Category: Leith Links Community Council

What should the Leith Links area be like in the future? Your views, please?

What should our lovely Leith Links area look like in the future? (Or, NOT look like?)
Full of Apart-Hotels, short term lets, student accommodation, HMOs? Or a balanced mixture of homes, shops, cafes and other businesses?
Edinburgh City Council has launched a “Call for Ideas” for the next round of City Planning (2040) See https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/cityplanideas/
The consultation is currently live online but closes on September 30th. Please will you have a look, and put in your own ideas and views?
We know from bitter experience, here at the Community Council, that objections to planning applications that don’t seem healthy for our area all too often just get ignored/ rejected by the Council and the Scottish Government Reporter. Frustratingly, the developers just always seem to get their way. That’s because it’s too late (because the policies governing the decisions were made 15 years ago, when the City Plan 2025 was being drawn up!)
So what we need to do NOW, to prevent unwanted planning decisions in the future, is to try to influence the NEXT round of policies before they are made/finalised.
It’s hard to get your head round thinking 15 years ahead, but what will happen in 2040 needs to have been thought of and fed into the council planning process NOW!
The consultation closes on 30th September, so time is tight. 
Please  – however brief  – can you send in a response asap? At:

Free film screening, Leith Links 28th September – re climate emergency

Our sister Community Council, Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council is screening the film ‘People’s Emergency Briefing’ on 28 September at 19:00 at St. James Episcopal Church, Leith Links.
Tickets / seats are free but limited so please book in advance. Bring a friend, neighbour or family member: everyone is welcome. Coffee, tea and biscuits will be provided.
Link to Tickets: https://buytickets.at/leithharbourandnewhavencommunitycouncil/2409360
After the film there will be an open discussion about what it means for our community and what we can do locally.

What’s happening with climate and nature, and what does it mean for everyday life in the UK?

Join us for a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing – an eye-opening 50-minute film bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence and why it matters for things like:
🌧️ Extreme weather
🍞 Food security
🏥 Health
💷 Cost of living
The film is based on the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster (featured by ITV, Channel 4 and The Times) with appearances from Chris Packham, Deborah Meaden, and a range of voices from across the UK. Learn more at www.nebriefing.org
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If after booking you are unable to attend, we’d be very grateful if you could let us know so that we can re-allocate your ticket to someone else.
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Controlled Parking Zones in the pipeline…

The Council is currently consulting on proposed parking restrictions all around the Easter Road / Albion Road / St. Clair area. If approved, it means that permits will have to be bought by local residents and businesses, and otherwise parking will have to be paid for, 8:30am-5:30pm Monday-Friday.

Before this scheme is opened for ‘formal’ consultation, feedback is being sought informally from local residents and businesses. I’m assured that the current map and plan is not carved in stone, and that changes to the plans can/will be implemented if local people ask pertinent questions, raise meaningful objections, make sensible suggestions. There is one more drop in session at Norton Park Business Centre, 57 Albion Road, on Thursday 27 August 2026, 2-7pm. Please do go along to find out more and make your views known on the scheme.

There are relatively few residents in the area which is largely occupied by Hibs stadium and Lochend Park, but those that are there are finding it very difficult to park anywhere near their homes due to  – apparently – commuter parking and people from out of the area (possibly from the nearby Leith Walk area and Abbeyhill  colonies area, which now have a CPZ).

I went along to the drop-in session earlier this week and found it very helpful to talk to the Council officers there about how the whole process works (which will be useful to prepare us for later). At this early stage, the proposal is not a ‘done deal’, it is an information seeking exercise. I found the staff ready to discuss wider / future issues such as knock-on effects on nearby areas, and open to hearing views on these, sooner rather than later. (I was also reassured to hear that although some of the original planning designs were done by a London consultant, the current detailed plans are all done in-house by prople who know the area well, and that they are trying hard to reduce the overall use of consultants.)

There are 6 different local schemes in the same pipeline (known as Phase 2), being dealt with in batches of 2 at a time (priority given to those with highest ‘occupancy’ rate (of available parking spaces, as measured by earlier surveys. ‘High’ occupancy means over 70% of available spaces occupied, ‘Low’ is below 40% of spaces occupied. Averaged across the whole area)

  1. Easter Road / Albion area and Bonnington Road area
  2. Willowbrae area and Roseburn area
  3. Lochend area and Restalrig area

They won’t get around to the third batch (our area) until about February 2027, but it will be helpful for us all to be well prepared in advance. I believe they said that even the first areas on the list won’t be implemented until all 6 have been consulted on, which is helpful as it means that the later ones will not have a slow sequential knock-on effect of overflow parking from the earlier ones (they’ll all have a sudden onslaught at the same time!)

It is really important that residents in the Leith Links area all pay attention to this and have a say in the planning at early stages,  so we should pay attention to all of the information and consultation sessions from now on, over the next year.

Leith Links Community Council will be working on behalf of local residents to find out more about peoples views (possibly confusingly mixed…) and potential issues that need bringing to the Council’s attention, so please do get in touch with your thoughts and ideas at any time, via Email: contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

Read more here: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/parking/strategic-parking-review-1/3

Sally Millar, Secretary, LLCC

Next meeting Leith Links Community Council, Monday, 31 August, 6:30pm, Duncan Place

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be next Monday, 31 August at 6:30pm at Duncan Place, in-person.

All members of the local community are welcome to attend these meetings.
There will be a link published here nearer the time for anyone needing to join remotely.
BUT BEFORE THEN  – Big new things are starting to happen in our area, please go along if you can to two Council consultations aiming to collect feedback and local people’s views on: 
1. re Two proposed new Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) in the Easter Road area and the Lochend/Restalrig Road area.(These would also have a knock-on effect on the area further east – Claremont, Pirniefield, Prospectbank, all around Restalrig, into Craigentinny)
To find out more and to give your views, drop in to Norton Park Business Centre, 57 Albion Road, on one or other of the following days:

  • 25 August 2026, 2-7pm
  • 27 August 2026, 2-7pm
2. re A large new housing block (previously intended for student accommodation) purchased by Council to house 200+ homeless people on Manderston St./Halmyre Street. The council will be consulting local people, at a drop-in session at Classroom 1, Leith Academy 6-8pm, on Tuesday August 25th.
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Beautiful Toilets!

The public toilets on Leith Links are now delightfully transformed! (And, importantly,  actually open and functioning properly at last!) Make it your mission to drop by and see Leith’s latest artwork as soon as you can. This beautiful mural was painted by Leith artist Shona Hardie, and funded largely by the Council, with a significant contribution from Leith Links Community Council with money donated by the film-makers of Dept.Q TV series, who filmed there (and closed the road for a day!).

 

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Please tell us about your travel, since the Princes Street fire….

If you live or work in the Leith Links area, or own/run a business here, please tell us how you have been affected by the fire on Princes Street, and getting around the town since then? For example, getting to work? Do you use bus/car/ bike/walking more, to replace tram? What is bus travel like, for you? Getting to social/leisure activities? Are customers reaching your business? Or anything else you want to tell us about? Please get in touch asap, so we can pass this on to the Council. Email: contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

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Annual Report 2025-2026, Leith Links Community Council

Following our recent AGM, we are pleased to publish here our Annual Report  for the past year.

To update you, the current Community Council line-up is as follows:

The current Community Council members are:

  • Abigail Cunningham (Co-Chair, Parks & Greenspaces)
  • Avril Ewing (Living Rent rep)
  • Aric Gilinsky (Treasurer and Engagement Officer)
  • Angus Hardie (Co-Chair, Seafield Master Plan)
  • Barbara Kerr (Leith Festival rep)
  • Aimee McInnes
  • Andrew Mackenzie (CCTT)
  • Sally Millar (Secretary)
  • Teresa Perchard (Planning, Bins)
  • Jim Scanlon (Seafield Sewage)
  • Eileen Simpson (Seafield Sewage)

Since the most recent CC election (March 2025), our long-standing Chair Person Jim Scanlon MBE has stepped back from the role of Chair due to family pressures (though happily he continues as a Community Council member). Jim is endlessly loyal, determined and very experienced, and has made a massive contribution to the community over the many years, for which we thank him most sincerely.

Sadly, we also recently ‘lost’ another long standing and hard-working CC member, ex Treasurer and Vice-Chair Gail Clapton, who moved out of the area. Both were presented with small thank you gifts.

 

Update on Public Toilets on the Links – opening again soon……..

We have been sent this latest update on the public toilets on Leith Links by Marco Galli, Green Space Development Officer at the Council:

The drainage works on site are now complete. We are carrying out final checks, including topographic survey and CCTV camera investigation survey, to make sure the new drainage network meets the required standard before the toilets can reopen. We are on track to reopen at the beginning of June 2026.

During the construction phase, the contractor encountered a number of unexpected challenges I wanted to make you aware of:

  • An old cast iron water main was found during the groundworks. The team had to work carefully around it and adjust how the works were carried out.
  • Extra work was done to protect sections of the new drainage pipework, making it stronger and more resilient for the long term.
  • A water leak was found during the works. This was caused by poor installation from the original build and has now been fully fixed.
  • One of the electrical cables in proximity to the toilet was accidentally damaged by the contractor. The contractor has organised for an electrician to remediate this and we estimate completion by the end of the week.

Despite these challenges, our contractor Healthmatic kept the programme on track.

Please note that the temporary toilets have been removed from site. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause in the short term and are working hard to reopen the permanent facility as soon as possible. Several incidents of antisocial behaviour took place, leaving the toilets unsafe and posing a risk to our colleagues who maintained them.

We know the closure has been frustrating and we thank you for your patience. We will keep you updated as we move towards reopening. Please feel free to pass this update on to anyone who may find it useful.

Thank you.

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