Tag: Tollcross

Changes to Morrison Street in preparation for Low Emission Zone enforcement

Work will soon begin on changes to help drivers navigate around Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ), including a new traffic layout on Morrison Street.

Lining work will start on 20 March as part of plans to make Morrison Street two-way to all traffic between the Morrison Link/Morrison Street junction and the Dewar Place/Morrison Street junction. This will provide a safe alternative route for non-compliant traffic while limiting congestion. The new layout will go live on 31 March, ahead of enforcement of the LEZ beginning on 1 June.

We’ll also be adding a right hand turn from Morrison Link to Morrison Street eastbound as well as changing signals and improving the pedestrian crossing at the junction of Morrison Street, Gardner’s Cresent and Dewar Place. This will include widening footways, removing guard railing and adding cycle parking and planters around Gardner’s Crescent.

Continuous pavements will be created at St David’s Place and St David’s Terrace on Morrison Street and traffic will no longer be able to turn left from Morrison Street westbound onto Gardner’s Crescent. This will allow more time for the green man, giving pedestrians travelling east and west higher priority.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1765755608660087015

Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “By limiting the most polluting vehicles from the zone, the LEZ will play a central role in lowering harmful emissions in Edinburgh, which negatively affect our health and wellbeing.

“I’m pleased that compliance with the zone’s emissions standards has continued to rise over recent years, which will benefit all those living in and visiting the city. Our two-year grace period has helped people to prepare for and adapt to the changes coming into force on 1 June.

“The measures we’re currently putting in place will allow non-compliant vehicles to find an alternative route, while limiting congestion and road safety issues. However, as we approach the start of enforcement I hope to see compliance rates climbing even further, or people opting for cleaner, more sustainable modes of transport.”

Other changes to help give non-compliant vehicles a diversion route will be to allow traffic to turn right from Home Street to Brougham Street at the Tollcross junction, which will be in place from 27 March, and a new right turn filter from the Pleasance to Holyrood Road from 6 March.

At the end of 2023 entry signs were installed on the boundary of the LEZ to inform drivers they are driving within the zone and this spring Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, which support enforcement, will be put in place.

A city centre LEZ was introduced in Edinburgh on 31 May 2022, along with LEZs in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee, restricting the most polluting vehicles only and benefiting everyone’s health. In Edinburgh, a two-year grace period is in place, meaning no Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) charges will be issued during this time.

LEZ restrictions will apply to motor vehicles, except motorcycles and mopeds. Vehicles must meet the minimum emissions standards to drive within the zone, though national exemptions apply including for blue badge holders and emergency vehicles.

Edinburgh’s LEZ will issue PCNs, or fines, in line with Scottish regulations, from 1 June 2024. Full details on LEZ penalties are available online.

Find out more about LEZ installation.

Three youths sought following Tollcross assault

POLICE are appealing for information after a 19-year-old man suffered serious injuries after being assaulted in Tollcross. The incident happened shortly after 12am yesterday (Friday, 15 September) in Brougham Street.

The man was approached by a group of three male youths and subsequently assaulted. He required treatment at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to injuries sustained in the incident.

One of the youths is described as about 16-years-old, clean shaven, tall with brown hair and a fringe. He was of stocky build and wearing a black jacket, grey bottoms and black shoes.

The second was also about 16-years-old, white, clean shaven and wearing a grey hooded top with grey jogging bottoms. He was riding a dark coloured bike with white writing

The third was a younger male, white, small and of thin build with blonde hair. He was wearing a black hooded top and black tracksuit bottoms.

Detective Sergeant Steven Dick said: “Our enquiries into this incident are ongoing and I would urge anyone who may have information which could help to get in touch.

“Enquiries so far have established the three youths had been in the city centre on Lothian Road and the Meadows prior to and after the assault.

“If you believe you have may have seen them or have any other information relating to the assault please come forward. We would also be keen to speak to anyone who may have dashcam or private CCTV footage from the area.

“Anyone who can help is asked to call 101, quoting reference 0226 of 15 September, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Abduction and robbery: two men to appear in court

Police officers investigating a robbery at a shop in the Tollcross area have arrested and charged two men.

At around 10.45pm on Thursday, 6 January 2022, a 24-year-old man was walking on Spey Street when he was approached and taken back to the store where he worked on Leven Street. A four-figure sum of cash was then take from the store.

Two men, aged 26 and 28, have been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

They are both due to appear in Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (Thursday, 3 February, 2022). A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

Detective Inspector Kevin Tait from Edinburgh Division CID, said: “We would like to thank the public for their assistance following our appeal.”

Police investigating robbery at Scotmid store in Tollcross

Police are appealing for witnesses following a robbery at a shop in Tollcross.

At around 10.45pm on Thursday, 6 January 2022, a 24-year-old man was walking on Spey Street, having finished his shift at the Scotmid store in Leven Street at 10pm.

He was then approached by two men who forced him into a blue Volkswagen Tiguan car and drove him back to the store, where they threatened him and made him open the premises.

The suspects then stole a four-figure sum of cash from the store and drove off at around 11.25pm.

Officers investigating the incident found the Tiguan, which was bearing registration number SF08 WPU, alight within Lochend Park, next to the basketball court.

It has been established that the vehicle was stolen from a break-in at the Maybury Car Sales in Turnhouse Road on 12 December 2021.

Detective Inspector Kevin Tait from Edinburgh Division CID, said: “We believe that this was a targeted attack and that those responsible had been following the victim prior to approaching him and forcing him to allow them entry to his place of work.

“While this was a very frightening experience for him, thankfully he was uninjured and we are now pursuing a number of lines of inquiry to trace the suspects.

“If you recognise their description, or believe you have seen the Volkswagen Tiguan, either in the hours surrounding this incident, or in the last few weeks, then please contact police immediately.

“Similarly, anyone with any other information is also asked to come forward.”

Those with information can contact Edinburgh CID via 101 and quote incident number 3131 of 6 January 2022. Alternatively, an anonymous report can be made to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Engaging Citizens: Edinburgh International Book Festival

With prison visits, cinema screenings, walking tours and communal meals, the Edinburgh International Book Festival engaged a wide audience in different communities this year. 

Citizen, the Book Festival’s ongoing programme of long-term partnerships with organisations and residents across the city and Musselburgh, presented a series of events and activities reflecting on Edinburgh, its residents and their sense of place and home, while StoryNation reached out to those further afield who were unable to visit the Book Festival in person. 

 Citizen is supported by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery through their Postcode Culture Fund and through the PLACE programme. 

Noëlle Cobden, Communities Programme Director at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said “This August, through our Citizen programme, we celebrated a diverse range of voices, bringing local people from across the city to the Book Festival, in many cases for the first time. Whether eating together, taking part in events or joining the audience, a sense of community flourished that hasn’t been possible over the last 18months.  

“For those who weren’t able to visit our new site at Edinburgh College of Art, as part of our Story Nation, we took authors and streamed events to them. Our prison sessions were extremely popular and have already begun to yield positive results with attendees reading more widely and developing their own writing following our visits.

“Our work in communities in Edinburgh and beyond will continue over the coming year with projects in schools, community venues, hospitals, prisons and care homes, as well as online.” 

In partnership with Scran Academy, a social enterprise catering organisation working with vulnerable young people, Stories & Scran brought together 40 participants in the Citizen Collective, the North Edinburgh/Musselburgh Citizen Writers, pupils from the Alternative School @ Spartans and local people from Tollcross for a community meal at the Book Festival’s new home at Edinburgh College of Art followed by performances of their words and music created in writing workshops held online throughout the Covid pandemic.  

The work of other Citizen participants, including The Warblers, the Citizen Collective and the Citizen Saheliya Group, was also featured in R Words, a Scotland-wide game of poetry consequences. 

As part of StoryNation, Pat Nevin, Chris Brookmyre and Andrew O’Hagan participated in workshops and readings in HMP Edinburgh, Perth and Kilmarnock.  

Stellar Quines theatre company along with actors Genna Allan and Chloe Wyper from the Citizens Theatre’s WAC Ensemble – Scotland’s first professionally supported theatre company for performers and theatremakers with care experience – worked closely with novelist Jenni Fagan to create a masterful adaption of Jessie Kesson’s radio play You’ve Never Slept in Mine.  

This was performed twice in HMP Edinburgh following its premiere at the Book Festival.  The Book Festival donated three copies of the books from the authors who visited to each Prison Library, and HMP Edinburgh advises that there was immediately a waiting list to read Pat Nevin’s The Accidental Footballer. 

Andrew O’Hagan also visited the new Streetreads Library in Edinburgh to read from Mayflies.  Streetreads is a charity that takes books and stories to people affected by homelessness and the new library received 15 copies of Mayflies donated by the Book Festival. 

StoryNation also worked with The Birks Cinema, a community owned social enterprise in Aberfeldy – a rural area that suffers from a lack of reliable broadband – to screen a series of live conversations direct from the Book Festival.  

Perthshire audiences enjoyed events with Salman Rushdie and Pat Nevin, the launch of the Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse with the new Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie who was joined by poets Don Paterson and Peter Mackay, the Summer Crime Wave event featuring Val McDermid, Ambrose Parry, Doug Johnston and Mary Paulson-Ellis and finally a conversation with Ian Rankin as he launched The Dark Remains, his completion of the late William Mcllvanney’s final manuscript.  

The Book Festival’s Citizen City Tour, developed by with photographer Alicia Bruce and Citizen Writer in Residence Eleanor Thom in collaboration with residents of Tollcross, is free, self-guided audio tour which encourages participants to explore the gap between Edinburgh’s postcard exterior and its inner heart.  

300 maps with QR codes were picked up from the Book Festival and to date some of the stories have already been listened to over 45 times. 

Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Citizen programme returns with the Citizen Winter Warmer – a weekend of events and activities at North Edinburgh Arts and Brunton Theatre Musselburgh from 18 to 20 November 2021.  

The programme will be announced in late October, and full details can be found at https://ontheroad.edbookfest.co.uk/ 

Edinburgh protest against cut to Universal Credit

Demonstrators gathered at High Riggs Jobcentre yesterday to demand the re-instatement of the £20 cut to Universal Credit. The protest was called by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty in response to a call from Disabled People Against the Cuts for UK-wide protests.

Participants included disabled people, pensioners, workers and a group of school students.

Police attended but did not intervene.

The demonstrators denounced the UK government cut, due to be implemented from the end of this month. Protestors held placards with the hashtag #20MoreForAll, demanding the £20 increase be extended to “legacy benefits” like Job Seekers Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

Campaigners have raised alarm at the hardship which a £20 cut will cause to the six million Universal Credit claimants, who include the low paid, unemployed, families and sick and disabled people.

Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty leaflets distributed at the protest quoted research by the Child Poverty Action Group.

The research reveals that over the last decade nearly 100 cuts have been made to social security entitlement and the value of payments has fallen as social security rates have been either frozen or increased by less than inflation.

Thus even with the £20 increase a typical Universal Credit claimant would be hundreds of pounds worse off in 2021 than in 2010.

Ethel MacDonald of Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty said: “The brutal cut in Universal Credit is yet another example of governments attacking the poor to benefit the rich.

“This is also an attack on wages and conditions, aiming to force people to accept insecure low paid jobs. Many on Universal Credit are of course already in such badly paid work, since 39% of Universal Credit claimants are in employment.”

The ECAP spokesperson urged people to organise: “ We need to organise at the grass-roots to resist the cut to Universal Credit, the entire austerity agenda, and the whole profit-based system.

“Claimants need to join together and support each other – for example by accompanying each other to appointments and assessments.”

ECAP stress: “After today’s protest, the struggle against the cut continues. What’s more, we are opposing the DWP’s reckless return to compulsory jobcentre appointments – this endangers both claimants and jobcentre workers, due to the continuing covid threat. We totally oppose all sanctions, and urge claimants to contact us for solidarity.”

While MSPs will debate the Universal Credit cut at Holyrood today, the decision lies with Westminister. The UK Government insists the UC uplift was always intended to be a temporary measure and that their focus is on getting people into work.

Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty ecapmail@gmail.com

www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk 

Twitter @ecap_org 

https://www.facebook.com/edinburghagainstpoverty

Citizen: A hearty helping of Stories and Scran at the Book Festival

I was delighted to be part of Edinburgh International Book Festival’s ‘Stories and Scran’ event on Tuesday evening.

The event was a celebration of the book festival’s Citizen programme.

Over the last 12 months, Citizen Writer in Residence Eleanor Thom and poet Leyla Josephine have been working with local groups to discuss and respond creatively to themes such as home, identity and belonging.

The evening – a lively mix of live readings, stories and short films – showcased impressive work by participants from Spartans Alternative School, the Citizen Collective (some brilliant young writers aged 16-18) (above), the Citizen adult writing group, the Saheliya Champions and more. And all in front of a live audience, too!

The event was preceded by a delicious community meal prepared and served up by by a team from North Edinburgh’s very own Scran Academy. 

Congratulations to the organisers – coronavirus restrictions must have made this a very difficult event to plan and stage, but it really couldn’t have gone better.

Stories and Scran was live streamed and you can view it here:

 https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/stories-scran-1/player

Two charged with attempted murder

TWO men aged 26 and 29 have been arrested and charged in connection with an attempted murder in Edinburgh.

The incident happened around 6.45pm last Sunday (13 September) when police and emergency services were called after a 34-year-old man was seriously injured during an altercation in Panmure Place. His condition is currently described as stable.

Both men are due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday (21 September). A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

Police appeal following early hours robbery

Police in Edinburgh are appealing for information following an armed robbery in the city centre.

The incident happened around 2.45am yesterday (Thursday, 6 August, 2020) when a man entered the Costcutter Store on Lothian Road and threatened a member of staff with a knife. 

He then demanded money from the till drawer before leaving on foot in the direction of Princes Street with a small quantity of cash.

The suspect is described as a white man, around 5ft 8in tall and of a slim build. At the time of the incident he was wearing a black hooded top, black tracksuit bottoms, grey woollen gloves and his face was covered with black sunglasses and a red scarf.

Detective Sergeant Keith Taylor, of Edinburgh CID, said: “Thankfully nobody has been injured as a result of this incident but the member of staff has been left evidently shaken.

“Although this happened in the early hours of the morning, I would ask that if anyone noticed a man matching this description or anyone acting suspicious in the area to get in contact with police.

“I would also ask if anyone has any dashcam or CCTV footage of the surrounding area and may have information that could assist with our investigation to come forward.

“Police can be contacted on 101 quoting incident number 0400 of Thursday, 6 August, 2020. Alternatively, the charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Tollcross attack: man to appear in court

Police are appealing for witnesses following a serious assault in Tollcross. The incident happened on Panmure Place, close to the junction with Brougham Street, at around 11.50pm on Friday.

A 58-year-old man was approached by a man who was walking his dog along Panmure Place. The man struck the victim to the head with a glass bottle before pinning him to the ground, causing further serious injury to his face.

The victim was taken to hospital for treatment by the Scottish Ambulance Service with serious facial injuries.

The suspect is described as white, around 5ft 8ins tall, aged between 30 and 40-years-old, and of stocky build. He was wearing a dark jacket and was walking a small brown coloured terrier-type dog.

Detective Constable Oliver Healy, of Gayfield CID, said: “There were a number of people around the area when this incident happened and we are appealing for them to get in touch if they saw what happened.

“As part of our enquiries we are reviewing CCTV footage in the area and would ask anyone with private or business systems to check their footage for the incident.

“We would also appeal to anyone who saw the suspect walking his dog prior to, or after the incident last night, or who can identify him, to come forward and contact officers as soon as possible.”

Those with information should contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 4790 of 21st February, or make a call anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

A 47 year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with this serious assault and he is due before Edinburgh Sheriff Court tomorrow – Monday, 24 February.

A full report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.