Category: Community information, events and news

You are viewing all articles on our website relating to general community information, events and news.

This Saturday – a grand day out!

The lovely folk from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (Edinburgh/Leith branch, based at Royal Terrace) are hosting a ‘Festival of Unity’ this Saturday, 23rd August, on Leith Links. It is free and open to everyone and indeed is aimed to bring Leithers from all backgrounds together in friendship.

The event is funded by the grant the group won through £eith Chooses, earlier this year, so obviously seen as popular in the Leith community.

This is a very friendly and welcoming group, and – going by their smaller events in past years – they throw a great party and do really great food!! Their choir has been singing at the Tattoo this year, and rumour has it that Leith’s own samba band Pulse of the Place will also be there to set the beat.

Please do go along on Saturday to support the group and join in the fun! Opens at 12 and runs until 4pm – suggest you get there before the cakes run out…..

           

 

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Public Toilets on Leith Links 2025

 

They’re open.

The public toilets located at the Northern end of Leith Links are now open. While we were disappointed in the delay to the opening, it is good to see the toilets are now in use.

The operating hours are published on the front of the building.

They will be open seven days a week, over spring and summer from 8am to 8pm, and over autumn and winter from 8am to 6pm.

There is a water fountain on the side.

 

For more information on the project as a whole see: Thriving Green Spaces Website

Who gets to say how Visitor Levy funds are managed?

This Herald article raises the question of who will influence how the £50million per year raised from the Visitor Levy is spent, across Edinburgh. Surely this process should be completely transparent, highly democratic and fully accountable, otherwise how can citizens / council tax payers trust/have confidence in it?

However, a recently set up Advisory Forum includes members whose names have raised eyebrows. For example, someone who is well known to this Community Council in his role as manager of the Cameron Guest House Group and agent of the Akbar Mir family who own and profit handsomely from an ever increasing number of ‘hotels’ and guest houses for homeless people (especially in the Leith Links area). Is this an appropriate background for an initiative that aims to “‘fund public services, infrastructure and resident-visitor experience’, and to “manage the impacts of tourism”?  

Our view, quoted in the article, is that the Forum should consist of members with a strong track record in delivering improvements for communities.

Read the whole article here.

Revised Leith Links Community Council Boundary

Since March 2025, when Community Council elections took place, there have been some changes to the boundary of certain Community Councils, Leith Links amongst them.

Our area has shrunk very slightly, just at its southern edge. A very small sliver of Restalrig has been moved from the Leith Links area into the Craigentinny and Meadowbank CC area. The new southern boundary of Leith Links Community Council now runs along the Restalrig Road Railway path, which is nice and easy to make sense of.

The reason behind this change is to align the boundary of the Community Council with the boundary of the City of Edinburgh Council Ward (i.e.Ward 13, Leith), which means that the elected Ward Councillors responsible for each area are not straddling two (or more) different Community Councils, and in the process either duplicating the work of the neighbouring Ward Councillors, or ignoring one part of their area.

The map below shows the new boundary.

Our neighbours are –

to the North, and NorthWest – Leith Harbour & Newhaven CC

to the SouthWest  – Leith Central CC

to the South, SouthEast and East – Craigentinny & Meadowbank CC

For more information, see:

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/community-planning/community-councils/1

https://cityofedinburgh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=06d64c0a7ae1405cb243c18e3fa2cd97

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Events on the Links this spring / summer

People often say that they wish that there was a list that they could view, of events happening on Leith Links, so we asked for one. The Council has sent us this list for the meantime and has also said “We are looking to get a public facing events calendar for events in all of our Parks up and running as soon as is practicable.”

We will update this list with more details of each event if, as, and when we receive more information.

Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, Duncan Place, 6:30pm, Monday 26 May 2025.

The next meeting of Leith Links Community Council will be held in person at Duncan Place at 6:30pm on Monday 26 May 2025.

Minutes of previous meeting are here.

Agenda is here.

This will be the second meeting of the new Community Council, as elected in March 2025, and we will welcome our new Community Councillors, and any local residents who wish to attend. Thre are quite a few things going on locally so it’s good to catch up!

A Teams link will be set up for councillors and local residents who are unable to attend in person, but we do not have the technical facilities to guarantee a good ‘hybrid’ set up.

Please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk if you wish to receive an online link.

 

Leith Local History Society AGM, Tuesday 20th May, Leith Community Centre, New Kirkgate

The society will hold its AGM in Leith Community Centre on Tuesday, 20th May at 7pm.

Please join us to find out more about our exciting programme from September 2025 to May 2026. The society can do more if people join us by becoming a member.

We desperately need someone to join the committee who has IT skills to update our old website or help create a new one and help with our Facebook presence.

I hope to meet you all next Tuesday.

 

LLHS PROGRAMME 2025:26, LLHS AGM 20:05:2025,LLHS CHAIR REPORT 2025

Best wishes

 

Jim Scanlon

Chair, LLHS

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New ‘Rules’ for parks – have your say!

Revised rules for parks and greenspaces – your chance to comment by 11 April 2025

https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/management-rules-parks/

Do you use Leith Links and other parks in Edinburgh? If so, you might be interested in the Council’s ‘rules’ for use of parks which are intended to ensure these shared spaces are used properly and safely. For example barbecues and fires – which are clearly safety issues – cause damage to grassy areas and in hot dry weather could cause wild fires and also result in high levels of particulates in the air, are already not permitted in parks except in designated areas. Did you know that a range of other activities and events need prior permission from the Council to be held in parks?

The Council plans to bring in a revised set of Management Rules for Public Parks, Beaches, and Green Spaces to cover the next 10 years. These rules are made under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. A revised draft set of management rules have been developed over the past 2 years and are now out for consultation.   A final version will be submitted to Culture and Communities Committee for consideration. Once it’s passed, presumably the Council will be empowered to enforce these rules.

Here is a link to the consultation exercise on the Council’s website – please take a little time to contribute your views on the matter.

Management Rules for Parks, Beaches, and Greenspace – City of Edinburgh Council – Citizen Space

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Links Place Bus Gate Open to ALL traffic

Duncan Place and Johns Place are currently closed for possibly the next 10 weeks for maintenance work on pavements.

The road network around and through Leith has had increased traffic volumes as traffic that would normally use the closed off roads attempts to find another route to destinations withing the ‘liveable neighbourhood’.

The Community Council asked council officers to consider lifting restrictions on Links Place until the road works have been completed allowing traffic to flow East and West along this road.

Council Officers responded that this was possible and the restrictions which includes the camera have been removed for the duration.

Hopefully we’ll be told before work is completed a date for the camera being switched back on.

 

Join the Litterpick, Saturday 22nd March

Please come and join in the Spring Litterpick on Leith Links, next Saturday morning, 22nd March! Litter-picking is surprisingly satisfying in itself, and you will be contributing to making our area a much more pleasant place for everyone.

Duncan Place is coordinating the litterpick, which is also supported by the Leith Links Community Council.

  • We’ll all meet in the Duncan Place car park at 10am. 4 Duncan Place, Leith, EH6 8HW.
  • We have litter pickers you can borrow, however please do bring your own if you have one. Bring gloves (not your poshest pair!)
  • We’ll supply bin bags. We have a limited number of bin bag hoops and sturdy gloves that people can borrow.
  • Children very welcome, but under 16s to be accompanied by an adult.
  • Join us after the litter pick for a hot cuppa and biscuits, inside Duncan Place, as a thank-you for getting involved.
  • If the weather is *really* bad, we’ll call the litter pick off. If in doubt, check the Duncan Place socials, or call 0131 364 4351.
  • Litter picking volunteers can just turn up on the day, but it does help to let the organisers know you’re coming. You can email on events@duncanplace.org or fill in the form here > https://forms.gle/e7DbVQHq7ENikTSZ6

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