Leith Links Community Council AGM, 27 May, 6:30pm, Leith Community Centre

Community News & Events, Leith Festival, Leith Links Community Council, Parks and Greenspaces Sub Committee of Leith Links Community Council

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be on Monday, 27th May 2019, at 6:30pm in the Leith Community Education Centre, New Kirkgate.

This meeting will be the AGM of the CC followed by any urgent business.

If you live in the area, you are warmly welcomed to attend.

Agenda for 27 May 2019

Draft Minutes AGM 28 May 2018

Draft Minutes Monday 29 April 2019

 

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The ‘noise in the night’ explained…

Community News & Events, Leith Links Community Council

Last Wednesday night / Thursday morning (15/16 May) was the night from hell, with both a loud high pitched continuous whining noise, PLUS a constant ear-splitting siren from Seafield sewage works keeping people awake all night from Bonnington to Craigentinny and all points in between (i.e. mainly, the Leith Links area!). This was a record high for noise complaints, and people in our community are angry and frustrated (and tired!).

Naturally Leith Links Community Council reported the matter, as did many individual residents. We have received this report from City of Edinburgh Environmental Protection Dept.

Veolia have investigated and advised me (Council officer) that they had an alarm activation. Their Sludge Import Tank reached its high level and this triggered an audible alarm.  The tank level is higher than normal in order to minimise the overall odour risk within the Seafield site.  It is rare for this alarm to trigger during the night shift as most tanker imports are limited to the day shift – however an overnight import delivery seems to have triggered the alarm.  The alarm stays on until the sludge level within the import tank is reduced (by the processing of sludge through the sludge treatment centre on site).

Veolia shall be reviewing the arrangements for this alarm further today, and will advise me on progress or future actions.  Scottish Water shall also reduce their road tanker imports to Seafield in the short term, which will reduce the rate of level rise within the Sludge Import Tank.

Veolia have apologised for the inconvenience and disturbance caused within the community, which I agreed to pass on to residents who complained.

To add insult to injury, sleepless people have had to stay indoors and keep their windows closed all day yesterday (hottest day of the year so far) due to the overwhelming smell of sewage pervading the local area. What does Seafield have to say about that? They say – we did warn you we were cleaning the tanks…

We think that while it is good to get warnings and explanations, that is not enough. Action is needed. Change is overdue. This community wants to see our Council standing up to Scottish Water / Veolia, and enforcing its own laws and ‘Code of Practice’, to protect our community’s basic quality of life from the endless nuisances caused by Seafield.

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Scottish Water stakeholder update (Seafield)

Community News & Events

Scottish Water have issued an update to our community in advance of some works on the site.

 

Also, please remember that each time you are affected by nuisance, intrusive or offensive odours or noise from Seafield to report it via our web form.

 

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Leith Chooses 2019 seeks your views

Community News & Events

Leith Links Community Council have been instrumental in delivering Leith Chooses (or Leith Decides as it was known) for a number of years, as a Community Council we are keen to support our community having a say in how local funds are spent.

This years Leith Chooses was once again a big success, once again building on the success of previous years. But, the Leith Chooses steering group are, as always, keen to get feedback & suggestions to help ensure that future events meet the communities expectations.

Please take a few minutes to complete their survey, whether you took part this year or not, they want to hear your views.

Click on the TAKE SURVEY picture to take part.

 

 

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Community Councils Together on Trams: Note of meeting held on 25 April 2019

Leith Links Community Council

Leith Links Community Council is a member of ‘Community Councils Together on Trams’ alongside Leith Central Community Council, Leith Harbour & Newhaven Community Council and New Town & Broughton Community Council. CCTT is the coalition of Community Councils who meet regularly to discuss, scrutinise and influence the intended continuation of the Edinburgh Tram system to Newhaven.

1. Welcome, introductions, minutes

2. Update TT team

a. Progress on CEC work on multi-year environmental cost/benefits post-tram

  • Noted: this is being progressed by Hannah Ross (HR) who will advise

b. Confirmation of official ECI period (given the delayed mobilisation)

Noted: ECI is underway, but not all senior contractor staff are in Edinburgh. ECI will end 9 October 2019. Lane closures with heras and barrier will commence from 10 October 2019. To confirm the track slab design the contractor will carry out ground and site investigation along the route[note i]. This will be carried out via trail holes and bores. These works will be carried out under minor traffic management lasting on average 5 days per location.

  • Noted: DW as ‘in-house’ stakeholder rep, and contractors are co-locating to 200 Bonnington Rd (200BR) for the period (perhaps beyond); other members of TT: HR (ca 1 day at 200BR) and RL (as required at 200BR) based at their respective main offices. New TT communication person is being recruited. Client team includes CEC tram team, Anturas, Turner Townsend, Atkins.
  • Agreed: DW to provide diagram of all entities and key personnel involved and glossary of acronyms
  • Noted: detailed trader logistics survey in progress; more info at next meeting

3. Update CCTT

  • Noted: HT had meetings with Paul Lawrence, Hannah Ross and George Lowder to prepare the ground for CCTT/TT meetings during ECI period
  • Noted: the role of the Traffic Management Review Panel (TMRP): includes representation of some but not all relevant groups (e.g. pedestrians and bus passengers – as opposed to bus operator – don’t have a dedicated voice)[note ii]
  • Agree ‘shopping list’ (see below) priority, scope, input required, date decision required
  • Agreed: see bold items in table below

4. Agree future meeting dates during ECI period

  • Agreed: monthly meetings at 200BR on last THU, apart May (date tbc) and July (holiday[note iii]): 29 (tbc) May, 27 June, 29 August, 26 September; meetings beyond September TBA
  • Agreed: due to pace of mobilisation, to meet contractors’ senior staff at June meeting
  • Agreed: to keep an eye on Constitution Street fixing points and pre-works
Priority Topic (subtopic) Scope Input required from Date decision required
TTROs in wider corridor (i.e. including diversion routes and their side streets) There will be a blanket road works embargo.
May meeting business logistics[note iv] TT will share analysis of survey.
bus diversions/stops: this will need LB input The role of TMRP was noted.
Detailed design:
May Meeting: DW to provide info on tracker timing Bus stops/shelters (this will need LB and maybe JCD input) Any bespoke shelters to be provided by JCD; integration with new tracker system (if any) to be confirmed.
June meeting with Gareth Barwell Communal bin locations along the route: may require some infrastructure (example: Albert Street) and changed waste collections procedures (regularity, times outwith tram operation hours) ‘95% complete’
‘open’ (CCTT definition) design items at Shrub Pl, Constitution Street (we discussed best approach) and Ocean Terminal bus logistics and access to private road ‘Shrub Place design issues are a locality issue and are not being dealt with by the project’; Ocean Terminal issue has been resolved
construction period: monitoring/quality control, reporting, communications To be discussed in more detail in future
Utilities: embargo on non-emergency work in wider area (?); clear deadline to complete other work during ECI There is a blanket embargo on such works.

[i] HT note: I seem to recall that exploratory digs would occupy only one lane and last 48 hrs max

[ii] DW note: Major roadworks across the city are coordinated and managed via the City Wide Traffic Management Group (CWTMG); to assist with this process a dedicated Trams to Newhaven Traffic Management Review Panel (TMRP) has been established. Membership of this group is similar to the CWTMG including Emergency Services, Transport Operators and Council Officers. Although not on the approving body, traffic management will be discussed with the Active Travel Forum which has membership from Living Streets, Spokes, Edinburgh Access Panel, Transform Scotland and Sustrans.

[iii] HT note: this leaves only four meetings to address a hefty ‘shopping list’

[iv] While operators contacted by SLTN were all positive about the project, they expressed concern about disruption to deliveries as well as a general drop in footfall for the duration of the works. Communication from the council was said to be key.
Garry Clark, development manager for Edinburgh at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Local businesses need to be able to plan in order to mitigate the impacts that the tram extension will have upon their businesses. “Whilst the council has gone out to businesses early this time around, firms are telling us that they need clarity on the timescale of the work to enable them to put these plans in place. (https://sltn.co.uk/2019/04/18/council-must-be-vocal-on-trams)

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Junction redesign: Easter Road / Duke Street / Lochend Road / Vanburgh Place

Community News & Events

City of Edinburgh Council intend to make some changes to the road layout at the Duke Street / Easter Road / Lochend Road / Vanburgh Place roundabout which will provide for:

  • An increase in the number of pedestrian crossings;
  • Footway widening and new street furniture to make the area feel more pedestrian friendly:
  • Traffic signals to assist in managing the anticipated increase in traffic flows during the upcoming tram works;
  • Improved parking and loading facilities on Duke Street;
  • Removal of the eastbound bus stop on Vanburgh Place: &
  • Full carriageway resurfacing and street lighting renewal

They have provided the following information slides to let our community know what is planned.

To submit feedback, or questions you can contact Council officers directly, or you can complete our simple webform.  Our webform will send your questions or feedback directly to Council Officers but will automatically copy circulate it the Community Council and Councillors Booth, McVey and Munro.

City of Edinburgh Council have confirmed that information on the proposals will be made available to the public through local notice boards, community councils and a letter drop to local traders and residents to allow the public to provide comment and feedback.

 

 

Submit your views & questions

You can use this webform to send your questions & views to City of Edinburgh Council (Place Department), with your questions & views automatically copied for information to City of Edinburgh Council (Councillors Booth, McVey & Munro) and Leith Links Community Council.

Proposed changes to Duke Street roundabout
You are now ready to submit this webform. *

 

Update as of 11am on Sunday 19 May 2019

Since we published these proposals a number of members of the community have taken the opportunity to ask questions or provide their views via our webform. Our webform sends peoples views & questions directly to Council Officers, with us and local ward Councillors (Councillors Booth, McVey & Munro) copied in.

Here is a list of the questions asked & views shared as of 11am this morning:

» Read more

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City of Edinburgh Council announce road resurfacing programme for Summer 2019

Community News & Events

City of Edinburgh Council have announced that a series of streets in the Leith area will be resurfaced over coming weeks.

The roads affected have been prioritised because of their current condition and because the upcoming tram works will prevent any planned resurfacing work from taking place in and around the proposed tram line during the construction period.

The resurfacing works are planned to start on 27th May and will be carried out during weekdays in separate phases in order to minimise disruption to the public. On some traffic sensitive routes, work may be carried out under nightshift to minimise the impact on traffic. Most roads affected will be fully or significantly resurfaced with a select few being only partially resurfaced or patched as required. There will also be some improvements to pedestrian facilities, traffic signal upgrades and renewal of some street furniture.

Listed below are the streets affected along with the proposed month/order of the works and traffic management. Please note this is subject to change following final confirmation from the contractor (MacLay Civil Engineering) next week. Neighbourhood notification letters will be issued to local residents and traders prior to the commencement of each phase.

Street

Month

Treatment

Proposed Traffic Mgmt

Abercromby Place

May

Fully Resurfaced

Road closure. Local diversion

North Leith Sands

May

Fully Resurfaced

Road closure. Local diversion

Albany Street

June

Fully Resurfaced

Road closure. Local diversion

Lindsay Road

June

Fully Resurfaced from North Leith Sands to Portland Street

One-way closure. Local diversion

Broughton Street

June

Full Resurfaced

Northbound Road Closure

Ocean Drive

June

Fully Resurface both northbound lanes from Lindsay Road to roundabout, and southbound bus stop at Holiday Inn

Road closure. Local diversion

East London Street

June

Fully resurface from roundabout to Cochran Terrace

Lane closures

Annandale Street

June

Fully resurface from Haddington Place to roundabout and from roundabout to Hopetoun Street

Road closure in 3 phases. Local diversion

Great Junction Street

June

Fully resurface from Cables Wynd to Henderson Street

Lane closures or Eastbound closure with local diversion

Dalmeny Street

July

Overlay setts in centre of carriageway (retain setts in parking areas)

Road closure. Local diversion

Hopetoun Street

July

Various sections resurfaced

full Road closure. Local diversion

Gordon Street

July

Fully resurfaced and overlay setts on Manderston Street

Road closure. Local diversion

McDonald Road

July

Resurface eastbound bus stop at Papermill Wynd

Lane closure or southbound closure with local diversion

Broughton Road

July

Fully resurfaced from Broughton Primary to Bonnington Road

Road closure in 2 phases. Local diversion

Links Place

July

Fully resurfaced

Road closure. Local diversion

Duncan Place

July

Fully resurfaced

Road closure. Local diversion

Bonnington Road

July

Fully resurfaced from Broughton Road to Corunna Place

Road closure in 3 phases. Local diversion

Academy Street

July

Overlay setts in running lanes (retain setts in parking areas)

Road closure. Local diversion

Newhaven Road

August

Fully resurfaced from Pilrig Street to Pitt Street

Road closure in 2 phases. Local diversion

East Hermitage / Restalrig Rd Junction

August

Fully resurface Junction area

Temporary Traffic Lights and closure of Links Gardens. Local Diversion

Duke Street / Easter Road Junction

August

Fully resurface roundabout and approaches

Temporary traffic lights

Pilrig Street

August

Fully resurfaced from Spey Street to Newhaven Road

Road closure in 2 phases. Local diversion

Easter Road

August

Various sections resurfaced

Various lane closures and temporary traffic lights. Possible road closure required at Albion Road with local diversion
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Scheme of Administration for Community Councils, review by City of Edinburgh Council – final phase

Community News & Events

You will recall previous posts which detailed the review of the Scheme of Administration for Community Councils in Edinburgh.

 

Today, City of Edinburgh Council have launched another consultation on proposed changes to the scheme.

 

 

(The below text is copied from the City of Edinburgh Council website)

Overview

On 7 February 2019, the Council authorised the Review of the Scheme for Community Councils. Minor changes were made and approved for further consultation on 2 May 2019.

The Scheme, Constitution and Standing Orders set out the rules and regulations governing community councils including election procedures, meeting arrangements, membership, financial provisions and a code of conduct.

The review aims to improve and update the terms and provisions of the Community Council Scheme. A complaints procedure is also proposed for considering breaches of the code of conduct.

Your views are welcome on the draft Scheme and complaints procedure as contained within the Full Council report.

Your opinion matters

The consultation period runs until 3 June 2019.  You can send your comments by

Please include your name, address and postcode.  No personal details will be published.

Further information about community councils and the review is available at on the Council website

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ParkLife Project: Leith Links update

Community News & Events

An update on the Edinburgh ParkLife project in relation to Leith Links…

Introduction

Parks are vibrant public spaces that are important for local communities as places to exercise, relax, play and appreciate nature. The ParkLife project, a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Council, is exploring how technology can help gather more information about how parks are being used and enjoyed – by wildlife and people – to help those who manage and care for them.

The project ran four community meetings across Edinburgh, including one in Leith organised by Leith Links Community Council, to find out what members of the community want to see improved in their park, what the main challenges are, and which areas are the most/least used in their park. Taking this forward, we then asked them to think about the role that technology might play in all these issues.

Leith Links

Our Leith workshop took place at the beginning of April, was hosted by the Leith Links Community Council in Leith Community Centre and was attended by fifteen Leithers. We divided the attendees into three groups and seated them around an enormous map of Leith Links. We were also lucky to have Scott Thomson in attendance – Scott is the Park Officer for Leith Links.

We then asked them to quickly list everything happening in the Links and to mark their location with a coloured dot on the map. Green dots represent the most used areas, red dots mark areas of conflict and yellow dots specify areas for potential opportunities. As you can see in the photos, the attendees identified up to twenty areas, with the space around the playground being the most colourful on all three maps.

After this exercise, everyone came together to walk around each table to discuss the outcomes. The sorts of issues raised included dog owners using designated play areas and the football pitches; the lack of seating in the playground; and whether it was fair for military fitness groups to use the Links without contributing towards its upkeep. There were lots of opportunities to improve the park: planting a community garden and the improvement of the allotments; the need for better cycle path connections; the restoration of the bowling greens; and a wish for an ice-cream stand, to name a few.

For our last activity, we asked the attendees to narrow down their thoughts to name ONE opportunity to be created or ONE challenge to be solved. They produced the following list:

1. Using social media to canvass views on how the bowling green can be restored.

2. Improving the infrastructure of the non-sporting spaces e.g. picnics or BBQs.

3. Surveying how many people use the park and what people are doing in different areas.

Understandably, funding was the single most important obstacle mentioned by the attendees. The ParkLife team will be to take this list and see how using technology can help. This technology won’t replace getting out Leith Links and speaking to more people. Amongst other things, it is hoped that new information will provide more evidence to make the case for more funding for Leith Links.

The workshops were our first steps to talk with the local communities around Leith Links and other areas across Edinburgh. They reinforced how vibrant and integral these public spaces are for those who use and live near them. We look forward to working with the communities and seeing how parks across Edinburgh bloom over Spring and Summer.

We would like to thank all the participants who attended our workshops and shared their insights. If you want to find out more about ParkLife then you can contact us at parklife@ed.ac.uk or visit our website https://www.edinburghlivinglab.org/projects/parklife

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ParkLife Project Seeking Community Volunteers (Leith Links)

Community News & Events

You’ll recall that earlier this year we brought you news of the Edinburgh ParkLife project, which is seeking to use data & information to improve Leith Links (and three other parks elsewhere in the City).

They are moving forward with their project and require the assistance of some volunteers to help them.

 

 

The ParkLife user research team invites you to be a ‘park blitz’ volunteer. With your help, we will conduct short face-to-face surveys with park users about their experiences in four parks across Edinburgh. ‘Blitzes’ will last for two hours in one park, and volunteers can opt to participate in more than one blitz. We havefurther opportunities to volunteer at two park community events, for two or four hours per event. You will receive a short trainingsession on the survey questionnaire on 7 May at 2pm (if unavailable then, please let us know).

User research is part of the larger ParkLife project, which experiments with new techniques for gathering and analysing park data. For more information go here.

We will provide a packed lunch and refreshments.

Please indicate your availability in the doodle poll below:

https://doodle.com/poll/f8q3rsnpk9b9uuar

The ParkLife user research team is excited to meet all of you!

Morgan & Michaela

Morgan.currie@ed.ac.uk and M.Hubmann@ed.ac.uk

 

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