North Edinburgh’s COVID-19 Foodshare Group has updated their information factsheet to include more useful teleohone numbers.
The network of community groups expects hear to about funding to help meet demand in the local area later today. The fund is being administered locally by the city council and EVOC.
Final, Final! North Edinburgh Food Network Info UPDATED 17 APRIL 2020
Experts from across Edinburgh’s tourism and hospitality industries have been brought together by the Council to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the city’s visitor economy.
In what is the first in a series of meetings with key sectors, members of ETAG, Edinburgh Airport, Festivals Edinburgh, Visit Scotland, Essential Edinburgh and the Chamber of Commerce joined a virtual roundtable this week (Thursday 16 April) chaired by Council Leader Adam McVey to kickstart work on a city recovery plan.
During the tourism oversight group’s first meeting, the sector:
Council Leader, Adam McVey, said: “There is a real willingness from all sides and sectors to use our city’s strengths as a platform for working together over the coming months so that we can recover from this global emergency.
“It is so important to the future of our Capital that we remain committed to sustainable and responsible tourism when businesses open again and keep our focus on the priorities we agreed last November – to put our people, place and environment at the heart of our plans.
“We entered this outbreak with Edinburgh’s key sectors and local businesses in good health. I believe this will stand us in good stead as our City and economy recovers. Our contribution to the world, whether it’s the arts or academia, has been enormous and we know it’s left a strong impression on so many people’s experience of our Capital.
“The road to recovery may be long, but tourism is an important engine for Edinburgh’s economy. We’ll need to work together to share the benefits of tourism across Edinburgh, and our new tourism strategy is central to achieving this.”
Donald Emslie, Chair of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), said: “This week’s meeting was extremely welcome, as it demonstrated the Council’s recognition of the huge challenges that the tourism sector is facing and the need for a positive and proactive response.
“ETAG will be playing a leading role in this and engaging with the tourism industry and key stakeholders to ensure that we work together as “Team Edinburgh” to support the development and delivery of the recovery plan.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day added: “Tourism has been an important topic of conversation in our city for a long time and residents’ feedback over the last 12 months helped us to shape Edinburgh’s new Tourism Strategy.
“This feedback and the ambitions of this 10 year plan need to remain central to our efforts and those of everyone in the sector, as we seek to help Edinburgh recover economically.
“We’ve always been proud to be a small city which made it big on the world stage – a place which is recognised as an enviable city to live in and visit. When these difficult times are behind us, we look forward to being able to come together once again to sample all that makes Edinburgh the inspiring place it is.
“Managing this will involve a range of measures to support the sector and workers, and we’re committed to working together to put a strong recovery plan in place.”
The group’s findings will inform a citywide recovery plan, which will involve senior Councillors and Council officers seeking feedback from industry leaders across various sectors.
Earlier this month, the Convener of Housing, Homelessness and Economy Chaired a meeting of Edinburgh’s Economic Advisory Panel featuring business leaders and major employers, to gather views on the impacts to Edinburgh business of coronavirus.
Such work will continue as we coordinate findings and next steps for Edinburgh’s recovery strategy.
The city council has partnered with the national homelessness charity, Bethany Christian Trust, in providing further hotel accommodation and specialised support for people who would otherwise be sleeping rough.
Working together on a range of services, this latest initiative ensures single occupancy en-suite bedroom accommodation as an alternative venue for Bethany’s Care Shelter and provides additional temporary accommodation for the local authority.
Bethany is relocating its Care Shelter team of 14 professional support staff to the Old Waverley Hotel on the capital’s iconic Princes Street and our Council staff are working flexibly at short-notice to join the team during daytime hours to provide advice, support and positive move on options for guests in this new environment.
The project is dependent on the tremendous good will of hundreds of volunteers who also provide the fresh ingredients for the two course hot meals prepared in advance to serve at the hotel with current safe distancing measures. Providing a safe place to sleep, three meals a day and a range of support from experienced staff and multiple partner agencies including health, housing and advocacy support, the service will be a lifeline for many over the next three months.
A food distribution network to support Edinburgh’s most vulnerable citizens is set to be rolled out thanks to a partnership between the City of Edinburgh Council, third sector organisation EVOC and the wider community and voluntary sector.
The news comes fully four weeks after community projects in North Edinburgh first joined together to get food and essential supplies out to neighbourhood’s most vulnerable residents.
The latest plans will see over 3,000 emergency food parcels delivered across the first fortnight to people who are having difficulty accessing food as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Further roll out will take place following this, based on demand.
The partnership, created from the Capital’s £1.65m share of the Scottish Government Food Fund, will see the Council identify those most in need for the food and essential items with EVOC responsible for the distribution.
The network will follow Scottish Government guidelines on eligibility which includes:
The supplies will be stored at four school hubs acting as depots for the packing and distribution. Demand will be regularly reviewed to make sure the parcels are being targeted to those most in need. Hot meals will also be provided to those in greatest need, who for a variety of reasons, may be unable to prepare their own meals.
This funding is in addition to the ongoing support for the wider third sector through the Scotland-wide £350m charity support fund made available last month.
The partnership will also provide support for voluntary organisations who want assistance with applying for funds from the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund and an initial £50k will be available from the Council to provide targeted support to smaller scale community groups in their efforts to help vulnerable residents.
In addition, the partnership has signed a strategic agreement with Volunteer Edinburgh on matching volunteering capacity to citizen and service demand as it emerges. This puts us in a strong position to ensure that there is close collaboration and coordination to meet the needs of vulnerable groups in the city.
The city council, EVOC and Volunteer Edinburgh already work together as part of the city’s strategic Edinburgh Partnership.
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “This food distribution network is going to tackle the very real and emerging demand from those vulnerable people who find themselves without enough food because they’re self-isolating.
“We’re committed to supporting them through these unprecedented challenges and we’ll do everything in our power to help them thanks to this £1.65m boost from the Scottish Government.
“We’ve already been delivering thousands of food parcels across the city to those in our care and families who are struggling to cope. These supplies are not a short-term fix – we will make sure they continue for as long as they are needed.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “Everyone has seen the amazing response from communities coming together to reduce the risk of food poverty and EVOC with the wider community projects are ideally placed to be our partners for this new network.
“In addition to this citywide support system help with access to the Wellbeing Fund and targeted support will benefit community organisations working in local areas. Joining with third sector organisations is so important as they are working in the heart of our communities and are best-placed to provide that essential support to reach those families who need it most.
“This food network will supplement the many other measures we have taken to help families such as Free School Meal payments, our own emergency food parcels and crisis grants.”
Ella Simpson, Chief Executive of EVOC, said: “For the last four weeks the third and community sector have been absolutely outstanding in their response to the needs of their community.
“This partnership complements and reinforces that incredible work and brings together the capacity, skills, knowledge, experience and trust within our communities to respond to this international crisis.
“By working together, we will be able to coordinate the delivery of food to vulnerable people across Edinburgh. This support to our colleagues and volunteers who are preparing and delivering the food to people will ensure we can sustain this heroic effort for as long as it is needed.
“If you know someone who is in need please use the national helpline 0800 028 2816 and I can assure you support is there for you. If you are a local community organisation delivering food not already part of this amazing network, please contact EVOC on info@evoc.org.uk.”
News that the funding is to be made available at last will come as a huge relief to community organisations whose resources have been stretched to the limit as they have battled to get aid to vulnerable and isolated people during the coronavirus pandemic.
North Edinburgh’s COVID-19 Food Group has been urging local politicians to get funding through to the grassroots for weeks now. On Monday, they hope to hear what funds will be made available to support their efforts.
A series of fun and free online activities to keep residents of all ages active and busy during the coronavirus lockdown has been devised by Schools and Lifelong Learning officer Callum McLeod and his council colleagues.
Callum and his colleagues came up with the idea of putting together activity packs for children, young people and families to use at home to keep them physically and mentally active during the lockdown.
Whilst doing their research they realised many of the top tips were websites so they created an online directory of fun activities which started increasing in size until it eventually ended up as a dedicated page on the Council website.
The top tips include a wide range of advice for families starting with babies/infants, then moving onto children up to 12 years followed by general sites for learning and sport suitable for a range of ages right up to adults.
Some of the titles include: Mummy Bubble, Busy Toddler, Cosmic Kids Yoga, Activity Village, Live Bold and Bloom, EpicDash and Ted Talks.
Callum, who is usually based in the Council’s South East Lifelong Learning office in Gilmerton, is now working from home in north Edinburgh with his family, trying out new and different ways to support each other.
Callum, who was based at Broughton Community High School before redeployment as part of city council’s ‘transformation’ initiative, said: “It didn’t take long for us to realise that there would be families all over the city stuck in front of the telly or computer, potentially climbing the walls or bored to tears, so why not put something together for the families to keep them occupied in fun ways.
“It soon became apparent that it was far easier (and far safer in terms of the virus) to put everything online so people could pick out activities to suit their different needs.”
Every time Callum circulated a list of possible links he was deluged with replies including further suggestions – to the extent he is currently working on Version 6 of his helpful guide!
Callum added: “It’s been a massive collective effort from many, many people working together, and putting a silver lining on what could be quite challenging times.
“We soon realised the potential out there for families to turn a ‘challenging time’ into some ‘quality time’. There should be something there for everybody – so why not check out the links for yourself?”
As per my previous post, this will be an issue in Edinburgh when the world returns to what passes as normality:
A message from The Citizen Network:
PRINCES STREET GARDENS – NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL
This is an appeal for concerned residents of Edinburgh and any others who care about the protection of green spaces to submit emails to the Parks Dept of the Edinburgh City Council parks@edinburgh.gov.uk on behalf of the wellbeing of Princes Street Gardens, their use as gardens, memorials, appropriate community focused activities and crucial city centre green space for the benefit of the residents of Edinburgh as communal owners of this common good land and our guests. The deadline is 6 March, 2020.
This appeal relates to the proposed Summer Sessions concert series for 2020.
The Issue:
With issues coming to the fore concerning city centre parks, (especially those that are on our common good land and collectively owned by the people of Edinburgh), being prioritised as event venues over the gardens, memorials and green spaces that they are, we have seen the compounding damage that has been inflicted on our parks.
Perhaps it is time to tell the city that events and festivals, especially those for private profit are better suited to more appropriate venues.
Tourism, events and festivals will always be a part of Edinburgh.
However, the industry needs to better choose venues for their events that will not cause compounding, and in many cases, irreversible ecological damage to our crucial and historically valuable green spaces.
The industry should also be more mindful of the scale and size of their events and festivals as we are a finite city with limited resources currently facing austerity and cuts to our crucial services. Our green spaces deserve crucial and vital protection from the impacts of this misuse.
What you can do:
Send an email by 6th March 2020 to Parks Dept of the Edinburgh City Council parks@edinburgh.gov.uk
Tell them your concerns about the gardens and object to their use to host the Summer Sessions of 2020.
Finally, the Old Town Community Council recently made public on twitter the following:
@EdinOldTownCC
#WPSG will be predominantly closed for 25 days in August. If you don’t want to be effectively barred from #WestPrincesStreetGardens for those 25 days, then please email your objection to parks@edinburgh.gov.uk by Friday 6th March. More objections mean it’s less likely to happen!
Events have clearly moved on since the Ciziten Network first posted this in March, but organisers are keen that the issue is kept in the public eye. Happy to help – Ed.
The leaders of the Council’s SNP, Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green groups have come together to issue a joint letter thanking the people of Edinburgh for their part in the city’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The letter recognises the crucial work of NHS staff and essential workers, as well as the efforts of individuals, businesses and other organisations.
It also looks forward to a ‘brighter future’ and shares information on support on offer for all those struggling to deal with the effects of the crisis.
Joint letter to the people of Edinburgh
We face the biggest challenge in living memory, and it’s only by working together as a council and as a city that we’ll be able to overcome it – today we stand together as we thank the city for playing its part in tackling these dark days and look toward to a brighter future together.
Over recent weeks, Edinburgh’s community spirit has proved itself, as people have come together to support one another, to applaud the hard work of the thousands of key workers going the extra mile to serve the Capital and to play their part in limiting the spread of the virus.
We are indebted to the doctors, nurses and NHS staff and frontline carers, as well as the cleaners, teaching staff, refuse collectors and supermarket staff who are working to keep all of us safe and our city functioning. They are all doing vital work to keep our city running during this time of national crisis.
Thousands of residents have signed up through readyscotland.org and volunteeredinburgh.org.uk to help make and deliver food or pick up prescriptions for those who can’t access them themselves. Thank you to all those who are putting their community first – you make Edinburgh the place it is.
We’re equally grateful to all those who have followed national guidance and stayed at home over recent weeks to help limit the spread of coronavirus. Our parks, green spaces and iconic streets were sparsely covered over the weekend, demonstrating that people are following expert advice – please keep going with this.
Thanks goes to the businesses who have closed to help this effort, those who have facilitated homeworking for employees and those carrying out essential work. This is not easy, and small businesses will no doubt bear the brunt of these changes.
We would encourage them to take advantage of support on offer from the Scottish Government while the UK Government’s guarantee to pay 80% of staff salaries while they are not needed to work will help more businesses stay afloat – find out more about support on the Council website and more about safety guidelines on the Scottish Government website.
We’ve been working collaboratively with the Scottish and UK Governments, third sector and the NHS to ensure the most vulnerable members of our community are cared for during this challenging time. There is a range of support on offer for families who are struggling, including that from the All of Us partnership, while the Council is working with partners to protect people facing homelessness.
We must look after ourselves too, and it is crucial that anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus visits the NHS Inform website and follows the guidance there.
From north to south, green to maroon, Edinburgh has always been greater than the sum of its parts. We have seen the best of Edinburgh through this crisis and if we continue to follow guidelines and look out for one another, then we have no doubt that not only will we get through this together, we will emerge stronger as a city and a nation.
Further information on the Council’s response to the coronavirus, and changes to services, are available online.
Edinburgh’s Council Leader has urged residents not to burn garden waste or any other rubbish to help protect others’ safety, particularly the vulnerable and those with respiratory problems.
Adam McVey has been joined by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to urge the public to dispose of waste responsibly, rather than burning it.
Garden waste collections have been paused in Edinburgh to allow crews to focus on other, essential collections during the coronavirus outbreak. People are being encouraged to compost cuttings and grass in the meantime, or to hang onto it until collections resume.
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “It’s been extremely heartening to see Edinburgh’s residents playing their part in our response to this crisis by staying indoors and looking out for one another.
“Be assured that as soon as we can we will resume garden collections and reopen the community recycling centres. But for now, and we don’t yet know how long for, we’re asking you to help in our effort to keep residents and our waste staff safe. We really appreciate your patience while we’re not able to collect garden waste and glass recycling due to the changes we’ve had to make.
“We appreciate that while our garden waste collections have stopped to let us deliver other, essential services people will need to find ways of managing their excess garden waste where they don’t have means to home compost. But we are appealing to anyone carrying out gardening this weekend not to get rid of it by burning bonfires, as the smoke can pose a risk to people’s health, particularly the vulnerable and those with respiratory problems.
“By following our tips for composting garden waste, or hanging on to it until collections begin again, instead of burning it, you will be helping us to safeguard the health of people who live here, as well as reducing any impact on our emergency services.”
Kenny Rogers, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Local Senior Officer for the City of Edinburgh, said: “As we all spend more time indoors, you can help us help you by working to reduce risk in and around your home.
“We will always be here for our communities, but when firefighters are mobilised to unnecessary incidents, it can divert them from genuine emergencies.
“That is why I would urge everyone to stay safe this Easter weekend and to do their bit to protect themselves and others by disposing of garden refuse carefully and responsibly.”
Find out more about the Council’s response to the coronavirus, and service changes, online.
My street, like most, has been out applauding the efforts of those frontline NHS workers fighting the virus that has temporarily changed the way we live our lives (writes city council leader Councillor ADAM McVEY).
The gratitude and thanks to our doctors, nurses and other NHS staff is universal. It’s been inspiring to see the community spirit in these unprecedented times. It’s not just our collective applauding but the willingness of so many of our citizens to roll up their sleeves and volunteer to help those in our community in need.
Thousands of Edinburghers have signed up through readyscotland.org and volunteeredinburgh.org.uk to help make and deliver food or pick up prescriptions for those who can’t access themselves to help our City with in this enormous effort to keep all of us safe. Thank you to everyone who is putting their community and City first by doing what help they can.
Just as important as what we’re doing is what we’re not doing. For now some of our liberties have been curtailed, we’ve been asked to avoid contact with our loved ones, avoid travel and to change how we do everything like the way we work. The advice from the experts is that by staying at home we can reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.
Pictures of Princes Street, Royal Mile, Leith Walk, Dalry Road- all usually bustling with people – are empty. It’s a strong sign that we’re all listening to the message. So, to all of us who are giving up so much of what we would normally do and staying indoors, thank you.
As well as the community response, the public, private sector and third sector response has been heartening too.
Every part of the City has worked quickly to help the most vulnerable in our City and collaboration between organisations has been more than ever before.
Government and Council working with organisations like streetwork to fund and deliver safe places in our hotels for people experiencing homelessness is just one example of hundreds of the kind of coming together and “get things done” attitude which has been so important in acting swiftly to protect our more vulnerable citizens.
This too has also been about what hasn’t happened as much as what is happening. The businesses that have closed have done so knowing it will cause them serious issues. Indeed, our summer festivals have postponed until 2021 with huge impacts for our City as yet undetermined.
Thank you to the organisations who have thrown themselves feet first into solving these mammoth challenges and those who have taken bold decisions to help keep us safe.
The Council will keep you as best informed as we can on our dedicated COVID-19 webpage, which you can access from the Council’s homepage. It has information for businesses, parents, high risk residents and information on key services which are subject to change.
Our effort as a Council has been to try and sustain as many of our core functions as possible but it hasn’t been easy. Staff numbers are down across the board due to many reasons attached to COVID-19 and it’s meant having to make changes and service reductions in areas like waste as well as the many public service we’ve had to suspend altogether.
Thank you to the people of Edinburgh for their understanding as we try our best to keep delivering for you.
I want to save my last thank you for the Council staff. It’s hard to put into words the dedication our Council officers have shown over the last few weeks but it has epitomised public service.
Our City would simply not be able to function without them. Those who have worked long days without taking a day off to make sure our City planned properly for everything we needed.
Those who are out day after day doing their jobs in essential services to keep green spaces open for our daily exercise, our bins emptied or key buildings cleaned and open. I’ve never been prouder of Edinburgh Council and I hope the City joins me in thanking our staff for all they are doing for us.
This article first published in Monday’s Edinburgh Evening News
We’ve put in place a wide range of much-needed support for families of children with additional support needs during the Coronavirus pandemic, says the city council.
This is clearly a very worrying time for everyone in Edinburgh but even more so for those families with children who have complex needs and require additional support.
Our teams from across Children’s Services have worked tirelessly to put in place a series of measures across the city. These include:
Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Now more than ever we have to ensure there is continued support for children with additional support needs and their families during this pandemic.
We’ve put in place a series of initiatives to do just that and thanks must go to our hard-working staff and third sector partners who are providing these vital services.
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “Our teams have been identifying families and contacting them in person which means those in the greatest need are benefiting from the wide range of services available.
In many cases it involves targeted one to one support which is crucial in supporting families and preventing the need for crisis respite.”
