Tag: city council

More support for Edinburgh’s Ukrainian community

Funding announced ahead of Independence Day of Ukraine

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC), Volunteer Edinburgh, The Welcoming Project, Feniks and the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain’s (AUGB) Edinburgh branch are sharing in more than £200,000 from the Scottish Government’s Ukraine Programme funding pot.

Migration Minister Emma Roddick said: “People all over Scotland, and particularly in Edinburgh, have welcomed those fleeing the war in Ukraine into their communities, their schools and workplaces and their homes.

“Third sector organisations have been at the heart of this warm welcome, supporting Ukrainians every step of the way. They have hosted English lessons, created social hubs and helped people to access local services.

“They have also showcased what can be achieved when national and local government, and the third sector work together, and this funding will help make sure this important partnership working continues.

“As we look ahead to the Independence Day of Ukraine, our message to Ukrainians remains clear: we stand with you, and we want Scotland to be your home for as long as you need it.”   

The City of Edinburgh Council Leader Cammy Day said: “Third sector organisations here in Edinburgh have been a cornerstone of the partnership effort to support displaced Ukrainians over the last 18 months.

“I’m sure I speak on behalf of all colleagues when I say that they have made a real and tangible difference to the lives of the people who have fled their country following Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.

“It is right and proper that these organisations are set to benefit from the Scottish Government’s Ukraine Programme funding.

“I have seen firsthand the difference that these organisations make in our communities across a wealth of different areas. From language classes to support with health and wellbeing to helping people into work and education and so much more their impact cannot be understated.

“I look forward to working closely with our third sector partners as we move forward in supporting our Ukrainian friends in the capital.”

Details of organisations outside Edinburgh receiving funding will be confirmed in due course.

EACC: Community Engagement tops the agenda at August meeting

EDINBURGH ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COUNCILS

NEXT MEETING: Thursday 31 Aug 2023: 18.50 for 19.00 on Microsoft Teams.

Speakers:

Andrew Field: CEC; Head of Community Engagement and Empowerment;

Helen Bourquin: CEC; Manager, Community Engagement and Empowerment.

Topic:

The roll-out of Edinburgh’s Locality Improvement Plans 2023-28.

Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, the Edinburgh Partnership is required to develop and deliver Locality Improvement Plans (LIPs) for each of the four localities in the city.

Work on this is already underway in the North-West and is building-out elsewhere.

I’ve invited Andrew and Helen to talk through:

The scope and target outcomes of the LIPs;

The community consultation process intended to shape the right priorities for each locality; and

Where the LIPs stand currently in terms of their early progress.

Here is the screen meeting link:

Microsoft Teams meeting

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 357 770 829 32

Passcode: yR9Kg8

Hope you can join us.

For the diary:

Tuesday 12 September at 19.00, on Teams.

Roger Colkett (Tollcross CC) is on the EACC Members’ Board and covers Licensing issues. He sits on the Edinburgh Licensing Forum.

He will host a one-hour screen meeting and invites all community council Licensing Leads to join him to chat through what is currently happening on the city’s Licensing front.

I’ll issue a reminder in two weeks or so, along with the meeting link. For now, please make sure your community council colleagues looking after Licensing have this message.

Ken Robertson

Secretary

secretary@edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk

Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC) 

The EACC website homepage is:

Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk)

Bringing Edinburgh’s LGBTQ+ stories into the light

Museums & Galleries Edinburgh has recently completed a partnership project which aims to share Edinburgh’s unique stories of LGBTQ+ history with digital and real-life visitors.

Curators have been working with Rowan Rush-Morgan, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, to make digital object records more accessible for audiences and to share key objects in a digital exhibition.

The project, hosted by Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, and funded by the Scottish Graduate School of Arts & Humanities, focuses on the Remember When? Project, which collected objects from 2004 to 2006.

The collection includes posters, magazines, t-shirts, badges, and larger items including the distinctive hand painted sign of Lavender Menace, the first LGBT bookshop in Scotland. The collections are stored at the Museum Collections Centre in Broughton.

The exhibition – Our Rainbow Past: LGBTQ+ objects from Edinburgh – launched this week on the Our Town Stories platform.

Culture and Communities Convener, Councillor Val Walker, said: “Museums & Galleries Edinburgh is proud to reflect our diverse communities in our venues, events, and exhibitions.

“Partnership projects like Rowan’s enable us to access expertise which helps us and our visitors to see our collections in a new light.

“The important contribution of the LGBTQ+ community to Edinburgh is showcased brilliantly in the new digital exhibition. We plan to keep collecting objects which tell the story of LGBTQ+ Edinburgh, and to keep sharing them with our visitors.

“We’re so excited to be able to share some of the most iconic objects from our LGBTQ+ collection online. New photography has really brought the objects to life, while Rowan’s research has added depth to the stories. Anyone with an interest in the LGBTQ+ life of Edinburgh and how far we’ve come in the journey towards equality and inclusion will love the exhibition.”

Rowan Rush-Morgan, Project Lead and PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The Remember When? Project was groundbreaking at the time, bringing together objects, archives, and interviews to give a complete picture of LGBTQ+ life in Edinburgh.

“My placement was designed to make sure the collections database uses the correct terminology to allow researchers and the public to search for the stories from the collection important to them. We also wanted to highlight some of the star objects in an online exhibition, which was great fun to put together.”

You can visit the Our Town Stories exhibition here.

The Remember When? Project was an oral and community history project carried out between July 2004 and July 2006. The project was run jointly by the City of Edinburgh Council and the Living Memory Association and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the City of Edinburgh Council and Lesbian & Gay Switchboard.

The project documented the lives and achievements of Edinburgh’s LGBT people, past and present. It involved over 60 volunteers, culminating in the 2006 exhibition Rainbow City, shown at the City Art Centre, and a book of the same name. Part of the project involved collecting LGBT memorabilia, which was then added to the collections of Museums & Galleries Edinburgh.

Waterfront Event: You said, We did

Live around Granton Waterfront? We asked for your views on proposals for the 1st phase of our £1.3bn regeneration of the area.

Come to Granton Station Building, Granton Station Square, on Wednesday 23 August from 4pm – 7pm to find out how we have taken your views on board.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/grantonevent

Cuppa with a Councillor

FRIDAY 18th AUGUST from 9.15 – 11am

at PILTON COMMUNITY HEALTH PROJECT

Just drop in on Friday morning, no appointment needed.

A warm welcome, a cuppa and a listening ear with your local councillor Stuart Dobbin for anyone living in North Edinburgh looking for advice 

#Listening 

#community

Education Convener: Welcome to the start of the new school year

Education, Children and Families Convener, Councillor Joan Griffiths, extends a warm welcome to all our young people, families, carers and teaching staff with the start of the new school year today:

Cllr Griffiths said: “It’s that exciting time of the school year as the first day of the new term starts after the summer holidays. For many of our young people this will be their first experience of being in one of our early years settings, Primary One or S1.

“It can be quite daunting having to settle in new surroundings but I know all our amazing staff will do everything they can to make their first day as welcoming as possible.

“I hope everyone had a fantastic summer break and was able to relax and enjoy the holidays. I want to wish everyone a lovely first day back at school and a successful and enjoyable year ahead.”

Gas engineers re-enact historic lunch at Granton gasholder

Gas engineers gathered in Granton Waterfront yesterday to re-enact a historic lunch which took place prior to the iconic Granton gasholder being put into use in 1901.

Last week, the City of Edinburgh Council announced that the bell that floated up as water filled the gasholder in Granton Waterfront, has been taken apart. 

The work carried out by McLaughlin & Harvey is part of the ongoing restoration works using £16.4m from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund. The money is being used to restore the original 76 x 46 metre frame to look like new.

Historic records on the original lunch said that attendees were taken ‘by special train’  to a ‘special station’ built for the gasworks in Granton where more than 50 members were met by ‘the Edinburgh and Leith Gas Commissioner’.

The documents go on to describe the gasholder as ‘a works that promises to be a model of structural beauty and mechanical ingenuity’.

The station mentioned in the documents is the former Granton Station which has been completely refurbished and will be managed from this year by social enterprise charity Wasps Studios, who work across Edinburgh and Scotland, to provide affordable workspace for artists and the creative industries. 

The newly created Granton Station Square in front of the building will also be host to events and local community activity events in the coming years. 

Using a further £1.2m from the Scottish Government, the Council plan to open up the area to create a new and exciting multifunctional public space within the gasholder frame as part of their wider £1.3bn regeneration project to create a new sustainable coastal town at Granton Waterfront.

Council leader Cammy Day said:  “The gasholder is so much more than a giant steel structure and is steeped in local history. I’m really pleased that the industry is reenacting the original lunch in this way creating another event for the history books.

“The gasholder can be seen for miles around so I’m very excited about our plans to transform it to serve the local community and visitors with a completely different purpose as a place for people to enjoy arts, sports, leisure and culture for years to come.

“We will make sure the gasholder becomes the centrepiece of our wider £1.3bn regeneration of the area with thousands of environmentally friendly homes, well connected to the rest of city, culture and art spaces and more planned.”

McLaughlin & Harvey Contracts Manager Graham Brown said: “We were delighted to host the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers at our Granton Gas Holder project today to mark the luncheon held on-site back in 1901.

“The gas holder has an interesting and rich history which we are delighted to be adding to the next chapter of with our restoration works.”

IGEM CEO Ollie Lancaster said: “It’s a genuine delight to have the opportunity to visit such a special gasholder in Granton, Edinburgh, which has been used for many years to keep homes warm, put hot food on the table and power businesses in the region.

“This stunning landmark has played a significant contribution to balancing local energy supply and demand since it was commissioned, shortly after the 1901 luncheon my colleagues from yesteryear enjoyed.

“The gas industry has a rich history that we should celebrate, like we are doing today, while we also work hard to secure an affordable energy system for the future and develop the role of hydrogen in the transformation of our sector.”

Celebrations as Edinburgh pupils receive exam results

Levels of attainment for pupils across Edinburgh remain above those achieved before the Covid pandemic, while passes in vocational courses continue to climb, according to exam results released yesterday.

More than 9500 pupils in the Capital received their results from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) on Tuesday (8 August). 2023 was the second year since 2019 that pupils sat formal exams and attainment remains high in comparison. Different assessment models were used in 2020 and 2021 due to the impact of the pandemic.

Passes in National Progression Awards (NPA), vocational courses equivalent to National passes, have also increased, with 48 NPA courses leading to 941 passes at levels 4, 5 and 6. This is compared to 26 NPA courses and 296 passes in 2019.

A total of 51,941 resulted awards were certificated for 9,583 candidates (includes special schools, adults and mainstream secondary pupils) in over 85 subjects ranging from Accounting to Urdu.

National 5s saw passes (A-C grades) of 78% (up one percentage point from 2019 but down one percentage point compared to last year) and Highers saw passes of 78% (up two percentage points from 2019 though three percentage points lower than 2022).

Notable results include:

  • By the end of S4, 48% achieved 5 passes at National 5 or better (5 percentage points up on 2019 but 1 percentage point down on 2022)
  • By the end of S5*, 63% achieved 1 or more Higher passes or better (6 percentage points up on 2019 and the same as 2022)
  • By the end of S6* 69% achieved one or more Higher passes (1 percentage point down on 2022 but 3 percentage points up on 2019)

Pupil Vincent Rodziewicz, who is about to start S6 at Craigmount High School, said: “This year I got an A and a few Bs and I was quite surprised by these results, they were very positive actually – I expected to do worse in Maths.

“I don’t feel that stressed about the way exams are done though, I don’t mind being in a big hall.”

Zaneta, who is an S5 pupil at Craigmount, added: “I was really nervous, but I think my results are good – I wasn’t really expecting straight As.

“It will give me a lot of confidence going into S5 as well, because I know it’s going to be a difficult year.”

Councillor Joan Griffiths, Education Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The Covid pandemic may seem like a distant memory for some, but recent years have posed a real challenge for pupils and teaching staff in all our schools who have had to deal with the impact on learning and teaching.

“All our teachers and staff have worked extremely hard in preparing pupils for these exams, as well as parents/carers whose support is invaluable and, most of all, our young people themselves should be praised for their hard work and achievements.

“We want to make sure all school pupils are able to fulfil their potential by attaining the highest level of achievements possible and by receiving the best possible experience – every learner’s journey is unique. We look forward to building on the success of this year’s learners as they move through the senior phase and onto positive destinations.”

Additional information – analysis

Results by the end of S4
5 passes at National 5 or better – 48% (1 percentage point down on 2022 but 5 percentage points up on 2019)

Results by the end of S5*
1+ pass at Higher or better – 63% (same as 2022 but 6 percentage points up on 2019)
3+ passes at Higher or better – 44% (same as 2022 but 6 percentage points up on 2019)
5+ passes at Higher or better – 24% (same as 2022 but 4 percentage points up on 2019).

Results by the end of S6*
1+ pass at Higher or better – 69% (1 percentage point down on 2022 but 3 percentage points up on 2019)
3+ passes Higher or better – 51% (2 percentage points down on 2022 but 2 percentage points up on 2019)
5+ passes at Higher or better – 38% (2 percentage points down on 2022 but 2 percentage points up on 2019)
1+ pass at Advanced Higher – 31% (1 percentage point down on 2022 but 4 percentage points up on 2019)

*based on the percentage of S4 pupil roll.

Council will not appeal Short Term Lets judgement

The City of Edinburgh Council’s Regulatory Committee agreed to review the Short Term Lets Policy and Conditions yesterday.

The committee also noted the outcome of the Judicial Review of the Council’s Short Term Lets (STL) Policy, and that the Council has decided not to appeal the judgement. To reflect the terms of the Court’s decision, the Council has updated its STL Licensing Policy.

Convener of Regulatory Committee, Neil Ross, said: “The Council was successful in defending large parts of the policy and the Court did not criticise any aspect of the Council’s consultation nor the evidence base which it used to reach its decision. Having reviewed the Court’s decision in detail, the Council has decided not to appeal the ruling.

“We have changed our policy to reflect the decisions reached by the court, which took effect from 13 July, and the date for applying for a licence is 1 October. Existing hosts and operators have until that date to submit an application for a licence.”

More details can be found on the Short Term Lets Licensing section on the Council website.

The council has no discretion as to which type of accommodation is covered by the requirement to obtain a licence.