SHUTTLE BUS SOLUTION TO D MAINS ROUNDABOUT CLOSURE
Important update on 47 bus diversion
We wrote to you yesterday about Lothian Buses’ decision to divert the 47 bus service during the 9 week duration of the roadworks at the Davidson’s Mains roundabout.
The consequence of the change, due to start from Monday, is that the 47 will run along Queensferry Road to the terminus at Cammo without serving Cramond Road South and Whitehouse Road.
As we explained yesterday, it was completely unacceptable to us for Cramond to be left without a key bus link for so long.
We want to thank the literally hundreds of our constituents who have emailed us about this. Please accept our apologies for the fact we’ve not been able to reply to everyone.
We hope you’ll understand our focus over the last 24 hours has been in finding a solution for our constituents who rely on the 47. As councillors, we felt our job was to keep up the pressure on both Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Council officers to get action.
Our strong preference was for Lothian to simply route the 47 right at the Barnton junction and into Whitehouse Road for a loop around Cramond. This would replicate the old route of the service. We pressed Lothian to consider this.
However, Lothian have refused to adopt this temporary route because of their concerns over the impact it could have on the timings of the service as a whole.
Nevertheless, we have now managed to secure an important new alternative service which we hope will help –
We’ve had it confirmed tonight that that a free to use shuttle bus will be available for Cramond residents. This will operate between Cramond and Cammo. People can then connect to the 47 bus for journeys along Queensferry Road and onward.
This will be up and running by the middle of next week – ahead of the schools returning from their Easter break. We will share more specific details of when we have them.
We know this shuttle service is far from ideal – however, it will mean people can still get public transport to connect to the 47 bus service when they need it.
We also want to make sure the work in Davidson’s Mains is completed as quickly as possible so things return to normal just as soon as they can.
We will of course keep you informed as we get more information.
Lovell has opened its South Queensferry development to local young people, recently welcoming 51 pupils from Echline Primary School to the site and supporting work experience opportunities. The education project gives young people a hands-on introduction to construction and the wide range of careers involved in building new homes.
The Crossings is a major mixed-tenure development that will deliver 398 homes, including 100 for social rent in partnership with Sanctuary Scotland, 185 homes for private rent through Sigma Simple Life, 113 private homes for sale by Lovell Homes and 14 commercial units. The development will also support more than 300 local jobs.
The education activity forms part of the ongoing commitment by Lovell to deliver social value in communities where it builds, helping to create opportunities for young people and strengthen pathways into employment.
It comes at a time when attracting new talent to the construction sector is increasingly important, with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimating that Scotland will need to recruit 26,100 additional construction workers by 2028 to meet future demand.
Tony Rankin, Regional Managing Director at Lovell, said: “Construction offers a huge range of opportunities, but too often young people only know about a few job roles in the industry. Opening up our sites like this is about showing them the bigger picture and helping them understand the many different career routes available.
“With Scotland needing to attract thousands of additional workers to the construction sector over the coming years, it’s vital we support the next generation to see the possibilities and feel confident that there is a place for them in the industry.”
As part of the programme, P7 pupils from Echline Primary School were guided through a series of live demonstrations by Site Manager Kevin Kelly from Lovell, including broadband installation, underground pipework and the various stages involved in completing new homes.
The groups also visited a nearly completed home, where they learned about painting and had the chance to try it for themselves.
The tour concluded with a discussion about the wide range of roles involved in delivering new homes, from trades and engineering through to design, planning and project management.
Laura Marshall, P7 teacher at Echline Primary School, said: “This was a fantastic experience for our pupils. Seeing a live site and speaking directly with the team helped them understand how homes are built and how many different roles are involved.
“It’s important that young people are given opportunities like this to explore career paths they might not have considered and it was very inspiring for the children.”
The visit is part of a wider programme of activity by Lovell that engages local schools and young people in South Queensferry. Lovell teams have interacted with hundreds of pupils from Echline Primary School and Queensferry High School through site visits, workshops and career sessions. Additionally, 15 surveying graduates from Hardies, the employer’s agent on the development, visited to learn more about construction operations and live-site working.
Lovell has also supported work experience opportunities at The Crossings, offering real-world experience and helping participants build confidence for future employment.
The experience was delivered in collaboration with Positive Qualities and its Construction Skills Academy, which supports young people in developing essential workplace skills. Through the Academy, participants successfully completed three SQA units ahead of their placement, including the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Health and Safety certificate.
Lovell site teams worked alongside supply chain partners R&M Contractors and Ramsey Electrical to support placements and provide young people with meaningful experiences across various trades.
Conor Watt, Development Manager at Sanctuary, said: “Creating great places to live is about more than building new homes. It’s also about supporting the communities around them and investing in opportunities for local people to ensure the benefits are shared and long-lasting.
!We’re proud to work alongside Lovell on initiatives that inspire young people and help them imagine a future career in construction.”
Post work placement surveys highlighted the real value of the live-site experience and showed measurable impact, including increased workplace confidence and improved understanding of the range of opportunities available within construction. Both work experience participants have since progressed to further education, moving on to college courses following their time at the South Queensferry development.
Sean Siala, work experience student, said: “It was great working on-site, especially gaining practical, hands-on knowledge.
“I really enjoyed the camaraderie. I loved chatting with the electricians and learning from their experience.”
NEN PUBLISHED OUR FIRST BLOG POST ON THIS DAY IN 2011
The very first NEN blog post was published on this day in 2011. The post read:
Hello, and welcome to the brand new NEN blog.
For those of you not already familiar with the newspaper, we are a local community paper serving the North Edinburgh community. We’ve been here for over thirty years.
This blog, along with our new Facebook page and Twitter stream, represents our first foray into the world of social media. We really want to encourage more participation, more questions and ideas from the North Edinburgh community – both online and offline – and hope that these new tools will help us to do that.
We already have a good website, where you can always find the latest edition of the printed newspaper. The blog won’t be replacing that, but will instead be there to show people the latest news about the area, and also to help us cover the current funding crisis we are facing as an organisation.
Above all, we want to include your input on the blog – be it ideas for stories, comments, pictures and events. So get in touch!
The NEN’s website was sadly deleted when funding ceased but our social media presence continues on both Twitter and Facebook and the blog is still going strong with 10 – 12 posts daily.
2025 was the NEN blog’s busiest ever year with 36,000 visitors. As I write this we’ve published more than 38,000 posts – all of these remain accessible online – and we’re currently on a run of publishing on 2749 consecutive days.
When the NEN office in Crewe Road North closed much of the NEN archive material was lost, but thankfully some of our picture library was salvaged and can now be found at granton:hub (Madelvic House), where the volunteer archive team has also collated all remaining hard copies of the North Edinburgh News newspaper.
Hopefully, between the physical archive and the NEN blog, you can find all you need to know about our community’s rich history – and we’re adding to that history every day!
Join us for our Japan Sakura @ Lauriston Castle – a festival spanning 2 days (Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April) celebrating the blossom at Lauriston Castle.
An 11-year-old boy has died following a collision on Whitehouse Loan in Cramond.The Cramond P7 pupil who died after being struck by a bin lorry on Friday (1st March) has been named as Thomas Wong.
His family has asked for privacy. Enquiries are continuing to establish the full circumstances.
The incident happened around 8.20am on Friday, 1 March near to the junction with Braehead Road.
The boy was riding a bicycle when he was involved in a collision with a bin lorry.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin are aware.
The driver of the bin lorry was uninjured.
Inspector Andrew Thomson, of Police Scotland’s Road Policing Unit, said: “Our thoughts are very much with the boy’s family and friends at this time.
“Our enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances and I would urge anyone who may have information which has not yet been passed to Police to get in touch.
“I would also be keen to speak to anyone who may have dashcam or private CCTV footage from the area.
“Specially trained officers are supporting the family at this time.
“Anyone with information can call 101, quoting incident 0578 of 1 March, 2024.”
New Head of Lifestyle to strengthen residents’ experiences at care home
ONE of Scotland’s leading care facilities has announced the appointment of a new specialist that will further improve its high-quality dementia services.
Elaine Vallance has been promoted to Head of Lifestyle at Cramond Residence, bringing more than six years of expert care knowledge to the home’s lifestyle team.
Elaine, who joined Cramond Residence 15 months ago, will organise a wide range of activities designed to bring meaningful socialisation to residents – a major factor in treating dementia patients.
She said: “I’m passionate about delivering the best possible quality of care to our residents during their golden years.
“I love spending time with our residents, and I am lucky to now head up an incredible team who always give their best to ensure that the standard of care we deliver is second to none.
“When you come away from an activity that residents have enjoyed and you see a smile on their faces, it’s hugely rewarding and motivating. I’m really excited and thankful to be given this opportunity and I am looking forward to working with the team to bring forward more fantastic activities for our residents.”
Cramond Residence strives to ensure that those living with dementia live a fulfilled life. The home offers a dedicated dementia floor, specially designed for those living with the condition to allow them to live a richer and more satisfying life with specialist facilities and trained staff on hand to provide support and relief.
Dementia training sits at the top of the care home’s agenda with 90% of their staff being provided with vital dementia training.
Elaine added: “We have already had a series of fantastic events for residents such as a trip on the trams to Newhaven, as well as a sports day which was popular with the residents.
“In the future I have plans to create a sensory room for our residents living with dementia, this will provide a stimulating environment with huge mental benefits.
“I will continue channelling all my energies and passion into delivering what Cramond Residence is all about, delivering top quality care to those who stay with us.”
Client Liaison Manager, Christian Daraio said: “Elaine has a wonderfully kind and nurturing personality which the residents love.
“We are incredible lucky to have her on our team and I am really looking forward to seeing what fantastic opportunities she no doubt has in store for our residents in the future.”
Cramond residence is a purpose-built care home which opened in October 2018. It combines luxury, five-star accommodation with outstanding clinical standards.
Spread across three floors, Cramond Residence adopts a small group living philosophy. That means groups of eight rooms form distinct “houses”, where residents are encouraged to eat and socialise together.
To find out more information on Cramond Residence, visit:
Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP for Edinburgh Western met pupils from Cramond Primary School yesterday (Wednesday 29 March) to learn about their walk to school.
Cramond Primary School is taking part in WOW – the walk to school challenge from charity Living Streets Scotland. The MSP was joined by Councillors Normal Work and Lewis Younie.
WOW sees pupils record how they get to school using the interactive WOW Travel Tracker with those who walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’ to school being awarded a monthly WOW badge.
WOW schools see on average a 13 per cent increase in pupils walking to school in Scotland with a corresponding drop in car use, helping to reduce congestion and increase safety outside the school gates.
Living Streets Scotland is delivering Active Travel Playground Games sessions to the pupils, during the Spring term. Completed over the course of two days, every pupil has the opportunity to participate in fun and interactive activities and learn more about the benefits of active travel for themselves and the environment.
Toddlers from local nursery visit Edinburgh care home
INTERGENERATIONAL visits at an Edinburgh care home have brought some of the city’s oldest and youngest residents together.
A group of toddlers aged between three and five from Cramond Early Learning and Childcare visited residents at Cramond Residence for a day of activities and games, including art and craft projects and singing nursery rhymes.
Since opening in 2018, the home has worked to integrate younger and older generations. The benefits are endless – it reduces social isolation, loneliness and helps residents reminisce about their own childhoods.
Lorraine Mossie, Manager of Cramond Early Learning and Childcare said: “Once the ice had been broken between the children and residents, there was no stopping the fun!
“We’ve had amazing feedback from both the children and their families about our visit. The children were so excited to share their stories with their peers at nursery and with their families at home.
“We feel very passionately about intergenerational working in Cramond Early Learning and Childcare as it helps build confidence, challenges prejudices and assumptions.”
Cramond Residence prides itself on the vast array of activities offered to residents on a daily basis, with the visit from Cramond Early Learning and Childcare being one of the latest additions to the home’s bustling monthly rota.
Christian Daraio, Client Liaison Manager and registered nurse at the 74-bedroom care home, said: “The residents were very enthusiastic about the visit as they always look forward to interacting with young people – especially where singing or music is involved!
“Activities included lots of games with tennis rackets, bubbles, drawing and balloons, as well as both generations singing nursery rhymes together – it was really lovely to see. Almost 30 eager residents took part in the activities, each excited to spend some quality time with the youngsters.
“Relationships between young people and our older residents help to bring a new energy to the day.”
The visit follows recent company from Cargilfield School, Fettes College and Holyrood High School. The partnerships have enabled a host of students of all ages to visit the home, as well as providing the pupils with volunteering opportunities.
Christian continued: “These sorts of intergenerational activities allow our residents to appreciate the simple joys of seeing children and young people playing and performing, which promotes a positive mindset and most importantly, it’s great fun for everyone involved!
“We’re looking to continue regular visits from the nursery, alongside our existing relationships with other local schools.”
Cramond Residence is always on the look out for volunteers. If you would like to make a real difference to the quality of residents’ lives, visit:
Residential life is full of activities, freshly prepared meals and top-class facilities, ensuring that all residents enjoy a rich and satisfying life at the care home. The facilities provided include a cinema and function room, a games room and also a sensory experience which offers therapeutic activities for those with dementia.
To find out more information on Cramond Residence, visit:
