Category:

AGM and Next Meeting, Monday 25 May 2026

The AGM and next meeting of Leith Links Community Council will be on Monday 25th May, at 6:30pm, at Duncan Place Community Hub, 4 Duncan Place.

There will be a short AGM followed at 7pm by an ‘ordinary meeting’. We have guest speakers Jo Hirst and Doreen Goldie coming to talk about what happens when sewage at Seafield is treated and turned into sludge cake which is spread across local agricultural land as fertilizer and may potentially have a dangerous impact on our food systems, water courses and the wider environment.

We also have a busy ‘general’ agenda of local issues. Do come along and join the discussions – the Community Council would really appreciate more support from local residents.

AGM Minutes April 2025

April 2026 Minutes here

May 2026 Agenda here

 

We need to talk about sewage……..do join us!

The next meeting of Leith Links Community Council is on Monday 25 May at 6:30pm. Following a brief AGM and a short break, starting at 7pm we will hold our ‘ordinary’ CC meeting, starting with visiting speakers Jo Hirst and Doreen Goldie to talk about what happens to our sewage, why it may be dangerous, and what regulation and enforcement is necessary.

 

 

Everyone knows about the offensive stench that frequently blights the lives of those who live in the vicinity of Seafield Sewage Treatment Centre. However what is not so well known is that after the City’s sewage has been ‘treated’, the resultant sludge cake is spread across local agricultural land as a fertilizer. Many believe that the several contaminants that remain in this ‘treated’ sludge cake represent a serious public health risk. A campaign has been launched to have this practice ‘paused’ until the full facts are made known.

 

Come to our next meeting on 25th May at 7.00pm  at Duncan Place Community Hub to hear more about this campaign and about why there is so much concern about the potential impact on our food systems, water courses and the wider environment.

What news of the Leith Links toilets?

We have been asking!

A message has recently been received from the Council, providing an update regarding:

Leith Links Public Toilets

Drainage remediation works have begun on site during the week commencing 4 May 2026. The construction works are expected to take approximately 3 to 4 weeks, followed by reinstatement of the surrounding area and testing of the drainage system before reopening. We are currently targeting completion by the beginning of June 2026, subject to final testing and verification.

The toilets were temporarily closed in December 2025 after issues were identified with the drainage system. Investigations found that the service disruption was caused by a combination of foreign objects entering the drainage network and a construction fault which needs to be rectified to ensure the system works reliably. Since then, the Council has been working with our contractor Healthmatic to develop a solution that addresses both issues and ensures the facility can operate effectively in the long term.

The temporary chemical toilets were removed during the week commencing 14 April 2026 and replaced with a new set of temporary toilets, which will remain in place until the drainage works are completed.

 We understand that this has caused inconvenience for park users and the local community, and we appreciate your patience while we work to resolve the issue properly. We look forward to bringing the new public toilet facility back into operation as soon as possible and will continue to provide updates as works progress.

Marco Galli
Green Space Development Officer
City of Edinburgh Council – Parks and Greenspace – Place
Waverley Court – 4 East Market Street – Edinburgh – EH8 8BG

Tel 07709720833  Email: marco.galli@edinburgh.gov.uk

,

Latest news on Restalrig Road works

Here is the latest news from the Council on the Restalrig Road works (in response to a request for information from Leith Links Community Council, via Councillor Katrina Faccenda).

“….please find the following updates regarding the ongoing improvements on Restalrig Road.

The project began on 9 March 2026 and is divided into 8 phases (approximately 150m each.) covering Restalrig Road and Restalrig Road South Each phase consists of two parts:

  1. Civil Works: Improving crossing points and drainage (conducted under temporary traffic lights).
  2. Resurfacing: Improving the road surface (conducted under road closures).

Civil works are currently in Phase 6 (near Restalrig Park) and should be finished by 7 May.

Resurfacing began today (20 April) and is estimated to be complete by mid-July 2026.

While it may appear that little progress has been made, civil works are inherently slower and less visible than surfacing. To date, we have successfully upgraded 10 crossing points and vehicle crossovers with new tactile paving and dropped kerbs, and renewed dozens of gullies. The project is currently progressing to plan.

We are working closely with Lothian Buses to provide regular updates. Diversion details for the current surfacing phase were posted on the Lothian Buses website last week. We encourage residents to check both the Lothian Buses site and our dedicated project webpage for the most recent updates.

I can confirm this is a full resurfacing. The boundaries cover the area between East Hermitage Place and Sleigh Drive (ending just before the roundabout). Furthermore, once Restalrig Road is complete, we will resurface the section of Blackie Road between Summerfield Gardens and Claremont Road.

Due to safety concerns at the Claremont Road/Claremont Park junction, I will instruct our contractor to place no-parking cones to improve visibility and traffic flow while Restalrig Road remains closed. Please note that these cones will be advisory because there is insufficient time to promote a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO), so they will not be legally enforceable if ignored. However, we hope this visual deterrent will encourage safer parking behavior during the works.”

Stylianos Kapetanakis BEng MSc NECReg – Senior Engineer Transport Contracts & Design

Infrastructure ¦ Planning and Transport ¦ Place ¦ The City of Edinburgh Council

Planning and Transport, 1.7 , Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG

Email: stylianos.kapetanakis@edinburgh.gov.uk

, ,

Next LLCC meeting, Monday 27 April 2026, Duncan Place, 6:30 pm

The next meeting of LLCC will be on Monday, 27 April 2026, in person at Duncan Place, at 6:30 pm.

As usual we have a busy agenda of local issues to discuss.

We also have guest speakers Sutherland Forsyth and Sam Gallacher from Scottish Historic Buidlings Trust, to give a short presentation on the latest plans and news about a Leith Museum at Leith Custom House.

The meeting is open to interested members of the public.
If you need to join remotely, please use this Teams link:
LLCC April Meeting, 27 April 2026, 18:30 – 22:00 (GMT)

Election Hustings! Come along and quiz your candidates!

Leith Links Community Council is not holding its own hustings this year but is supporting and promoting a hustings held by our sister Community Council Northfield & Willowbrae CC, with Craigentinny & Meadowbank CC.

Candidates for the 7 May Holyrood election will be present in person to answer questions from the electorate – what would you like to ask them? Send your question in writing in advance to:engagement@northfieldandwillowbrae.org.uk

This should be very interesting as we generally have rather less contact with our neighbours to the south and east than we do, traditionally, with parts of Leith. Yet we share many of the same issues, and we all share the same MSP and need to know that they have a good understanding of all of their constituency.

The hustings will be held this Friday 10th April at 6:30 in Northfield Community Centre, 10 Northfield Rd.

You are welcome to attend. Please register to attend (free) at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom–edinburgh/edinburgh-hustings/

 

 

Are you registered to vote in the election? Deadline to register is 20 April.

https://www.mygov.scot/vote-elections-scotland/register-to-vote

 

This is a map of the Edinburgh North Eastern & Leith constituency:

Click to access Edinburgh_North_Eastern_Leith.pdf

,

Take part in the Leith Festival Pageant!

A message from our friends at Leith Festival. Would you / your organisation like to take part in the Pageant?
Hello Marching Friends! 
It’s that time of year again, festival prep is well underway, bands are being picked, traders are booking in….and Pageant registrations are open. Will you take part? 
This year’s theme is ‘EAT SLEEP LEITH REPEAT’ and we look forward to seeing what you do with it – whether it’s celebrating the vibrant food scene, celebrating the places that you go back to again and again, or repeating everyday activities that make you want to come back, show us what you love about Leith.
We are particularly interested in hearing from local marching bands, or similar, but anyone who is interested is welcome to put together a group to bring along and take part.
You can see the details and register to take part here: https://leithfestival.com/pageant-registration/
If you would like to participate, but are unable to, it would be great to hear what barriers are getting in your way. While our budget is tight, we want to make it as easy as possible for local charities and volunteer organisations to participate. Please let us know if there are any ways Leith Festival can support you. Think about approximately how much it costs you to participate E.g. Staff time, cost of creating props/costumes, skills or expertise you could use to help you make costumes/themed props, anything else that could help you participate. We are considering applying for funding in future years, but would need an idea of what participants need in order to make an accurate application.

All the best
Barbara Kerr
Leith Festival Association Board Member
Email: barbara@leithfestival.com

Restalrig Road roadworks….

We have been asking the Council for information, for the benefit of local residents who have been querying what is going on with the roadworks on Restalrig Road, and complaining about a lack of information/ communication.

We have asked for a meeting / walkabout on-site with the Council team, to get a better idea of what they actually mean by some of the terms. We have complained about the poor road closure practice that has meant leaving some residents without access. We have asked for additional work on pavements along the way, as these are in an exceptionally poor state. We’ll try to find out and pass on more.

Meanwhile this page gives the basics:

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/road-projects-improvements/restalrig-road

This is what we have learned so far –

There will be a gap of a week+ over Easter when no work will be done. Otherwise, work is slightly ahead of schedule. They are curently working on Phase 4 (see below) and will move on to Phase 5 tomorrow (Wednesday 1st April)

The City of Edinburgh Council says – 

Restalrig Road

We’re improving the road surface, crossing facilities at junctions and drainage at Restalrig Road, Restalrig Road South and Blackie Road, which includes road resurfacing and pavement works at junctions.

The work will improve driving and walking conditions and enhance road safety.

Working in stages

Work will be done in nine stages starting from 9 March 2026. Sometimes stages may overlap.

We expect work to end in July 2026.

Our contractor will work Monday to Friday, typically between 7am and 7pm.

We will stop work during the Easter break from 3 April to 12 April.

During each phase there will be pavement and drainage work where we’ll use parking suspensions, lane closures and temporary traffic lights at junctions.

Phase 1 – Restalrig Road from East Hermitage Place to Cornhill Terrace. Estimated 3 weeks

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions, side road closures (East Restalrig Terrace, Blackie Road and Cornhill Terrace) and temporary traffic lights.
Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7, Traffic diversion via Lochend Road

Phase 2 – Restalrig Road from Cornhill Terrace to No.88 Restalrig Road. Estimated 3 weeks

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions, side road closures (Ryehill Terrace) and temporary traffic lights

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7, traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 3 – Restalrig Road from No.88 Restalrig Road to Prospect Bank Gardens. Estimated 3 weeks

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions, side road closures (Prospect Bank Road) and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7 with local access to Easter Hermitage and Prospect Bank Gardens via Restalrig Road outwith the site working hours 7.30am and 5pm. Traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 4 – Restalrig Road from Prospect Bank Gardens to Alemoor Park. Estimated 3 weeks

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing road closure 24/7 with local access to private access road via Restalrig Road outwith the site working hours 7.30am and 5pm. Traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 5 – Restalrig Road from Alemoor Park to No.167 Restalrig Road. Estimated 3.5 weeks.

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions, side road closures (Restalrig Circus) and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7 with local access to Alemoor Park via Restalrig Road outwith the site working hours 7.30am and 5pm. Traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 6 – Restalrig Road from No.167 Restalrig Road to Restalrig Crescent

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7 with local access to Restalrig Park via Restalrig Road outwith the site working hours 7.30am and 5pm. Traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 7 – Restalrig Road South – From Restalrig Crescent to Restalrig Square

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions, side road closures (Restalrig Crescent and Lochend Avenue) and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7, traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 8 Restalrig Road South – From Restalrig Crescent to Restalrig Square

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7 with local access to Restalrig Square and St. Margarets Apartments via Restalrig Road South outwith the site working hours 7.30am and 5pm Traffic diversion via Lochend Road.

Phase 9 Blackie Road – From Summerfield Gardens to Claremont Road

Pavement works and drainage – parking suspensions and temporary traffic lights.

Road resurfacing – road closure 24/7, Traffic diversion via: Claremont Road – Claremont Park – Restalrig Road.

Access

  • Pedestrians will be able to access the area at all times.
  • Restrictions will be in place for vehicles at times during road resurfacing, apart from emergency vehicles which will have access at all times.
  • We will use temporary parking restrictions to make sure the work is done safely, with signs showing details of specific restrictions.
  • We will have a Council officer on-site during the work to monitor progress and provide assistance and information to residents and businesses.

Further information

We understand that the work will be disruptive and want to thank you for your patience and understanding.

Every effort will be made to accommodate residents and businesses and we hope that you will appreciate the long-term benefits and improvement the project will deliver.

If you have any specific queries, please do not hesitate to contact the site team directly or email us at transport.designservice@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

Next LLCC meeting is Monday, 23 February, Duncan Place, 6:30 pm

The next meeting of LLCC will be next Monday, 23 February 2026, in person at Duncan Place, at 6:30 pm.

We will be welcoming guest speakers Matthew Farnham of Veolia to give us an update on Seafield sewage Works, and Rachel Hutton of Harbour Homes, to speak briefly about the ‘Leith Network’ of charities.

We also as usual have a busy agenda of local issues to discuss.

The meeting is open to interested members of the public.
If you need to join remotely, the link is here:
1 2 3 … 104