GET INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING EXCITING NEW PLANS FOR LOCAL GREEN SPACE
West Pilton Park Development Meeting
Tuesday 13th June, 5.30 – 7pm at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre
West Pilton Park has received significant funding for development. We need your help to guide issues such as paths & access, play & leisure, nature & wildlife, and security.
Come along, get involved, and help guide the development of your local greenspace.
COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING
DRYLAW TELFORD Community Council’s next meeting will be held on Wednesday 24 May at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre (enter via rear of building).
Open to all and we would love to see some new faces.
For more information, please email pamhigginsdtcc@gmail.com or just turn up on the night.
Hope to see you then 
NEXT MEETING:
Thursday 30 March 2023: 18.50 for 19.00 on Microsoft Teams.
Speakers:
Cllr. Mandy Watt, Convenor of CEC Finance & Resources Committee:
‘Funding Edinburgh’s ambitions in an era of budget constraint.’
Angus Murdoch, CEC Neighbourhood Environmental Services:
‘Doing the dirty work: empty, clean, recycle; repeat.’
Here is the Microsoft Teams link:
Meeting ID: 345 790 606 167
Passcode: mD6VYF
Join on the web
Update:
CEC’s Spatial Policy Division is running a Workshop on five Draft Action Plans prepared in support of the City Mobility Plan.
Three dates are offered, on 18, 19 and 21 April (09.30 to 13.00).
The Action Plans cover Active Travel; Public Transport; Road Safety; Parking; Air Quality.
Contact the Placemaking and Mobility Team at spatial.policy@edinburgh.gov.uk to attend. The closing date is 17 March.
See more on the EACC website:
Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk)
Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC)
EACC Secretary; Ken Robertson
secretary@edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk
Friday 31 March, 2-8pm
Southside Community Centre, 117 Nicholson St
Hidden Door takes place in unique, empty spaces around Edinburgh and this year we’re heading to the iconic offices on Dalkeith Road, the former Scottish Widows HQ, from 31 May to 4 June.
As a local community-run charity we’re keen to speak to people who live and work in the area. Drop into Southside Community Centre next Friday, anytime between 2-8pm, to meet the team, find out more about the festival and how you can get involved.
We would especially like to hear from small local businesses to see how we can benefit you.
A study led by the Scottish Centre for Policing & Public Health at Edinburgh Napier University has found a collaborative initiative between emergency services in a disadvantaged community had a potentially ‘ground-breaking’ impact.
Researchers conducted an exploratory evaluation of a Strategic Delivery Partnership ‘vanguard initiative’, which saw public service agencies Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service establish a ‘team around the community’ model of cross-service response.
The report published today found the initiative transformed traditional practice and helped to address several problems faced by people who found it hard to engage with services. Officers worked full-time in a community hub in the area’s primary school and pro-actively established trusting relationships with people to identify problems, provide solutions and protect people in crisis.
The study made seventeen recommendations, such as the need for more robust evidence on the vanguard initiative, resolving tension between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ operational working and carefully selecting the officers involved, while retaining the ones who helped to build trusting relationships.
Professor Nadine Dougall of Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Health and Social Care said: “This research could act as a model for providing crucial public services in disadvantaged communities across the country.
“Although more work needs to be done to establish the full effectiveness of the vanguard initiative, these findings suggest this model of connective working managed to reach people who were previously either unable or reluctant to get support from emergency services.
“Issues which are common in disadvantaged communities, like drug supply, anti-social behaviour, and personal safety, appear to be much better addressed by this public health and trauma-informed approach to reduce inequalities and enhance community resilience.”
The rapid research evaluation and case study assessment the vanguard initiative was based on a community in Scotland identified as being in the top 1% of most deprived Scottish areas.
It has the highest number of alcohol and other drugs admissions in the local authority area, a high prevalence of violence, and its most common crimes relate to substance use and vandalism.
The study, funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, and supported by the Scottish Ambulance Service, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, was conducted between March and June 2022, using in-depth interviews with the services involved.
Head of Johnnie Walker Princes Street, Rob Maxwell, and his girlfriend Ciara take in the annual Hogmanay fireworks from the venue’s rooftop 1820 Bar.
Johnnie Walker Princes Street played host to 60 ticket holders who were treated to a selection of live entertainment, mouth-watering food and drink and a prime spot to enjoy the fireworks.
The celebrations were extra special for guests Jon Gilligan and Kelly Stark-Anderson who got engaged as they brought in the bells.
New artwork celebrates 50+ swimmers in Scotland’s East Coast communities
Fife-based artist Joanna van den Berg will embark upon a new two-year art project inspired by the lure of coastal swimming thanks to National Lottery Funding through Creative Scotland’s Open Fund.
Developed in collaboration with swimmers, coastal artists and communities, Joanna will develop a series of mixed-media artworks, with a companion collection of writing and images.
This new project titled IMMERSE will take the form of a tribute, exploration and celebration of the growing numbers of ‘feisty 50+ers, women in particular’, whose lives, well-being and sense of solidarity have been galvanised through regular immersion in Scotland’s seas, lochs, rivers and reservoirs.
As one of many who started wild swimming during the Covid pandemic, artist Joanna van den Berg has drawn inspiration from the physical and emotional impact of this directly immersive encounter with the landscape. In Joanna’s own words, ‘the act of transitioning from land to water; the shock, the fear, the exhilaration.’
IMMERSE will host a series of exhibition/gathering events in coastal venues, aiming to produce a companion publication/anthology of text and images for wider distribution by December 2024. News on these, along with call-outs for contributors and regular updates on the project, will be available on an IMMERSE Instagram/Facebook channel from January 2023.
Artist Joanna van den Berg says: “I’m delighted to have been awarded Open Project funding for IMMERSE, a project to create visual narrative for the emotional and physical lure of wild, coastal and tidal pool swimming.
“I’ll be developing work that draws directly from the stories and experiences of swimmers in Scotland’s East Coast communities.
“Much of my work is bound in transitions between land and water, lost and found, known and unknown, and is increasingly underpinned by my experience of aging.
“I am one of an armada of wild swimmers (many of whom are older women) with a newfound and directly immersive relationship with the landscape. I’m particularly interested in the correlation of wild swimming with age-related changes to our bodies, lifestyle and social autonomy.”
The project is one of 69 projects receiving a total of £1,197,933 National Lottery funding in this latest round of Creative Scotland’s Open Fund awards.
At a glance, projects include:
Paul Burns, Interim Deputy Director of Arts & Engagement at Creative Scotland said: “As the year draws to a close, we are once again inspired by the range of exciting new projects that have received Open Fund support.
“The diversity and scope of these projects is reflective of our society as a whole, and we hope that these projects will continue to enrich the lives of people of all ages in Scotland in 2023 and beyond.”
A reminder of the community meeting being held in Cramond Kirk on Monday!
It will be chaired by the mediator, Keir Bloomer. Keir led the process involving all parties – CBCC and the Brighouse Resident Association.
An inquiry has been launched into the impact of Part 2 of the Community Empowerment Act (2015) (“the Act”) on community planning and how Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) can respond to significant events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.
The Committee is seeking views from organisations directly involved in Community Planning Partnerships as well as communities and individuals about the impact the Partnerships have had.
Community Planning aims to improve how organisations such as local government, health boards, and the police work together with other partners to improve local outcomes in an area.
Commenting, Committee Convener Ariane Burgess MSP said: “The Community Empowerment Act recognised in 2015 how important community planning is to improving people’s lives across Scotland and our inquiry will seek to understand how successful the Act has been in bringing partners together to deliver better services that make a real difference to people’s lives.
“We want to understand how effectively Scotland’s Community Planning Partnerships have been able to respond to challenges such as the current cost crisis and unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By hearing directly from organisations involved in Community Planning Partnerships as well as from communities and individuals about the impact the Partnerships have had we can understand what further improvements may be required to truly empower communities, tackle inequalities and bring about real change.”
Let the Committee know your views here.
The inquiry’s call for views closes on 30 December 2022.
A newly established Citizens’ Panel will meet for the first time this weekend (28th – 30th October) in the Scottish Parliament to help shape how Parliament engages with the people of Scotland.
The Citizens’ Panel, comprised of 22 people broadly reflecting the demographic make-up of Scotland, will come together to deliberate how the Scottish Parliament can best work with communities to ensure their needs are reflected in its work.
The Citizens’ Panel will meet for two full weekends at the Scottish Parliament and three shorter evening sessions online.
Earlier this year, the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee launched an inquiry into Public Participation, looking at how people’s voices are heard in the work of the Parliament.
The Citizens’ Panel will assist the inquiry by making recommendations on improving how Holyrood’s work involves, reflects, and meets the needs of the full range of communities it represents, focusing on improving engagement for those currently under-represented.
Throughout the sittings, the Citizen’s Panel will have the opportunity to hear from MSPs and leading academics about democracy and public participation to help facilitate discussion and inform their findings.
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Convener Jackson Carlaw, MSP, said: “Our inquiry into Public Participation is important because we know that the Parliament doesn’t hear enough from some groups and communities.
“We want to make sure that the views and opinions of everyone in Scotland are included in the work of the Parliament, and the Citizens’ Panel will be crucial to helping us understand how we can improve this.
“Ensuring the Scottish Parliament is accessible to a diverse range of people, particularly when developing new laws or policies that affect them, is essential and the Committee will eagerly anticipate the Citizens’ Panel recommendations.”
