engagement – Page 28 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Power to the People: autumn update

The Power to the People group has been busy …

Power to the People is a group for adults in North Edinburgh who are interested in social history, current affairs and the arts.

We have been meeting together since 2012 and enjoy getting together to learn about things we are interested in and getting involved in issues which concern us. The group is friendly, informal and free and new members can join any time.

Over the last year, we have been learning about North Edinburgh’s early history through studying archive material, visiting exhibitions, watching films and inviting guest speakers to our group.

We are currently working on a heritage leaflet and a short film for STV’s history programme documenting key aspects of North Edinburgh’s history which will allow us to share the area’s fascinating history with a wider audience.

We also enjoy getting out and about and going to different places of interest. Last week we went on a visit to Wester Hailes to learn about their social history project.

Over the last few years, the project has been involved in digitising and publicising back copies of the Wester Hailes Sentinal and have established a local blog and Facebook page.

The project have also been involved in developing social history walks in the area in conjunction with Wester Hailes Health Agency and has installed Scotland’s first digital totem pole (above) which contains QR codes which allow people to access further information about the area’s history via a smart phone.

We have recently developed a new programme of information and discussion sessions dealing with issues we are concerned about such as fracking on the Forth, the proposed abolition of the Human Rights Act and the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The first of these sessions will take place tomorrow – Tuesday 6 October, from 10am – 12.30 – in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

The next session will take place early in November and will be held in the evening to allow people to attend who are unable to get to day time sessions. A free crèche will be provided by Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to allow people with children to participate.

We have also organised a screening of the Glasgow Girls, (see above), the true story of a group of school pupils from Drumchapel, who led a successful campaign to save their friend from deportation. The film developed into a powerful human rights movement which resulted in changes in immigration practices in Scotland.

Following the screening of the film, we will be joined by Roza Salih, one of the Glasgow Girls, for a discussion about the issues raised. The screening will take place this Thursday 8 October at 6.30 in North Edinburgh Arts. There is no charge for attending this event and transport and a crèche have been organised. Please call 552 5700 to book.

For those of you who enjoy getting out and about and enjoy the company of others, our next visit will be to the National Library of Scotland on Tuesday 27 October. We will be viewing an exhibition on the life and times of Thomas Muir, a radical political reformer known as ‘the father of Scottish Democracy’.

Anyone wishing further information about the group or any of the activities planned this term should call Lynn McCabe, on 552 5700 (Tuesday – Thursday) or email Lynn at lynn.mccabe@ea.edin.sch.uk

Balancing the books: your city, your say

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:

going online to comment on proposals atwww.edinburgh.gov.uk/budget
completing the budget planner to have your say on what services you would spend or save money on in 2016 to 2020
submitting your ideas to the dialogue page
commenting on the 2016-20 proposals

You can do this by:

phone on 0131 200 2305 (8.30am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 3.40pm Friday)
writing to us at Freepost, RSJC-SLXC-YTJY, Budget, Council Leader, City Chambers, High Street Edinburgh EH1 1YJ
speaking to your local councillor

Power to the People talk fracking …

The Power to the Power group is hosting a community meeting on the issue of fracking and underground coal gasification in the Forth next Tuesday (6 October) from 10am – 12.30 in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

A crèche will be available to allow people with young children to participate.

We are keen to raise awareness about this issue locally and will be supporting the action planned on the Forth Road Bridge on Sunday 11 October at 2pm. Please see the link below for further information :

http://www.ourforth.org/hands-across-the-forth/

Power to the People

Positively Diverse programme announced

We have now finalised the programme for our learning event Positively Diverse on the 1 October (see below). The event will support organisations to implement positive practices that include BME residents.

Please do BOOK your place by calling us on 0131 551 1671 or emailing admin@pchp.org.uk if you want to attend.

Programme

9.30am Arrive and coffee

10.00am Welcome

10.30am Professor Rebecca Kay, co-convenor of Glasgow refugee, asylum and migration network: ‘Living in Harmony: the benefits and joy of working with a diverse client group’

11.00am Residents tell their stories – followed by Q&A

12.15pm Lunch

1pm A Welcoming North Edinburgh – past and present

1.15pm How to make it happen – best practice from local organisations -followed by Q&A.

2.30pm What can you do next?

3.15pm Summing up

3.30pm Finish

Anita Aggarwal

Community Development Manager, Pilton Community Health Project

Breaking down barriers

ELREC wants your views

ELREC (Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council) has launched a project, funded by the Scottish government, that aims to increasing representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in public life and the democratic process in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

The first step of the project is to identify the barriers which limit the participation by conducting a survey which will be then used to plan & design the next phase. We would like to request that you to complete the survey online; it will take around 15-20 minutes.

Your view is really important in order to determine further steps to be taken.

Please find the survey link here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/elrec

If you would like a hardcopy of the survey by post please get in touch. For any inquiries, please contact me by email: mrahman@elrec.org.uk or telephone 0131 556 0441. For more information see the project brochure by clicking here.

ELREC_Public_Life_Brochure

Thank you in advance for helping us with this project.

Mizan Rahman

Equality Engagement Officer

Edinburgh and Lothian Regional Equality Council (ELREC)

14 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LH

Tel: 0131 556 0441

Email: mrahman@elrec.org.uk

| www.elrec.org.uk

Hold Me Dear: Four cities, (Extra)ordinary Places

What’s your favourite place in Edinburgh?

Fancy joining in some walking/cycling route mapping or a DIY exhibition-building day?

You may have heard about the upcoming Hold Me Dear: Four Cities, [Extra]Ordinary Places photography exhibition taking place in the Rodney St tunnel next to King George V Park in Canonmills.

This co-created community exhibition will feature photographs of people’s favourite personal places in their city, and has invited submissions from people across Edinburgh until the 17 September deadline.

Send us your photo and place in Edinburgh that means the most to you here! Get involved in one of our volunteer workshops! A great way to meet other people, explore the area and contribute to making this unique exhibition!

WEDNESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER – Join us from 10am-12noon to explore the local area around Rodney St tunnel in Canonmills and record your favourite walking or cycle routes and places along them. We’ll be turning these into a locally-loved community map to explore the local area from the exhibition in September!

FRIDAY 18 SEPTEMBER– Join us from 10am to help us DIY build the exhibition! Come prepared to get your hands dirty assembling exhibition boards and painting. You’ll get the chance to see your finished work at the exhibition launch event 12noon on Sunday 27th!

For more info or to sign up to join us, email hello@thehereandnow.org.uk

Talking about improvements in West Pilton …

Community Council to hold mobile meetings!

Sometimes it’s not too easy to get people to attend meetings, so West Pilton West Granton community councillors have come up with a plan: if residents can’t always come to meetings, we’ll take the meetings to them!

Community council members will be meeting local residents in their own back-greens tomorrow to discuss community ideas for environmental improvements.

They have leafletted the stairs in the blocks they will be visiting in West Pilton Gardens, West Pilton Avenue and Ferry Road Avenue (the section to Pennywell Road) and you may also have spotted the eye-catching mobile noticeboard outside the North Local Office in West Pilton Gardens earlier this week.

West Pilton West Granton community council chairman Willie Black explained: “Money has been made available to improve the environment of the backgreens, so we are inviting residents to share their views on what should be done.

The backgreen meetings will give the folk who live here to join us and their neighbours to chat and decide on how the money should be spent, not just in the backgreen but across the area.”

The backgreen meetings will take place on Sunday at 11am (West Pilton Gardens/Avenue) and 1pm ( West Pilton Avenue/Ferry Road Avenue).

There will be an update on the proposed local environmental improvements at next week’s Community Council meeting. Also on the agenda is the new bin collection and recycling arrangements.

The cleanliness of local streets and green spaces and problems with fly tipping remains a concern for local residents and council officers will attend the meeting to explain how the new arrangements will work.

The meeting will be held in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on Tuesday at 7pm. All welcome.

Breaking up Britain? Report to lambast Westminster voting system

Electoral Reform Society report will highlight deficiencies of ‘an archaic and broken voting system’

Definitive report on 7 May result highlights least proportional result in UK electoral history
Exclusive YouGov study for the ERS will show result under fairer voting systems
First Past the Post is ‘breaking up Britain’ by creating artificial divisions, analysis shows

The failure of Britain’s voting system will be laid bare on Monday, when the Electoral Reform Society will release their definitive report on the General Election.

The report, ‘The 2015 General Election: A Voting System in Crisis’, will reveal how this election was the most disproportionate in British electoral history, according to new analysis.

It will also, for the first time, conclusively reveal how the election would have looked different under other voting systems – based on polling of over 40,000 people’s party preferences for the ERS by YouGov.

As well as this exclusive new polling, A Voting System in Crisis argues that the voting system is even contributing to the break-up of the UK, artificially inflating divisions and leading to a ‘postcode electoral lottery’ where parties are excluded in one area and over-represented in another. Millions of people’s voices are being excluded simply because of where they live, the report argues.

It draws on the fact that the SNP won 95% of Scottish seats on half the vote – leaving unionist sentiment in Scotland almost completely unrepresented, while at the same time the Labour party was locked out of the South of England – winning just 8 seats in the South East and South West despite getting nearly a fifth of the vote. Equally, cross-community parties were kept out in Northern Ireland under Britain’s divisive voting system, and Labour were greatly over-represented in Wales.

The number of votes cast for parties other than the three main UK wide parties rose to its highest ever level on May 7 – the dawn of ‘truly multi-party politics’, but a politics operating under what the ERS describe as an ‘archaic and broken voting system’.

The report will show the shocking number and percentage of votes which went to losing candidates and were effectively wasted. It will also reveal the number / percentage of MPs who were elected without a majority of votes, as well as the stunningly low number of MPs who actually secured a majority from the overall electorate.

The full report will be produced on Monday 1 June.

A busy weekend in Trinity

On *Saturday *we have our annual Trinity CC walkabout. Starts at 10 outside Wardie Primary.

What are you doing on Sunday? How about exploring our walkway/cycle paths? Check out https://dub125.mail.live.com/?tid=cmYYVN7FDq5BG9xNidZ1yJrg2&fid=flinbox

What about Monday? So much to choose from ….

If you’re interested in Crime Prevention then you might like to try this:
https://nen.press/2015/04/21/neighbourhood-watch-event-at-trinity-academy/

…but if culture (in aid of a good cause) is more your thing, then check out the attached poster – an annual concert at North Leith Parish Church featuring our very own Trinity Pipers (and others). Its in aid of Help the Heroes.

Of course, if you’re quick off the mark you might just be able to fit both in! Beats Eastenders!

Bill Rodger, Trinity Community Council

More power to the people

Government beefs up Community Empowerment Bill to encourage community participation in decision-making

More community involvement in the decisions of public bodies will strengthen democracy, according to Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi .

A change to the Community Empowerment Bill, agreed by the Local Government and Regeneration Committee last week, encourages public bodies to promote and facilitate participation with people and communities in decision making and budget setting.

The move follows huge participation in last year’s independence referendum.
Ministers will also have powers to require public bodies to engage if they fail to do so.

Speaking at the Community Development Alliance Scotland conference in Glasgow earlier this week, Mr Biagi said: “Involving people and communities in decision-making unquestionably makes for better decisions.

“As the referendum demonstrated, people will get involved when they understand the issues at stake and know that they can make a difference. It’s my job to ensure that enthusiasm continues and make it clear that people know their voice matters.

“Participation is about more than consulting, it is about empowering communities to shape decisions and have a say on how ideas are delivered.

“18 Scottish councils have taken up the Government’s offer of training and support for participatory budgeting projects, giving communities the chance to have their say on local budgets. That helps build community capacity while ensuring the public sector understands local needs and priorities and can target budgets more effectively to improve services.

“More participation brings fresh perspectives, strengthens democracy and will help build a fairer Scotland.”

Fiona Garven, Chair of Community Development Alliance Scotland said: “CDAS welcomes the changes to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill which will pave the way for communities to be involved in meaningful decisions about how public money is spent.

“We are encouraged that the legislation will also require processes to be put in place to support communities and community organisations to engage with public bodies to raise awareness of local issues and to contribute to more effective shaping and delivery of local services.

“Such support will be important to encourage the involvement of a diverse range of communities in local democratic processes and achieve a rebalance of power across all sections of Scottish society.”