Category: Leith Links Community Council

Extended time to comment on parking zone for Leith – make your voice heard!

Leith Links Community Council has successfully negotiated an extension of the time available for commenting on the proposed controlled parking zone for Leith – which is imminent. A lot of people had not realised that this affects our area (as well as Leith Walk, Pilrig  Abbeyhill etc.)

PLEASE take the time to send in an email with your views (see below for contact address) – it is the only way that the local community can be heard. These must be sent in by 5th December 2021

The proposed scheme will affect many streets in the areas around Constitution Street / Salamander Street & Place, Links Place & Gardens, Duncan Place, Johns Place etc. – and , of course, there will be a significant knock on effect on streets that are just on/beyond the boundary, as parking will ‘migrate’ from the controlled zone to the nearest free parking. The boundary is along the edge of the Links, so there will be increased demand for parking on Vanburgh, Hermitage & East Hermitage Place, Gladstone Place and Claremont Park, and other streets near here.

NB. This is different from and not to be confused with the proposed CPZ for our area earlier this year (the area inaccurately referred to as ‘West Leith’) which has been paused / postponed until later in 2022. Final plans and consultation of that are still to come, next year.

Feedback and comments on this final design proposal have to be made in writing by 5th December so there is not much time.

To view detailed plans and further information regarding the proposals, please visit the consultation website:

http://pclengagement-hub.co.uk/en-GB/folders/parkingreviewph1

With comments on the proposals or any details of them, please email by 5th December to the team at Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk 

Click on the project link and then scroll down and click on EDINBURGH AREA N8

https://pclengagement-hub.co.uk/en-GB/projects/leith-northleith

Look on the map and note the number of the area you are interested in. Then scroll down through all the separate ’tile’ maps till you get to that number. Each number has two tile maps, showing the existing parking situation and then the proposed changes.

For example tile 939  will show you Duncan Place, Academy Street, Wellington Place, Johns Place.

   

Having looked at the numbered tile map, you have to keep referring to the legend map at the top of the page so you know what each colour indicates. For example pink is resident parking, brown is pay and display/resident parking, shared – and so on.

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The faff of finding the right pages and working out what each colour means is is pretty off-putting. But please do try to have a look and email in your comments, it’s the only chance for the local community to affect the final decisions. This Community Council will TRY to get an online meeting set up so that local residents can ask questions and comment directly, but we don’t know yet if this can be done.

The stated aim of the proposals is, amongst other things, to make it impossible for drivers from out of town to use our area as a ‘Park and Ride’, where they would park and then take the tram into town. That does make sense. But do the specific plans for your street make sense? You know your streets and the behaviour and needs of residents better than the Council or a firm of ‘consultants’.

You can copy your comments to us at the Community Council if you wish, that helps us get a ‘feel’ for the views of local residents. But don’t JUST send to us, you MUST send your comments directly to the Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk 

Controlled Parking Zones coming to streets near you! Last chance to comment!

Important! The City Council is now moving forward (1st TRO advertisement) with the introduction of Controlled Parking Zones for Abbeyhill, Leith Walk, Pilrig, Leith and North Leith, which were first proposed and discussed back in 2019. ‘Leith’ covers some (but not all) of the Leith Links area, see map below. And it will definitely also affect other parts of our area that are just on/beyond the boundary, as parking will ‘migrate’ from the controlled zone to the nearest free parking. The boundary is along the edge of the Links, so there will be increased demand for parking on Vanburgh, Hermitage & East Hermitage Place, Gladstone Place and Claremont Park, and other streets nearest these.

NB. This is different from and not to be confused with the proposed CPZ for our area earlier this year (the area inaccurately referred to as ‘West Leith’) which has been paused / postponed until later in 2022. Final plans and consultation of that are still to come, next year.

They are inviting feedback and comments on the final design proposal. These have to be made in writing by 12th November so there is not much time.

To view detailed plans and further information regarding the proposals, please visit the consultation website:

http://pclengagement-hub.co.uk/en-GB/folders/parkingreviewph1

With comments on the proposals or any details of them, please email by 12th November to the team at Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk 

It’s not an easy process!

Click on the project link and then scroll down and click on EDINBURGH AREA N8

https://pclengagement-hub.co.uk/en-GB/projects/leith-northleith

Look on the map and note the number of the area you are interested in. Then scroll down through all the separate ’tile’ maps till you get to that number. Each number has two tile maps, showing the existing parking situation and then the proposed changes.

For example tile 939  will show you Duncan Place, Academy Street, Wellington Place, Johns Place.

   

Having looked at the numbered tile map, you have to keep referring to the legend map at the top of the page so you know what each colour indicates. For example pink is resident parking, brown is pay and display/resident parking, shared – and so on.

*

The faff of finding the right pages and working out what each colour means is is pretty off-putting. But please do try to have a look and email in your comments, it’s the only chance for the local community to affect the final decisions. This Community Council will TRY to get an online meeting set up so that local residents can ask questions and comment directly, but we don’t know yet if this can be done.

The stated aim of the proposals is, amongst other things, to make it impossible for drivers from out of town to use our area as a ‘Park and Ride’, where they would park and then take the tram into town. That does make sense. But do the specific plans for your street make sense? You know your streets and the behaviour and needs of residents better than the Council or a firm of ‘consultants’.

You can copy your comments to us at the Community Council if you wish, that helps us get a ‘feel’ for the views of local residents. But don’t JUST send to us, you MUST send your comments directly to the Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk 

 

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CONTROLLED PARKING ZONES ABBEYHILL, LEITH WALK, PILRIG, LEITH AND NORTH LEITH NORTH

Important! The City Council have reached the next step (Traffic Regulation Order, consultation stage) in the introduction of Controlled Parking Zones for Abbeyhill, Leith Walk, Pilrig, Leith and North Leith, which were first proposed and discussed back in 2019.  This covers some (but not all) of the Leith Links area (which apparently counts as ‘Leith’ in this scheme) see map below, and will definitely also affect other parts of our area that are just on/beyond the boundary, as parking will ‘migrate’ from the controlled zone to the nearest free parking. The boundary is along the edge of the Links, so there will be increased demand for parking on Vanburgh, Hermitage & East Hermitage Place, Gladstone Place and Claremont Park, and other streets nearest these.

NB. This is different from and not to be confused with the proposed CPZ for our area earlier this year (for the area inaccurately referred to as ‘West Leith’) which has been paused / postponed until later in 2022. Final plans and consultation of that are still to come, next year.

Comments on this first TRO/21/03ADY have to be made in writing by 12th November so there is not much time.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW CONTROLLED PARKING ZONES (CPZ)

AREA 1 ABBEYHILL, LEITH WALK, PILRIG, LEITH AND NORTH LEITH

AREA 2 GORGIE, SHANDON, MOAT, CHESSER AND HUTCHISON

To view detailed plans and further information regarding the proposals, please visit the consultation website:

http://pclengagement-hub.co.uk/en-GB/folders/parkingreviewph1

With comments on the proposals or any details of them, please email by 12th November the team at Edinburgh.Consultation@projectcentre.co.uk 

Click on the project link and then scroll down and click on EDINBURGH AREA N8

This takes you to the ’tile’ maps which shows existing and proposed changes

It’s not easy to drill down to the important pages, and then you have to look at each numbered tile, then look at existing and proposed for each section

For example tiles 930,989,871 and 830 are closest to my house on the LEITH map tile grid for Links Gardens. (There’s also a North Leith tile map)

Having looked at each section you have to print off the legend map at the top of the page so you know what each colour indicates. For example pink is resident parking, brown is pay and display/resident parking, shared  – and on and on it goes.

Finding the pages to make comments is not easy and may put people off commenting. (I’m sure the City Council will deny that it has deliberately made it complicated to put people off commenting. However, I feel that  it could have been much better designed IF the council really wanted local people to engage…).

But please do try to have a look and make comments, it’s our only chance to affect the final decisions.

 

 

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Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, Monday 25 October 2021, 6:30pm, online.

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 25 October 2021 at 6:30pm, online.

Papers for the meeting can be found here:

  1. Agenda for the Meeting 
  2. Minutes of Meeting on Monday 27 September 2021 (draft until adopted)

(These are also stored for access at any time in our online Library.)

As always, our meetings are open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent an invitation / link for the meeting.

Consultation Report about Leith Links former Bowling Greens

Report on a consultation with the local community on possible future development at the former bowling greens area (and building) on Leith Links Spring / Summer 2021

Between May and September 2021 Leith Links Community Council led a consultation exercise with the local community about possible future development of the currently derelict ‘Former Bowling Greens area’ on Leith Links. We are now publishing in full the results and views that emerged, and this report has also been forwarded to City of Edinburgh Council. This consultation took place in three parts:

  1.    The Community Council held a series of 3 public meeting, online, that were well attended, by around 30-40 people at each of three meetings. Discussions were Chaired and semi-structured but open to all, and free flowing.
  2.    The Community Council organised and hosted, with the help of volunteers from other local community groups, a Community Picnic, 17th July 2021. This was an in-person ‘live’ community event on site, attended by approximately 100 folk.
  3.    An Online Survey was hosted on the Leith Links Community Council website and disseminated also via social media (Facebook, Twitter). The survey was open for 2 weeks and attracted 199 responses.

The Report in full is very long, but well worth reading. You can download and read the whole report here. We present a summary of the report below:

Brief Summary

The community in Leith Links has been consulted, and has engaged in large numbers (250) and with, in many cases, lengthy responses. The views of the community are that:

  • The bowling greens area pavilion should not be demolished but should be refurbished at the Council’s expense and repurposed to include permanent public toilet facilities and a mix of other facilities (details to be determined) that will be at least partially open for use by the community, not ‘private’. Security lights, cameras and alarm system should be installed.
  • The outdoor area surrounding the building, currently delineated by the hedging, should be refurbished and repurposed so that it is attractive and thus will be well-used by a mix of people (all ages, no one particular age range), which should reduce the incidence of anti-social behaviour. A slight majority favour repurposing as an area primarily for outdoor activity / sport / fitness use (e.g. skatepark), although significant numbers also favoured ‘mixed use’ and a ‘quiet relaxing garden area’ – and many other possible uses, see Section 4 in the full Report.
  • This refurbishment is long overdue and should be at least started as soon as possible, rather than further delayed until the proposed Leith Links Master Plan can be completed. (It could be done in stages, as partners emerge, funding can be sourced etc.) In the immediate / short term, a cleanup, and installation of benches and litter bins is required.
  • The community must be properly consulted at all stages and properly represented as an equal partner throughout the process eg. via representation on Project Steering Group / Governance body, Master Planning team etc.. The community is also open to providing support in the form of volunteer input on agreed projects, if / as capacity permits.

The Community Council itself at this point does not have any particular stance or plan that it wishes to ‘back’ or promote, but rather sees itself primarily as a means by which information can be shared and community views collected, recorded and communicated to the Council. We trust there will be further two-way and ongoing communication with the Council.

Having said that, we should nonetheless make clear that the Community Council does have some views. We favour refurbishment of the building and the outdoor area, and we award very high priority to the installation of permanent public toilets. We do not oppose ideas for sports / activities, but would strongly argue to keep at least some of the area retained as green space, rather than being completely concreted over. Given the very wide ranging (and in some cases directly opposing) views from the community, it is clear that ‘you can’t please everybody’ and on that basis we might favour a solution that involves a degree of compromise or mixed use,  that might involve splitting the area into sub-areas, partnerships between different groups etc.

Download the whole report here

or just read on here….
» Read more

New Local Interest Groups join the Community Council

We are delighted to report that the Leith Links Community Council is growing!

As well as our elected individual members, we now have two additional new members who represent bona fide local interest groups that have completed the necessary application process and been accepted by the Council. These are:

Leith Rotary – represented on LLCC by Robert Cormack 

Leith Festival Association – represented on LLCC by Barbara Kerre

Welcome both!

We think local democracy is important and therefore welcome the opportunity for as many local voices as possible to be included, consulted, and heard.

Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, Monday 27 September 2021, 6:30pm, online.

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 27 September 2021 at 6:30pm, online via Zoom.

Papers for the meeting can be found here:

1. Agenda for the meeting

2.LLCC MINUTES 30 August 2021 (draft until adopted at next week’s meeting)

(These are also stored for access at any time in our online Library.)

As always, our meetings are open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent an invitation / link for the meeting.

National Care Service for Scotland – Consultation

The Scottish Government are holding a consultation on “National Care Service for Scotland” running until 18th October 2021 which may be of interest to you. Community Councils, if they wish, can provide feedback/submissions to the consultation using the following means:

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space (http://consult.gov.scot). Access and respond to this consultation online at https://consult.gov.scot/health-and-social-care/a-national-care-service-for-scotland. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 18 October 2021.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please send your response, including the completed Respondent Information Form to NCSconsultation@gov.scot or by post to:

National Care Service Team

Scottish Government

Area GE-15

St Andrew’s House

Regent Road

EDINBURGH,

EH1 3DG

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Survey ends soon…last chance to add your views!

Please will you take a few minutes to fill in this wee survey, about possible futures for the bowling green area on the Links? The survey will close on Friday 10th September.

At the Community Picnic in July, we asked people to put coloured stickers on a board to indicate their views and preferences. Now we need to ask the same questions of the wider community, to try to get the largest and most representative number of responses, which we will feed back to the council.

Please fill in this wee survey – it’s really not long or difficult.

(Unfortunately, we obviously can’t guarantee that you will actually get what you tick, in the end – it’s not a ‘vote’ as such. All the Community Council can do is to consult people for views, and share ideas and information. But we do think the Council is at least listening to what the people of Leith Links have to say about this neglected area, and about the park in general. We have heard there may be a Master Plan for the whole of the Links, coming up.)

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