Dept Q , Location Filming , Monday, 11th March , Links Gardens

Location filming will take place in Links Gardens/Links Place for a chilling new detective series called Dept Q.

The crew will be filming scenes between 4pm and 10pm on Monday 11th March and this will lead to some road closures during these hours to allow the action to take place.

Location equipment and crew will be on site from 9am to set up.

The map link below shows where road closures will take place from 6pm to 10pm.

If you would normally be planning to drive through the area at that time of day then plan an alternative route.

LINKS ROAD CLOSURES

Dept Q is based on the crime novels of the Danish author, Jussi Adler-Olsen which have sold many millions of copies. The books have been made into successful television adaptations and films ( In Danish). This new production which moves the location of Dept Q to Scotland stars some well known actors and could be very successful.

I’ve just finished the first book in English which introduces you to the characters.

The book was first published in 2008 and then made into a movie.

Lets wish them great success with this new take on the novels.

 

 

 

Next Meeting of Leith Links Community Council – ONLINE – 6:30pm Monday 26th February

The next meeting of the Leith Links Community Council will be held on Monday 26th February, at 6:30pm. This will be an ONLINE ONLY meeting (Teams).

Agenda available here.

Minutes of previous meeting available here.

The meeting is held in public,to allow interested local residents to participate.
Email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk if you wish to attend, and you will be sent a link.

What’s happening in Leith Links?

Monday 26th February – next Leith Links Community Council meeting, 6:30pm. This will be an ONLINE ONLY meeting (TEAMS). Agenda available here.

Email contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk if you wish to attend, and you will be sent a link.

***

£EITH CHOOSES Results night 22th February 

The results of which local charities / community groups have been successsful in winning funding will be announced ‘live’ at 6:30 pm at Leith Community Centre (cafe area). All welcome, do come along to hear the news, and for refreshments and a chat. Short meeting.

***

February  – Leith Links Community Council survey about traffic and parking changes. Have you filled in this survey yet? Please do so, to have your voice heard, regarding how your life as a local resident, is affected – positively and/or negatively – by all the recent changes to traffic and parking in our area. Timing is key, as some of the changes which were temporary (such as the ‘bus gate’ on Links Gardens / Links Place) are about to be made permanent unless people report that they are not working well.

Give your views via the Community Council survey here

You can also make your views known direct to the council via this link:

edinburgh.gov.uk/leithconnections

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Events on the Links 2024 

We have just been informed that the City of Edinburgh Council has REFUSED permission for the proposed event FLY Summer Of Love’92 to take place on the Links, in May 2024. This is good news, as the community council and many local residents had objected to the application, feeling that this particular large scale, long and very loud event and Leith Links, so close to residents, were not a good fit for each other.

Music Encounters March 2024

Provided by the Council, there will be some live music on the Links for all local residents and ‘ordinary’ park users to enjoy, free of charge, on Saturday 16th March, from 1300h to 1500h. More details to follow later.

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Have YOUR say on recent traffic changes around Leith – do it now!

Leith Links Community Council has created a survey to find out how the traffic changes recently introduced to Leith are affecting local people. We really want to hear from everybody – please fill it in!

You can access the survey here:

Please don’t delay, fill it in now. We will be collecting this information throughout January and February and will collate the information received and pass it on to the Council so that they have detailed information from real people who live and work here. The next few months are crucial. Not all of the changes are permanent yet – some, such as the bus gate on Links Place, and the blocking of Tolbooth Wynd, have been carried out on a ‘Temporary Traffic Regulation Order’, so feedback from local residents could help to determine whether or not they are made permanent, modified, or dropped.

Other changes are meant to be permanent, but if there is enough evidence to suggest they are not working well, there should be scope for them to be reviewed.

We’ve included both the low traffic neighbourhood and the controlled parking zone, because although these are the responsibility of 2 separate departments in the council, we know that both these schemes interact with each other in affecting our lives as local residents. Equally there is space for free text so you can add other comments.

Some people don’t bother with ‘consultations’ because they feel that the Council ‘always just does what it wants, whether people support it or not’. But this survey is different – it is NOT a Council consultation – we are your neighbours, and we WILL do our very best to use the information you supply to make the Council listen. The basic survey does not take long to complete, although there is scope within it to go into details about each different street, and specific changes, if you want to.

Thank you!

Oh, and, please pass the link on to your neighbours and ask them to fill it in too.

https://forms.gle/EinHqiXkak4hj6Ly7

or via QR code

Joy to the World

Seasons Greetings

If you were writing a new Christmas Panto script and you were looking for an idea, then Leith’s Christmas tree could be it.

Our sad tale begins in Leith with tram works and a modern-day plague.

Constitution Street and Leith Walk ripped up, and then Covid strikes.

The Christmas Tree that was installed and stood proudly in the Kirkgate for many, many years had to find a temporary home, and after little or no consultation a decision was taken by council officers to place a tree in Taylor Gardens instead, with 6 lights (4 working) added to lamp standards.

It’s a nice enough tree, but really not the true location where  Leithers would expect it to be, and that is something council officials don’t grasp in their decision making process.

It was supposed to be a temporary move, not permanent, but although it may tick boxes with council officers they miss the point of how the community view things.

When I first asked our elected councillors why the tree hadn’t returned to the Kirkgate, Councillor Faccenda kindly wrote to council officers and received a reply with reasons why it couldn’t go back to the Kirkgate. But all of those ‘problems’ really could have been worked out, had there been a willingness from council public servants.

“Unfortunately due to the installation of the Tram lines we are now unable to provide any festive Lighting on Leith Walk which involves working at height. The installation on a cut Christmas Tree involves using a telehandler to lift the tree into position and then a cherry picker later to install the lights”

Where there’s a will there’s always a way of achieving the impossible?

Someone in the council also had the idea to plant a fir tree in Taylor Gardens which could become the Leith Christmas tree of the future.

 

 

In reply to Councillor Faccenda the council said about this tree (- and please don’t laugh but I suppose it’s panto time. It’s behind you!)

The decision to move the Kirkgate Christmas Tree along the road to Taylor Park has enabled us to plant a tree which will hopefully be ready for dressing with lights within the next 5 years or so. We will continue to provide an 8m cut tree here until the planted tree is ready.

Now as I’m of a certain age and don’t have a life, I’m drawn to TV programmes like Gardeners’ World and Landward, and having done a few Christmas Quizzes I can confidently say that planted tree will not be ready in ‘less than 5 years’

Quiz answer is 15 years before an average Christmas tree is ready.

So why do council officers put nonsense in emails and expect us to accept what they say without challenging them? I suppose their get-out clause legally was ‘or so‘.

They apparently know even less about trees than me and it comes across that they really don’t care,and possibly haven’t been down to Leith to have a look because they call it Park not Gardens.

They reply in a confident ‘I know what I’m talking about because I’m a council officer’ manner then they don’t expect to be called out for nonsense speak, they expect the community to just say ok,move on.

However they miss the point that it’s not just about location of a tree on a spreadsheet.

They don’t take into account how people who live in the area view it, and have shared memories of good and bad times

The historic heart of Leith for a tree has, for as long as I can remember, been the Kirkgate beside Queen Victoria’s statue. If you take a walk down there today it looks drab and uncared for, and especially at this time of year it could do with some cheer.

We keep getting told that Leith is hip and has a vibrant community and is a top 10 destination as a place to visit and stay.

You wouldn’t think that if, as a tourist, you arrived at the Foot of the Walk by tram to an area that Christmas seemed to have by-passed all because of council bureaucracy which prior to lockdown had never been an issue.

But if you get it right, people will keep coming back, and spend money in our community, and tell their friends what a great place it is with friendly and helpful locals.

It doesn’t have to be over the top flashy lights.

It just has to be welcoming, which is supposedly what we in Leith are good at.

I would like the community to support me in bringing the tree back to the Kirkgate in 2024 and hopefully with help from local businesses in the Kirkgate, to brighten the place up.

Take a trip out to Davidson Mains Street or the front at South Queensferry and you will see what some communities and businesses can achieve at this time of year.

Let me know what you think, and more importantly hit the email inboxes of your elected Leith Councillors, MP and MSP

Don’t moan, just drop them a quick email: BRING BACK THE CHRISTMAS TREE TO THE KIRKGATE

Yes, I know life is hellish at the moment for many, many people, and you can’t eat Christmas trees, but let’s give it a go for our own pride and self-respect returning.

Thanks, and have a peaceful and enjoyable festive holiday.

Jim Scanlon MBE

Chair, Leith Links Community Council

 

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 .

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.

 

Talking about the Leith Low Traffic Neighbourhood, at Gala Day 2023

Overview

The Leith Festival Gala Day held annually on Leith Links offers a great opportunity to the local Community Councils to carry out their remit to share information and to engage with members of the local community.

This year, at the Gala Day on Saturday 10 June 2023, Leith Links and Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Councils worked together to gather feedback from community members on the newly implemented Leith Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN).

The stand was staffed by members of the community councils from 11am to 4pm. During that time we spoke to about 200 members of the public, and invited them to share their thoughts about the LTN, using post-it notes on a flip-chart. We encouraged constructive feedback, both positive and negative, and asked people to be as specific as they could be, with examples of how their lives had been affected. In the process of doing this, people ended up discussing the issue with each other, as well as with members of the Community Councils.

A number of broad themes emerged from the feedback, these are covered below. Please also see Annexe 1 for a full list of the comments received. It is obvious that the local community is very divided on the issues.

Comment

Timing-wise, this was just at the very start of the LTN. (At the same time, a new controlled parking zone (CPZ) had just been introduced, so it may have been difficult for some people who contributed their views to be sure which project was affecting them most.)

Not all of those who responded necessarily reside within the LTN area, though as self-selected respondents, all obviously felt invested in the area in some way(s).

Clearly this is not rigorous ‘research’, but just a ‘snapshot’ of views at one particular point in time.

 

Key themes

1. A general acknowledgement that we need to reduce our emissions

Almost all respondents recognised the importance of mitigating the impacts of climate change, generally, and specifically were in favour of reducing emissions.

“We are aiming for 20% less cars – it’s going to be a bit disruptive, but needs to be drastic.”

2. People wanted safer streets, especially for children

A few respondents said that the closures had resulted in a better commute for children and cyclists, and one or two suggested closing Links Gardens again.

It [the LTN] is safer for kids and pets. Quiet communities make healthier people – physically and mentally.”

“Sandport Bridge closure improves commute for pedestrians and transition from cycle path (Water of Leith).”

3. Very poor consultation and communication with community

The vast majority of respondents said that they didn’t feel there had been adequate consultation by the Council about the LTN. They felt this was typical of the Council and were pessimistic, feeling that their feedback had not been / would not be listened to, and that the Council would not modify its plans. Community members frequently said “what’s the point?” as they felt their views would not be taken into account and that it was too late to do anything. There was quite a bit of anger and frustration. In addition, there was feedback about the lack of sufficient joined-up thinking between the LTN, CPZ and other transport related schemes and initiatives.

“Residents need better communication about decision process, rationale and time frames.”

“Poorly communicated! Changes before anyone knows about it.”

“Not enough consideration for vulnerable people – access including carers and visitors not great.”

“No joined up thinking about various traffic initiatives – LTN, CPZ, LEZ, Trams, etc.”

“I don’t agree with how things have been rolled out. Residents have been ignored.”

Planters

Several respondents mentioned the planters specifically, and felt that they hadn’t been properly planned and thought through, especially from a sustainability perspective.There was concern that these would not be properly maintained by the council. Residents pointed out the neglect of existing trees and planters.

4.  Lack of consultation on, and information about which roads were being closed, and why

This issue seemed to have caused the most frustration. There was consternation and confusion about which roads had been closed and why, seemingly without consultation. The diverting of traffic down Salamander Place came up frequently.

“I love the principle but Salamander Place is not designed for the traffic it now takes, the junction at the Links is dangerous.”

“Salamander Place is not fit for all the traffic that is going to be going down! It’s a cobbled street!”

“Have destroyed my street – Salamander Place – all the traffic pushed down one cobbled street to be most congested place now!”

“Having only one main route (Commercial Street) is causing more congestion and pollution, reopen Sandport.”

“Elderly can’t get to St James’ Church.”

“As a community nurse it has made getting to home visits and parking for home visits more challenging.”

“Unfair on disabled drivers. Just look at Coburg Street.”

“Love safe cycle paths but don’t close all streets around. Not all black and white.”

“Stupid beyond belief. Okay in principle but should have been better thought through.”

5.  Significant concern that traffic and pollution have been displaced to boundary roads

Connected to the confusion over why certain streets have been closed and not others, respondents also shared concerns that the LTN wasn’t actually reducing traffic, but merely pushing it out on to the main roads that surround the zone, and that these are now even more polluted and busy, penalisng residents and pedestrians there.

Great idea but I live on Great Junction Street and am worried that traffic and pollution by my flat will increase.”

“Open Coburg Street and Academy Street, Duke Street is now too congested, most polluted.”

“Traffic and pollution just get displaced.” “Causing congestion on main roads.” “Bottom of Leith Walk is a car park.”

“Great idea IF it reduces traffic in Leith, but currently creating lots of additional traffic and pollution, making it difficult/dangerous as a pedestrian. Also disrupting buses again after 5 years of tramworks!”

“I spend about 10 mins extra per day in my car idling at low speeds. It doesn’t work.”

“Leith cut in two halves. Traffic congestion. Stupid, stupid.”

6.  John’s Place pocket park is unwelcome and a waste of money

There was added confusion about why John’s Place had been pedestrianised in parts, and why resources have been spent on this change, especially given its location right next to Leith Links.

“John’s Place “pocket park” is stupid. Should have spent the money on doing up the bowling green.”

“Why close John’s Place? Why put this right next to a huge park?”

“It is ridiculous to create an area right beside Leith Links where there is already plenty of leisure space. Save John’s Place!”

7.  Travel in and out of Leith

With the road closures and added congestion on boundary roads around the LTN, people said that it was becoming more difficult to get in and out of Leith.

“As a business owner, it has created a lot of issues for travel in/out, parking and deliveries. Needs urgently reviewed.”

“To get to Western General from the Links now requires adding to congestion on Salamander Street and Great Junction Street.”

“There are simply no alternative routes for east/west traffic, so congestion builds up on Salamander, Bernard Street, Commercial Street.”

8.  Close The Shore

We heard time and again that residents would have preferred The Shore area to be closed to traffic (rather than Sandport Bridge etc.). People felt that if they had been consulted, this is what could have happened and that it would have had multiple benefits for restaurants, bars, pedestrians, and well-being and enjoyment.

“Close the Shore to traffic, it is a beautiful place for pedestrians.”

“Pedestrianise the Shore and increase commercial space for outdoor seating.”

“Why close Sandport Street? Close the Shore where people sit by the water in cafes and pubs.”

Summary

Throughout the day we heard from people who represented different demographics of the Leith and Leith Links areas. We observed that younger people were inclined to be more positive towards the LTN and had more general views on why climate change must be mitigated and emissions reduced. They didn’t appear to have been personally very affected by the changes either positively or negatively. Many of these people said that they cycled.

Older people, carers, people with disabilities, people connected with local businesses trying to trade in the area, and those who had to drive out of the city for work, felt that they had been directly affected by the LTN and that it made their lives more difficult. Many had concrete examples about the impact on their day to day.

Across the board, it was felt that the community hadn’t been properly considered, consulted, communicated with, or listened to.

Numerically, there were more comments AGAINST the LTN than FOR it.

Recommendations
  • We urge Edinburgh Council to engage further and more deeply with the communities affected by the LTN from now on, during the 18-month review period.
  • We recommend that greater effort be made to hear from elderly and vulnerable residents and those who care for them. Since some may be less able to access online surveys, focus groups or door to door in-person surveys might better record these residents’ views.
  • We urge the Council to remain open-minded and flexible to feedback received, and adaptable to potential changes.
  • We recommend that the Council urgently communicates the rationale behind the closure of certain streets to the affected residents.
  • We also encourage the Council to publish and communicate details of how the impact of the LTN will be monitored in 6, 12 and 18 months.

The Leith Links Community Council will continue to gather feedback from residents, and to share this information with the elected Ward Councillors, and with those responsible for the LTN.

Annexe 1 

Responses collected at the Leith Community Councils stand at the Leith Festival Gala Day about the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN), though some responses touch on the CPZ and other changes in the city.

 FOR

  1. Love it guys! Keep pedestrians walking!!
  2. I live near Coburg Street and now I can get to the Shore
  3. We are aiming for 20% less cars – it’s going to be a bit disruptive but needs to be
  4. Adopt a planter scheme for better maintenance?
  5. I feel a lot safer on the Shore when there are fewer cars around. Much quicker too!
  6. Drivers always shout louder than anyone else. But safe, clean streets are essential.
  7. Wonderful! Can’t wait for double yellows on Restalrig
  8. Great if Leith Links becomes safer for kids from school and park users when crossing roads.
  9. Bridge at Shore closure improves commute for pedestrians and transition from cycle path (Water of Leith)
  10. More cycling in Easter Road, better cycling on Leith Walk and around Leith Links – support LTN
  11. Local people, not cars + public transport
  12. Ignore the well-funded motor lobby
  13. Important for climate change, air pollution and safety!!!
  14. A really good thing! Let it go further. Close Links Gardens to cars again. Good for business and people.
  15. All for less space for cars and more space for people on foot/wheels.
  16. It’s safer for kids and quiet communities make healthier people – physically and mentally.
  17. Protect pavements from inconsiderate drivers preventing movement for mobility challenged
  18. Great, seeing a difference already. Great for walking and cycling, clean air.
  19. Climate change, air pollution, safer streets
  20. Just returned to Leith Links – what a difference. Great!
  21. Best thing to happen for Leith and climate change
  22. Less pollution, safer streets, more public areas
  23. Yay – Bikes +++ Cars – – –
  24. Safer streets so kids can play and walk home!
  25. Give streets back to people not to cars!
  26. Really pleased at the chance to change Leith for the better
  27. Loving it! Quiet streets are safer to walk and
  28. FANTASTIC! Coburg Street and Sandport Bridge is great for cyclists/pedestrians. More please!
  29. It’s great. Expand it! Pedestrianise the Shore, north and south
  30. I don’t like cars driving through

YES, BUT…

  1. Great idea but I live on Great Junction Street and am worried that traffic and pollution by my flat will increase.
    2. Great idea IF it reduces traffic in leith, but currently creating lots of additional traffic and pollution, making it difficult/dangerous as a pedestrian. Also disrupting buses again after years of tramworks!
    3. Love safe cycle paths but don’t close all streets around. Not all black and white.
    4. Less traffic on school streets. Good LTN on the Shore. Improve crossing on Easter Road with Dalmeny Street, unsafe for pedestrians.
    5. I love the principle but Salamander Place is not designed for the traffic it now takes, the junction at the Links is dangerous.

AGAINST

  1. Salamander Street is not fit for all the traffic that is going to be going down! It’s a cobbled street!
    2. Permit parking is a joke – council scandalous money-making scheme!
    3. More attention to the needs of Edinburgh citizens NOT tourists
    4. Left turn at Easter Road now getting put back after all the trouble of taking it away.
    5. Having only one main route (Commercial Street) is causing more congestion and pollution, reopen Sandport.
    6. I don’t agree with how things have been rolled out. Residents have been ignored.
    7. Parking issues for residents. Yellow lines OTT!!!
    8. John’s Place “pocket park” is stupid. Should have spent the money on doing up the bowling green.
    9. Why close John’ Place? Why put this right next to huge park?
    10. No left turn off Leith Walk a nightmare. But buses slashed too, will we get 12 or 21 back??
    11. Bus service disrupted since trams
    12. Yellow lines outside Doctor surgery = problem with parking for patients (Mill Lane)
    13. Edinburgh Council’s transport plans stink
    14. As a business owner, it has created a lot of issues for travel in/out, parking and deliveries. Needs urgently reviewed.
    15. Close the Shore to traffic, it is a beautiful place for pedestrians
    16. Close the Shore to all traffic
    17. Fix the cobbles at Tower Street (Constitution Street corner), Camber? Is now off and drains blocked causing flooding
    18. Now dangerous, especially with two schools nearby. Close Links Gardens again.
    19. Not thought through
    20. Bottom of Leith Walk is a car park
    21. Almost impossible to cross Leith Walk – just went too far
    22. Open Coburg Street and Academy Street, Duke Street now too congested, most polluted
    23. Need to turn left on Leith Walk
    24. Traffic and pollution just get displaced
    25. Why close Sandport Street? Close the Shore where people sit by the water in cafes and pubs
    26. Residents need better communication about decision process, rationale and time frames
    27. Over the top! E.g. closing the Sandport Bridge getting to Aldi
    28. The most poorly thought out, half-witted project yet. Polluting key areas, causing maximum congestion, making it unsafe to cross main roads. Hell mend you!
    29. Only makes sense if you close The Shore.
    30. Close the Shore! And some other streets.
    31. Stupid beyond belief. Okay in principle but should have been better thought through.
    32. Pedestrianise the Shore and increase commercial space for outdoor seating.
    33. Elderly can’t get to St James’ Church
    34. Close The Shore! We love the idea of coffees/drinks in the sun outside!
    35. It is ridiculous to make Easter Road into resident parking without telling the residents it is going to happen.
    36. To get to Western General from the Links now requires adding to congestion on Salamander Street and Great Junction Street
    37. Why not close The Shore? Any other city would make the most of it!
    38. How are the emergency services able to get places quickly with the road closures?
    39. This will increase pollution on Salamander Place!
    40. Absolutely crazy!
    41. Causing congestion on main roads
    42. Stop developing industrial and commercial areas into residential
    43. What plans do you have for looking after the planters!!!
    44. Poorly communicated! Changes before anyone knows about it
    45. It is ridiculous to create an area right beside Leith Links where there is already plenty of
    leisure space. Save John’s Place!
    46. As a community nurse it has made getting to home visits and parking for home visits
    more challenging.
    47. Unfair on disabled drivers. Just look at Coburg Street.
    48. Have destroyed my street – Salamander Place – all the traffic pushed down one cobbled
    street to be most congested place now!
    49. Moronic
    50. Permit – money for council that residents need to cover, outrageous
    51. Road closures a DISASTER. Traveling from other side of Leith Walk to Easter Road is
    awful.
    52. Why close Sandport and not the Shore?
    53. Why close Sandport Street where there was no congestion. Close the Shore.
    54. Accident waiting to happen, bikes incoming to oncoming traffic over cobbled roads!
    55. Causes congestion, more pollution, poor public transport
    56. Not enough consideration for vulnerable people – access including carers and visitors not great
    57. Lived here for 50 years, this is terrible
    58. The double yellow lines around Chapel Lane are preventing my daughter and other carers from visiting their dependents.
    59. No joined up thinking about various traffic initiatives – LTZ, LEZ, Trams, etc.
    60. I spend about 10 mins extra per day in my car idling at low speeds. It doesn’t work.
    61. Leith cut in two halves. Traffic congestion. Stupid, stupid.
    62. Traffic on main streets!! Pollution, noise from cobbles

Grit your teeth Leith Links-ers! It’s ALL happening…

What’s happening NOW? LOTS!

Parking (lack of/chaos) There will be widespread parking restrictions all around our area over the next 2 weeks – yes, above and beyond those caused by the CPZ! This is because of the Leith Festival Gala Day on Saturday 10th June (fairly minimal disruption) and because of the Proclaimers Concerts to be held on Saturday and Sunday 17 & 18 June (fairly massive disruption). Crews will start building the enclosure and marquee site for the Proclaimers as of 9th June, and there may be heavy vehicles coming and going. All parking is suspended on Links Gardens (see the yellow notices attached to lamposts) and some other places.

Local residents all around will face displaced parking overflowing from Links facing streets.

On the concert days themselves, we can be pretty sure people will still try to drive            here (in spite of the tram and bus services), so it could be like two major Hibs                  matches in a row (lasting over 6 hours each)…

The official information release says:

“Excitement is building around Leith Links as over the weekend of 17th and 18th June part of Leith Links will see crowds of 6,000 people each night attending sold-out Proclaimers Concerts. In the build up to the concerts and over that weekend more ‘excitement’ will likely be generated by suspension of parking in Links Gardens and surrounding streets.   Initially from 8am on 9 June parking will be suspended in Links Gardens and part of East Hermitage Place until 6pm on 23 June. This is to facilitate building and removal of the event site. And from 2pm on 17 June until 11pm on 18 June parking will additionally be suspended all along East Hermitage Place, Hermitage Place, Vanburgh Place, parts of Somerset, Fingzies and Parkvale place, Gladstone Place, Summerfield Gardens and Claremont Road. So it’s going to be very difficult for local residents to park near their properties over the weekend of 17/18 June and there will likely be some displacement parking from 9 June.

For further details see temp-23-132-ending-on-23-june-2023 (edinburgh.gov.uk)

*

Low Traffic Neighbourhood

There is a new traffic island currently in construction on Links Place (near Links Gardens & junction with Salamander Place), aimed to make crossing easier and safer for pedestrians, as part of the Leith Connections scheme. (Note – this is NOT a zebra crossing as the Living Rent group claim.) Road markings are confusing right now but full signage will be going up very shortly. This will be a bus / taxi gate, and it will go live in a couple of weeks (delayed from original go live date of 12th June). So you can still drive through there for the moment.
Once live, no cars will be allowed to go through from Links Gardens west towards Queen Charlotte Street – only buses (there aren’t any), taxis (but not private hire cars), and cyclists. Vehicles heading west will have to go down Salamander Place and left along Baltic Street. As far as we know, vehicles WILL be able come through travelling from west to east.

Good luck folks!

 

 

 

 

Controlled Parking& Low Traffic Neighbourhood in Leith Links

Parking Info

We were grateful to Gavin Brown and Gavin Graham of City of Edinburgh Council for coming along to the March ’23 Leith Links Community Council Meeting to talk about the forthcoming CPZ in our area, which is now scheduled to go fully live on 26th June.

The meeting was attended by a large number of local residents They answered our many questions very fully, and a transcript of those Q &As is available here.

They stressed that if anybody has questions about anything to do with parking controls in their street or area, expecially if urgent, they should in the first instance contact:

ParkingOperations.CustomerCare@edinburgh.gov.uk

as that email is constantly monitored and will achieve a quick reply, whereas emails to the personally may take longer to go through.

See also our earlier post witrh details about permits, at:

http://www.leithlinkscc.org.uk/controlled-parki…eith-north-leith/

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LTN Info

We were grateful to Councillor Scott Arthur and Miles Wilkinson of City of Edinburgh Council for coming to our April ’23 LLCC meeting and sharing information about the Low Traffic Neighbourhood, which has been being rolled out in stages throughout April and May (and June, to come). Again, that meeting was attended by many local residents, and many questions were asked and answered. The presentation that Miles gave that evening is too large a file to be handled easily here, but you can read the latest edition of the LTN Newsletter here.  (N.B for 35 read 34 bus).

Any queries about the LTN should be directed in the first instance to: leithconnections@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

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