Voting in £eith Chooses, hopefully!
Voting is open for just two more days, and closes at midnight on Sunday 31st January. Don’t miss the boat! And please remind all your friends and family to vote (if they live, work, study or volunteer in Leith).
Vote at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/voteleithchooses
What is £eith Chooses? If you haven’t heard of it before, or haven’t voted before, here’s a quick run down of the background and aims of the whole thing – » Read more
Are you going to tune in to the online consultation by Manse (Seafield ) LLP, 3-7pm Thursday 28th January?
You are of course entirely free to ask whatever you want, but here are some examples of the sort of questions we think are appropriate – please download and have a read to get ideas, and feel free to use or adapt any you feel hit the spot: Possible Questions for Manse28 Jan
Please note – At this stage, Manse is presenting a PAN (Pre-Application Notice) not an actual planning application. So their proposal is very broad-brush and lacking in specifics – this is standard, for a PAN. So there is not much point in asking them very specific questions about eg. exactly how many parking spaces etc.
Apart from the fact that they won’t answer them anyway, going straight to specifics gives this PAN status it doesn’t have. We think it is better at this stage to highlight some of the strategic issues of design such as……maintaining and enhancing the quality of the Prom and beach, avoiding overshadowing, and negative spaces, safety on Seafield road, the need for co-ordination and delivery of social/green/transport and other infrastructure etc…..
There is an online public consultation event on Thursday 28th January, by Manse (Seafield) LLP, between 3pm and 7pm. You can attend and give your views.
Manse are proposing to submit a planning application for the Peter Vardy Vauxhall site, at 22-25 Seafield Road, where they want to build 2 very large blocks of flats. This is not strictly speaking in the Leith Links area, but it borders on it. Any new development along there will undoubtedly impact upon the Leith Links area. We would urge you to look not only at the plans Manse bring forward, but to think about them in the wider context of what the whole Seafield Road area could become.
Is developing individual segments like this the right way to go? Or could this proposal be be seen as leading to uncoordinated piecemeal development?
Overall, Seafield is a huge site stretching from the Sewage works right along to the erstwhile bus garage at the Portobello end. We all want to see new homes built, but do we want just any old blocks of flats, or could we aspire to more, for this unique seaside site?
Well, here we are, locked down again… These are difficult times for us all, and we wish good luck to you all. Please do everything you can to stay safe and to keep others safe. Please ask for help if you need it.
Our website does not attempt to provide rolling updates on the current Coronavirus situation, as information can change very rapidly, and we do not wish to circulate information that may be incomplete or no longer applicable.
However we can direct you to the following sources of information, which are updated regularly;
Local Situation
Local sources of support
National Scottish and UK situation
Worried about Brexit?
This time last year when we watched television reports of a new virus in
China followed by people being trapped on cruise ships and then as it progressed through Italy. Even at that point I don’t think it sunk in that within months we would be under similar lockdowns. Like many other people I was sent home from my job in March and from May I have had to learn to work from home.
I don’t like it as I miss the social interaction with colleagues but importantly I’m safe, healthy and employed.
As Chair of Leith Links Community Council I’m extremely proud of our team of community councillors who adapted quickly to the changing ways we had to engage with the community.
From March we moved to having our meetings on line using Zoom and then Teams so we could continue to work on issues where we have an input including areas like planning and Seafield Sewage plant.
It’s been a difficult year for members of our community and on behalf of Leith Links CC I wish to say our thoughts are with you if you have lost love ones as a result of this pandemic or have found yourself unemployed through no fault of your own.
The discovery of new vaccines which have been produced in record time give us some hope that next year we may see the return of some normality in our lives and be able to meet up again with friends and family.
I hope that 2021 is good to you but for the time being please stay safe.
Community Councillor Jim Scanlon MBE
Chair of Leith Links Community Council
It was unclear whether or not £eith Chooses would be able to go ahead this year or not, but the good news is Yes! It’s happening!
The application process for £eith Chooses 2021 is now open – and your community group is invited to apply.
To find out more, and to download an Application Form, head over to the £eith Chooses website.
£eith Chooses (called £eith Decides, originally) is an annual event since 2010 in which members of the local community in Leith vote to make the decisions on how community grants funds are to be allocated to local community projects. It’s called ‘participatory budgeting’ (PB) but its more than that – it’s a brilliant form of community engagement and involvement, as local voters get to know about the great community groups and projects in their area.
Leith Links Community Council has been very closely involved with this process for many years, having been the successful recipient of Scottish Government funding to support PB (between 2016 – 2019) and also very actively involved in the day to day running of the organisation of £eith Chooses (via the Steering Group – a partnership between the Leith Community Councils, the City of Edinburgh Council, and community groups in Leith).
