About us

Leith Links Community Council is a local voluntary body composed of people who care about our community and want to make our area an ever better place to live, work, study, volunteer or visit.

The general purpose of Community Councils is to act as a voice for our local area. We do that by sharing information with local residents and businesses, and by raising matters of concern with our elected City Councillors or directly with public bodies. We also work to improve our local community by taking part in partnership work and by undertaking our own projects.

We meet regularly throughout the year, usually the last Monday of each month at 18:30 either online or at Duncan Place Community Hub, except July & December when we don’t have a monthly meeting. Members of the local community are welcome and in fact encouraged to come along to our meetings. Further details can be found on our ‘our meetings‘ page.

During the Covid-19 our meetings took place online using Zoom or Teams. Now, we vary between online (usually on Teams as that is the platform recommended by Edinburgh City Council), and in-person meetings. There are advantages to each. We sometimes have a higher attendance by the public at online meetings, and Councillors or Council staff may find these easier to attend. But in-person meetings are also valuable, as these allow members of the Community Council and the local community to get to know each other and build trust, hold better discussions etc.

Elected representatives

Our Community Councillors are people who live in our area and who care passionately about our community. They were elected at the March 2025 Edinburgh Community Council elections, and as time goes on, and maybe some may have to step back, others can be co-opted at a later date.

Nominated representatives

‘Nominated representatives’ are Community Councillors who represent the interests of specific local interest groups on our Community Council.

We currently have two nominated representative (representing Leith Festival and Living Rent) but there are six seats available, so there are currently four seats still available to local interest groups.

Local interest groups who are interested in joining us should contact City of Edinburgh Council to find out eligibility for registering, and the process for joining. Or just get in touch with us at contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

Associate representatives

Associate representatives are people the Community Council has decided to bring onto the Community Council because they have specialist skills, knowledge or experience that would be beneficial.

We currently have no associate representatives.

Ex officio representatives

Our ex officio representatives are automatically members of our Community Council by virtue of holding elected office at the City of Edinburgh Council, the House of Commons, the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Youth Parliament. The area they represent includes part or all of the Leith Links Community Council area.

Leith Ward Councillors generally attend our meetings on a fairly regular basis, but the others generally do not attend, although they will get circulated with relevant information as and when required.

 

 

Police Scotland

We normally get a written report each month from the local community police officers, and they will often also attend meetings (or part of meetings) in person, as and when they may be available.

Our area

We are specifically tasked with representing the Leith Links Community Council area however, our work is not confined to this area. For example, a large planning development in another Community Council area may have an impact on local infrastructure in our area in, in which case it would be legitimate for us to become involved.

Our area is defined by the red line in the map below.

Map has recently been marginally redrawn to follow the Restalrig Road Railway path at the southern edge, excluding Restalrig Circus, Alemoor Park & Crescent, Hawkhill, Restalrig Park&  Crescent, Lochend Avenue (which are all now in Craigentinny and  Meadowbank Community Council).

New graphic to follow.

Our elections

Community Council elections were last held in March 2025 (delayed from 2023/4 because of Covid). We had twelve candidates standing for twelve seats which meant that no public vote was required, and all candidates were returned as elected unopposed.

We are always actively seeking local people who might like to put themselves forward to be coopted to the Community Council at any time, and/or nominated and elected aat the next election.

How we are governed

Community Councils were first established in Scotland by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The City of Edinburgh Council produces a Scheme of Administration for Community Councils which lays down local provision & rules for Community Councils in the City.

Our Community Council also adheres to its own Constitution and Standing Orders.

update these links asap with new governance docs

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section we have provided answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.