Category: North Edinburgh News

Extra £1 million to let there be light

Aged lampposts in Edinburgh will be replaced with more energy-efficient equipment after an additional £1 million was sourced this year, the city council has announced.

The extra funding will be used to replace up to 760 old concrete and steel lampposts which failed an independent risk-based structural test.

The new aluminium columns are the first choice in street lighting designs as they do not need ongoing maintenance and have a design life of more than 50 years – almost double the design life of the old concrete and steel columns. They are also built using recycled material and can be recycled again at the end of their life.

Street lighting electricity costs are predicted to double by 2020 and the new posts will be fitted with energy-efficient white light lanterns, which will support the drive to reduce electricity costs whilst helping the Council to meet environmental targets.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, said: “Replacing old lampposts with modern aluminium columns makes both environmental and financial sense. They last up to twice as long as the traditional designs, and can even be recycled once finished with.

This would be an ideal opportunity to save energy and our carbon footprint, as well as to reduce the amount paid to light the city. It would also help to improve safety of residents and visitors.”

The new street lights have not met with universal approval, however. Drylaw Telford Community Council raised concerns over the positioning and power of new lights when they were installed late in 2011.

Community council treasurer Jackie Brown said then: “The new lights are lower and less powerful so don’t shed nearly as much light. Older members of the community are feeling vulnerable. Some of them are carrying torches so that they can see where to put the key in the door lock when they get home, while some others are avoiding going out altogether when it gets dark. It’s not only older people who are affected by the new lights, though – lots of people are not happy with the new lights.”

The community council has since been working with council officers to improve lighting in problem areas, and recently conducted a consultation in Wester Drylaw Place.

Community council chairman Alex Dale said: “We publicised the consultation with flyers and leaflets and highlighted the issue on our website, but the volume of response to the survey was slightly disappointing – in all there were 19 postcard responses, and two further replies via Survey Monkey.

“The community council  subsequently agreed to ask the council to close the consultation period  and to  go with the preferred choice of the respondents. It’s just a pity that at the end of the day a bit of apathy crept in to  the whole campaign – it has been a lengthy process – but in the end we achieved some sort of democratic decision  so for the Community Council it was a bit of success.”
Light at the end of the tunnel, indeed!
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‘Body cams’ introduced to fight hate crime

Police in Edinburgh have begun issuing body cameras to victims of hate crime in the north of the Capital. The scheme is being rolled out in North Edinburgh with a view to a wider rollout across the city.

The mini ‘body cams’, which are capable of recording incidents at a touch of a button, will be offered to local shop staff who have been experienced a significant or repeat incident.

The initiative has been designed to support staff by supplementing their existing CCTV and security measures.

Inspector Mark Rennie, of Drylaw Police Station said, “We often find that store security guards and shop staff receive racist abuse when they challenge shoplifters or refuse purchases.

“It’s totally unwarranted and unacceptable, and these cameras are intended to provide reassurance to staff who have experienced such an incident, by offering a deterrent and helping to assist police collect evidence to identify offenders.

“This will increase our opportunities to arrest those responsible, take appropriate action to put them before the courts, and prevent them from being able to use the shop in the future.

“Although the devices are discreet, they are small enough to be worn on the body to ensure that vulnerable staff have access to the recording facility at all times and in areas of their premises that previously would not have been covered by their own CCTV.”

Foysol Choudhury, MBE, Chair of Edinburgh and Lothian Regional Equality Council, said: “We welcome the initiative of Police Scotland of making small body cameras available, which will help safeguard and protect persons vulnerable to hate crimes.

“We also believe that it would make local business owners and employees confident to conduct their business as well as report instances of hate crime.

“As a lot of people are not aware of processes about reporting hate crimes, the body cameras will make them confident about garnering evidence of such crimes. We hope that this step will increase rates of reporting of hate crimes.”

DrylawPolice

 

Wednesday is Edinburgh’s Playday

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Edinburgh’s Playday takes place on Wednesday (31 July) from 12.30 – 4pm in the City Chambers Quadrangle. What’s Playday?

Edinburgh’s Playday is a festival of play for parents and children. It gives adults ideas on a big scale of things they can do with their children at home on a smaller scale.

This year, Edinburgh’s Playday takes place right in the heart of the city in the City Chambers Quadrangle and High Street on the Royal Mile. The street will be transformed with a festival of play on offer for children and their families. Come along and try out some old and new ways to play together!

Come along and try:

  • Giant Sand Pit
  • Water Play
  • Mud Kitchen
  • Magic Potions
  • Cardboard City
  • Play in a Box
  • Yarn Bombing
  • Parachute Games
  • Play for Babies
  • Giant Games
  • and much more!

See the flyer (top) for more details

Access is free but children should be accompanied by an adult.

For more information contact cf.play@edinburgh.gov.uk.

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Edinburgh and Lothians flood alert

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued an updated FLOOD ALERT for Edinburgh and Lothians:

There is a continuing risk of surface water flooding due to the band of intense rainfall currently over the area. This could cause flooding from local surface water run off, particularly in urban areas and on roads. It may also cause some flooding from smaller watercourses in the region, particularly to low lying land and in flood prone areas. The risk from flooding will lessen during Sunday afternoon as the rain starts to ease.

Remain vigilant and remember, it is your responsibility to take actions which help protect yourself and your property.  Advice and information is available through Floodline on 0845 9881188.  This FLOOD ALERT UPDATE is now in force until further notice.

If you haven’t already signed up to receive free flood messages, please call Floodline or register online at sepa.org.uk/floodingsignup.Drain

Happy birthday Betty – at last!

Careful with that knife, Betty!
Careful with that knife, Betty!

Betty McVay’s belated eightieth birthday celebration finally took place at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre last Friday, and the party proved to be well worth the wait.

Most readers will know that Betty has not been well, and she was forced to put her original party plans on hold when she was taken into hospital last month. However regular readers will also know that Betty is a wee battler and there was no way that the milestone party was not going to happen as soon as she was well enough again!

it was almost a ‘This Is Your Life’ event as friends and colleagues from across the years joined Betty and her family at West Pilton – as someone remarked, there were hundreds of years of community activism together in the Neighbourhood Centre that night and it was a great opportunity to share stories and memories.

In a year that’s seen old Greater Pilton lose activists and community characters like Billy Anderson, Brian Robertson, Stevey Hay and Gwen Chrystal, Betty’s party gave the community something to smile about – even if the raffle prizes were among the worst in history!

Belated happy birthday then, Betty – and keep battling!

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Ian Moore sings!
Ian Moore sings!

Sunshine on Leith (fingers crossed!) for Summer Fayre

Port of Leith Housing Association’s St Nicholas Court residents are hosting their annual Summer Fayre this Saturday (27 July) from 12pm and 2pm at their sheltered housing complex on Ferry Road.

The fayre is an integral part of the social calendar, which has been celebrated for over 15 years, and the money raised goes towards day trips and activities for the elderly residents toenjoy.

Some of the attractions include face painting for children, live music, barbeque, refreshments, book stall, tombola stall and raffle prizes – entry is just 50p.

Maureen TaitSenior Sheltered Housing Co-ordinator with PoLHA, said: “Our Summer Fayre is one of the main highlights in our social calendar for our residents as it’s such a wonderful, fun-filled day. Lots of planning goes into the event and the residents really get on board. It is a very important event to us as it helps to raise vital money for our social fund.  It means that we can organise day trips, keep-fit classes and other treats for our residents.”

St Nicholas Court

It’s BIG Search day – get the teeshirt!

The BIG search 2013

Wanted to remind you about the free, fun event taking  place this afternoon in Inverleith. ‘The BIG Search’ is a treasure hunt /  quest type event that involves reading clues and finding the answers across the  area from Blackhall to Warriston! 

Open to teams of children, young people, adults and families  of up to 6 people (at least one must be aged 16+), every participant will get  a teeshirt and goody bag and the winning team will get exciting prizes!

Pick up your packs from 1pm at either Stockbridge or  Blackhall Libraries and bring your sheets back at 4pm to Inverleith Park where  there will be fun activities and BBQ (weather permitting).

Please come along and take part and please tell your friends,  families and neighbours about this first in Inverleith! The event is organised  by the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s Children and Families Action  Group.

Thanks to Ocean Terminal and Scottish Gas for their support in this  event.

Elaine  Lennon, Partnership  Development Officer

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Tel: 0131 529  5270

Sun shines on MY’s Youthwork Games

Good luck to all the participants who will be taking part in the Youth Games over the next two days. The story:

Following the enormous success of My Adventure’s  first ‘Youthwork Games’ inspired by the 2012 London Games, we are proud to announce that we will be hosting the games on 24th and 25th July 2013. These games are targeted at youth projects to encourage young people not engaged in mainstream sporting activities to compete in a series of outdoor adventure sports and challenges.Activites will include:

  • Mountain Bike

  • Cross Country Run

  • Long Jump

  • Tree Climb

  • Assault Course

  • Archery

  • Swamp Soccer

  • Tug of War

  • Canoe & Swim

Muddy photo

Foggy crowd

 Contact jonny@myadventure.org.uk for more information

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NEN: Council, it’s over to you

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Council support crucial if the NEN is to be saved

The city council must act to save North Edinburgh News, NEN chairman Martin Hinds told charity walkers before they set out on Saturday’s NEN Walkathon. He said that the council must decide whether or not it supports community newspapers.

The previous Lib Dem/SNP coalition administration ‘disinvested’ in community newspapers in 2011 but there was hope that community newspapers would be relaunched under the new Labour/SNP administration elected in May last year. The Edinburgh Labour council election manifesto promised: ‘We’ll back the re-introduction of community newspapers to strengthen the community voice.’ 

Since then, however, there has been little obvious progress. The city council’s own Outlook newspaper has gone, but support for NEN has so far been limited to grants from local Neighbourhood Partnership Community Grants Fund.

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Speaking before the walkers set off from Edinburgh College in Granton, NEN Chairman Martin Hinds (pictured above) thanked organisers and fundraisers for their efforts but went on: “As long as I’ve been on the Board funding has been an issue and it’s particularly difficult now. The reason for today’s event is both to raise money and to advertise the fact that NEN is struggling”.

He continued: “To ensure NEN’s survival we can’t go from one event to one event to raise funds to produce another edition – we need to have some stability and ensure that adequate funding is in place to make NEN sustainable. We have tried a lot of different things to raise money – and the response from local organisation was tremendous when we put out an appeal for advertising for our latest issue – but we now find ourselves in a position that we must pass this back to our elected members, three of whom are here this morning.

“It’s really a matter now for the council to decide whether they want to support community newspapers or not. It’s a sombre note to end on, but the fact that we are having to do this demonstrates that we are in some difficulty”.

Labour councillors Cammy Day, Lesley Hinds and Vicky Redpath all took part in the Walkathon.

Forth Neighbourhood Partnership convener Cammy Day (pictured below) responded: “All three councillors here support the NEN and there are other councillors in this part of the city who also support the NEN. I would encourage everyone here today to lobby your councillors. There is an opportunity for us to fund the NEN and community newspapers across the city – there is a £50,000 pot of money which has been potentially earmarked for some work around community newspapers and media work; other councillors will be lobbying for that money to go to other areas in the city, so I am urging local people to lobby their councillors in North Edinburgh and tell us that they want more money for the NEN.”

He concluded: “The NEN’s a fantastic paper, well-respected and the only newspaper that tells good news about North Edinburgh. The Board is struggling to keep things going but I am sure that with the support of the local community and local members we can make it happen, but we won’t be doing that alone. So thanks for coming along today to raise some money for the NEN, but this will be continued – it’s clearly very important that we get a chunk of that finance allocation.”

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The next key date for North Edinburgh News is 13 August, when the Board meets to discuss the newspaper’s future.

NEN board member Ann Confrey was one of the main organisers of the Walkathon. Thanking the organisations who opened their doors to the walkers, she said yesterday:

“Many thanks for all your efforts on Saturday, your support and participation was very much appreciated. The walkers enjoyed the mini tours of your facilities and refreshments were gratefully received.

Unfortunately there was a very low turnout with just 20 people (and 2 dogs) walking. As a result we fell a long way short of our target and at this stage it does not look like we raised enough to produce an August/September issue of the newspaper.
The Board members will meet on 13 August to tally up how much was actually raised/pledged and to discuss what options we have available. Thank you once again for showing your support for the North Edinburgh News.”
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