SHE Voices are back!
This is such a fantastic opportunity for people aged 13+ to get together with Katie an d look at what affects them and their community and look to make a positive difference.
Email: Shescotland-katiemiddleton@outlook.com for more info
SAVE DRYLAW NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE
6pm via MICROSOFT TEAMS
FORTH Neighbourhood Network will meet online tomorrow evening at 6pm.
AGENDA
For further information please contact Elaine Lennon, North West Lifelong Learning Development Officer, telephone 529 5270, email Elaine.Lennon@edinburgh.gov.uk
DRYLAW Telford Community Council will meet tomorrow (Wednesday 27th April) at 7pm in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre..
With the council elections just a week away, the Community Council has invited Inverleith ward candidates along for an informal opportunity to meet CC members and find out what issues are important to them.
Unfortunately the meeting is not open to the public.
Secretary Pam Higgins explained: “Due to covid restrictions – room size specifically – we cannot accommodate an open meeting at present.
“This is a meeting for the candidates to meet their potential Community Council so that the transition is easier post elections. We hope that in the near future we can fully open up to the community again.”
The following ten candidates are standing in Inverleith:
Four of them will be elected to represent Inverleith next Thursday.
Inverleith councillors elected last time (May 2017) were:
Gavin BARRIE – Scottish National Party (SNP)
Max MITCHELL – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Hal OSLER – Scottish Liberal Democrats
Iain WHYTE – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
After the series of four winter meetings in November, December, January and February — when we approved a new constitution for EACC — we’ve taken a pause before our next ordinary meeting, provisionally scheduled for Thursday 26 May at 7pm on Zoom.
Please let me know if you want to raise any particular issue at the May meeting.
In the future, we may resume the special meetings that were a feature of EACC activities in 2020-1, when we covered public spaces management, carbon neutrality, and biodiversity.
Possible future subjects are local democracy, best practice on making and analysing consultations, and practical approaches to energy efficiency and de-carbonization. We may also include the ‘held-over’ subject of guidance for community council treasurers.
The EACC Appeal (for funding – Ed.) was successful. As of now, we have received at least £700 from some 16 community councils. We hope this will enable us to to pay for a minutes secretary and establish a new website. We will also have a new bank account.
The edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk domain is no longer functional — it always was problematic — so my email address is now Simon.Holledge@gmail.com.
SIMON HOLLEDGE
Secretary, Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC)
Forth and Inverleith Voluntary Sector Forum will meet meet online today – Wednesday 30th March – at 1.30pm.
Draft notes from the last meeting are attached.
For meeting login details please contact EVOC Community Planning Development Worker Kate Barrett on 0131 555 9100 or email kate.barrett@evoc.org.uk
Openness, transparency and citizen participation are at the heart of a new National Action Plan to strengthen co-operation between government and wider society.
Scotland’s Open Government Action Plan 2021-25, has been drawn up with Scotland’s Open Government Network – a coalition of citizens and civil society organisations.
It will focus on involving people in decisions on making data open and accessible across key areas of government and understanding how public finances work.
It will also allow people to participate in decision making on tackling the climate emergency and improving health and social care.
A key first step in this Action Plan is the publication of the Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (IPDD) Working Group report.
It was set up to respond to the need for new infrastructure and processes to make sure people can routinely be involved in government decisions and to set up new Citizens’ Assemblies.
The Working Group recommendations include identifying how participatory processes have impact, independence and accountability; and providing guidance on how to design and run Citizens’ Assemblies.
Minister for Parliamentary Business and Co-Chair of the Open Government Steering Group, George Adam said: “This Action Plan sets out our most ambitious commitments yet to create an open, transparent and accountable government, strengthening public trust in our institutions, producing better public services and a better quality of life for everyone.
“I am confident the commitments in the plan will continue to drive improvement to ensure decision-making is open and accessible to the people of Scotland and that we enable meaningful public scrutiny.
“Tackling the climate emergency and improving health and social care are huge challenges faced by government and I believe that working in partnership with wider society and the people of Scotland will help improve these vital programmes of work.
“I also welcome the publication of the IPDD Working Group report, which will help us deliver on this Action Plan and other commitments we have made to putting people at heart of everything we do. We will now carefully consider its recommendations before publishing our response in due course.”
Civil society Co-Chair of the Open Government Steering Group, and member of OGP International Steering Committee, Lucy McTernan said: “Accountability and trust in our government has never been more important, as we see it undermined around the world.
“I am delighted the Scottish Government and COSLA officials, civil society partners and people across Scotland have contributed to the development of this plan.
“Retaining this spirit of collaboration and partnership working throughout the delivery of the plan will be crucial to its success and we look forward to developing these relationships over the next four years.”
Willie Sullivan, Senior Director of Electoral Reform Society Scotland, said: “Scotland is already pioneering important ways to give people more of a say in the decisions that affect them, such as through citizens’ assemblies.
“We are part of a small group of countries leading the way in exploring how to move beyond the creaking democratic institutions of the 20th century and how to break through into a new era of revitalised and invigorated democracy.
“This report sets out the plan to lay strong foundations for the future of Scotland’s democracy; for the old to give birth to and nurture the new.”
The Scottish Government’s Open Government Action Plan 2021-25.
Spokes Council Election Hustings, Mon 28 March, 7.30-9.30
Transport Policies, with particular reference to Cycling
Local Council elections take place on 5th May. The Spokes hustings on March 28 will challenge representatives of the main parties represented on Edinburgh City Council to explain and defend their transport and cycling policies for the next 5 years. All speakers are candidates in the election.
Each speaker will have 5 minutes to outline their transport and cycling policies for the next 5 years, after which there will be a one-hour QA during which speakers will face searching questions from the online audience.
Website article … www.spokes.org.uk/2022/02/thurs-5-may-2022-council-elections
Tweet … twitter.com/SpokesLothian/status/1506737466547609602
Hashtag #SpokesMtg
Practicalities
Date/Time : Monday 28 March 7.30-9.30
Registration : Register in advance – the link is in the above website article and tweet
Campaigners have highlighted new Government figures which show that people will cycle if it feels safe, and if car traffic is low. The new stats also reveal the huge public handouts to the bus industry through the pandemic.
The data was published today in Scottish Transport Statistics, and covers 2020/2021 when there was a huge drop in traffic due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The figures show a 63.5% increase in cycling in 2020-2021, while all other forms of transport showed marked reductions due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Figures show that the bus industry in Scotland received £340m in funding from local or central government in 2020-21. Passenger revenue for the same period was £131m. Effectively, the taxpayer subsidised 72% of the industry.
Meanwhile, bus fares in Scotland have increased by 6% (adjusting for inflation) over the past five years, while the increase for Great Britain as a whole was 3%.
The statistics also show:
• Public transport journeys fell by 70%, with 153m public transport journeys made in 2020-21. For comparison, in 2019-2020, there were 502m public transport journeys recorded.
• 83% of public transport journeys were made by bus, 9% by rail, 5% by air and 3% by ferry.
• The number of bus journeys fell by 65% in 2020-21. While this was the result of the pandemic, it also follows the trend of long term decline in bus passenger numbers. There were 458million bus journeys in 2009-10 but this had fallen to 363 million by 2019-20
Transport is Scotland’s largest source of climate emissions and levels have barely changed since 1990.
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Air Pollution Campaigner Gavin Thomson commented: “These statistics confirm the huge increase in cycling we witnessed over the first year of the pandemic.
“People will cycle if they feel safe, whether that means fewer cars on the road or segregated cycle lanes. As we head into the elections, all local council candidates need to recognise there are huge benefits to their area of making it safe and easy to cycle.
“These figures show just how much the public purse is subsidising the bus industry. But politicians have failed to get value for money. Fare rises far above the UK average, constant route cuts, and a complete lack of control or accountability. Councils need to use the new bus powers to take control of our bus network; if we’re paying for it, we should control it.
“This data is a snapshot from the first year we faced huge societal changes due to Covid-19. We still don’t know what the world will look like on the other side of this pandemic, but there are opportunities to deliver on those early promises to build back better and greener. Councils have a range of powers at their disposal to make it safe, easy, and cheap to travel sustainably.”
Two years to the day Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK’s first lockdown, Drylaw Telford Community Council meets in person again tonight.
February’s community council trialled face-to-face meetings and, with restrictions being lifted, it was agreed that Drylaw Telford will continue to meet in public.
Tonight’s meeting, at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, starts at 7pm.
While much has changed in the last two years – whoever heard of Zoom pre-Covid? – some issues remain the same:
Looking to try something new?
Fancy getting out of the house for a bit?
Browse our programme, and give something new a go!
