Category: Leith Links Community Council

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

In last weeks Evening News, there was an article detailing where the council would be installing Christmas trees around the city this year. Leith wasn’t mentioned.

Last year because of ongoing tram works the council decided not to put one at the usual central Leith spot at the Kirkgate.  I know we all have enough on our minds with fuel and food costs going through the roof but a bit of Christmas cheer would be welcomed.

When I asked why another location couldn’t be found to place a tree, I was informed that the council had planted one in Taylor Gardens.

Exhibit 1

The council did eventually install a full size tree, which we welcomed, but could have been placed more centrally possibly at the Shore outside Malmaison or outside Bank of Scotland in the Kirkgate where many more tourists and Leithers pass during the day.

This year we had the same excuse about tram works for no tree at the Kirkgate but the council told us they had planted a tree beside Leith Library.

Exhibit 2

The council also intend to install a full size tree in Taylor Gardens but when I passed there yesterday there was one Christmas light from the bottom of Leith Walk stuck on a lamp post.

Why have I decided to moan? Because I feel the people of Leith deserve better and have stoically put up with continual disruption to their lives from ongoing tram and road works.

Having had a year to investigate alternative sites, it should have been simple for the council to find somewhere for a tree in Leith’s historic centre where more people pass including much welcomed visits from tourists.

Rightly or wrongly it does give the impression that the council really don’t care.

From an environmental point of view I applaud them for their tree planting but it could be 20 years before these trees are mature enough to be decorated.

After all Leith has been through over the last few years surely it’s not a lot to ask for a Christmas tree to be located in the heart of the community to be enjoyed by all.

Jim Scanlon MBE

Chair, Leith Links Community Council

 

 

 

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Trees in Pots, the latest instalment….

Following the dry spell in the spring / summer when they all nearly died, some of the trees in pots at the foot of Easter Road / Academy Lofts / Leith Links have now been offered a new life. Four of them have now gone to live on a farm (sorry – in a park) liberated from their pots and free to wiggle their roots, grow, express their authentic selves, and live their lives out – hopefully – in peace and harmony.

The Parks Dept. have now taken them away from the Academy Lofts entrance to Leith Links. The big, rusty, graffitied iron pots are gone.

The trees will be relocated into the ground somewhere – either elsewhere on Leith Links (we hope) or in another park.

Overall, this is probably a good thing. We wish them ‘Bon Voyage’ and ‘Have a happy life!’

That leaves 9 other trees in pots still in the area – one outside the Persevere (dead), which we’ll keep trying to get removed, and (living) 3 outside Tesco’s car park on Easter Road, 4 outside the front of Academy Lofts on Duke Street and one on Duncan Place opposite Academy Lofts. Please can we as a local community continue to keep an eye out for them and water them next spring as and when they look like they need it? (It was amazing earlier this year how they all arose from the apparently dead and perked up,  as soon as they got watered and rained on!)

Next LLCC Meeting, Monday 31 October, 6:30pm online

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 31 October 2022, at 6:30 pm, online, via MS Teams.

We were hoping to have a speaker from the City of Edinburgh Council to talk about the proposed Leith Controlled Parking Zone, but our invitations have so far not been successful.

Last months Minutes are here Minutes of the Leith Links Community Council meeting held on 26th September 2022 

The Agenda for the 31st October meeting is here.

As always, this meeting is open to interested members of the public. If you wish to attend, please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk and you will be sent a link for the meeting (nearer the time).

Remembering Lost Leithers

It’s always a shock when you hear about the death of a much loved Leither. 

This week has been particularly bad with the deaths of three people who contributed so much to our community.

The Queen of Leith, Mary Moriarty died last week and her funeral is on Tuesday 25th October. A service will be held in South Leith Parish Church at 12pm then on to Seafield Crematorium (limited spaces). You will then have the chance to raise a glass to Mary in The Dockers Club and share your memories with friends.

Mary was well known in Leith, not only as the owner of the famous Port of Leith pub where many a fun night was had, but also for her many years of hard work with Leith Festival helping it survive through good times and bad.

From my window I remember that on the day before the gala Mary would be out on the Links spraying and numbering the pitches for the gala day stalls.

She was always there at the crack of dawn on the Saturday and still there hours after the last stall had left with a litter picker and black bin bag making sure the park was cleaner than how she had found it.

I’m proud to say that I knew Mary for many years, and she will be sorely missed by many of us in the Leith community who will all have our fond memories of her. She could always make you smile even when you were feeling down.

I also lost another friend, Jim Tweedie recently who died over a week ago and his funeral is on Friday, 28 October, Warriston Crematorium at 2pm. 

Jim was a hard working member of the Leith Community and Chair of Leith Local History Society preserving our history and informing new residents about our rich past.

The society continue to meet on the third Tuesday in the month in the community centre and with a series of monthly talks.

Jim and I were also on the steering group to save Custom House for the people of Leith and with the help of local councillors, especially Councillor Gordon Munro the city council was persuaded to purchase the building using Common Good Funding. Work to establish a heritage display in the building is ongoing.

Finally, Davie Jeneil who ran a successful jewellers shop in Great Junction Street for over 30 years providing gifts for the many birthdays, weddings and celebrations of Leithers.

I also knew Davie as a great supporter of Leith Rules Golf Society. His family always put in a team for the Foulis Medal. A fun competition on the Links every year using hickory golf clubs which is open to local Leith businesses and community groups.

When Davie’s son in law turned up to play, I always thought we would be quicker just handing him the medal because he is such an excellent player.

Davie also supported the society by providing the quaichs and engravings for our other team events and again he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

On behalf of Leith Links Community Council, I would like to extend our condolences and best wishes to the family and friends of all these great Leithers who we will all miss.

Jim Scanlon MBE

Chair 

Leith Links Community Council

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Leith Links Litterpick, Saturday 22 October

Do come and join in a sociable litterpick on Leith Links on Saturday 22nd October. All ages  – go at your own pace – kids welcome, should be a fun and useful way to round off the mid-term week.

Please bring your own gloves and litterpicker if you have one. Otherwise, there will be some available to borrow. Meet at 10 am at Duncan Place car park (4 Duncan Place, just behind / beside Leith Primary School)

The litterpick is organised jointly by Leith Links Community Council and Duncan Place Community Hub.

Public Toilets on Leith Links will close for the winter, 28th October 2022

Leith Links Community Council has been given notice (well, actually, we had to ask for the information) that the public toilets on Leith Links will be closed for the winter on 28th October 2022. They will be physically removed shortly after that date. Enjoy them while they are still here!

This is not a change of plan – these these toilets were always intended to be temporary, as they were last year.

The design of the Leith Links MasterPlan (in discussion) does include permanent public toilets but that is a long term (10 year) plan, not a ‘quick fix’. For the moment it is up to us as a community to keep confirming to the Council that we need these mobile temporary public toilets and will be looking forward to seeing them back again next spring.

 

 

Correspondence about the bus route changes rolls on

It now seems clear, from the many responses sent back in via this website, and FaceBook,  ‘I Love Leith’ etc. that NOBODY in fact received a leaflet about the bus route changes. We must have misinterpreted what Lothian Buses meant when they said they had “reached out” to “approx 22K households” in the area. Apologies for any confusion caused!

We wrote to Lothian Buses to request further clarification about what precisely their “reaching out” consisted of – see our latest email below. However from the reply we received, it appears that Lothian buses are not going to explain what exactly they did to reach out and inform local people, other than that they “took steps”.

They seem to be encouraging communication through elected Councillors (and in saying so, seem perhaps to not be keen to keep talking to us as a Community Council???). Well, you are all free to write to Councillors as individuals of course and you can find those contacts here. But please be assured that this CC will continue to liaise with the local community, with our elected Councillors AND with Lothian Buses.

We believe that our correspondence to date has not been disrespectful (although, inevitably, some frustration has shown through), and we feel that we are being constructive in offering to work with LB on monitoring and evaluating the new bus services over the next few months. We feel that it is the role of Communications Director of Lothian Buses to be ‘professional’, rather than demanding this from members of the local community and CC volunteers (who are by definition not professional).

27 September

To Leith Links Community Council from Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.

We appreciate all that you say and note your feedback accordingly. 

While Lothian took steps to try to ensure that information on the change was communicated widely – we thank you for your support in displaying the information leaflet on Leith Community Council website.  

Please be assured that Lothian strive to be a part of the communities we serve and we are sorry if the changes have caused concern amongst some in the community.  Our previous correspondence detailed both operational feasibility and commercial rationale for the changes and I can advise that it is now our intent to allow for a period of settlement during which we will keep the situation under review.   

In terms of wider community contribution we would in the first instance, encourage the feedback of common themes through City Of Edinburgh Council elected representatives with whom Lothian liaise accordingly.  

Gaynor Marshall

Communications Director

Lothian Buses

***

23 September

To: Lothian Buses from Leith Links Community Council

Dear Ms Marshall

Thank you for your most recent message.

I wonder if I could ask for clarification?

You say “We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.”

May I ask you to clarify exactly what “reached out…to..households” means? On a first reading, we understood you to mean that you had leaflets delivered through the door of 22K households. However, this does not seem to be the case. Have we misunderstood you? Did you reach out in another way, and if so, can you explain precisely what form this took?

*

We understand that the period since the Queen’s passing has, unexpectedly, been a very demanding period for Lothian Buses across the city and that it may take a while before things get back to ‘normal’, so we do not wish to be overly demanding. However, we would like to reiterate our request / invitation to meet with someone representing LB at some point soon, to discuss constructive ways in which we (i.e. the community council, as members of the local community and representing the local community) can collaborate and work with you and help to monitor the new services over the next few months, as you have stated you intend to do. You will obviously have access to passenger numbers and other objective data. And presumably, reports from drivers. We have access to ‘soft data’ in the form of the views of passengers as to how well the services are functioning, and meeting peoples’ needs, any important needs that are not being met, and so on.

Thank You

Sally Millar

Secy, Leith Links Community Council

_____________________________________________

Leith Links Community Council received the following message from Lothian Buses, in response to our earlier email correspondence.

16.09.22

From: Gaynor Marshall, Communications Director, Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.  All comments and feedback are duly noted.

In terms of our communicating the change I can advise that information was published in advance of the changes on 11th September.  We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.

Attached is a copy for your reference – it may be helpful for you to host it on LCC website. 

I can also confirm that all decisions were made with the information available at the time following dialogue with colleagues at CEC (TTN).  

The changes that came into place on 11th September will be monitored over the next few months with our immediate priority being stabilising the longer term commercial viability of the network and subsequent economic recovery of our business.

In terms of your further comments I refer you back to all previous communication which has provided our rationale and reasoning underpinned by commercial data and operational feasibility.    

In closing I would add that Lothian strive to deliver for customers in continuing exceptionally challenging circumstances.  We pride ourselves in being a part of the communities we serve and we will only endeavour to engage in meaningful and relevant dialogue when conducted in a professional and constructive manner.

Kind regards

Gaynor Marshall
Communications Director, Lothian Buses

***

We will be responding in due course.

In the meanwhile, we would be interested –

  1. to know more about the leaflets. Please can you let us know if you got a leaflet through your door (or if you didn’t, but you think you should have, as you live along the bus routes). It would help if you added your street name and/or postcode.
  2.  to hear more about your experiences with the new bus routes. Last week was highly untypical, but starting from this week – how is it going for you, so far?

Please write a comment below or email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

The bus saga –

It seems clear by now, from the many responses sent back in via this website, and FaceBook,  ‘I Love Leith’ etc. that NOBODY received a leaflet about the bus route changes. A mystery.

So this is the latest message that Leith Links Community Council has sent to Lothian Buses. We are still awaiting a reply.

23 September

To: Lothian Buses

Dear Ms Marshall

Thank you for your most recent message.

I wonder if I could ask for clarification?

You say “We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.”

May I ask you to clarify exactly what “reached out…to..households” means? On a first reading, we understood you to mean that you had leaflets delivered through the door of 22K households. However, this does not seem to be the case. Have we misunderstood you? Did you reach out in another way, and if so, can you explain precisely what form this took?

*

We understand that the period since the Queen’s passing has, unexpectedly, been a very demanding period for Lothian Buses across the city and that it may take a while before things get back to ‘normal’, so we do not wish to be overly demanding. However, we would like to reiterate our request / invitation to meet with someone representing LB at some point soon, to discuss constructive ways in which we (i.e. the community council, as members of the local community and representing the local community) can collaborate and work with you and help to monitor the new services over the next few months, as you have stated you intend to do. You will obviously have access to passenger numbers and other objective data. And presumably, reports from drivers. We have access to ‘soft data’ in the form of the views of passengers as to how well the services are functioning, and meeting peoples’ needs, any important needs that are not being met, and so on.

Thank You

Sally Millar

Secy, Leith Links Community Council

_____________________________________________

Leith Links Community Council received the following message from Lothian Buses, in response to our earlier email correspondence.

16.09.22

From: Gaynor Marshall, Communications Director, Lothian Buses

Thank you for your further email.  All comments and feedback are duly noted.

In terms of our communicating the change I can advise that information was published in advance of the changes on 11th September.  We appreciate that some of our customers are unable to access our digital platforms and so in addition to bus stop information being refreshed to reflect the changes we reached out to approx. 22K households (in the EH6 6. EH6 7, EH6 8, EH7 6) areas with detailed information on Monday 12 September and Tuesday 13 September.

Attached is a copy for your reference – it may be helpful for you to host it on LCC website. 

I can also confirm that all decisions were made with the information available at the time following dialogue with colleagues at CEC (TTN).  

The changes that came into place on 11th September will be monitored over the next few months with our immediate priority being stabilising the longer term commercial viability of the network and subsequent economic recovery of our business.

In terms of your further comments I refer you back to all previous communication which has provided our rationale and reasoning underpinned by commercial data and operational feasibility.    

In closing I would add that Lothian strive to deliver for customers in continuing exceptionally challenging circumstances.  We pride ourselves in being a part of the communities we serve and we will only endeavour to engage in meaningful and relevant dialogue when conducted in a professional and constructive manner.

Kind regards

Gaynor Marshall
Communications Director, Lothian Buses

***

We will be responding in due course.

In the meanwhile, we would be interested –

  1. to know more about the leaflets. Please can you let us know if you got a leaflet through your door (or if you didn’t, but you think you should have, as you live along the bus routes). It would help if you added your street name and/or postcode.
  2.  to hear more about your experiences with the new bus routes. Last week was highly untypical, but starting from this week – how is it going for you, so far?

Please write a comment below or email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk

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