If you’re wondering why you have not received notification of the July Community Council meeting, that’s because there isn’t one.
We are still working though. You are still very welcome to contact the Community Council at any time, via email to: contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk
Next Meeting is Monday 29 August 2022
We love the public toilets on Leith Links! People have also commented on how clean they are – thanks to the toilet attendants. So, overall, it’s a big ‘Thank You’ from us, not a complaint!
BUT – 11 weeks to get basic information informing the local community…..can you believe it? Here’s the timeline…
12 May 2022 – temporary (Portakabin style) toilets are delivered to the Links.
Someone living locally just happens to see the vehicle delivering them. At no time did the Council officially inform the Community Council of the plan of action for the toilets, or the timescales, although we were ‘tipped off’ that they were coming sometime soon.
Sometime (unclear) in May – The toilets are connected up and made functional, attendants are appointed to look after the toilets, and start work. No announcement, no information.
June 8 – One local reports that the toilets are open and working.
Throughout June – Numerous locals keep asking, repeatedly; Are there toilets coming? Where are the toilets? Why are the toilets closed? When will they be opening? No signs, no information, the doors are always closed, no sign of life……
26 June – Your Community Council asks the Council, via our three elected Councillors, for clarification and full information about the situation.
27 June – The Community Council is informed by a Council Officer working for Councillor Adam McVey that the toilets are open from 10-8pm, 7 days a week, with a full time attendant. They are just hidden from view behind hedges and look closed.
29 June – At the behest of the Community Council, the Council Officer agrees to ask toilet supervisor to put signs up detailing opening hours. A local asks the toilet attendant to leave the external door open during the day so people can see they are open. There are two attendants, each working 4 days on, 4 days off.
29 June – Your Community Council posts widely on this site, on our own social media (Facebook & Twitter) and on ‘I Love Leith’ to spread the word about where the toilets are, and when they are open, etc., attracting many grateful comments from Leithers who had been unaware of them or confused about opening hours etc.
1 July – Doubt and confusion persist. It is very clear that what is missing is signage. Your Community Council asks the Council:
2 July – Since the Council have not produced any signs, your Community Council designs, prints,
laminates and ties numerous signs to fences around the Links. (Some of these are still there, some have blown off or been torn down.)
At some point in July (unclear) – A couple of handwritten notices go up on the back of the building, on a gate and on the toilet doors stating that opening hours are 10 – 6pm.
Your Community Council was never informed of an official change to the opening hours. However, a local person had observed that the toilet attendant was closing up earlier than 8pm on several occasions, and this was reported to the Council. A reply came back from the Council that this was due to “anti-social behaviour”. (Unclear what this consisted of, no details available.) A recent conversation with the very helpful toilet attendant reveals that there has not been any official change of hours and it should still say 8pm. The handwritten signs are now smudged and unclear.
22 July – a Council vehicle and workers are observed putting up official ‘Public Toilet’ signs around the Links (at least in the area nearest to the playpark and toilets). Hurrah!
From this we conclude that it takes the Council almost three months to deliver the most basic of information signage, with regard to public facilities – and only as a result of repeated requests from the community. Given that the toilets are only there for about five or six months altogether, this seems indicative of woeful carelessness if not incompetence. Yes, it’s just a small thing in the grander scheme of things, but surely Councils should be able to get the small things right (or we might just doubt their ability to get bigger things right….)
Let’s be clear – we are all EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the public toilets on Leith Links!
However, we know this must all cost a lot of money and it seems a pathetic waste of money to put toilets and attendants there without making the public aware of them. Could the Council do better at thinking things through fully and in a joined-up way? – basically, if it thought about things from the point of view of the community it is there to serve, rather than from its own point of view (forgot, cheaper, easier, low priority, too busy – whatever)? And if it shared information with the community organisations – such as the Community Council – whose very role is to share information with the local community?
Next year, please can we have toilets again, and PLEASE (rather than being kept secret) can they be provided in conjunction with information to the local community?
Some people seem confused about the toilets on Leith Links. Here are the facts:
The toilets are opened from 10.00am to 20.00pm, 7 days per week. There is a council attendant looking after the toilets. This will be the situation throughout the summer.
The toilets are situated in a grey ‘Portakabin’ type building sitting right next door to the old bowling greens building, up at the Croft end of the Links, behind the tennis courts (shown in blue in the picture below). (The attendant may use the old bowling green building next door to store materials, or to sit in, if wet etc.)
To access the toilets, you need to enter the old bowling green area by one of three gates:
(behind the blue tennis courts, top of this pic)
What is missing is signage. Because the toilets are behind the hedge, and facing ‘away’ from the Links, people may not spot them.
And / or people may see that the doors on both buildings are shut, and assume that the toilets are shut – but they aren’t!
We have asked the Council to put notices up to direct people to the toilets and to clarify opening times. If they don’t do that soon, we’ll put some up ourselves.
This sounds mad, but please use the toilets! If nobody uses them, we’ll not be able to make a good case for needing toilets on the Links permanently.
The final draft has now been published and it is open to public consultation RIGHT NOW (closing on 22 July 2022).
The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 27th June at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams)
Papers for the meeting can be downloaded here:
Minutes of last meeting 30 May 2022
Scottish Water and the operators of Seafield, Veolia, will be attending to give an update on the sewage plant and answer questions about recent odour issues.
A speaker from Scottish Historic Buildings Trust will talk about the future plans for the Custom House Leith
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.
The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 27th June at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams)
Papers for the meeting will be issued soon.
Scottish Water and the operators of Seafield, Veolia, will be attending to give an update on the sewage plant and answer questions about recent odour issues.
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.
Just like when you’re waiting on a 16 bus stuck in a traffic jam three arrive at the same time.
The City Council have added three really important consultations for the future of Leith to the consultation hub on the city council webpage.
LEITH CONNECTIONS PHASE 3
Leith Connections: Phase 3 west – east proposals – City of Edinbu
Leith Connection Phase 3 has some lovely graphics including one of Salamander Street with a new cycle lane and narrowed road space for cars and trucks that I’m sorry to say do have to use our roads every day on one of the main arterial routes East to West through the city.
I also find it strange that the graphic doesn’t show the CPZ plan for the same route which had permit holder and pay and display parking on Salamander Street at the same view in the graphic so I do wonder IF these teams actually communicate with each other.
The Leith Connection Phase 3 consultation is open until 17 July so please, please make your thoughts known.
ETRO Go Home?
The next consultation is on ETRO which we may remember in a previous life was known as Spaces for People. Love it or loathe it, the road coning and closures project introduced to make streets safer for cycling, walking and wheeling during the pandemic is now finally up for public consultation. This is your opportunity to comment on the future plans. Do you want them kept or ditched? Have your say now or you could be stuck with them permanently.
LEITH LINKS MASTERPLAN
Finally, the Leith Links Master Plan is also open on the consultation hub for your positive or negative comments. Please use this opportunity to add your views on how you would like to see Leith Links developed for all residents in the future.
The Leith Links Masterplan Team had a stall at Leith Gala and many members of the public visited the tent to find out more and to share their views, so now it’s your turn to do the same.
You can see more about the plans here.
Leith Links Masterplan – City of Edinburgh Council – Citizen Space
You can also comment here, on the Hub, but you’ll only find a very limited set of leading questions. If you have more to say on any specific point, you should email directly to Miles.Wilkinson@edinburgh.gov.uk
The deadline for this consultation is 31 July. Please also be sure to copy your email also to our elected Councillors:
Cllr.Katrina.Faccenda@edinburgh.gov.uk
Anything you want to find out about or to talk about, relating to your local area?
New developments? Problems? Questions? Ideas? Offers to help? Interested in maybe becoming a Community Councillor yourself?
Do drop by our stall on Gala Day on Saturday, and have a chat.
The three Community Councils of Leith often work together, as there are many issues that affect all parts of the ‘wider Leith’ community. We will be sharing a stall on Leith Links on Saturday, Leith Festival Gala Day.
2019 Gala Day. Cross your fingers for better weather this year….
Leith Links Community Council is pleased to publish the Annual Report by its office bearers, Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Engagement Officer, giving a brief summary of the activities of the Community Council over the past year.
Please read / download Annual Report 2021-2022 here.
The AGM and next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 30 May 2022 at 6:30pm, online (Microsoft Teams).
The AGM will be held first, and the regular meeting will follow straight on afterwards
Papers for the meeting can be found here:
1. AGM Minutes, 2021 (draft until adopted)
2. Minutes April 2022 (draft until adopted)
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.
