Following the latest coronavirus guidelines announced on Monday, Granton Information Centre staff are working from home and our office on West Granton Road will remain closed for the foreseeable future – BUT PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT WE ARE STILL OPERATING!
You can contact us by email at info@gic.org.uk or by calling 0131 551 2459 or 0131 552 0458.
Any messages left on our answering machine will be dealt with as soon as possible – please ensure you clearly leave your full name and telephone number when leaving a message.
Let’s all play our part in keeping each other safe, stopping this terrible virus and getting life back to normal!
Since the last newsletter, your Board of Trustees and their many volunteer consultants and helpers have been busy working on various projects, as we continue to spend most of our lives online. Hopefully by now you have read about Newhaven Neighbours, Newhaven Sings and Newhaven Lights Up.
The board members have been joined by around three dozen active volunteers to bring these projects to fruition as examples of how we can bring the community together under the Heart of Newhaven umbrella as we continue to work towards acquisition of Victoria Primary School.
However we do have some sad news to share with you.
We have to report the death of Joan Davidson. Joan was instrumental in helping to launch the Heart of Newhaven Community. Present at the first public meeting at Victoria Primary School in 2018 she preserved the charts produced that night of what was later called “Blue-Sky Thinking”. She introduced them with great enthusiasm when the interim Steering Committee was set up later that year and helped plan the very first meeting.
Joan continued as a member of the Steering Group progressing the plans and helping to define the area of benefit but then sadly had to step back through illness. Despite that, she never lost her interest or failed to give her support.
At the outset she was interviewed for a short video which can be viewed at online where her ideas are recorded. We will miss her but with gratitude for helping to ‘get the show on the road’!
In our last newsletter we told you about Newhaven Neighbours.
Many of you answered the call and are now working together with one of our partners, Pilmeny Development Project to help support the isolated and vulnerable within the community.
Thank you all for your support. Thanks to you, Newhaven neighbours are receiving support in all manner of ways. There is always room for more of course, so it’s never too late to sign up to help out.
Following on from Newhaven Neighbours, we have been working on Newhaven Sings Auld Lang Syne in collaboration with several local choirs and individual singers.
Perhaps you have already recorded your contribution but if you haven’t, don’t be bashful. It’s simple to do and will provide such pleasure. The deadline to send in your recording has been extended till Saturday 19th TODAY), so there’s no excuse! All the instructions are on the website.
Hot on the heels of Newhaven Sings, came Newhaven Lights Up, created in collaboration with local artist Johnathan Elders and with help from Men’s Shed.
You may have seen the delightful light boxes on the railings round Victoria Primary School. Help light up Newhaven by creating your own window display. Instructions for this are also on the website.
So although it may seem that little is happening on the wider front of the purchase – look out for more news on that front in the spring – everyone is still working hard behind the scenes.
If you would like to join in and help, or have any ideas for projects you would like to discuss, do get in touch with our volunteering team or any of the trustees via the website.
Don’t forget to check the website too, for updates of all kinds and regular blogs, including from our Chairman, Rodney Matthews View From the Chair
Christmas is only a few days away and New Year of course follows closely after.
May we wish you and yours a happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year. Remember to bring it in by playing Auld Lang Syne!
Have you started decorating your windows for Christmas?
Hopefully by now you’ve seen our latest project – Newhaven Lights Up.
We want to create a trail of decorated, “stained glass” windows throughout the area.
A part of Glasgow created some splendid decorated windows around Halloween, and various places across the world are doing something similar at the moment as well.
Edinburgh of course has already switched on some Christmas lights. Let’s help Newhaven compete!
If you haven’t seen it yet, head to our website and check out the wonderful example supplied by local artist Johnathan Elders. Johnathan gives simple instructions and materials are easily obtainable from local shops or online (see below).
️🧡🖤🤎
Let’s light up Newhaven and share the new sense of hope that the news of the Covid vaccines have brought in the run-up to Christmas.
Men’s Shed have also been helping, by creating light boxes where you can see designs hanging on the railings of Victoria Primary School.
Don’t forget to let us know that you’re participating!
Simply press the button on the web page and email us your photos and location to be included in a trail.
Are you celebrating? Perhaps virtually, this year.
Fitting for those who live around Newhaven, that Andrew was also the patron saint of fishermen. Did you know that the Newhaven fishwives were famous for their singing?
They formed two choirs and the village became known as “a nest of songbirds”.
Those who trudged up the hill to sell their fish in the city of Edinburgh used to sing as they went and they probably included songs by that famous Scottish songster and poet, Rabbie Burns.
Now you too can sing like Newhaven songbirds and celebrate Burns!
Heart of Newhaven Communityis collaborating with several local choirs and numerous individual singers to celebrate together by recording Auld Lang Syne.
Recorded individually in your own home, each recording will be melded together and the result will be a community choral work, ready in time for Christmas.
Check out Newhaven Sings on our website where you will find easy-to-follow instructions on how to download the accompaniment and send in your own recording.
Recordings should be sent in before the 13th of December and the final work is expected to be ready by the 23rd December.
The controversial Trams to Newhaven project passed another milestone this week when the first tracks were laid in Leith – on Friday 13th.
Contractors have begun constructing the 2.91 mile line and are currently working on the sections next to Ocean Terminal and in Tower Street, Leith.
Thursday’s full council meeting approved the continued construction of the line in light of an updated Final Business Case (FBC) reflecting on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the project.
The report includes a series of scenarios, developed to stress-test the FBC, each of which demonstrate the economic case for the project remains positive, and in all but one scenario the impact on Council reserves if the project is cancelled would be greater than continuing construction.
On Friday, Council leader Cllr Adam McVey visited the site at Ocean Terminal to see work progressing.
He said: “It’s fantastic to see tracks in the ground in Leith – it’s a real milestone for this major project. We’re already beginning to see the route take shape and get an idea of just what a positive impact it will have on the local community.
“It’s particularly encouraging to know that the economic and business cases for Trams to Newhaven remain sound, despite the challenges of this year. Now we can progress with this exciting stage of the scheme safe in the knowledge that it will deliver the maximum benefits for local residents and the city as a whole.”
Despite the council facing mounting financial challenges the Trams to Newhaven project has the full backing of the Labour group, the SNP’s partners in the ‘Capital Coalition’.
Depute Leader, Labour’s Cammy Day, said: “It’s essential that we continue to invest in sustainable, clean transport and Trams to Newhaven is a key example. There is no doubt in the positive effects this scheme will have on the environment, the local economy and in encouraging development along the line.
“I’m delighted that the updated business case supports this as progress with construction continues apace.”
Work on the Trams to Newhaven project was instructed to stop on 25 March following guidance from the First Minister on COVID-19 and recommenced in June. An updated programme shows that the project is still working towards Spring 2023 for completion and is forecast to be delivered within the agreed £207.3m budget.
The council says the project’s completion will play a key role in the future growth and development of the city.
Delivering the tram line to Leith will unlock a large area of the city for housing and economic development, while providing a low-carbon, clean mode of transport to densely populated communities, they maintain.
Meanwhile rumblings persist that all is not well with the project’s finances, and Lord Hardie’s inquiry into the original Edinburgh Trams fiasco – years late, tens of millions of pounds over budget and delivering far less than was promised – rumbles on …
New campaign ‘Leith Gives’ appeals for help to ease pressure of pandemic over winter months
Seventeen North Edinburgh charities, alongside community organisations, local schools, rugby clubs and others brought together by the Leith Trust, have joined forces in a bid to support people most likely to be hit hardest by coronavirus and associated restrictions this winter as a new collaboration, Leith Gives.
With food banks at risk of being overwhelmed and people likely to feel more isolated during winter months, Leith Gives is hopeful that, with successful fundraising, they will be able to do everything possible to support vulnerable people in December and January.
John Evans, Leith Gives, (above) said:“Leith Gives is seeking support to raise funds for vulnerable households facing a challenging lockdown amid the second wave of the COVID pandemic. This will allow us to provide tailored food hampers and other household essentials to vulnerable individuals and families in the run up to Christmas and again in late January.
“We also plan to provide gifts and other items people may need to celebrate Christmas, Diwali, Hanukah and other festivals, and to offer practical help to get people online and connect with loved ones or support groups.
“People in Leith and north Edinburgh are well known for looking out for the most vulnerable members of our communities and I’m confident that with their support and the collective knowledge and expertise of all the members of Leith Gives, we can spread some hope during what is likely to be a testing winter.
“We believe this approach to be impactful and innovative in its collaboration and every penny raised goes to help the people we support.’’
The efforts of 14 Edinburgh groups have been acknowledged by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful at an online seminar yesterday.
North Edinburgh is well represented among these green-fingered groups, with awards for Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, Fresh Start Growers, Friends of Granton Castle Walled Garden, Friends of Lauriston Castle Estate, Friends of Starbank Park and North Edinburgh Arts Gardening Group.
The other capital groups to receive awards are Balerno Village Gardeners, Craigentinny Community Gardening Project, Craigentinny Primary Parent Council, Friends of Morningside Cemetery, Friends of Saughton Park, Inch View Care Home, Inspiring Hillside and Northfield Community Growing Group.
Annually Keep Scotland Beautiful runs two community environmental improvement programmes in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society; the competitive Beautiful Scotland campaign and the It’s Your Neighbourhood initiative.
Faced with the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to recognise and celebrate the achievements of communities and individuals across Edinburgh.
Throughout lockdown and the following months, groups have worked tirelessly to improve their communities through horticulture, environmental responsibility and working in partnership for the benefit of residents, visitors and our natural environment.
Despite circumstances this year, 47 new entrants were welcomed to the network, and although judging and mentoring visits were not able to take place due to restrictions across Scotland, groups were still supported with online seminars, networking events, question and answer sessions and a weekly e-newsletter.
Barry Fisher, CEO of Keep Scotland Beautifulsaid, “We know that lockdown resulted in many people reconnecting with green and blue spaces local to them. Yet, it has also been a particularly challenging year for the communities who strive every year to protect and enhance the places they live and work in.
“I’d like to thank all the groups in Edinburgh for the efforts they have made to keep Scotland beautiful this year.”
Although many of the groups had to stop or curtail their planned activities for the year, we have been blown away by what they have managed to achieve – whether that be setting up a food bank, encouraging and supporting others to grow their own, creating virtual garden tours, connecting their members through online catch ups and keeping their neighbourhoods bright and cheerful.
Heart of Newhaven Community (HoNC) continues to work towards acquisition of the Victoria Primary School site and despite the impact of Covid 19, our timetable for completion remains the same: as soon as the children move to their new school, we will move in, hopefully in the autumn of next year, 2021.
To acquire the building, which we have permission from City of Edinburgh Council to purchase, we need to find £700,000. To this end, an application to the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) has already been submitted.
With the current SLF funds geared towards applications with more immediate needs, particularly those who have Covid-related issues, we have decided to pause our application until the next round of grants which will bring it more in line with our expected purchase date.
This comes on the recommendation of the SLF itself, who consider our application a very strong one but have advised us that such a pause would make our case even stronger. They are continuing to support us and helping us fund our preparation.
So fear not if you see headlines about the next community projects to have gained SLF grants later this month and no mention of HoNC. We are confident we have a strong case, made even stronger by this hiatus. Our plans for purchase and our timetable remain the same.
To help our case, we need even more members of our SCIO to show support within the community. Numbers are increasing steadily but if you haven’t already applied to be a member, please do so as soon as you can. In this case, size really does matter! Membership is free and it gives you a say in what happens.
Equally, we need volunteers and not just for the long-term. At the heart of our project is the well-being of the community we serve. Covid 29 has not only put the brakes on the construction of the new school, it has affected so many in our community, in so many ways.
If you can sign up as a Newhaven Neighbour to help the isolated and vulnerable within our community, perhaps by collecting prescriptions, doing shopping, tidying a garden, delivering Christmas boxes, making an occasional phone call to check on the isolated, then we would welcome your help. Check our website for a form to fill in.
Become a Newhaven Neighbour. Get in touch. Add your name. The community will be the stronger for it.
An update to the final business case for the Trams to Newhaven project, which reflects the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, concludes that the economic case for the scheme remains positive.
The review aims to assess the impact any changes in public transport demand as a result of the crisis could have on the economic and financial case, first approved in March 2019. On Thursday (12 November 2020) members of the Transport and Environment Committee will be asked to consider the updated final business case (FBC) and to approve continuing with the construction of the project.
The Council’s economic advisers, have developed a series of possible scenarios to stress-test the findings in the original FBC. These range from a return to business as usual to a permanent reduction in demand, taking into account short-term COVID-19 impacts and views on future growth. In each of the scenarios, modelling suggests that the economic case for the project remains, with a benefit-to-cost ratio of above one.
Financial assessment has found that the project can still be delivered within the budgeted £207.3m and that, in all but one of the scenarios, the impact on Council reserves if the project is cancelled would be greater than continuing construction. While it is possible there could be a future call on Council reserves to support financing costs as a result of COVID-19, in each scenario the scheme will finance itself, albeit in different timeframes.
The refreshed FBC also highlights that the completion will play a key role in the future growth and development of the city. Delivering the tram line to Leith will unlock a large area of the city for housing and economic development, while providing a low-carbon, clean mode of transport to densely populated communities.
Transport and Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “It’s clear that the events of this year have had an unprecedented impact on the way we travel and that we’ll continue to feel the effects for the foreseeable future. In light of this, it’s essential that we assess the potential economic and financial impacts on such a significant transport infrastructure scheme.
“I’m pleased that the economic and financial cases for Trams to Newhaven hold up despite the ongoing pressures resulting from COVID-19. The delivery of this project is essential for the Capital’s green recovery, providing sustainable, low-carbon travel to one of the city’s most densely populated areas. We now have reason to be cautiously optimistic as we progress with construction.”
Transport and Environment Vice Convener Councillor Karen Doran said: “The Trams to Newhaven project is exactly the kind of investment we need post-COVID-19 to ensure Edinburgh is a thriving, forward-looking place for people to live and work in and to deliver much needed housing, jobs and investment into north Edinburgh.”
An updated programme shows that the project is still working towards Spring 2023 for completion and is forecast to be delivered within the agreed budget.
Over recent months, Edinburgh has experienced a significant drop in demand for public transport, with long-term consequences expected including a decline in income to the tram service.
The review of the FBC takes this into account, with even the most optimistic of scenarios projecting that passenger numbers won’t return to pre-COVID levels until the mid-2020s. Finally, the review of the FBC acknowledges the impact of COVID 19 on Lothian Buses and does not rely on any further payment of the extraordinary dividend which was anticipated in the original FBC.
Since March 2019 several local and national strategies have emerged to further support the introduction of high capacity, high quality public transport in the city. While Scotland’s National Transport Strategy 2 (NTS2) envisions ‘sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport’, Edinburgh’s draft City Mobility Plan strives for a greener, safer and connected transport system.
The tram will support the delivery of transport policies such as City Centre Transformation, which proposes a series of interventions to provide a more liveable, people-friendly city centre and requires a mode shift to public transport to help deliver a 10-15% reduction in city centre car traffic in the medium term and a 25-30% reduction in the longer term.
While the city council pushes ahead with the trams project, the Inquiry into the Edinburgh Tram project also continues – albeit at a snail’s pace.
The inquiry aims to establish why the original Edinburgh Tram project incurred delays, cost more than originally budgeted and through reductions in scope delivered significantly less than projected.
The inquiry, under Lord Hardie, was set up in June 2014 but is yet to report any findings.
Back in June a spokesperson for the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry told the BBC: “The findings of the inquiry into why the Edinburgh Trams project incurred delays, cost more than originally budgeted and delivered significantly less than planned will be made available at the earliest opportunity.
“Lord Hardie’s remit is to conduct a robust inquiry and it will take as long as is necessary to get the answers required to fulfil the terms of reference.
“We continue to make good progress, including managing more than three million documents on the inquiry’s evidence database for handover to National Records of Scotland.
“A relevant set is also being prepared to be made available on the inquiry’s website to accompany the published report at the appropriate time.”
A scathing review by Audit Scotland in February 2011 noted the original tram project had been undermined by poor planning, cost underestimates, contract disputes and a lack of clear leadership by the council – a lengthy catalogue of calamities which has cost taxpayers £ millions.
‘This is about protecting both people and wild places’
Wild swimmers and environmental campaigners are leading an appeal, which includes a campaign film, song and petition, for Wardie Beach to be included in Scotland’s list of designated bathing waters.
In 2019, the Wardie Bay Wild Ones and Wardie Bay Beachwatch came together to make an application to SEPA for designated Bathing Water status for north Edinburgh’s much-loved and increasingly popular bathing site, Wardie Beach, situated between Granton and Newhaven Harbours.
Evidence of over 150 beach users across the bathing season, from 1st June to 15th September, was provided. The decision not to designate was made, not by the review panel, but by the Scottish Government. Feedback cited issues relating to a lack of appropriate infrastructure and facilities.
On 28th August 2020, SEPA offered the group the opportunity to appeal the decision, and the #WardieBay4BathingWater campaign was born.
A petition launched on 25th September received over 1000 signatures in four days. The appeal document was submitted on Friday 30th October. The review panel meets to confirm 2021 Bathing Waters in December, and a decision will be made by the government early next year.
Karen Bates, volunteer organiser of Wardie Bay Beachwatch said: “The community works so hard to look after Wardie Beach, which receives marine litter and sewage related debris on every tide.
“We don’t believe we should be penalised for a lack of existing infrastructure and protection from these harms. We believe people need water quality monitoring and deserve the same safety protections in Granton that other similar local beaches are afforded.
“Large numbers of people come to Wardie Bay anyway, because of the semi-wild nature of this place not despite it. We saw a huge rise in the number of bathers in 2020 due to the pandemic. We don’t want the unintended consequence that Wardie Bay loses its special character and precious wildlife because of a perceived need to develop it.”
The group’s campaign film, shot by Carlos Hernan in recent weeks, includes interviews with swimmers, swim safety coach Colin Campbell, health and ecotoxicology experts Kate Swaine and Professor Alex Ford, and illustrator Alice Melvin who recently published her ‘Book of Swims’. Alice Caldwell also created a beautiful song for the campaign.
Kate Swaine, local wild swimmer and nutritionist, said: “One of my big concerns, when I’m swimming all the time is, what exactly is in the water? We know that when there’s been lots of rainfall, there will be an increase in the number of parasites, viruses, bacteria that can get into the water through sewage, and some of these have the potential to cause sometimes severe symptoms …
“I would like for Wardie Bay to be monitored as other beaches are in Scotland, so that the swimmers who choose to swim here, the paddleboarders and other people that use the water, have an idea of whether the water quality is rated poor, average, good.
“That would be really useful for people so that we can just enjoy being in the water and getting all the benefits from it: the mental health benefits, the physical benefits and just knowing that we’re not possibly putting ourselves at any risk.”
A spokesperson for the Wardie Bay Wild Ones said: “It is a frequent occurrence that swimmers will ask one another in the group for advice or thoughts on water quality, either generally, or on a given day. At present the only thing anyone can do is guess.
“Even people who’ve been in the water that day have no way of actually knowing what the water quality is like, and how safe it is to swim. Having some kind of testing, or even informed estimates of water quality available publicly would make a huge difference to swimmers.”
Karen added: “There is remarkable biodiversity and natural history at Wardie Bay, especially for such a city location.
“Environmental monitoring isn’t just for the many children and adults that use the water for swimming or playing, vital though that is. It is also an indicator of the environmental harm that untreated sewage does to our coastal ecology.”
Dr Alex Ford, Professor of marine biology, ecotoxicology and parasitology at the University of Portsmouth, who took his PhD at Napier University, said, “The general public have been very good at adjusting their behaviours to how damaging plastic pollution can be.
“But one of the problems we have with the chemicals coming out through our storm water overflows is that they can’t be seen and they don’t need to be there in very high concentrations to damage wildlife and the many species we use for food.
“Within that effluent, you’ve got fertilisers, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals as well as the organic matter from faeces. With that pollution comes disease but also abnormalities in those coastal organisms’ development. There are also suggestions that us humans are suffering as well.
“During Covid-19, there’s been an extraordinary number of people to have taken up water sports which is absolutely fantastic for health and wellbeing, but that combined with this increase in sewage going into the water; it may have detrimental effects on our health as well.”
A designated bathing water profile would be a holistic investment for both our environment and society. It would result in Wardie Beach visitors receiving water quality monitoring across the bathing season, daily water quality predictions, information on the potential pollution sources and risks to water quality as well as feedback on the measures being taken to improve water quality at the site.
Karen added: “If the issue is under-resourcing of our Environmental Protection Agencies, we must emphasise that we need them now more than ever. Rainfall is going to intensify with climate change and consequently, damage to our oceans due to infrastructure that is increasingly unfit for purpose.
“Unless we monitor, record and report on environmental issues we can’t do anything to protect ourselves and perhaps more importantly, marine habitats.”
“What we are looking for is environmental protection, not just for swimmers, but for everything else that lives in these waters and might be affected by pollutants”, says swimmer Vicky Allan, member of the Wild Ones, and co-author of Taking the Plunge.
“Many of us swimmers love this bay not just for its access to water, but for its wildlife. This is about protecting both people and wild places.”
PICTURES: Karen Bates, Dr Mark Hartl, Carlos Hernan
