Trinity CC February News

‘Without intervention traffic and parking in Trinity will rise’

trinity 1

See below for the latest news from Trinity Community Council, whose latest meeting focused on parking, an issue of concern raised by several residents …

TrinityCC Feb

 

Do you have an opinion on traffic and/or parking issues in Trinity? Please share your thoughts with Trinity Community Council, who would be interested to hear your views.

To get in touch, email tcc-comms@outlook.com

1502 ebulletin

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership meets on Monday

INPlogo

Come join us on Monday at Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership at Blackhall Library, 6.30pm,  on Monday (23 February).

Hear about ‘Edinburgh Living Landscapes’ and have a say in creating, restoring and connecting green areas of the city. There will also be a presentation on local roads and pavements budgets – come find out how much we have and how we decide where it gets spent!

Finally, see a display of plans for Fet-Lor Youth Club’s new building, Drylaw Skatepark, and hear decisions by Board on our Community Grants Fund applications.

We’d love to see you! Full papers are now available here:  http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3608/inverleith_neighbourhood_partnership

Elaine Lennon, Partnership Development Officer

City of Edinburgh Council – Services for Communities
8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP
Tel: 0131 529 5270

 

 

Community Chat Cafe opens next week

communiyt chat cafeThe Community Chat Cafe invites you to share food, language and culture. Join us for our free, friendly, sociable lunches and practice your English – all welcome!

Wednesday 25 February

Wednesday 11 March

Wednesday 25 March

12.30 – 2pm at Pilton Community Health Project, Boswall Parkway

A creche is available but must be booked by calling Rachel: on 07891 525663 or Julie on 07958 540 438.

chat cafe poster

Community Chat Cafe is organised by the Living in Harmony Group and North Edinburgh Timebank

 

TRIM: just a minute …

TRIM

From the board at Tenants and Residents In Muirhouse please find attached our Minutes for Meeting on 10 February 2015 (below).

10.2.15 TRIM MINS

Tenants & Residents In Muirhouse (TRIM)

Website – http://muirhouseresidents.co.uk
Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/trimgroup
Also on Twitter – http://twitter.com/MuirhouseTRIM

Trinity CC talks parking tonight

trin

Trinity Community Council meets tonight at St Serf’s Church at 7pm. The main item for discussion is local parking.

  • Is it really a problem in Trinity or simply confined to a few streets?
  • If it is a problem, what might be done about it?
  • More yellow lines?
  • The introduction of a Priority Parking Area in some or all of Trinity?
  • Should we mount a survey of residents through Trinity Spotlight?

Local residents are invited to come along and have their say tonight

agenda-february-2015

visit trinitycommunitycouncil.wordpress.com for more information

#StrongerNorth: Working together for the community

FACENorth is working for the community … in all weathers!

walking in the snow

Over the last three months FACENorth (Focussing on Alternatives to Crime Edinburgh North), in partnership with POP (Preventative Opportunities Programme) have been working with a core group of eight to ten young people running a series of work parties at Towford Outdoor Centre, the bothy owned and managed by Muirhouse Youth Development Group and MYAdventure.   As well as working at Towford the group has painted the café in PYCP and bag-packed at Sainsbury’s in  Craigleith to raise money for MYDG.

This group of young people has been helping get Towford ready for use by the wider community whilst gaining real work experience, working as part of a team, following instructions, preparing and cooking their own meals, preparing a dinner table, washing up after themselves, showing respect for themselves, their environment and for others, planning and implementing ideas, conservation training, learning about their own and a new environment and  most importantly putting something back into their own Community.

When we started, there was no heating or hot water in the bothy, few lights downstairs and very basic cooking facilities, so with some nights dropping to below freezing the warmth of sleeping bags at night with a meal and hot drink were very welcome!

towford 2So far the group has removed an unsafe, old mouldy shed which had stood unused for a number of years and turned the space left into to a temporary car parking space. They have also planted trees, removed old wood from around the site, cleared work areas, helped to create a temporary road surface at the entrance to the Centre, dug out trenches to create a drainage system to stop the access road from flooding, removed root systems around the trenches and carried out general labouring work.

With the Centre being surrounded by over 17 acres of ground including hills, forest and a large pond, the group intends to return to  dig more trenches and create a proper road drainage system using underground pipes etc., create a new access road to the centre with an asphalt/concrete surface, clear an old deforested area to help create a football pitch/camp area, assist in the planning and creation of a bike and walking track, clear and drain the pond area and re-route part of a river to run through the pond to allow this to be used for fishing, canoeing and wildlife area!

Once plans are finalised for the remembrance area for Mikaeel  Kular the group is keen to  contribute to  getting  this ready  so that  whole community of North Edinburgh has somewhere to  spend some quiet reflection time.

painting pycpAt Pilton Youth and Children’s Project the group has painted the café area (above), creating a brighter more user friendly area for centre users to enjoy and the group will shortly be taking part in a conservation project based on the local cycle paths.

Power to the Pupils!

Broughton S2 group looks at local democracy

PttP4As S2 pupils at Broughton High School we undertook an inter-disciplinary learning (IDL) course as part of our S2 elective subject choice called ‘Power to the Pupils’ which was run by Callum and Stephan from Community Learning & Development (CLD).

The course – called Power to the Pupils – has been great as it has had a local focus which has allowed us to gather and identify issues that directly affect us as young people growing in the north Edinburgh area. We had great debates and positive discussion and of course great fun as well deciding which were there most important topics that we could address!

Our top issues were:

  1. Negative stereotypes given for young people need to be challenged
  2. Cyber Bullying
  3. Free bus passes for all young people
  4. Reduce the amount of bullying/name calling in Edinburgh
  5. Reduce the cost of bus travel of young people
  6. Young People should have more of a choice in the curriculum
  7. Young People are unable to use some words (e.g. due to PC issues/double standards/they’re inflammatory etc.)
  8. Dog fouling in the streets/parks which young people use
  9. Young people not having a vote
  10. Edinburgh should have a theme park like M&Ds
  11. Cinema prices are too expensive.

PttP3Since coming to ‘power to the pupils’ we have been involved in some trips out to places like the City Chambers (above)and the ‘main cooncil headquarters’ where we learned about democracy, how decisions are made and who makes them on our behalf.

We even got to meet a real councillor – Nigel Bagshaw, who represents the Green Party in this area (Inverleith ward) in Edinburgh. He was really great! He listened to our concerns and he also gave us some fantastic advice on how we could take our issues forward. We also saw lots of famous people in some of the paintings that are hanging on the walls in the council building.

PttP1

After visiting the city chambers we realised we should lobby on a more local level so we had a visit to the local Neighbourhood Partnership office based in North Edinburgh (above).

We raised several concerns that we had identified as being important to us. Negative stereotypes of young people, dog fouling in public spaces were just a couple of subjects we raised. The staff were great they listened all our questions and gave us some really positive feedback. They agreed that they were very important issues that needed tackling and gave us brilliant advice on methods to take our campaigns forward which was good.

We have learned some great new techniques and various methods to make our voices heard. Having the opportunity to access politicians with our issues by lobbying council officials as well as on a more local level with the North Edinburgh Neighbourhood Partnership has been fantastic and we all hope we have influenced them in a positive way.

The course has allowed us to learn new skills which will help us in the future there has also been lots of great discussion, debates which was interesting and above all it was great fun!

Here are some quotes from members of our group:

“The stuff we have learned will be useful in the future” – Harry Hunter S2

“Visiting the city chambers was really interesting it is a very old building with lots of traditions and history” – Simran Singh(S2)

“We hope we can make a difference and change people’s opinions of young people” – Chloe Carr (S2)

“It has been an amazing course and interesting” – Gabriella Borges (S2)

“I have made new friends as well as learnt some new skills” – Kyle Crooks (S2)

Power to the Pupils!

Inverleith NP: Nature in your Neighbourhood

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership

Monday 23 February 6.30 -8.30pm, Blackhall Library

INP Nature in your Neighbourhood

You are warmly invited to the next meeting of the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership. The main theme for this meeting is ‘Edinburgh Living Landscapes’ where you can have a say in identifying potential areas to be part of this project to create, restore and connect green areas of the city, making  attractive and biodiverse landscapes to be enjoyed by residents and visitors.

There will also be a presentation on local roads and pavements budgets – come find out how much we have and how we decide where it gets spent!

Also, come and see a display of plans for Fet-Lor Youth Club’s new building and hear decisions by Board on our Community Grants Fund applications.

We’d love to see you and full papers will be available in advance of meeting by following this link: 

http://www.edinburghnp.org.uk/neighbourhood-partnerships/inverleith/downloads/links-to-inverleith-np-papers/

The meeting will take place on

Monday 23 February at Blackhall Library, 6.30 – 8.30pm.

INP ad

Elaine Lennon, Partnership Development Officer
Tel: 0131 529 5270

Influencing your Parliament

Scottish Parliament Community Conference this month

Holyrood ParliamentLocal people keen to have their voice heard by their MSP and the Scottish Parliament can discover how to run a social media campaign, secure media stories on the issues that affect them, petition the Parliament and even hold their own Holyrood event, by attending a conference at Dumfries’ Easterbrook Hall on Saturday 21 February.

At the Scottish Parliament Communities Conference, local MSPs Elaine Murray and Alex Fergusson will share expert advice on how to help your MSP help you, with interactive workshops run throughout the day, led by MSPs and the Scottish Parliament’s expert staff.

Engagement can result in a wide range of actions, including parliamentary debate, changes to law and policy direction.

Alex Fergusson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries said: “When an issue matters, and when it is within Holyrood’s power to help, engaging with MSPs and the Scottish Parliament can be a direct way for individuals, community groups and organisations to be heard.”

He went on: “We want to make sure that people from across Dumfries and Galloway know how to engage with us, their local MSPs, and to know that the Scottish Parliament belongs to them. The conference is all about helping make sure their voice is heard. I hope to meet many people from across the South West who feel strongly about an issue, so I can  share a range of ways the Scottish Parliament can help make a positive difference to people’s lives in their local community, or even throughout Scotland.”

Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfriesshire said: ““We’re looking forward to meeting as many local community organisations, charities, social enterprises, tenants and residents groups, local campaign organisations, volunteers and youth groups as possible. But we also want to hear from individuals with an important issue to share. Only by hearing from people who have perhaps never been involved with the Parliament or politics before can we continue to raise the profile of a wide variety of important issues and give the people of Dumfries and Galloway a voice.”

In addition to Ms Murray and Mr Ferguson, other MSPs leading workshops on the day include Chic Brodie, MSP for South Scotland; John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland; Graeme Pearson, MSP for South Scotland and Aileen McLeod,  Minister for Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform.

Joyce Harkness is a campaigner and social enterprise manager from Hightae near Lochmaben. She said: “It’s great news that the Communities Conference is coming to Dumfries.  I would encourage anyone who wants to kick-start getting their voice heard at the Scottish Parliament to come to Easterbrook Hall on the 21st.

“I’ve attended Scottish Parliament community workshops in the past and they’ve been invaluable. When I was campaigning for better rural transport for older people across Dumfries and Galloway, working with the Parliament really helped get our issues raised in a positive way. The MSPs and Parliamentary staff really listen and have great ideas and practical advice that’s specially tailored to your campaign. The sheer range of ways you can engage with Parliament can be a real eye-opener.”

 

#StrongerNorth: Action Update

Steady progress on tackling community concerns

StrongerNorthHow has the #StrongerNorth initiative been performing?The latest figures, compiled at the end of January, are very encouraging: 

Housing

           17 housing enforcement actions taken against residents in response to behaviour

Including  13 warnings, 1 Final Warning, 1 Notice to Quit, 1 Notice of Proceedings for Recovery of Possession, 1 ASBO under consideration.

Offending  

·          7 Young people identified and targeted due to offending (Police, Council, Social work etc)

·         3 charged as adults, 2 in Children’s Hearing system and 2 in court system (last four all reducing offending)

·         4 young people subject to Movement Restriction Condition

·         4 young people placed in secure accommodation in last 12 months (2 twice)

·         Calls to Police have really reduced between October and December 2014 (209 to 119 calls)

·         Reduction in offences committed by the most problematic young people – including a significant drop by one prolific housebreaker.

Youth Work

           Positive engagement over a number of weeks with group working on bothy at Towford

           Conversation cafe with Positive Prison organised for 30 January.

Employment and Training

           Employment experience and training programme developed by Council, Urban Union and Edinburgh College. First group ready to benefit.

Pre-School and School

           Respect programme expanded to Craigroyston and Forthview Primary Schools

           Youth Engagement Programme at Crewe Road Fire station – participants selected from Craigroyston Community High School.

 Physical Improvements

           Community clean ups in backgreen at West Pilton Gardens/Crossway and roadside verge along Granton Mill well-attended.

West Pilton/West Granton Community Council

           Community payback team cut back bushes in West Pilton Park where motorbikes were being hidden.

 Communications

           Regular daily tweets and 1,343 followers

           Over 230 Facebook likes.

Community activity

           Community survey planned to track community views about local action

           Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse #StrongerNorth campaign – Community Shop window display

           Weekly lunch time drop in sessions at Muirhouse Community Shop and Pilton Community Association flat – six week programme started 19 January

           Community feedback event 4 February.

image001 (1)