Edinburgh lights up for childhood cancer awareness
Deidre Brock MP welcomed the Edinburgh skies lighting up in gold at the launch of the parent-led ‘Glow Gold September’ childhood cancer awareness campaign this evening (Thursday 1 September) Deidre is attending the switch on of the ‘Luminations of Love’ light display in St Andrew’s Square. Continue reading Deirdre Brock backs ‘Glow Gold September’
A controversial city-wide cycle link has been given the go-ahead by councillors – despite objections by local traders and community councils. Members of the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee yesterdayrejected community concerns and instead agreed to proceed with ‘an ambitious project to create a family-friendly west to east cycle route through the city centre’.
The City Centre West to East Cycle Link and Street Improvements project aims to create a largely protected cycle way to and through the city centre, providing a crucial link from existing QuietRoutes in north and west Edinburgh to Leith Walk and intended to encourage many more commuters to choose to travel into town by bike instead of by car, reducing congestion and contributing to improved air quality as well as boosting health and fitness.
A new working group is being set up to help resolve outstanding design issues with the plans. Meanwhile work will start immediately to secure further funding and to make preparations to commence the necessary statutory processes for the scheme.
The Council’s Transport and Environment Committee voted to create the new stakeholder group, whose members will include the Transport Convener and Vice Convener, the transport representatives of the other political groups, local ward members, relevant local groups and selected officers.
A motion put forward by the Capital Coalition acknowledged “a strong division of opinion on the two options for the Roseburn area – with the majority of ‘Active Travel Forum’ members supporting Option A” and a “strong preference for Option B amongst local businesses and Community Councils”.
The stakeholder group’s discussions on this aspect and other outstanding design issues will be reported to the Future Transport Working Group, chaired by the Transport Convener and held in public, for a final decision under the delegated authority of the Executive Director of Place.
In approving the Capital Coalition motion, members agreed that this group “will also act as a ‘sounding board’ throughout the detailed design and eventual statutory processes”.
Transport Convener Cllor Lesley Hinds said: “We remain 100% committed to delivering this bold and transformational project, which will make it so much easier to cycle into and through the city centre by linking up with our already well-used cycle routes across the north and west of Edinburgh.
“Given the strength of feeling out there about certain aspects of the plans, there’s clearly still work to be done before the final route design is agreed.
“This new stakeholder group will allow all interested parties to get round the table and thrash out the remaining issues, listening to each other’s points of view and – hopefully – arriving at a conclusion which the majority are happy with so that the final route design can be agreed.” Continue reading Controversial city cycle link gets green light
MiDAS training at PEP: Friday 9 September
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will deliver this year’s Jimmy Reid Foundation Annual Memorial Lecture. Continue reading Corbyn to deliver Reid Memorial Lecture
Older people could benefit from ‘green’ prescriptions
Green prescribing by doctors and other health professionals could be a valuable way of helping older people reap the benefits of outdoor recreation, according to new research. The idea is among a number of recommendations contained in a new report commissioned by the Scottish Government to examine the barriers older people face getting out and about.
Outdoor activity has been shown to be beneficial for physical and mental health and wellbeing, but older people are less likely to take part. Continue reading Getting out and about: a Natural Health Service?
Getting a child ready to return to school can be an expensive business. The cost of uniform, coat, shoes, bags and PE kit soon adds up. Despite this, the amount of financial help offered to low income families varies massively, with some local authorities offering as little as £20 per child for the whole year.
CPAG in Scotland want to make sure all local authorities pay an adequate minimum school clothing grant and that the Scottish Government is doing all it can to help families cover the costs of school clothing.
This year, the Scottish Government has a new power to set a minimum school clothing grant for the whole of Scotland – and we want them to use it.
Take 5 minutes to message your MSP and tell them what it really costs to clothe a child for school and explaining why you think every child in Scotland has the right to start term warm, comfortable and ready to learn.
School Costs is a new short film jointly sponsored by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and CPAG in Scotland. Directed by Iain Henderson, winner of the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award 2015, the film highlights the struggle of families on low incomes to meet the costs associated with their children attending school.
The testimony of the parents involved is drawn directly from qualitative research conducted as part of our Early Warning System.
Watch the film here
emergency department is being extended to Edinburgh
A successful violence reduction project based at a Glasgow hospital emergency department is being extended to Edinburgh. The Scottish Government is providing £70,000 to extend the Navigator project, run by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, to Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary.
The Navigator programme at Glasgow Royal Infirmary helps patients who have been the victims or perpetrators of violence to make the changes they need to improve their lives.
All 17 schools closed because of structural concerns back in March will welcome back city pupils next week. The final remedial works on Drummond Community High and The Royal High have now been completed by the Edinburgh Schools Partnership which means all pupils will be back in their own schools as normal for the start of the new session next Wednesday.
The confirmation will be a huge relief to pupils, parents and school staff and brings to an end a saga that has dragged on since April.
The first sign that something was wrong came in January, when hundreds of bricks were dislodged from a wall at Oxgangs Primary School during Storm Gertrude. Repairs were carried out and the school reopened within a few days – but was closed again weeks later when an inspection revealed serious concerns about the way the external wall had been constructed when the school was first built 10 years ago.
Oxgangs was part of the controversial Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme that saw 17 schools built or refurbished in a £360m deal between the council and a private finance consortium.
Days later, three more schools – St Peter’s RC Primary, Firrhill High and Braidburn Special School – were also closed after being deemed to be unsafe for pupils and these were followed in April by the remainder of the PPP1 schools, including local primaries Pirniehall, St David’s, Craigroyston and Forthview as well as Rowanfied Special School.
The schools were all built by Miller Construction, which was bought over by Galliford Try in 2014..
In total 17 schools were closed with 7,600 pupils affected as the Council put in place a huge logistical plan to provide alternative arrangements. More than 5,000 children were educated at over 70 different schools and education facilities during the three months until the summer holidays.
Council Leader Andrew Burns said yesterday: “I’m delighted that all of our pupils affected by the closures will be back in their own schools next week as we promised parents we would try to achieve this. We stressed to the Edinburgh Schools Partnership that they should bring forward school reopening dates where possible which has happened.
“Our priority has always been the safety of our pupils and staff and we insisted that ESP and their contractors ensure all our schools are 100% safe to reopen. All the relevant paperwork has been published on our website having been reviewed by an independent expert on behalf of the Council.
“I want again to thank parents and pupils for their patience and understanding and teaching staff for their commitment and flexibility during these difficult past few months.
“The next steps now are to establish exactly what went wrong with these schools. The Council has appointed respected construction and procurement industry expert John Cole CBE to lead an independent inquiry.
“Clear and thorough terms of reference set out exactly what we are aiming to achieve through this inquiry. We want to find out what went wrong and are determined to see what lessons can be learned, not just here in Edinburgh but across Scotland and the UK.”
The independent inquiry is underway and is expected to finish before the end of the year.
Edinburgh by Numbers: Reasons to be cheerful?
Edinburgh continues to be the most prosperous city outside London and has created more jobs through foreign direct investment than any other major UK city outside London, according to the latest Edinburgh by Numbers. Continue reading Edinburgh: a bright and booming city?
