Drylaw & Telford Community Council have set up a new website dedicated to the work of the Community Council. At last months Community Council meeting they agreed to pilot the website for a three-month period and review its success. Since its creation only 4 weeks ago they have had around 400 unique visitors to the site.
You can check out their new website at www.drylawtelfordcc.co.uk
As well as there website they are now also on twitter so get following them for news and updates.
Drylaw Telford Community Council will meet on Wednesday 27 February at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. Main items on this month’s agenda are the Thomas Tierney Award and a possible new website for the organisation. All welcome.
AGENDA:
1 Welcome (Chair)
2 Attendees
3 Apologies for Absence.
4 Minutes of the last meeting (30th January 2013) & matters arising.
5 Reports :-
• Police Report.
• Councillors Report.
• Treasurer’s Report.
• EDRA (Easter Drylaw Residents Association).
5a INP Action Groups:
• Clean, Green & Safe.
• Health & Leisure.
• Neighbourhood Environment Project.
6 Thomas Tierney Award (Selection of 2012 recipient)
7 Website for DTCC?
8 Any other Business.
9 Date of Next Meeting (27th March 2013).
Do you know someone living in Drylaw or Telford who goes that extra mile to help their neighbours, or a local person who carries out outstanding voluntary or charity work? If so, Drylaw Telford Community Council would like to hear from you. The community council is seeking nominations for their annual Thomas Tierney Award for Good Citizenship.
The community council set up the award in 2000 to commemorate the work of local activist Tam Tierney who died in 1999. As well as being a founder of Pilton Sporting Club and an enthusiastic member of Craigroyston Community Centre and Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s management committees over many years, Tam was also a great supporter of the local community council.
Drylaw Telford decided that an annual award to encourage community activism and good citizenship would be a preferable legacy than a bench or commemorative plaque. The annual award has become the highlight of the community council’s year – certainly the biggest social event – and the search is now on for a worthy recipient of the 2012 award.
“Ian Moore (pictured) received the award last year and he was a very popular choice” said Alex Dale, chair of Drylaw Telford Community Council. “Ian is a well-known face in the area and, being a keen local historian, a great source of knowledge – he gave a really interesting talk at our annual general meeting last year. We’re now looking for nominations for the 2012 award – nomination forms are going out now and we hope there will be a good response. The Award was set up not only to remember Tam but to encourage active citizenship – we know that local residents are doing good things in our community and we want to recognise their achievements”.
Nomination forms will be available at community venues including Drylaw Parish Church and Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre from tomorrow, and forms will also be available by email at: drylawtelford@gmail.com
The closing date for nominations is Monday 25 February.
It promises to be a busy evening with not one but two presentations at Drylaw Telford Community Council’s final meeting of 2012, which takes place a Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre off Groathill Road North on Wednesday evening at 7pm.
Scottish Hydro’s Simon Gray will be giving timely advice on energy efficiency, while Selby Richardson of architects Urban Design Features will be giving a presentation of plans for the new skatepark which received the green light last month.
Lots happening at the centre next week – as well as the monthly community council meeting and all other regular activities Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s annual general meeting is taking place on Friday 30 November at 6.30pm.
All welcome at both events.
Drylaw Telford Community Council will meet on Wednesday 31 October at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre off Groathill Road North.
Among the items of business under discussion is Drylaw Skate Park, which was given the green light by city planners last week.
For more information on this – or to raise an issue you think the local community council should address – come along to the meeting. All welcome!
Drylaw Telford Community Council’s regular monthly meeting will be held tomorrow (Wednesday) in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre at 7pm.
Among items on the agenda is Drylaw Skate Park (which is not for fish but for young people, apparently).
All (people) welcome.
Drylaw Telford Community Council has raised safety concerns over the Doo’cot (that’s the old Listed structure, not the boozer!) with officials at the city council’s local North Office.
During the summer holidays local children, some of them older teenagers, have gained access to the old Doocot structure and have been climbing through the building, using trees and shrubbery that are growing through the heart of the structure. Some are jumping off when they get to the top, and residents fear that children will be injured – or worse – if they land on rusty railing below.
Drylaw Telford Community Council chairman Alex Dale has taken the safety issue up with the local North Office – along with another potential problem – Japanese Knotweed. This invasive plant is very difficult to remove, and residents believe that teh invader is gaining a hold in gardens surrounding the old Doo’cot.
“I have passed this information on to the local council office and the response has been very prompt. I understand that there has been some confusion about who is actually responsible for the old Doo’cot – it’s hard to believe it when you seen the state of it, but it’s a Listed building – but that’s been resolved and the council will be taking action. That will be a relief to local residents.”
More good news for Wester Drylaw residents is a council rethink on local street lighting. Following concerns raised by the community council earlier this year, council officials looked again at the quality and positioning of street lighting in the area.
“John McFarlane and his Lighting team have come up with an action plan, fitting 70w bulbs instead of current 45w metal halide bulbs in three sections of Wester Drylaw Place”, Alex added. “Around end of November or early December they shall consult with all residents on which would be their preferred option and before the end of the year the preferred option will be fitted throughout Wester Drylaw Place. We hope that all residents will participate in the consultation when asked in order to achieve the best result for all, and make Wester Drylaw Place a brighter and safer place for the community.”
June’s meeting centred on one roundabout in particular – the one in Groathill Road North. Drylaw Telford community councillors are unhappy about the money that was spent on ‘environmental improvements’ to this roundabout and the meeting on 27 June was an attempt to resolve the dissatisfaction.
The saga began last year when Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s NEP (Neighbourhood Environment Programme) allocated almost £13,000 to make environmental improvements to the roundabout, which was then surrounded by fencing. It was decided that the fencing was no longer required and that the money should be used to remove the fencing and to landscape the roundabout.
Drylaw Telford Community Association (Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s management committee) successfully bid to manage the piece of work, but four contractors later the roundabout is looking sadder than ever.
Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre worker Thomas Brown joined local Roads Manager Neil MacFarlane at last month’s meeting to establish what had gone wrong and to forge a new road ahead (!)
The main problem identified by the Community Council was that the design for the roundabout planting was not of acceptable quality. Neil McFarlane said that the design had been produced by Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s Gardening Group and that the Council will not accept responsibility for the roundabout’s maintenance as the original project is considered to be unfinished.
Thomas Brown said that there had been problems with contractors almost since the very beginning of the project, and the current contractor was the fourth to take on the work.
After a discussion it was agreed that a report will go Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership when contractors finish remedial work next month. In the meantime a small working group of community councillors, Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre staff and council officers will look at reworking the landscaping design to come up with practical, low maintenance – and affordable – alternative before the council takes ownership of the site in August.
Neil MacFarlane said: “This was the first scheme in Inverleith where local people actually did the work and delivered the scheme. We have got to learn lessons from this project as we do not want to make the same mistakes again”.
Drylaw Telford Community Council chair Alex Dale said: “It’s clear that mistakes have been made, but what’s in the past is past – it’s time to move forward and to try to resolve this”.
In other business, Councillor Nigel Bagshaw reported that he had been able to establish a list of all the owners of premises in Drylaw Shopping Centre. The dilapidated state of the shopping centre has been a concern for the community council for many months now – leaking canopies, run-down shop fronts and cracked and broken footways have been raised consistently at meetings over the last year. Now, with a list of current owners, the community council hopes to work with Inverleith councillors and local shopkeepers to improve the local shopping area.
There was also a flying visit from Mike Clark, who stepped down as chair last month. Mike was presented with a token of appreciation by Alex Dale (above, pic John Stuart).
Drylaw Telford Community Council has a month off now and doesn’t meet again until Wednesday 29 August at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. As always, all welcome.
Alex Dale is the new chairman of Drylaw Telford Community Council. The Wester Drylaw man was elected unopposed at last night’s annual general meeting held in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.
Alex (above left) takes over from Mike Clark (right), who was chair of the community council for three years. Choking back the tears (!), Mike explained that he now had just too many other commitments and that he felt it necessary not only to step down as Chair, but also to resign from the community council.
Thanking Mike for his sterling service, Jackie Brown said: “Mike has been a very popular chair and we’ll miss him. We all wish Mike all the very best and hope he’ll come back to join us for the occasional meeting”.
Following the election process – conducted by new Inverleith SNP councillor Gavin Barrie – the other office-bearers remain in place: Jackie Brown (treasurer), Dave Pickering (vice-chair) and Ian Greenhalgh (secretary).
Guest speaker at the meeting was local historian Ian Moore (pictured below), who gave an entertaining talk on the history of the area, in particular Drylaw House.
Drylaw House was built in 1718, and perhaps it’s most infamous inhabitant was James Loch, who was born there in 1780. Loch is best known for his role in the Highland Clearances, and during research for the North Edinburgh Social History project Ian was so incensed by Loch’s actions that he wrote a song about him.
Ian sang the song at last night’s meeting, and in the process made his own piece of local history – by being the first man ever to sing at a Drylaw Telford Community Council meeting in it’s long and august history!
The history of Drylaw in fifteen minutes! Local historian Ian Moore is making a quick return to Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre as guest speaker at Drylaw Telford Community Council’s annual general meeting tomorrow evening.
An enthusiastic member of North Edinburgh Social History Group, Ian was presented with DTCC’s annual Thomas Tierney Award just last month. He’s a real character and his contribution should make a refreshing change from the usual old balance sheets and dull reports!
The annual general meeting starts at 7pm – all welcome.
