Tag: 2022

Volunteers needed to support Vigil queue following death of HM Queen Elizabeth ll

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll, Volunteer Edinburgh is recruiting volunteers to be a part of an historic event.  Volunteers are needed to provide light-touch support and most of all, a welcoming, friendly face to members of the public who are queueing as part of the vigil.

Her Majesty’s coffin will travel from Balmoral to Edinburgh, where there will be a period of rest at St Giles Cathedral before removal to London.  During this period of rest there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pass through the cathedral, past the coffin.

Members of the public will be allowed into the cathedral from 1730hrs on Monday 12th September, with viewing permitted until 1600hrs on Tuesday 13th.

It is anticipated that as many as 88,000 people may transit through the cathedral during the period of the vigil.

Queue Support Volunteers will not be responsible for crowd management or safety.  This function will be undertaken by professional marshals from G4S.  The role is to provide information and light-touch support to people in the queue.

Volunteers will operate in groups, on shifts lasting three or four hours, starting at 0800 on Monday 12th and ending at 1700 on Tuesday 13th.  Volunteers should be comfortable being outside and on your feet.  You’ll be able to sign up to shifts online and Volunteer Edinburgh’s team leaders will be on hand to support volunteers on the day.

If you are interested in supporting this event of national and international significance, please follow the link below to register your details.

voled.in/unicornform

For more information on the role please seehttps://www.volunteeredinburgh.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Unicorn-Volunteer-Role-Description.pdf

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Death of Her Majesty the Queen: Disruption in city centre

Good morning,

Buckingham Palace announced the death of Her Majesty The Queen yesterday. A range of ceremonial events are planned to take place in Edinburgh and the Royal Household will confirm plans for events in the coming days.

We’re working with The Scottish Government and Police Scotland on plans to accommodate large crowds of visitors to the city who wish to pay their respects and attend the events.

We expect significant disruption in the city centre, and we want to advise you, and the residents and businesses in the Old Town, about road closures and changes to some services that may impact you, and your stakeholders, and access for deliveries to businesses and homes in the area.

Some of the services that will be affected include changes to parking, public transport, bin collections, some city centre school closures and diversions. Please visit our website to find out which services are impacted and how this will impact you and your stakeholders. We will keep it updated with the latest information as it becomes available. Please check it regularly for updates.

City of Edinburgh Council

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Emergency Services Day , Saturday 10th September, POSTPONED

Email received form Leith Police this morning

Good morning ,

With the sad news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen I am writing to inform you that we have decided to postpone Emergency Services Day.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for the support you have shown to myself and the team so far, and I want to assure you that when the time is right, we will begin discussions around arranging a new date.

Kindest regards,

Sam

PS Samantha Rose

Community Sergeant

Leith Police Station

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Bus Update

We are disappointed to report that Lothian Buses have so far not agreed to meet with us to discuss the fast approaching bus route changes, but we continue to press for a meeting. Lothian buses have so far merely referred us to their website, which we think is pretty dismissive.

We have learned  – and feel it is important to pass on to the local community:

  1. The changes will go ahead as of Sunday 11th September  – i.e. the 25 and 21 will use Lochend Road, and the 34 and 49 will use Restalrig Road. The bus stops reflect this change.
  2. For the moment, the 34 will go from Restalrig Road to Ocean Terminal (and same route coming back from OT into town) via Links Gardens, Salamander Place, Baltic Street.

See https://www.lothianbuses.com/live-travel-info/service-update/?alert_id=22a9ec20a664161cd55de74b43ab75f9

We have been told that Lothian Buses DID NOT CHECK with Trams to Newhaven that the route they wanted to use, i.e. Constitution Street and Queen Charlotte Street, would be open for traffic on 11th September. (Of course, those of us who live here always knew it was not). In our view, this reflects a shocking lack of coordination between key transport operators (and overseers) in our city.

The Salamander Place route will be used until Constitution Street is available, which Trams to Newhaven tell us may be some weeks away.

Since congestion on Baltic Street is already horrendous, and the road surface in Salamander Place is in extremely poor condition (understatement!), we fear that passengers are in for a slow and bumpy ride. We also feel that the junction at the top of Salamander Place, turning in and out of Links Gardens, is potentially problematical, even dangerous. So we would be grateful to hear from any of you (in the comments below) of any problems you experience or observe in that area, and/or photos, so that we can pass these on to Lothian Buses (in Comments, below, or send to contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk).

You can read the entire correspondence here (start from the bottom and read upwards, to get correct order) between Leith Links Community Council and Lothian Buses. All correspondence has been copied to our Leith Ward Councillors, and Craigentinny / Duddingston, and to the Convenor of the Transport and Environment Committee. No written response so far from any of them, although there were supportive comments made orally from Leith Councillors at our recent Community Council meeting.

 

Emergency Services Day in Leith

Emergency Services Day in Leith

Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Commercial Street

Saturday 10th September 2022

1100 – 1500 hours

Entry at Commercial Street ONLY

 

In partnership with Scottish Government, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Royal Military Police, HM Coast Guard, Water Rescue Unit, British Army, RNLI Lifeboats, Scottish Air Ambulance, British Red Cross, Mountain Rescue, RAF, Rapid Relief Team, Ambulance Service, City of Edinburgh Council, Places for People and third sector agencies such as Citadel, YMCA and The Ripple, we would love your attendance to show your support to all our services and celebrate all the amazing work each and every service provides to our communities.

Rapid Relief Team have many volunteers attending the event providing free hot food to every attendee.

This is a family day providing opportunities to speak with every service, whether it be for general advice, to discuss career opportunities or to have a look around the brilliant equipment which they use daily.

Third-sector youth providers are attending to offer fun activities for the younger members of our communities to take part in, such as sports and face-painting.

We look forward to seeing all of you there – and please share with your partners, friends and families. I have attached the poster for your offices.

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Leith Links Master Plan Consultation closing soon – have your say!

Have you looked at the proposals for the improvement of Leith Links park? Have you taken the chance to comment on them? This weekend is your last chance, as the public consultation closes on 31st July. Please go to the survey and add your views.

https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-links-masterplan/

Or, if you prefer, email in your comments to Lindsay.Grant@edinburgh.gov.uk

The plan as it stands has incorporated ideas from all sorts of local people and groups who know the park well, but there is still room for new ideas and /or modifications of the ideas proposed. Or is there something in the plan that you downright disagree with? Now is absolutely the right time to state clearly your objection and the reasons for it!

Some of the proposals could perhaps be implemented fairly quickly, but lot of what is proposed is still entirely ‘aspirational’ in that there is not yet funding in place to make it happen. But if the plan is adopted, then various bodies can start to try and raise funds, and the improvements could be actioned in stages.

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A Toilet Saga

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:

“PLEASE can we have 
1. an instruction to the attendant to leave the door open when the toilets are open, so people can see they are open.
2. A sign on the door or on the outside of the toilet block announcing its opening hours.
3. Signs around the Links pointing to where the toilets are located
4. A couple of A-boards on the Links nearby ( eg at the Playpark) that the attendant puts up as he comes on shift, that says ‘toilets OPEN until 8pm’) 
Meanwhile the Community Council is doing its bit to try to raise awareness on this matter. It seems a pointless waste of Council money and effort to put toilets on the Links that don’t get used because people don’t know they are there / open.
Surely some signs must be possible?
Thanks”

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?

Come and view Links Plan Display Boards at Leith Library

Display boards outlining the proposed MasterPlan for the improvement of Leith Links are now on view to the public in the foyer of Leith Library, Ferry Road.  Please go and have a good look, and then please do send in your response to the plans.

There should be leaflets on site in the library with a QR code you can use, otherwise you can find the consultation at https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/leith-links-masterplan/ 

PS There is very little funding available to actually carry out the plans, it will all have to be ‘raised’  – somehow – so it’s important that it is clear what the top priorities / favourites are from amongst the suggestions. Let your views be heard.

PPS If things get done on the Links that you don’t like, you might wish you had spoken up about them when you had the chance…..

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