycle friendly, and a place that people want to be. When we create spaces like this, we encourage people to use their local town centres in a way that’s good for the community and good for local businesses.

“The other benefit of these projects is that they all involve construction – so at the same time as benefiting communities, and improving public space, we’re also creating jobs at a time when they are desperately needed.”

Santa brings Christmas to Ocean Terminal

Santa Claus brought the magic of Christmas to Ocean Terminal when he made a secret visit to the waterfront shopping centre to check that everything was just perfect for the opening of his grotto on Thursday 3 December.

Caught on CCV footage here, Santa tests out the hand sanitiser and puts on his mask, before snapping his fingers to conjure up this year’s festive sparkle and dazzling grotto.

So, while Christmas 2020 will be a little different, the elves at Ocean Terminal aren’t letting coronavirus ruin the Christmas spirt. Santa and his helpers are working hard to give shoppers a small piece of normality this festive season.

Having tested out his new grotto and switched on the Christmas lights Santa will now return to the centre on 3 December and will stay there every day through to Christmas Eve (excluding December 7-9), celebrating the festivities in a safe and socially distant way.

A specially designed festive screen has been installed in the grotto to ensure all government guidelines are met and visitors, big and small, can still experience the excitement of a trip to see Santa.

Booking is essential this year – visit https://www.oceanterminal.com/news-events/santas-grotto-book-now-1163

As well as Santa’s grotto, the weekly market becomes the Christmas Market, opening daily from 25 November through to 23 December.

Located on the ground floor, the market will offer a wide variety of artisan food and handcrafted gifts from local Scottish traders. New for this year is a winter photo competition in partnership with The Leith Collective offering all photography enthusiasts the chance to appear in Ocean Terminal’s Winter Landscape Photo Exhibition.

Full information can be found at oceanterminal.com .

Ocean Terminal, Centre Manager, Michelle Macleod said: “We wanted to give our customers a sense of normality, so the centre is looking fabulous and nothing is stopping us enjoy the full spirit of Christmas. Santa will be here and spreading joy just as every year.

“Not everyone wants to shop online, and nothing really beats the buzz you get when you spot just the right gift or fill the boot of your car with presents you know family and friends are going to love.

“It’s been a tough year for everyone and I think that a small piece of normality, and a familiar setting is something that everyone can appreciate. We’ve worked hard to put extra measures in place to ensure a safe and socially distanced festive season can be enjoyed by all.”

Adopt instead of shop this Holiday Season

This year due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns pet ownership has soared and many charities are warning would be pet owners to consider adopting or rescuing a pet this holiday season rather than shopping for one from an online breeder.

Sadly, the RSPCA has reported that in 2020 there has been a sharp increase in pet abandonments and the charity, like many other pet charities, has concerns that these numbers will continue to rise. Perfect-Pets Books looks at the growing number of pet abandonments and the crisis of re-homing that charities face due to the Pandemic.

Perfect-Pets Books have a variety of essential guides full of practical information to help owners and potential owners provide the best care possible for their furry friend. Why not give a book as a present for Christmas? Visit:perfect-pets.org to browse the full catalogue. Get a 20% discount off any Perfect-Pets book enter Perfect20OFF at checkout.

This year the rise in pet ownership has been complicated by the Coronavirus pandemic. A recent report by Letterone has found that during lockdown a staggering 41% of current pet owners got a new pet, 95% were existing pet owners who got another animal and 5% did not previously own a pet before the lockdown. Some of these pets would have been bought from online breeders with little research done about the breed or the breeder.

According to research by the Kennel Club, the coronavirus crisis has led to a surge in puppy ownership across the UK.

Bill Lambert, head of health and welfare at the Kennel Club said: “There is unprecedented demand. Normally, I get one or two inquiries a month but now it is four or five a day.”

“We do have concerns about those puppies which may have been bought on impulse, without owners doing their homework on how or where to get a dog responsibly, or fully realising a puppy is a new family member for life, not a short-term commodity.”

Although there has been a great surge of interest in pet purchases charities have equally noticed an increase in pet abandonments.

RSPCA’s chief inspector for Cambridgeshire reported a dramatic rise in pet abandonments in her region. She said: “We’ve seen 30% of our usual annual total for abandoned animals in just three months.”

As the UK braces itself for the full economic impact of the pandemic, Dogs Trust is warning we could see a sharp rise in the number of dogs being given up or put to sleep if families struggle to cope with the resulting hardships of the crisis.

The Trust estimates that up to 40,000 more stray or abandoned dogs will be in need of help, especially if – as economists indicate – the country sees a financial crisis on par or worse than the crash of 2008.

Meanwhile, the RSPCA has reported that it is experiencing a “cat crisis” due to Coronavirus and lockdown restrictions. During the first lockdown the charity took more than 600 felines into care, which is more than any other pet. More than 7,000 cat related incidents have been reported to the charity’s hotline since lockdown measures began.

Cats Protection has had some success re-homing its abandoned cats. The charity reported that it has re-homed about 2,400 cats since it began its new “hands-free homing” process during the first lockdown.

The number of cat and dog abandonments reported are staggering and they do not account for the vast array of pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs who are also being abandoned. Many charities are asking potential buyers during the Christmas season to consider re-homing or adopting instead of shopping for a new puppy or kitten.

Even for those not looking for a pet simply offering a donation to support the work of charities such as the RSPCA, Dogs Trust and Cats Protection can help during these difficult times.

For any potential dog owners looking to adopt Rescue Dogs the Essential Guide by Perfect-Pets Books offers clear and precise information about how to adopt and make your home a safe and comfortable environment for a new dog.

Cat Care the Essential Guide is useful for any cat lovers who want to rehome a cat or simply provide a happy home for a new feline friend.

To Learn more about Perfect-Pets Books visit: www.perfect-pets.org.

Artisan set to invest £150 million in Sustainable Living for Scotland

City Centre brownfield Sites to become £90 m ‘Blueprint’ for Low Carbon Living

Artisan Real Estate is set to invest £150 million in residential development in Scotland over the next 12 months in a radical bid to raise standards for sustainable living in prime city centre locations in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The niche homebuilder and regeneration specialist launched a new UK-wide building design framework earlier this year geared to increasing low carbon city living whilst meeting the changing requirements of people and communities in a post-Covid world.

And now this game-changing blueprint could have significant environmental and investment benefits for Scotland’s cities as the developer progresses with ambitious new homes’ projects planned for city centre brownfield sites

In Edinburgh, Artisan is planning to invest more than £90 million in several significant city centre residential developments.

The first phases of the Canonmills Garden scheme will be ready for occupation in spring 2021, while planning applications for two major projects at Rowanbank Gardens, Corstorphine and Abbey Lane in Abbeyhill will be discussed by the City of Edinburgh Council at the end of November.

Clive Wilding, Artisan’s Group Development Director, believes Artisan’s investment in Edinburgh especially will fast become a blueprint for the company’s housing projects across the rest of the UK, coming at a critical time for investment in the city.

“Artisan is firmly committed to future investment to get the city living again following lockdown,” he explains. “Initially our plan was to achieve low to zero carbon development across all our new homes developments.

“But the challenges highlighted by the pandemic has accelerated the importance of other critical aspects of development planning – such as technological efficiency, easy access to the outdoors and improved amenity space.

“We are going above and beyond the existing Council guidelines for sensitive city centre environments. This includes reducing urban sprawl by optimising the number of people living in well-designed, sustainable homes in low car-use locations well-served by public transport and linked to pedestrian and cycle networks.

“Smart energy-efficient building design has been matched with an innovative approach to placemaking and community. Across all our developments, we are introducing creative concepts such as green roofs, communal ‘edible’ gardens with fruit and vegetable plots and integrated green transport plans.”

“We are also envisaging what people want from their post-Covid living environment,” he adds. “Significant emphasis is placed on the quality of internal space and light to create enjoyable home-working environments, whilst accessible balconies, gardens and landscaping promote health and well-being by making nature and well-designed outdoor space integral to the day-to-day living experience.”

Such development principles have been applied to the major planning application for 126 new homes at Artisan’s Rowanbank Gardens.

The brownfield former care-home site in Corstorphine is set to answer the City of Edinburgh Council’s requirement for well designed, high density living whilst providing spacious communal areas and well-established public transport links ensuring low car ownership.

The development is designed around a central courtyard garden providing nearly twice the level of open space recommended by Council planning policy, filled with fruit trees and communal planting and growing beds.

Apartments are designed for open plan living with large windows giving views of the courtyard and the wider area, while green roofs ensure benefits of surface water retention, insulation and ecology.

Artisan is perhaps best known in Scotland for large-scale city regeneration projects like the award-winning New Waverley at the heart of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town.

The development’s Queen Elizabeth House, now a flagship UK Government office hub, was recently awarded the Innovation Award at the 2020 British Council Offices Awards, recognising the building design which includes a variety of low-energy techniques.

The developer is now applying the same values and philosophy which has guided the successful design and execution of New Waverley to its residential developments, setting it apart from other major homebuilders in Scotland.

Clive Wilding adds: “Artisan now has an opportunity in Scotland to set a new benchmark for high quality urban regeneration in sensitive city-centre environments – whether it be commercial, residential or mixed-use.

“Our track record in Edinburgh and in Scotland has given us a strong understanding of the importance of sustainable low carbon living combined with high quality placemaking, which is at the heart of all Artisan’s developments.”

For more information on Artisan’s developments in Scotland and the UK visit:

www.artisanrealestate.co.uk

Meerkat misery: big fine for ComparetheMarket

The CMA has fined ComparetheMarket £17.9 million after it found that clauses used in the company’s contracts with home insurers breached competition law.

An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded that, between December 2015 and December 2017, the price comparison website ComparetheMarket breached competition law by imposing wide ‘most favoured nation’ clauses on providers of home insurance selling through its platform.

These clauses prohibited the home insurers from offering lower prices on other comparison websites and protected ComparetheMarket from being undercut elsewhere. They also made it harder for ComparetheMarket’s rivals to expand and challenge the company’s already strong market position as other price comparison websites were restricted from beating it on price.

As a result, competition between price comparison websites, and between home insurers selling through these platforms, was restricted. The CMA found that this is likely to have resulted in higher insurance premiums.

ComparetheMarket’s clauses meant:

The insurers bound by the contracts were prohibited from offering cheaper deals on other price comparison websites. In turn, this limited competitive pressures on all home insurers competing on price comparison websites.
Rival comparison sites were restricted in gaining a price advantage over ComparetheMarket, for example, by lowering their commission fees to encourage those insurers to quote lower prices on their platforms.
The competitive pressures ComparetheMarket itself was subject to were weakened. Without the clauses, it would have had to compete harder to get lower prices from the home insurers, for example by reducing the commission fees it charged.

Michael Grenfell, the CMA’s Executive Director for Enforcement, said: “Price comparison websites are excellent for consumers. They promote competition between providers, offer choice for customers, and make it easier for consumers to find the best bargains.

“It is therefore unacceptable that ComparetheMarket, which has been the largest price comparison site for home insurance for several years, used clauses in its contracts that restricted home insurers from offering bigger discounts on competing websites – so limiting the bargains potentially available to consumers.

“Digital markets can yield great benefits for competition, and therefore for consumers. We are determined to secure those benefits, and to ensure that competition is not illegitimately restricted. Today’s action should come as a warning – when we find evidence that the law has been broken, we will not hesitate to step in and protect consumers.”

Further information on this investigation can be found on the case page.

Rocio Concha, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Which?, said: “The actions of ComparetheMarket have fallen well below the standard you’d expect from a company who claims to be working in the best interest of consumers, so it is positive to see the CMA intervening to protect consumers and issuing this large fine.

“Customers should be able to trust that they can find the best deals when using price comparison sites, and any business found to be flouting the rules should be held to account.”

A Positive View of Our Future

Holyrood’s Festival of Politics starts online tonight

Scotland’s Futures Forum, the Scottish Parliament’s in-house think-tank, has published the findings of its 2030 programme, looking at what sort of country we might become, and what our response might be to the great changes of the next decade and beyond.

The report, which examines the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change, technological innovation and an aging population, will also be debated at the Parliament’s first online Festival of Politics. The event, ‘Scotland 2030: What do we want, and how can we get there?’, opens the Festival today and will be chaired by the Presiding Officer, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP.

The work, which aims to help parliamentarians think about long term challenges, outside of electoral cycles and party politics, found that:

• Around half a million babies are due to be born in Scotland in the 2020s. To give every one of them the best chance in life, fundamental change is required to end child poverty – either through ‘pre-distribution’ or radical redistribution via taxation and spending.
• Technological disruptors such as Uber and Amazon will continue to have an impact on jobs and society. We need a school and lifelong education system that helps people adapt to changing circumstances, giving them the freedom to be creative, to take risks and, on occasion, to fail safely.
• To meet our ambitious targets of net zero carbon emissions by 2045, radical change is required in our working lives. There are clear pathways to a more sustainable future if Scotland switches investment towards sectors and industries that bring long-term benefits.
• Scotland need to make more progress on creating gender equal workplaces. Realities of life for women such as menstruation, pregnancy and menopause need to be taken more seriously by employers. Increasing the uptake of paternity leave will also help redress imbalances in the distribution of unpaid work
• Aging and death need to be addressed earlier in life. Most of us will become dependent on other people as we age. We need to tackle the taboo of discussing these things by normalising planning for this inevitability in our 40s and 50s, if we are to support the right care at the end of life.

The forum is also recommending ten ‘ideas for 2030’ to be debated in the Scottish Parliament from the creative suggestions heard during its events.

These include a Scottish island test site for autonomous vehicles, ‘digital havens’ with limited internet access – allowing visitors to switch off from their devices – and a Museum of Failure to show the role of failure in the path to achievement and encourage people to embrace risk.

Speaking ahead of the Festival, Chair of the Forum and Presiding Officer, the Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP, said: “How we tackle the great issues of the next decade will shape Scotland for generations to come. Climate change, technological advancements and an ageing population all present profound challenges for the country, but also opportunity.

“This report highlights the importance of taking a positive view of the changes we’ll experience by 2030. As the response to the Covid-19 pandemic has shown, people can and do respond positively when life throws up huge challenges. But it has also shown the importance of including people in the process when the decisions on how to respond are made.

“A key part of the Futures Forum’s work, a central theme throughout this programme from all our events, and one of the founding principles on which the Parliament operates, is the importance of including everyone in discussions about our long-term future.

“How we move forward, harness new technologies, create more environmentally sustainable jobs and tackle child poverty are all topics ripe for debate as we look ahead. I am sure it will be a very interesting discussion at this year’s Festival of Politics.”

You can find out more and watch the event in full on the Festival of Politics website here.

The festival takes place from Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st November. The first event starts at 7pm tonight.

Full programme details can be found at the Festival of Politics website.

You can read the full Future’s Forum report, ‘Scotland 2030: A Positive View of Our Future’, here.

Visit Scotland’s Futures Forum at: http://www.scotlandfutureforum.org/

You buy one, Morrisons & McVitie’s give one to a local food bank

Morrisons and McVitie’s are joining up with customers to ensure that those who really need it get a treat this Christmas.

For every pack of McVitie’s 600g Victoria Biscuits sold in store, Morrisons & McVities will donate another to a local food bank or community group.

The offer is available until 24th November and forms part of Morrisons drive to restock Britain’s food banks and ensure no one is left behind as many struggle with the economic fallout of COVID-19.

The 600g selection of milk, white and dark chocolate biscuits costs £3.

Rebecca Singleton, Community Director at Morrisons, said: “Many people have had a really difficult year and everybody deserves a treat this Christmas. This Buy One To Give One offer means customers can brighten up somebody else’s day as well as their own.”

Morrisons also offers ‘Pick Up Pack’ parcels in stores that customers can purchase, containing items requested by local food banks.

They are also the first UK supermarket to trial an online donation mechanism that goes straight into the pockets of local food banks. Customers can purchase £10 vouchers on the Morrisons Food Boxes website, which are then sent directly to one of 50 food banks nationwide.

Witness appeal following Roseburn assault and robbery

Police are appealing for information following an assault and robbery in Roseburn.

The incident happened at round 8pm last night (Wednesday 18 November), when a 15-year-old male youth was assaulted and robbed outside a supermarket on Roseburn Terrace.

A black Nike bag with various personal items was stolen and the boy was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children for treatment of minor injuries.

The suspects are described as three white men aged between 17 and 18-years-old and were all wearing face masks.

The first suspect was wearing a light coloured tracksuit with a black fur lined jacket and all black trainers.

Suspects two and three are described as wearing black hoodies, bottoms and trainers.

It is also reported that one of the men involved may have spoken with a scouse or Liverpudlian accent.

Detective Sergeant Rory Legge, of Edinburgh CID, said: “The boy involved has thankfully only sustained minor injuries but has been left evidently shaken by what has happened.

“The incident took place near a busy supermarket and we are asking members of the public to come forward with any information they may have.

“If you were in the area at the time and have any dashcam or mobile phone footage that could assist with our investigation I would urge you to contact police. I would also ask if you find a black Nike rucksack that you speak to officers.

“Police can be contacted by calling 101 and quoting incident number 3277 of Wednesday, 18 November, 2020.”