environment – Page 148 – The NEN

Setting the agenda: North Edinburgh's Physical Activity Forum

How can we improve access to open spaces in North Edinburgh?

Looking forward to seeing you at next weeks’ NEPAF meeting where the theme will be ‘How can we improve access to open spaces in North Edinburgh?’ Response to this months’ forum meeting has been really positive; here is the agenda so far:

Presentation, sharing good practice- ‘Friends of Dalmeny Park’- Tom Hoon/Out of the Blue
West Pilton Park- Lianne Pipskyj/Clare Symonds PCHP
Community Growing- Kate Wimpress/NEAC
Informal/structured play on local green/brown sites- Kate Wimpress/NEAC
Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Community plan (physical activity priority)- Jim Pattison/FNP
Edinburgh Physical Activity and Sports Strategy- Active Lives- Sean Webster/ECC

The meeting takes place on Wednesday 10 December from 2 – 4pm

at Pilton Community Health Project, Boswall Parkway

It looks like it’s going to be a good one, can’t wait! It would be very helpful if we have an idea on numbers so if you could confirm attendance and add any agenda items by this Friday ( 5 December) that would be great!

Lianne Pipskyj (on behalf of NEPAF)

Development Worker- Physical Activity, Pilton Community Health Project

0131 551 1671

liannepipskyj@pchp.org.uk

www.pchp.org.uk

#StrongerNorth – the movie!

Click on the link below to see a short film about last weekend’s West Pilton cleanup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQPlJ4y9oQ (Preview)

And for more information about the #StrongerNorth initiative, follow:

https://www.facebook.com/edinburghcouncil?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/Edinburgh_CC

Priceless! Putting a value on the city’s parks

New research has revealed just how much our parks are worth to us

Analysis carried out on behalf of the Council by Carrick Associates demonstrates for the first time the impact of the city’s 140 green spaces. The study, which uses a Social Return on Investment (SROI) approach, has valued their benefits at an impressive £114m.

By measuring the social, environmental and economic change experienced by those who use Edinburgh’s parks, researchers were able to apply a monetary value to the effects.

Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “This research demonstrates just how important parks are for our health, well being, environmental awareness and even local economy.

“Our parks are the gem in Edinburgh’s crown and are a real success story for the capital, as recent awards from Britain in Bloom and Entente Florale have recognised. But more than that, they are at the heart of many of the city’s communities.”

As part of the analysis, parks were divided into different categories – Premier, City, Natural Heritage and Community – and their stakeholders and benefits assessed.

Amongst these were the community, whose gains varied from enhanced fitness levels to well being, local employers, who could benefit from a more productive workforce, and school pupils, who are expected to build environmental awareness from a visit to the park.

By monitoring and interviewing visitors on their experiences, analysts concluded that, for every £1 spent by the Council maintaining parks, £12 of social, economic and environmental benefits will be delivered. The report also estimates an annual revenue of £51m for local businesses, health and well being benefits worth around £40.5m and outdoor education experiences equating to just under £1m.

Analysis builds on the results of the Edinburgh People’s Survey 2013, which found that the average Edinburgh resident visits a park in the city on 49 days in the year – almost one day a week.

Over the past five years a steady improvement in the quality of parks has been evidenced by annual Park Quality Assessments, as well as a record number of Green Flag Awards, and national and international recognition by Britain in Bloom and Entente Florale.

Edinburgh’s parks: Their value

This analysis has allowed the Council to predict that by using City of Edinburgh Council’s parks:
Individuals will gain health and wellbeing benefits worth around £40.5 million
The impact on social inclusion and community capacity is calculated to be worth over £6 million
Local businesses and the economy will gain additional revenue from visitors to the parks in the region of £51 million
Schools, nurseries and colleges are able to provide outdoor educational experiences that equate to just under £1 million
The awareness and understanding gained by visitors of their local environment is valued at just under £5 million
For an investment of £9,684,000 in parks and green space by City of Edinburgh Council it is estimated benefits worth £114,191,000 are generated.

Priceless! Putting a value on the city's parks

New research has revealed just how much our parks are worth to us

By measuring the social, environmental and economic change experienced by those who use Edinburgh’s parks, researchers were able to apply a monetary value to the effects.

Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “This research demonstrates just how important parks are for our health, well being, environmental awareness and even local economy.

As part of the analysis, parks were divided into different categories – Premier, City, Natural Heritage and Community – and their stakeholders and benefits assessed.

Analysis builds on the results of the Edinburgh People’s Survey 2013, which found that the average Edinburgh resident visits a park in the city on 49 days in the year – almost one day a week.

Edinburgh’s parks: Their value

This analysis has allowed the Council to predict that by using City of Edinburgh Council’s parks:
Individuals will gain health and wellbeing benefits worth around £40.5 million
The impact on social inclusion and community capacity is calculated to be worth over £6 million
Local businesses and the economy will gain additional revenue from visitors to the parks in the region of £51 million
Schools, nurseries and colleges are able to provide outdoor educational experiences that equate to just under £1 million
The awareness and understanding gained by visitors of their local environment is valued at just under £5 million
For an investment of £9,684,000 in parks and green space by City of Edinburgh Council it is estimated benefits worth £114,191,000 are generated.

A (very) special uplift on Wednesday #StrongerNorth

Community Clean Poster 12 Nov 2014

New recycling service drives down landfill

50% increase in recycling ‘heartening’

A redesigned recycling service in Edinburgh is reducing the volume of rubbish being sent to landfill, new figures show. Residents using the new kerbside service have seen a 30% reduction in landfill waste, with homes now binning an average of 5kg a week compared to 7kg before the change.

Recycling has also increased in areas with the new service, and has risen from approximately 2kg to 3kg per week, a 50% increase.

Almost 20,000 households changed to the new collection service – which aims to simplify recycling, expanding capacity for different materials – in September and 17,000 more homes will receive the service, which will be rolled out in phases to 140,000 properties in total over the next year.

Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, (above) said: “These figures are extremely heartening and demonstrate the impact the new service is bound to have on recycling in the city.

“There is no doubt we need to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill, and I am confident that the public will help us to achieve this, as the first phase of the roll-out has shown.

“As we introduce the service to more and more households, we will continue to learn from the process, making every effort to help people adjust to the changes.”

New grey bins will begin being delivered to phase two homes this week. On householders’ start date, their existing green wheelie bin will be emptied of general waste for the last time before being used for recycling. Blue boxes will still to be used for glass as well as small electrical items and food and garden recycling will continue as normal.

It is hoped increasing space and capacity for mixed recycling will support the Council’s pledge to recycle 70% of the city’s waste by 2025.

Juliet Shields, who lives in Craigentinny with her husband Colin and five-year-old son Conor, began using the new recycling service in September, and says it has changed her attitude to recycling.

She said: “Before the new service I didn’t recycle very much, so when I saw it was happening I thought ‘I’m going to have to get on top of this’. I’ve found the new service great – there’s so much more stuff we can get rid of, it just seems much better to me now.

“I’ve become a lot more aware of the importance of recycling having a son too, and I want to set him a good example. I think people are very enthusiastic about the new bins and system and for me it works really well.”

Joyce Grieve, who lives in Restalrig with her husband Derek and seven-week-old son Christopher, also began using the new service in September.

She said: “I love recycling, so I was doing it already – I don’t like to throw things away that we don’t need to. But I really like the new service, I love the fact we’ve got a bigger recycling bin now. Having a little one we’ve had a lot of boxes and presents and it’s great to be able to put it in a place where we can recycle them.”

As well as providing environmental benefits, increasing recycling rates can save the Council millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money spent on landfill costs.

Visit the recycling pages on the Council website for more information.

POLCATS pounce on the streets of Leith!

A team of volunteers from Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) and the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) have taken part in their first clean up together.

The POLCATS (Port of Leith Community Action Team) and the CEC’s City Centre Leith Neighbourhood team, spent two days litter picking, weeding, sweeping, removing graffiti from bins and removing dumped items from Pitt Street and Trafalgar Lane.

Claire Ironside, Director of Customer Services at PoLHA, said: “We have several properties in Trafalgar Lane and Pitt Street, so it was a natural choice for us to target these streets first. We were also helped by local businesses that went out of their way to move cars and vans to allow access to the streets.

“We have received some very positive feedback from our first community clean up and are looking forward to carrying out similar activities in the future to ensure our neighbourhoods are looking clean and tidy.”

… after

Play your part in active travel planning

Local councillor Lesley Hinds outlined initiatives to keep the city moving at last week’s Inverleith Community Conference. You can be involved …

A recruitment drive is now under way for members of two groups involved in developing active travel policy for Edinburgh.

The Council is setting up a new Active Travel Forum, to be chaired by Transport Convener Councillor Lesley Hinds (above), which will be supplemented by a Cycling Forum and a Walking Forum.

Applications are now being sought from four members of the public to join the Cycling and Walking Forum (ie eight in total), alongside one lobby group representative for each group.

The Council is also looking for a business representative to join the Active Travel Forum, to give a perspective on active travel and staff commuting.

Councillor Adam McVey, Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, will chair both the Cycling and Walking Forums. He said: “This is a great opportunity for anyone who’s interested in active travel in Edinburgh. We want these forums to reflect a broad range of viewpoints to help us develop new policies and design principles for future walking and cycling initiatives. If you’ve got ideas on how we can do things differently or if you just want to play a bigger role in the City’s active travel plans, we’d love to hear from you.”

The full membership of the Cycling and Walking Forums will be made up of existing Transport Forum members, elected members and officers from the Council’s Transport division.

The first meetings of the Active Travel Forum, Cycling Forum and Walking Forum will take place on Wednesday 26 November 2014.

To apply, complete the online application form by Friday 14 November.

Talking walking (and cycling) in Inverleith

Walking, cycling and sustainable transport were the themes of Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s annual community conference held at Broughton High School last night.

Active travel, in particular encouraging walking and cycling to school, features high on the list of community priorities in Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s hot-off-the-press local community plan for 2014 – 2107, so the conference theme was well chosen.

Around fifty delegates attended the event which was hosted by Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership convener Councillor Nigel Bagshaw, who spoke enthusiastically of the considerable health and environmental benefits of choosing to walk or cycle rather than take the car.

Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Convener Cllr Lesley Hinds outlined the city council’s current transport systems, ongoing initiatives and future plans before delegates broke into workshop groups to discuss: ‘What are the challenges to making walking and cycling better in Inverleith?‘ and ‘What are potential solutions to improve and increase walking and cycling, including how can we make best use of local greenspace?’

A full conference report will follow, meanwhile here are some images taken during the event:

Council calls for tougher penalties for dog fouling

The City of Edinburgh Council is calling on tougher laws to help crack down on the issue of dog fouling in the city.

A report to next week’s Transport and Environment Committee urges the Scottish Government to raise the Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) currently handed out to dog fouling offenders, and calls for an increased maximum fine for dog owners taken to court.

The report also recommends a new approach to monitor perpetrators’ future behaviour, designed to bring about a long term change and reduce dog fouling in Edinburgh.

Measures would add to a series of campaigns held by the Council to tackle the issue, which is consistently identified by local residents as one of their top priorities.

Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds, said: “Dog fouling is an issue which continues to blight our streets, creating not only an eyesore but a potential health and safety risk.

“We are committed to tackling this, and it is important that we do everything in our power to deter irresponsible owners from committing the offence.

“That’s why we’re calling on harsher punishments for offenders, as well as long-term monitoring, to reflect the significance of the crime but also to discourage repeat offending.”

If approved, the Council will formally approach the Scottish Government to request an increase to the amount charged for on-the-spot FPNs, currently £40 (rising to £60 after 28 days) in line with FPNs for littering and fly-tipping, which were updated earlier this year.

In addition, the Council will request an increase in the maximum fine on summary conviction in court, currently £500, to reflect “the seriousness or prominence of the offence”.

Proposed measures also include investigating a long term approach to persistent dog fouling, similar to the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010, which was introduced to address the behaviour of dogs deemed to be out of control. This involves the issue of Dog Control Notices imposing specific requirements with which offending owners must comply, followed by a monitoring period to address the behaviour of owners who repeatedly fail to pick up after their dogs.

As well as lobbying for legislative changes, the Council plans to work with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Scottish Court Service with the aim of securing Publicity Orders for convicted dog fouling offenders in Edinburgh. It is hoped the use of the Order, requiring individuals to publicise their conviction in a specific way, would discourage repeat offending.

In the last year, 231 FPNs have been handed out to dog owners across the city, with 82 people reported to the Procurator Fiscal for dog fouling offences.

On Tuesday, councillors will consider the various approaches to resolving the issue, as well as assessing ongoing campaigns like the South Neighbourhood’s Don’t Blame the Dog initiative, which aims to raise awareness of the problem as well as targeting enforcement action in hotspots identified by the public.

For more information on the Council’s approach to dog fouling, and how to report it, visit the Council website.

You can also watch the report being discussed at next week’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting by tuning in to the city council’s live webcast.