Tag: 2023

How should the Tourist Tax be spent?

Most people will have heard that the City of Edinburgh is going to charge visitors to the city a small charge per night, as many other cities do, all over the world. It has been called a ‘tourist tax’ and also a ‘visitor levy’.

The Council is now consulting on how the tax/levy should be set up and how the monies collected should be spent.

Please take time to fill in this survey. You may feel that you don’t have clear opinions in the first section (but there are ‘don’t know’ options) but PLEASE keep going until you get to the later section which is about how the monies should be spent.

You will see that the Council is proposing that it might be spent on advertising and promoting tourism. Is that what you think? Is that what it was originally meant for? Is that what the city most needs, and what council tax paying residents most urgently want to see done?

Please access the survey via this link, and give your views

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VisitorLevyforEdinburgh?fbclid=IwAR2ihyuo0LTcQ7H-b5BZNcoQGB2BqwnwiJnP49jKiDa3N-v2ZtGHcICPw4I

We are surprised to see that this survey is not on the usual Consultation Hub platform, but is separate, and has apparently not been widely advertised. Why would that be? We are trying to find out.

Bin Hub locations under review – have your say now!

Bin Hub locations are under review – please send in your views

Do you have one of the Council’s new communal ‘bin hubs’ first installed a couple of years ago?   Are you happy with how it is working, and its location?   Is it easy for you to use?  If not would you like to see it re-located or something about it improved?   If so, now might be the time to raise your concerns and make suggestions.     We have heard that the Council is starting a review of locations of bin hubs that were first installed in and around Leith Links (Phase 1 and 2 of the Council’s project).   They aim to finish this by end of this year.    They will be using a decision ‘framework’ agreed by the Council last May – see Appendix 3 of  Communal Bin Review Update report – cp26.

In brief, an alternative location will be considered if at least one member of the public proposes it.   There are then a variety of policy constraints on location and capacity of a bin hub which must normally be no more than 50 metres from the furthest away property using it, though that can be relaxed up to 100m.   The policy seems to be that a bin hub cannot be across the road from the properties it serves, though there also do seem to be relaxations of that envisaged in roads with low traffic speeds and we clearly do have at least one bin hub across a road within the Leith Links area (a dead end near to St Mary’s primary school).

Where the Council identifies bin hubs which they think can be re-located they will contact the affected residents by letter to inform them of the new location and a new Traffic Regulation Order (TRO)  will be advertised to secure the parking restrictions. It is anticipated the TROs, if any,  would be advertised early 2024 and implementation of any new bin hub locations will be delivered in late Spring/Summer 2024.

The Council has said they will review all the bin hubs locations of Phase 1 and 2 installations but have also asked us if there are any specific locations we would like them to prioritise.

So – if you would like your bin hub moved to a better place and have a proposed alternative location please let the Leith Links Community Council know (comment below and/or email: contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk), and also copy to your local elected Councillors.

 Even better if there is a group of neighbours who all want to see a change and agree what the better location would be.

We will publish more information on this review as we get it.

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Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council: Monday 27 November, 6:30pm, in person, at Duncan Place.

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 27 November at 6:30pm. This meeting will be in person, at Duncan Place.

Agenda for meeting, 27 November 2023
Previous Minutes, October 2023

Interested members of the local community are welcome to attend this meeting, and to raise & discuss issues, but space is somewhat limited in the room. Please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk to request, notify of your issues, and you will be invited or sent a link to attend remotely.

HISTORY OF LEITH GOLF

The next meeting of the Leith Local History Society will be on Tuesday 21 Nov. 2023 at Leith Community Centre at 7.00pm.
The original proposed talk has been rescheduled the talk will now be The History of Golf by Brian Graham.
We look forward to seeing you there. If you are interested in this, or the upcoming talks, why not complete a membership form and bring it to the next meeting.
Also, you may be interested to hear that an archaeology dig is due to start in Coatfield Lane off Constitution Street before new housing is built. The archaeology team are having an open day for the public to find out more on: Saturday, 25th November from 10am to 2pm .
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Next meeting Leith Links Community Council, Monday 30 October, 6:30pm, online (Teams)

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 30 October at 6:30pm. This meeting will be online (MicroSoft Teams).

Agenda for meeting, 30 October 23
Previous Minutes (September 2023)

Miles Wilkinson from City of Edinburgh Council will attend to provide an update on the Low Traffic Neighbourhood, and to answer questions, and take feedback. Otherwise the Agenda covers the usual range of topics from Planning Applications to Bin hub locations etc.

Interested members of the local community are welcome to attend this meeting, and to raise any points of concern. Please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk to request, and you will be sent the link.

 

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Leith Local History Society, Tuesday 17th October, George IV Visit

The next meeting of the Leith Local History Society will be on Tuesday 17 Oct. 2023 at Leith Community Centre at 7.00pm. The Talk will be  George IV’s Visit to Leith  by Eric Melvin. We look forward to seeing you there.
If you are interested in this or the upcoming talks why not complete the attached membership form and bring it to the next meeting.
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Dalton Metal Recycling ,52-66 Salamander Street planning application

As you are aware, Dalton Metal Recycling is seeking to redevelop its scrapyard site at 52-66 Salamander Street for a proposed mixed-use development, comprising purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), residential (build-to-rent), retail/commercial space and associated works.

The site has been operated as a metal scrapyard for over 30 years. During this period much of the surrounding land has been transformed from industrial to residential, with recently constructed residential properties now encircling the site.

Dalton is now seeking to have the site redeveloped as a mixed-use development. This will provide high-quality living accommodation including PBSA and residential (build-to-rent), as well as retail/commercial space, serving to compliment neighbouring residential-led developments.

A second public consultation event outlining these proposals will be held on Wednesday 18th October 2023 from 3pm to 7pm at Leith Library, 28-30 Ferry Road EH6 4AE.

This follows an initial consultation event held on Wednesday 20th September, and will aim to update the initial proposals and incorporate relevant feedback from the first event.

A flyer promoting this event is attached, and please feel free to circulate it as you see fit. This is in the process of being distributed in the local area neighbouring the site.

A project website can be viewed at www.daltonregen.co.uk.

Consultation material, detailing the proposed development, will be available to view on the website from 9am on Wednesday 18th October.

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Leith Links Activity Park Consultation – please give your views now!

You may remember a community picnic we ran in July 2021 to ask local people what they would like to see developed on the Links, and in particular in the derelict building and the bowling greens area.
      
Since then, a Working Group has been developing a 10yr concept Masterplan for Leith Links. The group is composed of Leith Councillors, City of Edinburgh Council staff (the ‘Thriving Greenspaces Project’), and representatives of a number of local organisations, such as Leith Links Community Council, Earth in Common, Duncan Place. The draft master plan (which was put out to public consultation in summer 2022 and received very positive support) creates a vision for the future, but in order for it to happen, it needs funding (which is currently not yet in place), resource and – very importantly – local support.
The masterplan includes suggestions for a number of interesting developments, in various areas of the park. An ‘urgent’ area for development is the old bowling greens area, and this is being addressed by a sub group of the Working Group,calling itself Leith Links Activity Park. Along with some landscape architects, they have put together a vision of what this could look like.
It includes a skatepark – which consistently came out top in all earlier consultations – but also a number of other exciting possibilities such as a pump track/bike trail, roller skate rink, bouldering rocks, petanque court, water play area etc. Now consultation is needed to see which of these are most popular.
A public consultation is live until the 10 October to get feedback from the community on the design and all the ideas. Please fill in your views! And please share as widely as possible across all your networks to make sure everyone who might be affected gets to see it and comment.:

14th Leith Boys’ Brigade

The Community Council has been asked to publicise the 14th Leith Boys’ Brigade.

This may be of interest for families looking for constructive and fun things for their boys to do locally.

This is their message:

We are a voluntary youth organisation which meets every Wednesday at Duke Street United Reformed Church.

The 14th Leith provides a safe and caring place to develop skills, make friends and build confidence. Our programme offers active, creative and adventurous activities across three age groups:

  • Anchors (Primaries 1,2 and 3) – 6 -7pm
  • Juniors (Primaries 4,5 and 6) – 7.15 – 8.15pm
  • Company (Primary 7+)

Our team of volunteer leaders is registered, PVG-checked and trained.

We are a Leith community organisation, and we are trying to spread the word that our new session is underway, and runs weekly during term time. New members are welcome.

More information is available by emailing bb14thleith@hotmail.com , calling 07921 386451 or visiting https://www.facebook.com/14LeithBB/

The BBs Mission Statement

The Boys’ Brigade has faith in young people and provides them with opportunities to learn, grow and discover in a safe, fun and caring environment which is rooted in the Christian faith.

Next Leith Links Community Council meeting, Monday 25 September, 6:30pm,online only (Teams)

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 25 September at 6:30pm. This meeting will be online (MicroSoft Teams).

Agenda for meeting
Previous Minutes (August 2023)

The meeting will be held jointly with Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council and the main business of the evening will be a presentation from Orbit Communications, Scott Hobbs Planning and 56three Architects about the proposed redevelopment of Daltons Scrapyard ((52/66 Salamander Street, EH6 7LA) into a ‘mixed use development comprising purpose built student accommodation, residential (build to rent), retail/commercial space and associated works’

This is part of the preliminary consultation that developers are obliged to hold prior to lodging an actual Planning Application. (The Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) was lodged on 7th August and there is a 12 week minimum consultation period following that, so we can expect to see the full application around October.)

Members of the local community are welcome to attend this meeting, so please email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk to request, and you will be sent the link.

Meanwhile, if you want a preview of Dalton’s planning proposals, you can inspect these at www.daltonregen.co.uk

 

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