Local groups unite to say: NO CUTS!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Edinburgh Council is planning to cut millions from its budget over the next three years. These cuts will affect all our public services.

We say

NO CUTS

to our schools, nurseries, community centres, youth services, libraries, museums, social and day care services.

Join local groups and communities from across Edinburgh to save our services on budget day.

Thursday 12 February 2015

8.30 am – 9.45 am

City Chambers, High Street.

For transport to and from the Chambers call Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre on 552 5700.

Stop the cuts. Save our Services. Defend public sector jobs.

North Edinburgh is standing together and fighting back.

P2TP CUTS LEAFLET 2015 5

Womens International Group

Power to the People Group

Royston Wardieburn Community Centre

Council budget cuts: meeting at Royston Wardieburn next week

Womens International Group (WIG) are holding a follow up meeting from our 9 December one – the council budget Cuts will be announced soon.

The meeting will take place on:

Wednesday 14 January

at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre at 6-30pm.

We are hoping the local councillors will be in attendance to be able to answer questions regarding the cuts .

All welcome

Anna Hutchison (on behalf of WIG)

COUNCIL BUDGET NEWS:

It was announced this week that more than 1,200 council jobs could go over the next three years under proposals to plug the city’s £67m funding gap.

The council insists there will be no compulsory redundancies and said the planned ‘transformation of services’ was designed to make them more efficient and customer focused.

City council Finance Convener Cllr Alistair Rankin said: “Of course change on this scale brings challenges but we need to take decisive action now to meet our targets and create a stronger, leaner, more agile council to better serve the people of Edinburgh.”Among the proposals under consideration are offering more services online, having a neighbourhood approach for face-to-face services and cutting grants to the voluntary sector by as much as 10%.The latest restructuring proposals will be considered by the Finance and Resources committee on Thursday and consultation with staff and trade unions is also being planned.

See below for relevant Council reports:

Item_7.3___BOLD_business_cases___delivering_a_lean_and_agile_Council

Item_8.1___Organise_to_Deliver___Next_Steps

Lord Provost launches Fair Trade Awards

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, Donald Wilson, has launched the Fair Trade Awards 2015. Now in their ninth year, the awards recognise the difference that residents, businesses and schools make in promoting fair trade in Edinburgh.

The Lord Provost will invite nominations (or in the case of schools, applications) in four categories – Achievement Award, Newcomer Award, Faith Community Award and Fair Trade Schools Award – before the closing date of 13 February 2015.

The awards will be presented during Edinburgh’s Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 23 February to 8 March 2015.

Lord Provost, Donald Wilson, said: “I am very proud of Edinburgh’s long-standing commitment to fair trade and these awards provide us with an excellent opportunity to praise the generous contribution individuals and businesses are making to fair trade throughout the city.

“I would encourage people to have a think about where they shop or where they eat and whether that business or organisation promotes fair trade – and, if so, get nominating!”

In 2014, the capital saw its fair trade status renewed for the tenth year in a row. last year’s winners included the Fair Business Alliance Ltd, who introduced fair trade plantain crisps to the market, and Gorgie Dalry Parish Church which was recognised for promoting fair trade across the city. Their Saltyard coffee shop serves fair trade hot drinks and snacks and promotes Created Gifts, Tearfund’s fair trade range, while a mural at their entrance demonstrates their support for fair trade to all those who enter.

Awarded in the schools category last year was St George’s Junior School, whose pupils engaged with local shops to stock fair trade products.

Visit the Council’s Fair Trade webpage for further information and to make an online nomination for the 2015 awards.

The award categories in full:

Achievement Award

This award is for any organisation, business or individual based in Edinburgh showing outstanding commitment to fair trade over a long period of time and has enhanced fair trade within the city.

Newcomer Award

This award is for any organisation, business or individual operating with fair trade in Edinburgh for five years or less which has adopted fair trade products as a key part of the business and promotes fair trade in their marketing.

Faith Community Award

This award is for a faith community in Edinburgh that can demonstrate a strong commitment to fair trade and provide evidence of fair trade activities in the faith community.

Fair Trade School Award

This award is for any school that can demonstrate a strong commitment to fair trade activities throughout the school and its community. Each school must apply through the school community, for example, by parent/teacher council, Eco schools team, fair trade group, for consideration. The school can be working towards Fairtrade status but should not yet have received it.

Small Is Beautiful

This new award is for small organisations or business projects based in Edinburgh, which promotes Fair Trade or Fair Trade products.

Council weather advice: be prepared

Well, winter’s here and the city council is offering advice on how to stay safe as the bad weather bites …

The Council’s website has information on what to do when gales and storms are forecast, such as parking vehicles in garages or away from buildings and trees etc or securing loose objects that could be blown away.

As temperatures look set to plummet once again towards the end of the week with snow in the forecast as well, residents can also log on to see an interactive map of salt bins across the city and find out the priority streets and pavements for gritting patrols. You can now use online forms to report problems with salt bins or to request a new one for your area.

Preparing for wintry conditions is strongly recommended and the Ready for Winter web page includes tips such as investing in a good, strong snow shovel and arranging a winter health check for your car.

During severe weather, remember to check on your neighbours, particularly if they are older or live alone. Keep up to date with roads, schools and travel information on the website, via Twitter and local radio.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “Winter is definitely here now and the Council has been hard at work for many weeks getting the Capital as prepared as possible for whatever the weather has in store for us.

“We’ve got 16,000 tonnes of salt stockpiled – more than three times the amount we used in the whole of winter 2013/14 – and gritting teams have been patrolling and on standby since late October, responding to the detailed and regular forecasts we receive from the Met Office.

“As always, we’d remind residents to do whatever they need to do to get themselves ‘winter ready’ and would urge everyone to look out for those in their community who might be less able to look after themselves.”

WIG call public meeting to debate council budget crisis

Local campaigners the Womens Internation Group (WIG) are to hold a public meeting to discuss the city council’s budget crisis. The event will take place in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre tomorrow (Tuesday 9 December) at 6.30pm. All welcome.

Council Cancels Christmas flyers 4

Full details of the event will follow when we have them, but here’s some background to where we are and why the local meeting has been called:

Last week public spending watchdog the Accounts Commission expressed concern over Edinburgh’s budget control – the city council must find savings of of £138m by 2017.

The Accounts Commission said Edinburgh needs to develop a comprehensive strategy for managing its staff – and on Friday it was revealed that city councillors are to discuss radical new proposals for service provision at Thursday’s full council meeting.

The council’s last major internal reorganisation in the 2000s saw the creation of ‘super departments’ – Education and Social Work were merged to become Children and Families, while roads and pavements, environmental services, housing, refuse collection and trading standards all became part of the remit of a huge new Services for Communities department.

As well as delivering a ‘joined-up’ approach, those new structures were introduced to devolve more power and decision-making to front-line staff to address new community planning arrangements.

Now, following a comprehensive review and facing severe budget pressure, Chief Executive Sue Bruce has produced a new blueprint to restructure the Council’s operations and it’s thought that hundreds of middle manager posts could be under threat as part of the proposed reorganisation.

Councillors will debate the proposals on Thursday before they go out to consultation with unions – the council currently operates a policy of no compulsory redundancies.

Council Leader Councillor Andrew Burns said: “It’s essential that we transform how we deliver council services to an ever growing number of residents, focusing more on their priorities while addressing the significant financial challenges we face.

“A further report from the Chief Executive makes the case for delivering services through four ‘localities’, or neighbourhoods, giving front-line staff the ability to make decisions more suited to the local community and their particular needs. It also outlines a proposal for creating a ‘Business and Customer Services’ corporate centre which would provide the necessary guidance and support.

“Councillors will be asked to select one from three models outlined in the report, following which consultation with staff, Trades Unions and relevant partners will begin.”

Councillor Burns also urged citizens to have their say on Edinburgh’s budget. He said: “Over the past two months, we’ve been inviting views on how we invest and save money. The consultation has attracted significant attention, with over 1,400 people completing our budget planner online, and a further 300 submitting comments by post and email. This is already more than four times the number of responses we received last year.

“Last week, attention turned to our Question Time event, giving members of the public the opportunity to quiz our panel of senior councillors on the budget proposals that mattered to them. It was a lively debate with the Chair, Evening News editor Frank O’Donnell, taking contributions from the floor and from those watching at home. Archive footage of the event is available to view on our website.

“Please take the time to have your say on the proposals, if you haven’t already. The consultation period runs until 19 December, and we will consider all feedback prior to setting the final 2015/16 Budget in February.”

Key_Facts_and_Figures_2014_2015

Edinburgh's Hogmanay programme announced

“Edinburgh will be the greatest place on earth to say goodbye to 2014 and bring in the bells for Hogmanay” – Cllr Steve Cardownie, Festival & Events Champion

Organisers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay have announced the glittering programme of events for this year’s three day festival. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay will run from Tuesday 30 December to Thursday 1 January 2015, and is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors from around the world.

The Festival, produced by Unique Events on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, will kick off with the hugely popular Torchlight Procession on Tuesday 30 December which is supported by EventScotland. A complete sell-out for the last few years, this event is expected to attract over 30,000 participants and 8,000 torchbearers in the procession which winds through the city centre from George IV Bridge to the finale which can be viewed from Calton Hill as well as Waterloo Place where there will be additional entertainment. In this centenary year of the start of World War I, a contribution from the sale of torches will be donated to Erskine.

The flagship Concert in the Gardens on Wednesday 31 December will turn West Princes Street Gardens into THE party with Björn Again, the world renowned Australian ABBA Show kicking off the evening, followed by Grammy award winning dance/R&B superstars Soul II Soul closing their worldwide 25th anniversary tour and headliner Lily Allen who, on the last date of her international tour, will ensure the audience is partying through the bells at midnight. Enclosure tickets have already sold out.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay presents the biggest ever Hot Dub Time Machine at the World Famous Street Party. The time-travelling dance party which usually sees in New Year in Sydney, returns to Edinburgh to celebrate New Year for the first time in the Home of Hogmanay. 75,000 revellers across the arena will travel back to 1954 and then Moonwalk, Mashed Potato and Macarena their way through the bells and into 2015 with a banging song from each year relayed from the Rewinder Stage on the Mound across screens the length of Princes Street.

This year the Street Party welcomes a stellar Scottish line-up with a headline performance on the Waverley Stage from UK festival-favourites Twin Atlantic, joined by the winners of this year’s Mercury Prize, Edinburgh’s own alternative hip hop group Young Fathers, and Indie champions The Twilight Sad.

Audiences at the Scottish Stage will enjoy performances from Scotland’s chanteuse extraordinaire singer-songwriter Eddi Reader with special guests Radio 2 Folk Award nominated Breabach and the band led by Scottish piping phenomenon Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson.

At the Keilidh on the Mound revellers will be birling through the bells to The Smashers (featuring members of Rura), Hugh MacDiarmid’s Haircut and The Sensational Jimi Shandrix Experience.

Revellers will enjoy countdown firework displays at 9pm, 10pm and 11pm rising to the crescendo of the spectacular Midnight Moment as the fireworks lift from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill. Followed by the world’s largest rendition of Auld Lang Syne as old friends and new join hands across the arena to sing Burn’s anthem.

All stages are live from 9pm to 1am but the party starts from 7pm throughout the Street Party arena with bars, rides and attractions.

Free NightBus services will run throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians for revellers at the Street Party and throughout the City Centre, supported by Lothian Buses and Johnnie Walker. These safe rides home are part of the Join the Pact global responsible drinking initiative from Johnnie Walker which has secured over one million personal commitments from people across the world to never to drink and drive.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Festivals and Events Champion at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Edinburgh will be the greatest place on earth to say goodbye to 2014 and bring in the bells for Hogmanay. From the Street Party to the Keilidh, the Concert in the Gardens to the Loony Dook, this is going to be a jam-packed three day festival of fun.

“Every year, people travel from all over the world to experience Edinburgh’s midnight moment, and this year all eyes will yet again be on the Capital as locals and visitors come together to celebrate. With performances from Lily Allen and Mercury prize-winners Young Fathers, it’s also one of the best outdoor concerts in Britain. Local residents planning to celebrate New Year on their doorstep can snap up an early bird discount on tickets, but be quick – the discount will only apply until 28 November.”

Pete Irvine, Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said ““The Street Party boasts the world’s biggest open air dance floor and this year we really are going to party, including at The Concert – we should say Party – in the Gardens. On the other stages we’ve got the perfect Scottish line-up and this reverberates the next day at SCOT.LANDS where 100 artists across 11 venues will be part of what is probably Scotland’s biggest free festival. And it’s still only the first day of the year!”

On New Year’s Day, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay presents Scot:Lands – incredible new worlds hidden in 11 beautiful buildings and outdoor spaces in the city’s Old Town, where audiences can discover the very best in music, art and theatre, created and curated by Scotland’s most innovative artists, arts organisations and musicians: a festival in itself – all free. Scot:Lands is supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.

Also on New Year’s Day revellers can work off the excess of the night afore with a dip in the River Forth in the annual Queensferry Loony Dook. Starting with a Dookers Parade through South Queensferry featuring pipers and a host of entertainment the brave, or daft, Dookers will take the chilly plunge for charity under the world renowned Forth Bridge. For those not brave enough to get their feet wet, there are plenty of vantage points to watch the action and spectators are welcomed.

The award winning #Blogmanay was conceived in 2012 as a means of using travel bloggers and a high-impact social media campaign to showcase the unique experience of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, whilst using the festival as a gateway to explore and discover the delights of visiting Scotland, the ‘Home of Hogmanay’ in winter.

This year #Blogmanay is back again, encouraging locals, visitors and attractions across the city from 23 November to 5 January to create a huge bank of live digital content – blogs, reviews, videos, photographs and tweets, highlighting Edinburgh & Scotland as a premier winter destination. This year guest bloggers will be joining #Blogmanay from across Europe, North America, China and Australia and will participate in the award-winning campaign which since 2013 has generated over 150 million twitter impressions.

Tickets for all events at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay are on sale – full details can be found at www.edinburghshogmanay.com.

The early bird ticket offer for Edinburgh residents will close on Friday 28 November. Until then, anyone living in an EH postcode can buy their Street Party ticket for the reduced price of £16 plus booking fee.

Council offices on the move

1 Cockburn Street is closing

Council services currently based at 1 Cockburn Street are moving. The building will close at 3.40pm on Friday 28 November.

City Centre and Leith Neighbourhood Office

From 8.30am on Monday 1 December, the City Centre and Leith Neighbourhood can be found at Customer Hub, 249 High Street

0131 529 7061

Services from here include:

paying Council Tax and rent
housing, including bidding on properties through Key to Choice
reporting anti-social behaviour or environmental crime
parks and green spaces
roads issues.

Or you can access these services at our Leith Office, Leith Library, 28-30 Ferry Road

0131 529 6170

Homeless and Housing Support Services

From 9am on Monday 1 December, Homeless and Housing Support Services can be found at

1A Parliament Square

0131 529 7368

Services from here include:

housing advice
housing options
temporary accommodation
support to remain in your own home
immigration and asylum support.

Community meeting to discuss Granton Mill vandalism

West Pilton/West Granton Community Council has organised a special community meeting to discuss vandalism in the Granton Mill area.

The meeting will take place on

TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER from 6.30 – 8pm

in Craigroyston Community High School

Police, council officials and councillors have been invited to the event and a council Community Safety officer will report on what steps are being taken to tackle the problems.

The meeting also offers an opportunity to meet with other concerned residents and tenants who are working for the betterment of the area, and community council secretary Willie Black hopes Granton Mill’s residents will attend, get involved and make a difference.

“Why not come along to the meeting and have your say? With your help we can all make Granton Mill a place where everyone can be proud to live and work”, he said.

For further information contact Willie Black (Secretary) on 07515686421 or email w.black@blueyonder.co.uk

Community Council Public Meeting

EVOC thinkSpace event: Balancing the Books

Monday 24 November, 1 – 3pm

City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, Business Centre

At this thinkSpace event, we will be joined by Councillors Burns, Rankin, Child & Cook, as well as Hugh Dunn, Head of Finance at CEC, to take us through the Council’s budget proposals for 2015/16 and into the future.

Full details of the event are available here.

Please book in advance by emailing dianne.morrison@evoc.org.uk to reserve your place.

Really hope you can make this important event – the sector needs to make its voice heard during the consultation period.

Play your part in active travel planning

Local councillor Lesley Hinds outlined initiatives to keep the city moving at last week’s Inverleith Community Conference. You can be involved …

A recruitment drive is now under way for members of two groups involved in developing active travel policy for Edinburgh.

The Council is setting up a new Active Travel Forum, to be chaired by Transport Convener Councillor Lesley Hinds (above), which will be supplemented by a Cycling Forum and a Walking Forum.

Applications are now being sought from four members of the public to join the Cycling and Walking Forum (ie eight in total), alongside one lobby group representative for each group.

The Council is also looking for a business representative to join the Active Travel Forum, to give a perspective on active travel and staff commuting.

Councillor Adam McVey, Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, will chair both the Cycling and Walking Forums. He said: “This is a great opportunity for anyone who’s interested in active travel in Edinburgh. We want these forums to reflect a broad range of viewpoints to help us develop new policies and design principles for future walking and cycling initiatives. If you’ve got ideas on how we can do things differently or if you just want to play a bigger role in the City’s active travel plans, we’d love to hear from you.”

The full membership of the Cycling and Walking Forums will be made up of existing Transport Forum members, elected members and officers from the Council’s Transport division.

The first meetings of the Active Travel Forum, Cycling Forum and Walking Forum will take place on Wednesday 26 November 2014.

To apply, complete the online application form by Friday 14 November.