Edinburgh North and Leith MP Deirdre Brock is calling upon constituents to sign a petition which seeks to scrap the UK Government’s rape clause. Continue reading Brock calls for support to scrap ‘appalling’ rape clause
Category: Trinity
Trinity Community Council – January Update
Trinity CC met on 11 January. Here are the main points:
Goodwill to all men?
Happily criminal activity was subdued over the Festive period. But for the unlucky few, and there were some, a housebreaking is still traumatic. Thieves now seem to be targeting houses with sash and casement windows i.e. much of Trinity! So take care to secure tools like spades which might be used to lever open sash windows. And remember all those other security messages about locks, burglar alarms, keeping car keys out of sight etc. Jewellery seems to be the current target.
Clean, Green, Safe & Engaged Report
This quarterly report from Forth Neighbourhood Partnership sets out how well local services are being delivered and our environment maintained.
Unsurprisingly, Trinity’s parks shine brightly in these statistics and, despite a couple of recent headlines, we can claim to be rather a safe place to live with reasonable levels of community engagement.
Street cleanliness was generally close to target but we are pursuing CEC for clarification on its policy for clearing leaves. This appears to happen in a rather random fashion and, if not cleared e.g. Clark Road, Craighall Rd, Denham Green Pl, the new tennis courts, cycle path, South Trinity Rd, leaves have quickly succumbed to recent weather and deteriorated into a slippy, slimy mess.
But overall it was clear that the issue of greatest concern to residents was rubbish and recycling and the new recycling arrangements in particular. This is crystal clear from the level of complaints with the most recent figures being more than three times the target level – a substantial rise on the previous month. While this appears to be starting to settle down there are still problems with bins not being emptied on the scheduled day. Big green bins are seen as a bit of a problem for the elderly.
Victoria Park – Gourmet Destination?
CEC is tendering for food outlets at several sites including a mobile unit in Victoria Park. We have not been consulted but believe it is to some extent a response to the recurring suggestion of using either the Bowl House or the Pump house as a café. We are informally advised that as/when any bid is received, we will have an opportunity to feed in comments and concerns.
We will monitor developments closely to ensure that the promised consultation is delivered and we hope that by then that Friends of Victoria Park is up and running and will be able to comment in its own right. Concerns include increased litter and sale of burgers and fizzy drinks to school children but overall, the proposal seems to have general support as, among other things, it would provide a focus for people to meet up for coffee etc.
Do you have a view? Write and let us know – or grab a word with your local community councillor.
Fringe Benefits 1: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
The final phase of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s new building opened in March 2015, marking completion of a world class arts facility right on our doorstep in Hawthornvale (pictured, top). As well as 26 artist studios it has specially equipped workshops to enable artists and organisations to test ideas and develop projects. Across the building, indoor and outdoor spaces support a range of different sculptural activities and provide viewing areas to enable visitors to see work in progress.
Want to know more? You can join a contemporary sculpture course or just drop by to see what free exhibitions and talks are on. Maybe just relax in the new café, accessible directly from the cycle path or Hawthornvale and open seven days a week? Tours of the building can be arranged for groups or individuals by phoning 0131 551 4490.
Fringe Benefits 2: Ocean Terminal
Ocean Terminal Ltd has plans for a major hotel development. At present we only know the outline. If, like us, you’d like to know more, there will be a public exhibition of the proposals on 10 February at Ocean Terminal Community Room, First Floor besides Debenhams, 3.30 to 7.30pm.
Street Lighting
Regular readers can’t fail to have noticed the repeated concerns about the effectiveness of the new street lighting in some, particularly wider, streets. Some problem sites, but not all, have been picked up. The CEC replacement programme is now moving to its next phase and we are asking for clarification of what this means and how the earlier problems will be tackled in this new phase.
Neighbourhood Environment Fund
It’s that time of year again where we put forward ideas bidding for funds to invest in our local environment. Current candidates include the Vennel to the north of Trinity Academy, Trinity Road Tunnel and Wardie Bay Foreshore. Have you got any ideas? Also time to start planning our annual Walkabout. Is there a particular part of Trinity which needs to be looked over? Do let us know if you think there’s something we should be looking at.
Goldenacre Planters
As 2016 begins, discussions continue concerning funding of planters outside the old RBS Goldenacre branch. We live in hope!
Much more at our next meeting on Monday 8 February at 7 pm in Wardie Parish Church, Primrose Bank Road. Open to all. Come along and give us your thoughts, or contact a Community Councillor – we need to know your views so that we can represent them!
Did you find this bulletin useful or informative? If so, why not show it to a neighbour? Anyone in Trinity can subscribe to the bulletin simply by emailing tcc-comms@outlook.com Or drop us a line and tell us what you think could be better.
SOS – Save Our Services!
Members of the Power to the People group are calling on local groups and individuals from North Edinburgh to join them at a lobby of the full council meeting on Thursday 21 January to protest against what Unison describe as the “worst cuts in living memory”. Continue reading SOS – Save Our Services!
BIG thank you from St Columba’s
Light a Light Appeal raises £100,000
Staff and volunteers at St Columba’s Hospice have said a big thank you to all of the supporters who kindly donated to the recent Light A Light & Light Up A Life appeal. Continue reading BIG thank you from St Columba’s
Trinity CC December newsletter
Trinity Community Council met on 14 December. Here are the main points:
Crime Down, But …
While there have been a few house break-ins this month, numbers are down on last year. Police believe this is because several known perpetrators are behind bars or subject to curfew arrangements.
But statistics are no comfort if your house is broken into – so take all reasonable precautions including those in Police Scotland’s leaflets (see below). If you have an alarm make sure its switched on and if you would like to be kept fully up to date with real time Police alerts sign up here.
A notable trend has been to break into houses in order to steal the owner’s car rather than the house contents. This is likely done to order so take extra care about where you leave your car keys.
Just outside our area, two people were arrested after an altercation on Ferry Road while investigations into an attack at Steadfastgate are ongoing. If you’re at all worried about being on the street in the dark evenings you might wish to purchase a personal alarm as a useful deterrent. A possible stocking filler at roughly £5!
Make Friends with Victoria Park!
The meeting this month to set up a Friends of Victoria Park group was well attended with presentations on what was involved and what the potential might be. After an enthusiastic and lively Q&A, a number of people volunteered for a Steering Group to complete the formalities of forming the new Friends Group.
A further public meeting, probably in February, will sign this off, whereupon all interested can then become Friends of Victoria Park (still time to join!) This is really encouraging – 2016 looks like being a great year for Victoria Park!
Trinity Academy Students Council
TCC had a further meeting with Trinity Academy Student Council which again proved lively with the students themselves eager to raise points.
These included:
lack of litter bins in Victoria Park and on the pathway between Newhaven Road and the school,
existing bins not being emptied sufficiently frequently
safety on the Walkway, especially after dark,
occasional motor/quad bike on the Walkway, (call 999 as these have almost always been stolen)
enthusiasm for the new tennis courts in Victoria Park
interest in engaging with a Friends of Victoria Park group.
agreement to run a competition for the design of a logo for TCC.
We will be pursuing many of these points with CEC and look forward to a continuing constructive relationship with TASC in 2016.
Goldenacre Planters
Discussions continue concerning the placing of planters outside the old RBS branch at Goldenacre.
Second Hand Car Dealing – 144 Newhaven Road
Far less encouraging, two meetings of the Licensing Sub Committee heard but dismissed the arguments from objectors (including Trinity CC). We are deeply unhappy about how the process has been conducted which has felt very one sided including keeping (unpaid) objectors waiting for several hours and only token notice of a site visit. A licence has been granted with conditions, similar to those attached to the 6 months temporary licence in 2012/13.
We are concerned about the implications for a conservation area and that an unfortunate precedent has been set. We believe that planning permission may also be necessary in this case and will be discussing the matter with local residents before deciding whether to pursue this point.
Edinburgh Association of Community Councils
This body represents all of Edinburgh’s 45 community councils and should fill important roles in encouraging best practice and projecting a common voice to the city council on shared concerns. A new Constitution is being developed and a new Chair (Eric Dobbie) and Secretary (David Bewsey) elected. We look forward to working with Eric and David to help them fulfil this crucial role.
Denham Green
After discussions with council officials, trees have now been trimmed and – hopefully by the time you are reading this – the damaged streetlight at the north end of Denham Green Place will be back in operation. Further work on these lights and the pavements is planned for 2016.
Lower Granton Road
Run by Sustrans under the auspices of CEC, a walkabout and two workshops were held this month to discuss how Lower Granton Road and its immediate surrounds might be improved and made safer. Various suggestions were floated which will hopefully enable some improvements to be designed.
While supportive of this initiative, we highlighted to the CEC officials present that there is a wider and deteriorating east-west traffic problem in North Edinburgh and reminded them of previous council studies which could usefully be revived. Unfortunately we still have no word of any activity to review the 2008 North Edinburgh Traffic Plan.
Much more at our next meeting on Monday 11 January at 7 pm in Wardie Parish Church, Primrose Bank Road. Open to all. Come along and give us your thoughts. Or contact a Community Councillor – we need to know your views so that we can represent them!
Did you find this bulletin useful or informative? If so, why not show it to a neighbour? Anyone in Trinity can subscribe to the bulletin simply by emailing
tcc-comms@outlook.com
Or drop us a line and tell us what you think could be better.
Christmas carols at Starbank Park
Friends of Starbank Park
Christmas Carols and Lights in the Park
with Newhaven Choir
Saturday 5th December
4.30 – 5.30pm
Mince pies and hot drinks
Victoria Park needs Friends!
FRIENDS OF VICTORIA PARK – PUBLIC MEETING
Tuesday 8 December at 7.30pm in Trinity Academy
Coffee And Mince Pies!
Aim: to set up a Friends Group for Victoria Park
Victoria Park is a fine park – it could be great with an active Friends Group.
Friends Groups
• directly involve the community in park events and changes
• increase access to funding – crucial during Council cuts
• make parks better
There are almost 50 friends of park groups in Edinburgh. Each is dedicated to improving their Park and increasing community involvement.
Come along and help us get a Victoria Park Friends Group off the ground!
Trinity Community Council
Friends AGM tonight
More than five centuries donated by St Columba’s volunteers
St Columba’s salutes ‘great team of volunteers’
St Columba’s Hospice has been celebrating its many volunteers with special long-service awards ceremonies. In total, the people who have been recognised for their long service have given a massive 560 years to the Hospice! Continue reading More than five centuries donated by St Columba’s volunteers
Trinity Community Council: November update
Twenty folk attended TCC on 9 November. Here’s an update … Continue reading Trinity Community Council: November update