“Our historic environment is not owned by one group or organisation but by the people of Scotland” – Jane Rider, Chair, HES
People across Scotland are being asked for views on how the past is shaping our present and future. Continue reading How Scotland’s past can help shape it’s future
City Council’s parking consultation closes on 31 October Continue reading Still time to have your say on parking proposals
There’s another opportunity to have your say on creating a fairer Scotland this week. Pilton Community Health Project will be hosting a session at their office on Boswall Parkway this Thursday from 10 – 11.30am.
All welcome – come along and share your views!
Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre
Thursday 15 October 7 – 9pm
Free soup and sandwiches!
It really doesn’t seem like a year since the last consultation, but here we are again …
Edinburgh residents are being asked for their views on how the Council spends and saves money as part of public engagement on proposals for the 2016-20 budget.
This year people will also get the chance to contribute ideas of their own on how city services are provided, using the online ‘Your City, Your Say’ dialogue page.
The web page will form part of a ten-week engagement period, beginning today, allowing the public to feed back on proposals for the Council’s 2016-20 budget, which aim to address an overall shortfall of £126m.
People will be able to submit suggestions and views on topical issues, creating solutions to challenges and ideas for better serving the public and saving money. Users can also rate and comment on others’ posts, helping the Council to gather opinion on where it should invest in future.
If successful, the resource will be extended after the budget is set, crowdsourcing public opinions on different matters on an ongoing basis.
A new online planner will also seek views on how the Council should deliver services, including the way parking is charged and how the Council works with voluntary and third party organisations.
By prioritising some services using the planner, the public can see how this impacts on other services, and how saving in one area can allow additional spending in another.
Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance Convener, said: “We really want to hear how people want the Council to invest and save money – your views will always help us to deliver services in a way that will benefit and improve lives.
“By doing things differently and introducing our new online engagement tools, we’re making it easier than ever for people to contribute their views and ideas, and to understand the different challenges there are in setting the budget.”
Councillor Bill Cook, Finance Vice Convener, added: “Everything you say will be taken into account when we draw up the final budget proposals to be put to the Council in early 2016, so we are extremely interested in hearing your views. Whether it’s via the planner, ideas forum, survey, phone, letter, email or social media we welcome all feedback.”
At a meeting of the Finance & Resources Committee on Thursday 24 September, councillors approved a report on the draft budget, along with a set of budget proposals for public engagement over the coming months.
The full budget proposals, the budget planner and forum tools can be accessed at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/budget.
You can have your say by:
You can do this by:
Friday 9 October, 9.30am – 12.30pm, EVOC Office
We would be delighted if you join EVOC’s Fairer Scotland thinkSpace and hear speakers from the Scottish Government and the Third Sector consider the questions in the current consultation:
We invite you to bring two other stakeholders from your organisation, e.g. service users and/or trustees.
Robin McAlpine of the Common Weal will be speaking on People Power plus we have facilitators confirmed from Citizens Advice Scotland, Crisis Edinburgh and One Parent Family Scotland. Ella Simpson, EVOC’s Director will be leading the discussions on what we can do in Edinburgh and how we can feed back into the consultation process.
You can book places at: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/evoc-thinkspace-fairer-scotland-tickets-18434528170
View the Fairer Scotland thinkSpace Programme.
REMINDER: Voluntary Sector Forum
The October meeting of Forth and Inverleith VSF was brought forward as the meeting was scheduled to take place during the school holidays.
The new date is Tuesday 6 October 1-3pm, at Pilton Community Health Project.
Consultation launched to give fans greater voice
A consultation into the best ways of increasing supporter involvement in football clubs is being launched today.
The Scottish Government is launching the exercise to inform potential future legislation to protect the rights of football fans. The consultation, which will run until 15 January next year, seeks to gather the views of supporters and other stakeholders involved in the game.
Respondents will be asked to consider a number of different options that could be included in future legislation. These include a right to influence the way the club is run, to govern the club or to bid for ownership when it comes up for sale. The final option is to introduce a right to buy, where fans would have a right to buy their football club.
The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament in June 2015. As part of the final legislation, the Scottish Government gave an undertaking to consult on a range of different options to enhance supporter involvement in football clubs.
Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, said: “I believe that football clubs are stronger when supporters are involved in the way they are run. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that fans have the chance to be involved wherever possible.
“It’s important to increase supporter involvement, but we also need to consider the long term stability of our clubs. We must make sure that whichever option we pursue does not result in any unintended consequences.
“This consultation is about gathering a wide range of views so we can decide the best way to achieve this. I want to hear from fans, supporters’ organisations, players and the clubs themselves – anyone who cares about this great game.”
The consultation paper can be downloaded here:
Draft Action Plan is now out for consultation
Edinburgh residents’ views are now being sought on a raft of measures aimed to help improve parking in the city.
A public consultation is under way on the draft Parking Action Plan, which is intended to develop a cohesive vision of parking in Edinburgh, encouraging active travel and supporting the city’s economy while safeguarding residents’ spaces.
Proposals for the plan, approved by the Transport and Environment Committee in August, are based on consultation with the public and take into account the priorities of those living in the city.
Transport Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “We’ve been evaluating parking in Edinburgh over the last few months, studying the use of city centre parking by residents, shoppers and visitors to see where the most demand for spaces is. We’ve really listened to the public to create the new Parking Action Plan, and have responded to their concerns.
“This is about relieving demand for residents’ parking as well as promoting sustainable travel into the city centre. Our proposals would reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled parking, encouraging parking turnover near local businesses and helping to encourage active travel and use of public transport.
The draft Parking Action Plan (above), which affects the Controlled Parking Zone, was drawn up following a series of information gathering exercises, including interviews with drivers and pedestrians, vehicle counts on key streets and internal workshops.
Amongst the findings it was shown that, when parking is uncontrolled on a Sunday, people stay for a long time, reducing the turnover of business for shops, making it harder for residents to find spaces and impacting on traffic. It also indicates that parking pressures in the evenings are similar, if not greater than during the controlled hours.
In addition, of 535 drivers interviewed on a Sunday, 43% said they would travel by public transport, walk or cycle if they were making the same journey during the week, while 42% indicated that free parking was not important to their decision to visit the city centre that day.
Craighall Centre Health & Social Care event
The three month public consultation on the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership’s draft Strategic Plan and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment ends on 31 October and the Strategic Planning Group, which is overseeing the consultation, is keen to hear from citizens, communities and stakeholders.
The city council is inviting local community groups, organisations and individuals to participate in and give their views on the integration of health and social care services and has organised a number of events across the city to enable you to find out what’s been proposed and have your say.
The local event takes place at Craighall Centre, 210 Ferry Road on Monday 28 September from 1 – 2.30pm (note change of time).
There is a web link included in the flier so people can access to view the plan:
https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/
Have your say on Drylaw Skatepark
Wednesday 9 September, 5 – 6.30pm
Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre
