City of Edinburgh Council – Page 19 – The NEN

Council’s new property repair service begins next week

Owners of shared properties looking to organise repairs will be able to get help from a new Council service from Tuesday 2 April. The Shared Repairs Service will provide advice and information to owners through the process of organising repairs from finding a contractor to arranging payment. It will also signpost owners to other repair support services such as property factoring, property management agencies and mediation, and the use of legislative powers like the Tenement Management Scheme.

The Council will retain its statutory notice powers and will maintain the current 24/7 emergency service for urgent repairs.

An extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders last year identified that there is still demand for the Council to provide a project management service for more significant shared repairs. Options for this will be explored over the coming months, with a report expected to Council in about 3 months

Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance and Budget Convener (pictured below), said: “Maintaining the safety of Edinburgh’s properties is a concern for us all. Our aim is to find the right balance, based on the outcomes of the consultation exercise, with the Council taking a lead role in emergencies and providing support for non-urgent cases.”

From April advice and information will be available through the Council’s website, neighbourhood offices and libraries, getting in touch with the Council’s contact centre and by meeting with officers. The topics covered will include building inspections, working with neighbours, mediation, finding a contractor and arranging payment.

Cllr Rankin added: “This new service will be focused on our customers. Staff are receiving comprehensive training so that they can ensure property owners get the information and advice they need. We also know that there is demand from the public for the Council to have a bigger role in this area and we will be looking at potential options.”

The Property Conservation Service, which used statutory notices for emergency and non-emergency repairs, will cease operating from April 2013. However, work will continue to resolve outstanding complaints and to settle outstanding bills.

The new service was considered at a recent Council meeting, with councillors agreeing to a further report in the summer on options to expand the service.

Help strengthen Neighbourhood Partnerships

As you may know, Neighbourhood Partnerships across the city are being reviewed as part of the Council Governance Review. The aim of this is to strengthen and develop their role in delivering better outcomes for communities. Please could you take a few minutes to complete the following online survey to give us your views:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MM262F5

If you’d prefer a paper copy, please contact saty.kaur@edinburgh.gov.uk or 0131 469 5281.

The survey is open until 2 April 2013, and it would be great to have the views on all of you who have been involved so far in the Neighbourhood Partnership.

Elaine Lennon, Partnership Development Officer

Tel: 0131 529 5270

Council takes steps to tackle empty homes

The City of Edinburgh Council is set to introduce changes to council tax to tackle the issue of empty homes in the Capital. The Council’s Finance and Budget Committee agreed last week to reduce the council tax discount rate for empty and unfurnished homes from 50% to 10% after 6 months. After 12 months council tax will be charged in full with a 100% surcharge.

The planned changes come following new Scottish Government arrangements enabling councils, in certain circumstances, to use council tax as an incentive for encouraging owners of empty homes to bring them back into use and increase the available property stock. This is specifically to tackle empty and unfurnished homes that have been lying unused for extended periods of time. Council tax would continue to be waived for the first six months of a property being empty and generous discounts would be applied if the property is actively being marketed.

Councillor Alasdair Rankin (pictured below), the city’s Finance and Budget Convener, said: “Even though Edinburgh has a relatively low level of empty homes in both the social and private sectors, the Council has a duty to look at all the options open to us to deliver more homes. “It is of utmost importance that we bring more empty homes back into use and council tax is just one of the avenues that the Council is looking to use. This report is undoubtedly a major step forward in tackling this pressing issue.”

The work forms part of the city’s Empty Homes Task Force, which was established by the Council with the objective of bringing empty homes back into use. The Task Force has representatives from all political groups, Shelter/Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, Orchard and Shipman and Link Housing Association.

Councillor Cammy Day, the city’s Housing Leader, said: “The Capital Coalition has set up an Empty Homes Task Force to examine ways of bringing empty homes back into use. Link Housing Association – one of the task force members – has secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Empty Homes Fund. The Council also support a number of letting schemes to help owners of empty homes bring them back into use.”

Council records indicate that there are over 1700 properties classed as long term empty and approximately 5800 properties attracting second home discounts. The Council will review all classification to ensure accuracy on an ongoing basis. It is planned that the policy will be implemented in the second half of 2013/14 supported by an information campaign to raise awareness.

Easter hols: lots to do despite the weather!

The school holidays are upon us, the weather is still wintry and parents across Edinburgh are frantically planning how best to fill their children’s fortnight. Help is at hand, however, in the shape of the City of Edinburgh Council, which offers a wide variety of entertaining and educational activities for children and young people.

Cllr Richard Lewis, Culture & Sport Convener, said: “The challenge of filling a child’s holidays, particularly at this time of year, is not to be underestimated, which is why I would encourage parents to try something different during the Easter break.

“Between the Council and our partners, we can offer children of all ages and interests a wealth of exciting and rewarding activities, many of which are free.”

The Museum of Childhood is a fun day out for the whole family. Young people can learn about the children of the past and see a fantastic range of toys and games, while adults enjoy a trip down memory lane. Admission is free.

Meanwhile, just down the hill is the Museum of Edinburgh. Housed in the beautifully restored 16th Century buildings on the Canongate, it is the city’s principle museum of local history. Again, admission is free.

The museum’s newest attraction is Foundation Edinburgh. Watch the City’s dramatic history unfold in only 17 minutes – from the volcanic creation of Arthur’s Seat in prehistoric times to events today. Ticket prices are £4 (adults), £3 (concessions) and £2 (children).

The City’s 28 community libraries are, of course, open for borrowing – and much more besides. Visit the libraries’ website for further details or contact your local library for details of special holiday events.

But what if spring finally arrives? Where better to enjoy the breathtaking views of Edinburgh than from atop the tallest tribute to a writer in the world, the Scott Monument in East Princes Street Gardens? And at 287 steps high, it’s not bad for the calves either. Equally impressive is the Nelson Monument on Calton Hill. Admission for both is £3.

Edinburgh has another 140 parks aside from Princes Street Gardens and the new digital service Edinburgh Outdoors provides a unique way of exploring each and every one of them. The beautiful grounds of Lauriston Castle, laid out by William Henry Playfair in the 1840s, are also well worth a wander – especially this Saturday and Sunday (from 10am) when the cheery Castle staff host their annual Easter egg hunt. Further details of this and other Family Workshop Programmes are available from the website.

In case you haven’t noticed, the terrific Britain from the Air exhibition (picture below) is now taking pride of place in our streets and parks – where it will remain until 20 May. Featuring 111 breathtaking aerial photographs, including 11 of the capital, the exhibition is situated across 15 sites on a three-mile long and winding trail through Edinburgh’s historic city centre.

Finally, Edinburgh Leisure has a range of dedicated holiday activities for ages 3-13 years running throughout next fortnight at venues across the city including Ainslie Park, Craiglockhart, Drumbrae, EICA Ratho, Gracemount and the Royal Commonwealth Pool. Visit their website for further details.

Stockbridge steps into Fairtrade Fortnight

Stockbridge Primary School pupils ‘took a step in 2013’ with Lord Provost Donald Wilson and Scotmid’s Malcolm Brown to mark the start of Fairtrade Fortnight yesterday.

Running from Monday 25 February until Sunday 10 March, the campaign will see a series of themed events taking place across the city, including food and drink tastings, talks, presentations, fairs, fetes and the presentation of the Lord Provost’s Fair Trade Awards 2013.

Fairtrade Fortnight brings together consumers, retailers, licensees, businesses, producers and campaigners nationwide to promote awareness and sales of Fairtrade products and to campaign on issues of trade justice.

The theme this year is ‘Take a Step in 2013’, encouraging shoppers to go further by supporting Fairtrade farmers and workers by purchasing products with the FAIRTRADE Mark or encourage their local shop, school, church or even MP to do the same.

Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “The packed programme of events planned for the next two weeks is testament to how far Fairtrade Fortnight in Edinburgh has come since we were awarded Fairtrade status in 2004. Through this campaign and the Lord Provost’s Fairtrade Awards we are aiming to encourage more and more people to become ethical shoppers while also recognising the fantastic contribution that individuals and businesses are making to fair trade throughout Edinburgh.”

Scotmid Co-operative hosted the launch in their Raeburn Place store and will be promoting Fairtrade with local schools and supporting a range of community events over the coming fortnight.

Malcolm Brown, Head of Corporate Communications for Scotmid Co-operative said: “Fairtrade Fortnight is all about raising awareness of the difference we can make to millions of people in developing countries by simply supporting Fairtrade. Scotmid is proud to have been a champion of Fairtrade for many years. This fortnight we’ll be giving talks at local schools, holding Fairtrade events in our stores and supporting many other initiatives to educate people of all ages about why Fairtrade is so important.”

Residents more satisfied with council services

The major annual survey of Edinburgh residents has shown record levels of satisfaction with local services, continuing a steady trend over the last five years. The most improved services include recycling, street cleaning, parks, pavement maintenance and community safety. However, the results also highlight areas for further work, including refuse collection, dog fouling and public engagement.

Overall, 86% of Edinburgh residents are satisfied with the way the Council is managing neighbourhoods, a 19% rise on 2008. At a local level, improvements can be seen in all neighbourhoods, particularly the South West, Forth, Leith and Portobello and Craigmillar. While Forth and Pentlands generally fall below the city average, these have seen a significant increase in satisfaction since the previous survey.

Council Leader Cllr Andrew Burns said: “We know how much importance our residents place on us getting the basics right and I’m delighted to see these improvements, especially for the thousands of staff who work hard all year round to deliver high-quality services to the people of this city. What’s even more impressive is that this has been achieved against a backdrop of real pressure on public finances and the need to make efficiencies throughout the Council”

The survey also shows that satisfaction with how the Council manages the city overall has increased to 72% from a low of 35% in 2009. Commenting on the figure, Cllr Burns added: “This measure has varied a lot in the last five years and the most recent change is so large we should be cautious about drawing conclusions based on this year’s result alone. It may be that the progress with the tram project is a factor. Our strong leadership and commitment to listening could equally have helped. Either way, it’s something we need to understand better.

“Overall, while the results are encouraging there can be no room for complacency. We are ambitious for the city and there is much work yet to be done, so we simply need to continue delivering the pledges we made to Edinburgh residents and look for that to be reflected in future surveys.”

The public’s top five priorities for improvement included road improvements and safety, street cleaning and refuse collection, activities for children/young people, tackling dog fouling, and more shopping facilities and entertainment.

Deputy Council Leader Cllr Steve Cardownie said: “Our recent budget clearly shows we have listened to residents, with an extra £12m going into doubling the budget for fixing potholes and pavements, as well as investment in other facilities and services that the public value. The continued improvements also underline the fact that we have been responding to concerns, but we will make sure that we also tackle the areas where the survey shows we need to do more. That’s essential for the people who live and work here, but also for maintaining our reputation as a world-class capital city.”

Other findings in the Edinburgh Peoples Survey 2012 include:

•Improved performance of the whole Council compared to previous years. As well as overall management of the city, there were increases in delivering value for money and displaying sound financial management.
•Edinburgh continues to be highly regarded as a place to live with 97% expressing satisfaction, continuing a year-on-year increase since 2010. Satisfaction with neighbourhoods as place to live has also stayed very high at 94%, up by 8% since 2008.
•High levels of satisfaction with nursery, primary and secondary schools (excluding those who stated ‘don’t know’).
•Improved satisfaction with the way the Council communicates with customers and “puts customers first”.
•Satisfaction has reduced in refuse collection (to 78%) and dog fouling (to 48%).
•Road maintenance continues to have a lower satisfaction score than other services (56%), staying about the same over the five-year period.
•Reduced feeling of ability to have a say on local issues and services.

More detailed analysis will be carried out to understand the reasons underlying the changes in satisfaction, and the research will also be used by managers and staff to develop action plans for maintaining high performance and addressing areas for improvement.

One area that’s been highlighted for improvement is refuse collection and recycling. The introduction of fortnightly bin collections proved unpopular when introduced last year, and the council acknowledges there are still issues to be resolved. Local resident Frank emailed a picture of his bin (below) yesterday, saying: ‘I live in Granton Terrace and the bin men have left half the buckets in the street because they say they are overfilled. We received a phone call from them saying we can take our excess rubbish to a Recycling Centre. Do you think that would be a good idea, taking rubbish bags on the bus to Seafield?”

So the council is making progress, but there’s still room for improvement in service delivery. But then, you’re never going to be able to please all of the people all of the time, are you?

Do you think council services have improved in your neighbourhood? Let us know!

RRRR Roadshows – happening now!

Reduce Reuse Recycle Repair Roadshows are coming to a ribrary near you!

Want to find out more about recycling? The city council’s recycling roadshow is out and about in city libraries – in fact, if you’re really quick, you’ll catch it at Muirhouse Library – it’s there until 1pm today!

Creative reuse maker and educator Jamie MacDonald will be running drop-in workshops, suitable for all the family – showing you how to create simple and playful decorative items from reused materials.
Remade in Edinburgh will provide repair drop-in sessions, where people can bring in clothes and get advice on how to repair and transform them
Changeworks will also be there to provide practical advice and informaiton on reducing waste

Dates and times:

· Muirhouse 13th Feb 11 to 1 (i.e NOW !!!)

· Blackhall 23rd Feb 11 to 1

· Leith 8th Mar 1 to 3

· Stockbridge 13th Mar 3 to 5

· McDonald Road 14th Mar 2 to 4

· Granton 19th Mar 3 to 5

For more information visit: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20048/waste_education/480/recycling_roadshows_and_events/2

Have your say on Edinburgh’s transport policy

Want to have your say on city transport? A six-week public consultation starts today (Monday 4 February 2013) as part of the development of a new transport strategy for Edinburgh.

For the past five years, the Council’s transport projects, network maintenance and service provision have been guided by the Local Transport Strategy (LTS) 2007-2012, now extended to the end of 2013. Work has already begun to draw up a new five year policy document, an LTS for 2014 – 2019. This document will go through a number of stages before being finalised at the end of 2013.

The public consultation being launched today seeks residents’ views on 10 key transport Issues for Review, including a proposal to introduce parking charges on Sunday and options to reduce speed limits in residential streets to 20mph.

The Issues for Review report is the first stage in the preparation of the LTS. Its purpose is to seek views on the issues where change is needed, or the Council faces a significant choice in future direction.

Many of the policies and objectives in the current LTS are still valid and these will simply be continued or updated for the next LTS. There will be a chance to give feedback on those in a further consultation process later in 2013.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener, urged as many people as possible to take part in the consultation. She said: “Whether you’re a public transport user, a motorist, a cyclist or a pedestrian – or perhaps you might even be all of these things, depending on the journey – we want to hear what residents and businesses in Edinburgh think about the transport issues in this consultation.

“It’s vital for us to gather as many different points of view as we can so that we can be sure that the final Local Transport Strategy 2014-2019 document accurately reflects the City’s priorities for the next five years.”

People can respond to this consultation using the questionnaire available online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPRZ5QK

Printed questionnaires are also available from libraries, or on request from: localtransportstrategy@edinburgh.gov.uk

Completed printed questionnaires can be returned to our Freepost address:

FREEPOST – RTCH – JJEK – TCCZ
Local Transport Strategy
City of Edinburgh Council
Waverley Court (C.2)
4 East Market Street
Edinburgh
EH8 8BG

A public drop-in session will also be held on Thursday 6 March at Edinburgh Central Library on George IV Bridge from 9am – 8pm.

The consultation closes on Sunday 17 March 2013.

There’s more to Edinburgh … outdoors

A new website and free app for iPhone and Android that will encourage people to get out and about in Edinburgh’s parks and outdoor spaces is being launched by the City of Edinburgh Council today.

Edinburgh Outdoors is a new online resource where people can find out information about the city’s 141 parks and discover new green areas in the city. How old is that tree? Where is the nearest play area? When was this monument built and why? The app is an easy way to explore Edinburgh’s parks on the move.

People are also encouraged to take their own photos of the city’s parks and upload them via the app or on the Edinburgh Outdoors website to share their experiences with other people.

Starting today (Friday 1 February), staff from across the Council will be tweeting and uploading photos to the website with comments about what they are doing while they go about their normal work in the city’s parks and greenspaces. Follow @EdinOutdoors for the latest.

Using the hashtag #edinparks, people can join the conversation on Twitter and get out and about in parks to add what they are doing both on Friday and over the weekend.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s Environment Convener, said: “Edinburgh is widely recognised as having some of the most fantastic parks and green spaces. This innovative project will make use of the Council’s vast wealth of data and give park users access to it – allowing them to find out more about what Edinburgh’s outdoors has to offer.

“We’re hoping people will not only share their pictures of the city’s parks but also share their enjoyment of being out and about in Edinburgh.”

The project has been created by the City of Edinburgh Council with funding from Nesta’s ‘Make it Local Scotland’ competitive programme.

Jackie McKenzie, Head of Nesta’s Innovation Programmes in Scotland, said: “The fantastic work being done by the City of Edinburgh Council shows how open data can be used to develop new services for citizens and, by encouraging them to add their own content, to make that service even better. Local authorities have shown the amazing results that can be achieved through the excellent partnership they have developed with digital companies. Edinburgh Outdoors is a great opportunity for residents and visitors to explore the beautiful parks and green spaces in the city and to share their own knowledge of these places.

“Nesta hopes that other councils across Scotland and beyond will take advantage of the fact that all of the information and code for these initiatives is open source helping others to develop DIGITAL services for future years.”

D Day for Leith Waterworld

Councillors will decide today (31 January) whether to back a community bid to operate Leith Waterworld.

An officer report, which will be considered at today’s council meeting, concludes that the revised business case submitted by campaign group, Splashback, is not commercially viable and does not offer best value to the Council, and recommends that the property be remarketed for sale. However campaigners believe that their plans do stack up and that Leith Waterdworld could be reopened as early as October this year.

Councillors agreed on 20 September to offer an extension to the campaigners and to provide dedicated assistance from the Council’s Economic Development unit to enable them to prepare a more robust business case.

The revised submission features two options: the first would be to operate the venue using its existing facilities; the second would add a large soft play feature in the glass entrance atrium and create a new café.

Both options would still require a significant ongoing subsidy from the Council, for which no budget currently exists, and neither would generate the funds required to help pay for the recently completed refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

The process had previously been postponed for six months to allow Splashback to come forward with alternative proposals for the pool, which has been closed since January 2012. This followed a decision taken in 2005 to put the property up for sale.

Splashback, the community group set up to save Leith Waterworld, believes their figures stack up. They claim:

“Through running the facility as a community led iniatitive, we believe we can

provide a fun and enjoyable leisure destination for over 150,000 users per annum
reduce the subsidy required from Council for the pool to well under the Scottish average for pools – £260,000
In fact through increased soft play and additional revenue streams, we can bring the subsidy right down to circa £20,000 by year 3
In doing so we would bring potentially approx 60 jobs to the Leith area through direct employment and supply chains
and generate an additional £460,000 for the local Leith economy.
These benefits are in addition to the potential saving to public spending through increased wellbeing in the area.

We will be asking the Council on 31st January for an agreement in principle, to allow us to progress with more detailed planning and fundraising. At the end of six months, we would take the shared decision with the Council whether to progress to reopening, which is currently rescheduled for October 2013.”

Splashback conclude: “With the massive success of the Olympics and the Paralympics last year and the
Commonwealth Games next year, there is much talk, at the moment, of ‘legacy’. There appears to be a growing awareness and understanding that yes whilst these elite events can provide an amazing spectacle, more than that participation and sport can make a real difference at community level. Dundee Council are
currently building a new leisure pool at the cost of £31m, as are Perth at the cost of £15m. Edinburgh has had no leisure pool for over a year. We hope that the Council after reading our business plan, share with us, the desire to rectify that and reopen Leith Waterworld.”

Cllr Richard Lewis, Culture and Leisure Convener, said: “I said previously that I would be delighted if an affordable and achievable community bid came forward and I acknowledge the time and effort that Splashback have invested in this. We gave the group the opportunity to bring back a more robust bid and it is now up to us as councillors to consider the arguments and reach a decision in the best interests of the city.”