Scotland has a difficult relationship with drink, and a study by Alcohol Focus Scotland has revealed the scale of the problem. According to figures released yesterday, alcohol abuse costs £221 million in policing, health and social care in Edinburgh – an annual cost of £455 for each and every one of Edinburgh’s citizens.
Commenting on Alcohol Focus Scotland’s findings , Health Minister Alex Neil said: ”These findings demonstrate the continuing extent of Scotland’s alcohol misuse problem which costs Scotland £3.6 billion per year, equating to £900 per adult in Scotland whether they drink or not. Alcohol sales are still unacceptably high, with enough alcohol being sold for every adult to exceed weekly recommended limits for men (21 units) each and every week since at least 2000.
“In particular, sales in the off-trade have increased significantly since the mid 1990s, driven by very cheap alcohol prices, particularly in supermarkets. A minimum price per unit of alcohol will almost exclusively impact on the off-trade and will raise the price of this cheaper alcohol. Of course, there is no single measure which will help change Scotland’s relationship with alcohol misuse. That is why our Alcohol Framework outlined a package of over 40 measures to reduce alcohol related harm and why the NHS helped almost 100,000 Scots to cut their drinking last year through Alcohol Brief Interventions.
“While it is a matter for individual licensing boards to issue licences based on applications made to them, I welcome boards making use of the powers granted in the Licensing (Scotland) 2005 Act, such as the overprovision policy, to address Scotland’s troubled relationship with alcohol.”
How can we tackle Scotland’s love affair with booze? Is drink too easily available? Or too cheap?
Iis minimum pricing the answer? Let us know what you think
Organisers expressed satisfaction at the levels of interest shown during two consultations exhibiting the De Vere Hotels group’s plans to build a new ‘Village Urban Resort’ at Crewe Toll. De Vere representatives displayed plans at Morrison’s on Ferry Road on Friday afternoon and again at the site of the proposed development on Saturday and said that the public reaction was ‘very positive’.
De Vere’s plans for the former World Markets WM Helix House building include a 120 bedroom hotel, a health and fitness club including a 20m indoor pool, a restaurant and bar and a Starbucks Coffee House – all under one roof. A customer and guest parking area for up to 270 vehicles is also included in the plans.
De Vere is likely to apply for planning permission next month and, if succesful, the Village Urban Resort would open in 2014.
Is a ‘Village Urban Resort’ a good thing for the area? Is Crewe Toll the right place? Would you use it? Let us know!
Craigroyston Community High’s most illustrious former pupil Gordon Strachan visited his old school on Pennywell Road this morning. Local lad Gordon, who is also patron of Spartans Community Football Academy, passed on some coaching tips to young School of Football players on Craigroyston’s astroturf, and the Scotland legend showed he’s still got those silky skills – still time for a late call-up before tonight’s Macedonia game?
Stockfest 2012 runs from 15 – 22 September and is a week- long celebration of community events in Stockbridge. The festival celebrates the area’s vibrant and eclectic shopping and dining scene and showcases the immense vitality and creativity in the area.
Stockfest organizing committee Tannis Dodd, Jane Ali-Knight, JoJo Hernandez and Rhona Johnston explain:
“The events have been created by the local community – the schools, community spaces, traders, performers and residents. There are over 40 events including Fashion Shows, a Community Ceilidh, theatre performances, live music, guided tours, a vintage and upcycling event, shop promotions, food and wine tastings, the Stockbridge market and so much more … we hope you will enjoy all that Stockfest 2012 has to offer and support the hard work and effort of all involved!”
There really is a lot to see, do and enjoy in Stockbridge during Stockfest – check out the festival programme on the website at www.stockfestedinburgh.com for full details.
The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh’s Civic Trust) organises Edinburgh Doors Open Day. Now in its 21st year, the event has become one of the capital’s most popular free days out. This is your chance to explore some of Edinburgh’s most architecturally, culturally and socially significant buildings. Most venues feature behind the scenes tours, activities, exhibitions and/or talks which bring the history of the building, garden, cemetery or monument and its everyday use to life. Many sites organise additional free activities for children and families.
No less than 121 locations across the city will be opening their doors to the public, and you don’t have to travel too far to see some of them.
In Inverleith, you can visit the Royal Botanic Garden, Herbarium and Library on Saturday between 10am – 4pm, or what about the Danish Cultural Institute, an elegant Georgian town house in Doune Terrace (Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 5pm)? Another Georgian town house opening it’s doors to inquisitive visitors is the Edinburgh Photographic Society in Great King Street (Sunday 11am – 4pm). Then there’s Dean Cemetery (Sunday 1 – 4.30pm), Edinburgh Society of Musicians on Belford Road (Saturday 10am – 4pm) and Stewart’s Melville College on Queensferry Road (Saturday 2 – 5pm).
North of Ferry Road there are many more places to visit – the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop at Hawthornvale (Saturday 10am – 4.30pm), Alien Rock on Pier Place Newhaven (Saturday and Sunday 10am – 7pm) and old Newhaven Station on Craighall Road (Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm).
Moving west into Trinity, Granton and Muirhouse we’ve got St Columba’s Hospice Education Centre on Boswall Road (Sunday 10am – 5pm), Wardie Primary School on Granton Road (Saturday 10am – 1pm), the National Museums Collection Centre on Granton Road (Saturday 10.30am – 4pm) and Muirhouse St. Andrew’s Parish Church in Pennywell Gardens (Saturday 10am – 4pm).
This is just a local selection, of course – citywide there are many, many more to visit and remember, they’re all FREE!
For more information pick up an Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2012 brochure from your local library or you can download it by visiting www.cockburnassociation.org.uk
Royston Primary School closed despite community campaign
A local mum has reacted angrily to news that the city council may have to extend Granton Primary School – just a year after closing nearby Royston. Mandy Eng has written to education chiefs to express her disgust and also to warn that blaming migration for increasing school rolls could ‘make a volatile situation much worse’.
Earlier this month, Councillor Paul Godzik, Convener of Education, Children and Families, explained the rationale behind another review of school buildings. He said: said: “One of our earliest coalition decisions was to set up a cross-party Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation. Parents, union and church representatives have also been invited to participate. By doing this we aim to discuss the issues in an open way from the very start of the decision making process.”
The council believes that while some of the issues are longer term and can be addressed over a number of years, immediate action may be required for five schools – Balgreen, Granton, Trinity, Victoria and Wardie – to ensure they can provide places for their catchment population in August 2013, and plans to build ‘high quality extensions if required to support parents who wish to send their child to a catchment school.’
Councillor Godzik continued: “Thriving schools like Sciennes and Stockbridge Primary schools are delivering first class education, even though space is at a premium. I think it is only right with the predicted rise in school rolls that we consider reviewing GP space across the city.”
Education leaders cite a combination of rising birth rates, migration and economic factors for causing a 5% rise in the city’s primary school population this year and an estimated rise of a further 19% by 2019. However Mandy Eng, parent of a child at Granton Primary, believes there is also another reason – school closures. In a letter to Director of Education Gillian Tee, she said:
‘I am a parent of a pupil at Granton Primary School and have just received a letter from you entitled “Rising Rolls in Primary Schools” and am absolutely furious in regard to its content.
You state that the reasons the school is under pressure to accommodate pupil numbers is “due to a combination of rising birth rates, migration and other economic factors” and this will require you to look at increasing the number of classrooms in the coming year. However, no where do you mention that one of the other catchment schools in the area, Royston Primary, was demolished last year which would easily have accommodated this rise in number of pupils. Having failed to acknowledge this I feel you are not taking any ownership of an issue that has obviously arisen through lack of foresight from Children and Families Dept.
I attended all of the public meetings to save Royston Primary School from closure and I myself pointed out to your representatives at the first meeting that their figures on birth rates did not equate, then again at the second meeting when the “altered” figures STILL did not equate and was then surprised to see that the slide in relation to these figures had been omitted from further presentations from yourselves. Were the Council so desperate to close Royston and use its running costs and the sale of the land to plough elsewhere into the Council that they brushed the birth rate figures under the carpet or are your analysts incapable of working out simple projected figures? To now be looking at spending public money on extending Granton only one year since Royston’s closure is both appalling and unacceptable.
Also by apportioning blame to “migration” I feel you are causing a feeling of resentment to the migrants in our community and I go as far as to say that the Council is inciting racism and making an already volatile situation in some areas much worse. Already I have heard parents say that it is due to the amount of foreign children coming into the area that their child may not get a place in their catchment school and I have been forced to remind them that if we still had Royston School then this situation would never have arisen.
I am keen to know why the Council did not take information on the projected number of school age children in the area, that was easily obtainable at the time of the decision to close Royston, into consideration and who is going to take responsibility for this MASSIVE error?’
Mandy Eng told NEN: “I feel that it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the community, and everyone needs to be made aware that there is a possibility that their child may not get a place at the school – not through “migration”, but through the council’s decision to close Royston School.”
The council is expected to Ms Eng’s letter in due course.
Royston Primary School closed despite community campaign
A local mum has reacted angrily to news that the city council may have to extend Granton Primary School – just a year after closing nearby Royston. Mandy Eng has written to education chiefs to express her disgust and also to warn that blaming migration for increasing school rolls could ‘make a volatile situation much worse’.
Earlier this month, Councillor Paul Godzik, Convener of Education, Children and Families, explained the rationale behind another review of school buildings. He said: said: “One of our earliest coalition decisions was to set up a cross-party Forum on Children and Families Estate Evaluation. Parents, union and church representatives have also been invited to participate. By doing this we aim to discuss the issues in an open way from the very start of the decision making process.”
The council believes that while some of the issues are longer term and can be addressed over a number of years, immediate action may be required for five schools – Balgreen, Granton, Trinity, Victoria and Wardie – to ensure they can provide places for their catchment population in August 2013, and plans to build ‘high quality extensions if required to support parents who wish to send their child to a catchment school.’
Councillor Godzik continued: “Thriving schools like Sciennes and Stockbridge Primary schools are delivering first class education, even though space is at a premium. I think it is only right with the predicted rise in school rolls that we consider reviewing GP space across the city.”
Education leaders cite a combination of rising birth rates, migration and economic factors for causing a 5% rise in the city’s primary school population this year and an estimated rise of a further 19% by 2019. However Mandy Eng, parent of a child at Granton Primary, believes there is also another reason – school closures. In a letter to Director of Education Gillian Tee, she said:
‘I am a parent of a pupil at Granton Primary School and have just received a letter from you entitled “Rising Rolls in Primary Schools” and am absolutely furious in regard to its content.
You state that the reasons the school is under pressure to accommodate pupil numbers is “due to a combination of rising birth rates, migration and other economic factors” and this will require you to look at increasing the number of classrooms in the coming year. However, no where do you mention that one of the other catchment schools in the area, Royston Primary, was demolished last year which would easily have accommodated this rise in number of pupils. Having failed to acknowledge this I feel you are not taking any ownership of an issue that has obviously arisen through lack of foresight from Children and Families Dept.
I attended all of the public meetings to save Royston Primary School from closure and I myself pointed out to your representatives at the first meeting that their figures on birth rates did not equate, then again at the second meeting when the “altered” figures STILL did not equate and was then surprised to see that the slide in relation to these figures had been omitted from further presentations from yourselves. Were the Council so desperate to close Royston and use its running costs and the sale of the land to plough elsewhere into the Council that they brushed the birth rate figures under the carpet or are your analysts incapable of working out simple projected figures? To now be looking at spending public money on extending Granton only one year since Royston’s closure is both appalling and unacceptable.
Also by apportioning blame to “migration” I feel you are causing a feeling of resentment to the migrants in our community and I go as far as to say that the Council is inciting racism and making an already volatile situation in some areas much worse. Already I have heard parents say that it is due to the amount of foreign children coming into the area that their child may not get a place in their catchment school and I have been forced to remind them that if we still had Royston School then this situation would never have arisen.
I am keen to know why the Council did not take information on the projected number of school age children in the area, that was easily obtainable at the time of the decision to close Royston, into consideration and who is going to take responsibility for this MASSIVE error?’
Mandy Eng told NEN: “I feel that it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the community, and everyone needs to be made aware that there is a possibility that their child may not get a place at the school – not through “migration”, but through the council’s decision to close Royston School.”
The council is expected to Ms Eng’s letter in due course.
Just a reminder that the changes to household bin collections come into force from today.
Your green household bin, brown garden waste bin and grey food bin collections will now be on the same day of the week – you will have been notified of what day that is in a new calendar provided by the council.
Grey food bins will still be collected every week, but your green and brown bins will now be collected once a fortnight – the green bin one week and the brown bin the following week.
The red and blue recycling box schedules are not changing – you will continue to receive a separate calendar as usual.
If you use a communal bin, it will be collected as normal.
Some statistical information for all you cyber-geeks out there – the NEN blog will pass three important (for us, anyway!) milestones over the next day or so.
We’re getting very very close to 750 posts, 50,000 all-time views and 250 comments! We think that’s not too bad for a wee community newspaper and it’s nice to be able to shout about it!
The blog was born on 19 January 2011, with a post to introduce the NEN and to welcome readers. There was an understandable silence shortly after that as the NEN’s funding was discontinued, but now – slowly but surely – the figures are creeping up.
Our thanks to you for your contributions and your comments, to our old friends for sticking with us and our new followers who are now beginning to share their stories. Our thanks to you all for helping to keep the blog fresh, interesting, topical and, hopefully, fun to read.
And thanks to our readers, wherever you come from – but a special mention to our loyal friend in Moldova!
The Peking University Chinese Music Institute Chinese Orchestra is visiting Scotland this month, under the auspices of the Confucius Institute for Scotland. As well as educational events, the orchestra will be giving two FREE public concerts tonight and tomorrow.
Monday 10 September – Chamber Concert at Reid Hall 8pm
The first formal concert takes place on tonight in the Reid Concert Hall, Bristo Place. This will be a concert of traditional Chinese chamber music performed by musicians from the Chinese Music Institute within Peking University in association with the Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh.
Tuesday 11 September – Orchestral Concert in Canongate Kirk 7pm
Taking place in the Canongate Kirk, this concert ‘The Sound of China’ will see the 60 strong Chinese Orchestra joined by a children’s choir, pipers and traditional musicians from North and East Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire schools.
