Culture and Communities Convener, Councillor Val Walker writes about enjoying Edinburgh’s green spaces this summer:
With the warm weather upon us (for now at least!), offering a glimpse of the summer ahead, I feel incredibly fortunate to live in a city like Edinburgh – not least given how much green space we have to enjoy.
With 144 parks and green spaces across the city – making up an incredible 49 per cent of Edinburgh’s total area – it’s easy to see why we’re considered the UK’s greenest city.
Of course, we already knew the positive impact our parks on people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing by providing space for exercise, relaxation, social contact with friends and family, and opportunities for children and young people to play – but the Covid pandemic truly highlighted this.
With 38 of our parks recognised by the Green Flag Award scheme, which highlights the quality of our parks and the efforts of those who maintain them (more than the rest of Scotland put together), it’s a case of quantity and quality. And with more trees per resident than any other UK city (712,000 trees vs. 526,000 people), we’re well on our way to becoming a Million Tree City by 2030.
But there’s always more we can do and, through our Edinburgh’s Thriving Green spaces 2050 strategy, we’re committed to safeguarding, preserving, and improving these areas so that people can continue to enjoy them, and communities feel involved in their upkeep. And through our ongoing partnership with Fields in Trust, we’re working hard to ensure our residents are within a ten-minute walk from a protected green space.
However, while people rightly recognise the value of local parks that are convenient to them, they can become places to be avoided or underused if they feel unsafe or if the facilities are of poor quality.
That’s why, when setting the annual council budget in February, we approved an additional £3.5m investment in our infrastructure and facilities.
This includes close to £1.5m on projects to repair and improve paths, walls and bridges across the city, £800,000 committed to permanent toilets in Leith Links, Meadows, and Inverleith park (with further investment in installing temporary facilities across the city until the end of October), ongoing in play parks, with over £200,000 set aside for the new play area and equipment at West Princes Street Gardens, and a further £200,000 allocated to the introduction of a number of park lighting projects.
Hopefully, this highlights our ongoing commitment to preserving and improving our city’s for now and future generations.
If you’re out and about and enjoying these spaces, can I please ask that you to:
Bin your litter: If a bin is full, please take your litter home.
Don’t get caught short: Check where public toilets are located.
Pick up after your dog: We love seeing furry friends enjoying our parks, but remember, the city is a shared space.
Extinguish and bin your BBQ: When enjoying a BBQ, please do not put it directly on the grass, and always fully extinguish BBQs before disposing of them (some parks have BBQ-only bins).
Respect our parks and other users: Our parks are for everyone, young and old.
Please help us to ensure our parks and green spaces thrive and remain clean and welcoming for all this summer.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Game On 29 Jun – 3 Nov 2024 Special Exhibition Gallery, Level 3 Tickets on sale spring 2024
Get set for Game On – the largest interactive exhibition of the history and the culture of video games. Game On, an exhibition conceived and curated by Barbican Immersive, examines the creative and technological advances that have established a new medium and artform. From Sonic the Hedgehog to Mario, explore gaming’s rich history through over 100 playable games from the last five decades.
Cold War Scotland 13 Jul 2024 – 26 Jan 2025 10:00 – 17:00 Special Exhibition Gallery 2, Level 3 Free
Scotland’s unique geography and topography provided a useful base for Allied military preparations and research during the Cold War, a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War.
Cold War Scotland is an output of Materialising the Cold War, a collaborative research project between National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling. The project explores how the Cold War heritage is represented and how museums can adapt to tell this story in future. The exhibition will explore both the visible and invisible legacies of the war in Scotland.
Theravada Buddhism Until 12 Jan 2025 Gallery 3, Level 1 Free
A thought-provoking display charts the history and influence of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition across the world, including its role in Scotland today. The display includes a Buddha on loan from The Dhammapadipa Temple in Edinburgh. The Buddha was designed and made in Thailand in 2013, then later gifted to Temple where it is now used in their garden meditation room.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Insect Week: Marvelous Moths 29 Jun 2024 10:30-15:00 Grand Gallery Free, drop in
Celebrate Insect Week 2024 with family friendly activities at the National Museum of Scotland. Put your entomology skills to the test and discover more about the moth specimens in our collections. Learn about these fascinating insects through art activities and track down moths on display using a bug safari kit.
Insect Week: Women in Entomology 29 Jun 2024 14:00-15:30 Auditorium Ticketed
In celebration of Insect Week 2024, join us for a panel discussion highlighting some of the inspirational women in entomology. Join us for a panel discussion about some of the important women involved in the history and science of entomology. Curator Ashleigh Whiffin will be in discussion with Don Opitz, Associate Professor at DePaul University, moth recorder Katty Baird and budding entomologist Holly Doherty.
Summer Family Fun 1 Jul – 12 Aug Mondays & Fridays 10:30 – 15:30 Grand Gallery and spaces across the museum Free, drop in
Join us every Monday and Friday during the holidays for a range of fun drop-in activities for all the family. Our friendly Enabler team will be bringing our favourite themes to life from dinosaurs to outer space and from ancient Egypt to Vikings. Plus we’ll be powering up with brand new activities inspired by our summer exhibition Game On.
National Museum of Flight East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, EH39 5LF Open daily 10:00 – 16:00
Conservation Hangar Talks Daily 14:00-15:00 Free with museum admission Booking required
See behind the scenes of the work carried out in the museum’s Conservation hangar with these free talks. Find out about objects from the collection that aren’t normally on display and have the chance to see conservators at work.
Insect Week: Moth Hunters 30 Jun – 1 Jul 09:00-12:00 Education space Free with museum admission
Celebrate Insect Week 2024 with family friendly activities at the National Museum of Flight. Inspired by the work of Scottish entomologist and a moth collector Alice Blanche Balfour, we’re celebrating the moths and women of entomology (the study of insects). Join entomologist Katty Baird for an early morning walk around East Fortune Airfield to discover what we’ve caught in our overnight moth traps.
Second World War Satchels 2 Jul – 29 Aug 10:00 – 17:00 Concorde Hangar Free with museum admission
Bring the history of the Second World War to life with our summer activity satchels for adults and families. Pick up one of our summer activity satchels and delve deeper into the history of the Second World War. Separate satchels are available for adult and family visitors. The satchels are free to borrow and can be collected from The Concorde Hangar.
Air Raid Tours 24 Jul – 29 Aug Wed – Fri, 11:00 –11:20 & 13:00 – 13:20 Meet at the shop Free with museum admission
Explore our newly refurbished air raid and blast shelters with our costumed guide.
Before it was home to the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune Airfield was one of the UK’s key military bases during the First and Second World Wars. New for 2024, you can now explore our recently restored Second World War air raid shelter and one of our blast shelters.
Second World War Puzzle Room 24 Jul – 29 Aug Wed – Fri, 14:00 – 16:00 Building 26 Free with museum admission
Problem solving skills and the ability to work out codes were essential skills for people working in the RAF during the Second World War. Work together as a family in our puzzle room and see if you can come up with the answers. Only by solving four different challenges will you know if you’ve got what it takes.
Go full circle at our brand new big event at the National Museum of Flight. Be wowed with 360 stunts from cycle team, The Clan, plus circus displays and lots of have-a-go activities. Join a hoolahoop workshop, try some plate spinning and learn about the science of spheres with STEM science activities. Ticket price includes entry to the whole museum.
National Museum of Rural Life Philipshill Road, East Kilbride, G76 9HR Open 10:00–17:00 daily
Tractor Tots Until Jul 2024 10:15 & 13:30 Various dates Ticketed
Running in blocks of three Friday morning sessions, Tractor Tots offers a fun, focused experience for our younger visitors, introducing them to the museum and farm, and bringing it to life through interactive creative play. Each session will take place in a different location at the museum and working farm, and will feature handling objects from our learning boxes, singing, storytelling, rhymes, actions and sensory play to learn all about life in the countryside.
MooFest 14 & 15 Sep 11:00 – 16:00 Free with museum admission and Annual Pass
Celebrate all things cattle at the National Museum of Rural Life. We’re putting our bovine friends in the spotlight at this weekend of hands-on activities, talks and family fun. Find out all about cows, bulls, milk and meat with our experts, take part in family craft sessions and meet some of the cattle on our working farm.
SCOTLAND’S OLDEST COMMUNITY HEALTH PROJECT CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY
PILTON Community Health Project marked an amazing milestone on Thursday as they celebrated their fortieth birthday.
The ground-breaking local health project, which was launched at a doctor’s surgery on Crewe Road North back in 1984, was the first of it’s kind in Scotland.
Pilton Health Project later moved to bigger premises on West Pilton Park, where the Health Hut housed the innovative Barri Grubb food initiative and was home to the celebrated Western General Action Group campaign, before moving on to their present home on the corner of Pilton Drive North / Boswall Parkway.
My own involvement with the Health Project began in 1990 when the Western General Action Group fought a long campaign to retain Accident and Emergency and maternity/paediatric services at our local hospital.
Sadly Lothian Health Board decided otherwise, but through our persistence we did achieve the establishment of a Minor Injuries Unit at the Western – the first of it’s kind in Scotland.
Despite repeated funding challenges over the years Pilton Community Health Project has continued to provide a wide range of support services to some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people, and Thursday was an opportunity to celebrate a remarkable story.
The project welcomed a visit by health minister Neil Gray and local politicians in the morning and in the afternoon a hardy group of us ‘golden oldie’ original supporters and PHCP staff took part in a wee walk from PCHP HQ to the project’s birthplace (and back again!) – an opportunity to meet up with friends old and new.
Back at the project guests enjoyed refreshments and shared stories and magic memories of some of the amazing characters who have played a part in PCHP’s rich history.
It really was a pleasure to be there – and I’m looking forward to the 50th anniversary party already!
A community project which supports local residents in Kirkliston has teamed up with Tesco and food charity FareShare, to receive surplus food and additional items from the supermarket to provide the community with food products for their community fridge.
Established back in 2022, the Waste Not, Want Not in Kirkliston group is an encouraging and positive community project which helps to divert food from being wasted and creating an environmentally friendly way to offer key support for residents across the town.
The group, which is run by volunteers, offers a multitude of services that help deliver educational and sustainable ways for the local community to access food, whether it’s the community gardens where people can grow food or the community fridge which provides breads, baked goods, meat and dairy products supplied very the Tesco Community Food Connection.
Waste Not, Want Not in Kirkliston receives food every week as part of the Community Food Connection surplus food scheme, which involves Tesco stores and food redistribution charity FareShare.
Elizabeth Pemma Ellis-Huddleston, organiser at Waste Not Want Not in Kirkliston, said: “Thanks to the Community Food Connection scheme, we’ve been able to further supply a variety of food items for residents in the local community to enjoy and prepare enjoyable meals with.
“Our community fridge project has been very positively welcomed by our local residents, who are welcome to access all of our services at Waste Not, Want Not, as we are just here to help any and all people who need it.
“We hope that by offering to help anyone and everyone we can, we can also break down the self consciousness about using our community fridge service as well.”
“We’d like to thank Tesco and FareShare for helping us with this project and I wish to extend our thanks to all of our volunteers, some of which actually joined our team after visiting our group themselves. It’s that sense of community spirit that we find incredibly humbling and affirming.”
The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco doesn’t go to waste and is instead provided to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public.
Tony McElroy, Corporate Communications and Sustainability Leader at Tesco, said: “Working with community groups and schools, such as Waste Not Want Not in Kirkliston, to help them get the food they need is such an important service for us to offer.
“The dedication they have to their local community is amazing, and we are pleased to do what we can to support.
“We firmly believe no good food should go to waste, which is why we began our Community Food Connection scheme. It enables us to ensure our surplus food is put to good use in communities.”
FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. Two-thirds of the organisations it provides food to, support children and families.
Katie Sadler, Head of FareShare Go, said: “The food that Tesco redistributes through FareShare makes a huge difference to people facing food insecurity across the UK.
“We work with thousands of charities and community groups providing essential support to their communities, and receiving a steady stream of food helps them to feed the people who need it most.”
By providing the surplus food to help communities, it is also aiding the environment by ensuring that the food does not end up as landfill.
Charities and community groups that could benefit from the support of the Community Food Connection scheme can find further information at:
Staff, residents, relatives and the local community came together at Queens Manor on Queensferry Road to enjoy an Open Day held at the home on Friday 21st June 2024.
Queens Manor hosted a variety of activities throughout the day, including a tasty BBQ prepared by their hospitality team, musical entertainment, pet therapy and even a surprise visit from a local ice cream van, which were enjoyed by everyone who came to the event.
Staff at Queens Manor made everyone feel welcome and were delighted to see different generations having fun together. Visitors enjoyed plenty of refreshments and fun, such as burgers, hot beverages and tasty trifle prepared by the catering team, who were hard at work making sure that a great time was had by all, as well as furry visits from Doc, Frank & Elvis and musical entertainment from Margo the Butterfly singer – it really was a team effort from all!
Resident, Jean Gillies, said, “I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surrounded by lots of great people, and the refreshments & fun kept flowing into the afternoon. The weather held out until we finished.
“Staff did a great job, not just on the day, but organising the event and getting everyone together. The entertainment was amazing – from the dogs and guineapigs, to the singer and a special shout out to the ice cream man! the van took me back to times I spent with my family at the beach all enjoying 99’s!”
Shannon Cullen, Senior Head of Lifestyle & Enrichment at the home, said: “Staff at Queens Manor are dedicated to making sure that the home is a hub of the local community and residents, and this event, along with all their hard work, has definitely paid off.
“It was a resounding success, with everyone having a great time!”
Queens Manor care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals.
Queens Manor Care Home provides residential care and dementia care for 60 residents from respite care to long term stays.
Virgin Hotels Edinburgh has named local creative, Wendy Helliwell, as its new Artist in Residence, taking up the position from August until October.
The Artist in Residence programme is dedicated to supporting the city’s creative community, offering artists a three-month residency with access to a purpose built art studio, nestled within the old India Buildings’ turret of Virgin Hotels Edinburgh – The Unicorn Room.
The hotel issued an open call for artists earlier this year to apply for the rare opportunity to have a free workspace and showcasing opportunities within the iconic Old Town property. After a rigorous selection process, Wendy Helliwell was awarded the latest Artist in Residence position, with applications now open for creatives to apply for the final vacancy this year.
As a visual artist, Wendy takes inspiration from fashion and pop culture in her work. Primarily self-taught, Wendy incorporates multiple materials, such as fashion magazines and clothing, in a sustainable and innovative way, to create unique, three dimensional art forms. Wendy’s passion for creativity and pushing the boundaries is synonymous with the iconic interior design elements of the hotel.
The position will commence in August, during The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Wendy will be giving discarded Festival materials, such as promotional flyers, a new lease of life to create never before seen art pieces.
These creations will eventually be on sale and displayed on the staircase leading up to the hotel’s stunning Oculus Lounge. This forms part of the valuable offering of Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s Artist in Residence initiative – providing artists with a free gallery space within the hotel and the chance to sell their artwork, with all proceeds going directly to the artist.
While Wendy is working on her latest creations in The Unicorn Room, the hotel will be showcasing her work inspired by the music industry, tying in effortlessly to the heritage of the wider Virgin brand. Work on display will include Wendy’s punk-themed “No Lip” piece which has been created using an upcycled 80’s punk leather jacket and Sex Pistols vinyl.
Wendy was first introduced to Virgin Hotels Edinburgh upon the hotel’s opening, when she was selected by bespoke art consultancy, Visto Artwork, to create artwork for the hotel. Pieces previously commissioned include the iconic “Virgin Lips” which was constructed from one pair of jeans and magazine cuttings, located beside the hotel’s concierge.
Mafalda Albuquerque, General Manager at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, said: “This is a really exciting time for Virgin Hotels Edinburgh as we announce Wendy as our new Artist in Residence. Wendy is unbelievably talented, and we’ve already had the privilege of hosting some of her artwork in the hotel.
“Commencing in August, just in time for Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe, this residency will provide Wendy with a special opportunity to capture Edinburgh at its very best. Guests and visitors can book in to meet Wendy and go on an exclusive tour of her studio, to see where the magic unfolds.
“The Artist in Residence programme marks our commitment to supporting the vibrant creative community in Edinburgh. Applications are open for creatives to apply to be our final Artist in Residence of the year and we’re looking forward to seeing the submissions. There has been some incredible talent so far”.
Wendy Helliwell, said:“I couldn’t contain my excitement when I spotted the open-call for Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s Artist in Residence. It has come at such an opportune time and I feel so inspired to create some exciting, new pieces.
“I don’t come from a traditional art background and so to have this opportunity to share my art with the world is truly amazing. I’m looking forward to meeting guests and visitors and taking them on a tour of my new studio space. I can’t wait to get started”.
Applications are now open for aspiring artists who would like to be considered for the next Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s Artist in Residence spot. For more information please email: artist.inresidence@virginhotels.com.
Guests booked in for Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s Afternoon Tea experience in The Oculus Lounge will have the opportunity to not only view Wendy’s masterpieces but also go on a private tour of her studio space.
For reservations for Virgin Hotels Edinburgh’s exquisite Afternoon Tea in the stunning Oculus lounge, please email: afternoontea@virginhotels.com
Follow along with Virgin Hotels Edinburgh on social media here:
A celebratory display to mark Bruce McLean’s 80th birthday opens tomorrow (Saturday 29 June) at Modern One in Edinburgh.
Taking over room 20, Bruce McLean: I Want My Crowntraces the Glasgow-born artist’s humorous, provocative and engaging six-decade long inquiry into sculpture. Through works made across a range of media including photography, performance, painting, printmaking, film, and ceramics, the one room display invites you to challenge your thinking about sculpture and expand your ideas of what art can be.
Sparked by childhood curiosity and challenging what he had been taught about sculpture as a student at St Martin’s School of Art in the 1960s, McLean’s artistic career has been characterised by his desire to break the rules. Encompassing both wry satire and an earnest inquiry into the nature of art, his work is known for its intelligence, as much as its humorous and rebellious spirit.
The works in the display question many of our traditional assumptions about what sculpture should be, who it is for, how it is made, and how it is shown. In so doing, McLean is also asking broader questions about the role of art in our everyday lives, and in particular the role of the artist.
An early target of his was the leading British sculptor Henry Moore, who gained international celebrity status in the post-war period of British sculpture.
McLean’s photographic work Fallen Warrior (1969/2011) is an image of the artist ‘falling’ onto a ‘pedestal’, an idea he picks up again in Pose Work for Plinths (1971) in which McLean, as a living sculpture, tries out a number of poses across three plinths, the traditional means of showing sculptural works.
The piece references Moore’s own sculpture Falling Warrior (1956–7), in which a male figure clutching a shield is shown falling, heroically, on the battlefield.
Challenges to hierarchy and status are constant themes of his work. When, aged 27, he was offered a solo exhibition at Tate Gallery, London, he seized on it as an opportunity to make a radically subversive statement about art world systems, conventions, and power structures.
Wryly titling the exhibition King for a Day, it comprised a list of ideas for 1000 prospective artworks, which McLean presented as a one-day ‘retrospective’ in the form of a catalogue.
Multiple copies of this catalogue will be displayed, allowing visitors to pore over McLean’s ‘homages’, ‘studies’, and ‘serial’ works – his parodic take on the contemporary art world’s continual need to define and categorise artworks.
Decades after King for a Day, McLean revisited the theme with I Want My Crown (2013). This video installation, projected large-scale in the gallery, brings the artist into the space and shows him dancing to a 1973 song of the same title by British musician Kevin Coyne as he gestures to a crown sculpture on a shelf above his head.
Another recurrent theme in McLean’s art is that behaviour – both private and public – is a function of the environment around us.
This notion takes centre stage in the architectural projects he has worked on over the years. In 1994, initiated by Glasgow City Council, a brief was set for a redevelopment of Glasgow’s Argyle Street.
McLean’s hyper-real proposal to turn the street into a bustling interactive ‘theatre’ won the competition in 1996, though the project was never realised. Visitors to I Want My Crown can enjoy the paper collages that lay out McLean’s playful vision.
The proposal included an Irn Bru bar, a Tunnocks Tower offering periscope views of the city, and a helium-filled fabric cloud sculpture to shelter those below from the Scottish rain.
Also featured is Constructed Painting (2024), comprised of six paintings made between 1990 and 2014, each stacked and propped against the gallery wall like the components of a large-scale collage.
The paintings reference sculptures by well-known artists of the past and present. Enlarging photocopied images of their sculptures, McLean made cardboard cutouts, their huge scale signalling their overbearing influence on his early work and art school training.
Staging different groupings in his studio, McLean photographed the cutouts, then made paintings after the photographs. The result is a hybrid between sculpture, performance, photography and painting. Testament to McLean’s dynamic creative energy, the configuration of these paintings will change multiple times during the display’s run.
Ever the innovator, McLean continues at 80 to question and expand the meaning and resonance of sculpture, allowing it to remain as vital and relevant for another generation.
Bruce McLeansaid: “I’d like to thank Leila Riszko, Simon Groom, and all the staff at the National Galleries of Scotland for putting together this show with great care, sensitivity and patience. Good work!
“My next project will be Passing a Law Sculpture. The law will be that every 17 year old person in Britain goes to art school for a one year foundation course focusing on drawing in all its many aspects. Everything in the world is drawn before it is created.”
Leila Riszko, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland,said: “We’re really excited about this fantastic opportunity to bring the creative energy of Bruce’s work to the attention and admiration of a new generation.
“It has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with him on such a dynamic presentation of his work – as befits a celebratory exhibition in honour of the artist’s 80th birthday!”
Scotland’s European Championships are officially over following a heart-breaking 100th minute defeat at the hands of Hungary.
But while 200,000 Scottish fans will be feeling the hangover of an underwhelming tournament, Euro 2024 continues in Germany and the question is, who are they supporting as their second team for the remainder of the competition?
Betway conducted data through social media tool Brandwatch to determine which teams remaining have received the most positive comments online since Euro 2024 started.
The positive sentimental data can reveal the following for fans in Scotland:
Hosts Germany have 4,792 positive comments, putting them in first place.
Arch-rivals England are in second place with 4,354.
France, Ukraine and Spain complete the top five while Hungary, who knocked Scotland out, are in sixth spot.
The top 10 most popular teams for Euro 2024 in Scotland are as follows:
Rank
Team
Positive Sentimental Data
1
Germany
4,792
2
England
4,354
3
France
1,509
4
Ukraine
1,345
5
Spain
765
6
Hungary
762
7
Portugal
740
8
Switzerland
720
9
Italy
619
10
Denmark
419
ENGLAND? Shurely shome mistake! It’s Austria for me! – Ed.
The City of Edinburgh Council is taking urgent steps to ensure all residents can cast their vote in next Thursday’s UK Parliament General Election.
From today, (28 June), and over the weekend, voters who have yet to receive their postal votes, and will not be at home next week, can go to the City Chambers and have their voting pack re-issued. A polling booth will be set up for those wishing to cast their vote there and then in privacy.
The facility will be open until 5pm today and then from 9am to 5pm tomorrow and Sunday. Voters should come to the City Chambers on the High Street, with photo ID, and a replacement pack can be issued.
The distribution of postal votes nationally has been hit by delays, but the Royal Mail has confirmed that all packs should be delivered today or tomorrow.
We’re prioritising those who will not be at home next week. If you will be at home next week, please be wait for delivery and only contact us early next week if you are still without your pack.
Please contact elections@edinburgh.gov.uk in the first instance or call the helpline on 0131 200 2315. As above we will be open for re-issues Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm and into next week if necessary.
We’ll be putting extra resources into our Customer Team over the weekend to deal with these enquiries.
We’re encouraging everyone else to make their way on foot or by public transport, but Blue Badge holders will be able to park in the City Chambers quadrangle this weekend.
Returning Officer for Edinburgh, Paul Lawrence said:“I appreciate the concerns of voters on this issue and my absolute priority is to ensure everyone has the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to vote in this General Election.
“That’s why we’ve taken the decision to put in extra resources and open the City Chambers this weekend. Please only attend if you haven’t received your postal vote and you’re going on holiday or won’t be at home next week.
“I’d encourage anyone who has already received their postal vote to return it as soon as possible, through Royal Mail.
“The timing of this election has been challenging as have other circumstances beyond our control, but our teams are working hard to ensure it passes off as smoothly and successfully as possible.”
