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ParkLife Project: Leith Links update

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)

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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Noise Nuisance from Seafield Sewage Works – Update

For over a month now, local residents have been plagued (on and off, but mostly ON) by a distressingly loud, continuous noise, 24/7. It is driving people crazy, and making them angry. Many residents are especially distraught because they cannot sleep, even with earplugs. It is usually a continuous high pitched whine, although it can on occasion be accompanied by, or replaced by, a low pitched rumbling/pulsing.

Leith Links Community Council has been following this up vigorously, and has had (albeit slow to get started) good support so far from City of Edinburgh Council Environment Protection Dept.. Luckily noise – unlike smells – can be measured objectively, so they could not pretend it does not exist. It has been established definitively that the noise is emanating from Seafield Sewage Treatment Works, from a defective compressor on Primary Settlement Tank (PST)1, and to a lesser extent from PST Compressor 8, possibly with other ‘potential contributing factors which are being considered by the operator’.

Environmental Protection say (over a month after the first complaints)  ‘I can confirm that this matter is already under investigation. We are in dialogue with Veolia at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment works in relation to the noise. … I can advise you that Veolia are treating this as a priority and are actively looking to put short term and longer term measures in place in order to address this concern.’

The Council has requested a full report from Veolia, who run the Seafield plant, detailing what exactly is wrong and what actions they will take to ‘minimise’ (hhmmm..) the noise in the community. They expect this soon and of course we (LLCC) are urging that pressure is kept up on Veolia, for swift action!

This is just one more sign that Seafield is not fit for purpose. Since January, via this LLCC website form, there have been 76 reports of bad smells (70 of which came in between 24 February and 31 March). It is still smelling, today. Reports of the noise have been coming in since 5th March, continuing steadily until now, from at least 20 different people.

John Telfer, Head of PFI, Scottish Water, says “In the first instance I apologise for the fact that …members of the community have been inconvenienced by recent odour and noise issues….Can I assure you that Veolia are working to address the noise related issues that you and other stakeholders have made reference to. Veolia are fully aware of the inconvenience this is causing and are looking at what could be done in the immediate short and longer term to deal with these noise emissions…. Again please accept my apologies for the inconvenience these issues have caused and be assured that Scottish Water is taking steps to address your concerns.”

Is this good enough?

How come Veolia / Scottish Water didn’t start dealing with the noise problem much earlier? Would anything have been done at all if the community had not kept on reporting this? How come the Council does not seem to treat this noise nuisance as non-compliance with the Code of Practice they are supposed to ‘police’ and hold Seafield to account on?

What can residents do?

Now that the Council is finally ‘on the case’, there is no point in reporting the same noise repeatedly. That just means that the Environmental Protection Officer’s time is taken up replying to individuals, when we actually need him to spend his time  keeping up the pressure on Veolia and Scottish Water. BUT we (LLCC) would like to ask you to report it anyway – only via the form on this website. We suggest that you report the noise when first you hear it, and at daily intervals if you can be bothered. Currently the form is really only set up for smell reporting (we ARE updating it asap) but there are boxes that you can complete anyway saying something like ‘Along with the smell’ (or, ‘Not smell but’)  ‘continuous high pitched whining noise nuisance experienced’ & how loud, what effect it has on your quality of life.

Reporting via the form (see top of this page, or sidebar) means we can keep an accurate record of all complaints and compile these at intervals to keep the Council updated, without wasting their time on an hourly/daily basis.

However, just in case you want a personal response, or want an officer to visit your house, these are the correct contact points for Environment Protection:

Email – asknoise@edinburgh.gov.uk

Or use the general help lines on Tel: 0131 200 2000 or Twitter – @edinhelp

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Leith Festival AGM & Board Member Recruitment

Leith Festival is an important annual event, only made possible by the massive support of our local community and volunteers willing to invest their time.

Their next AGM is due to be held on Wednesday 1 May 2019, at 7pm, in Leith Dockers Club.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  Click here to see their Facebook event.

They are currently seeking some new board members, including a Treasurer. So if you are looking for a new volunteering opportunity please do get in touch with them.

 

Click here to view Leith Festival contact details.

 

 

 

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Leith Neighbourhood Partnership meeting – 27 February 2019

Leith Neighbourhood Partnership will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday 27 February 2019 at 6pm in Leith Community Centre.

City of Edinburgh Council recently took the decision to abolish Neighbourhood Partnerships so this may well be the final meeting of Leith Neighbourhood Partnership.

This meeting will consider updates on matters such as Leith Chooses and the Leith Links Play Park upgrade works.

Members of the community are welcome to attend.

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Permission sought for Leith Links 5k

City of Edinburgh Council are considering an application to permit a Leith Links 5k to be held in Leith Links (organisers also plan to use the Restalrig Railway Path).

The request doesn’t contain a great amount of detail but is published here for your information, please be aware we have removed the name of the individual making the application.

If you have any views either in support or objection to the request, or just a general comment please let City of Edinburgh Council know;

 

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Trams to Newhaven: Final Business Case published

Earlier today City of Edinburgh Council published their Final Business Case, in advance of a meeting of their Transport & Environment Committee due to be held on Thursday 28 February 2019.

The release of the Final Business Case to Committee is another step towards a full Council meeting on 14 March 2019 when a decision will be made as to whether to finish constructing the tram line to Newhaven from York Place.

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