Tag: 2025

Leith Jacobites and the ’45 Rebellion, Tuesday 16th September, Leith Community Centre, New Kirkgate

  1. Just a little reminder to please join us at the first meeting of the Leith Local History Society programme for 2025/26, on TUESDAY 16th September AT 7pm in Leith Community Education Centre,New Kirkgate, Leith to hear this fascinating presentation by Steven Robb.

Leith Jacobites, James Nicolson and the ’45 Rebellion.

While researching James Nicolson a Coffee House owner on the Shore and later a follower of Bonnie Prince Charlie, Steven discovered links to other Leithers who supporrted the Jacobites cause and what made them become involved.

It should be an interesting night.

Our speaker, Steven is from Edinburgh and works for Historic Environment Scotland and has a background in architectural conservation.

 

All welcome, £2 at the door for non members  or free to members

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Fire!! Cuts to our local Fire Services

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is proposing a number of changes and service cuts, one of which is to close the Marionville Fire Station. This could have very serious consequences for our area, as it would mean that fire services would come out instead from NewCraighall which would clearly take much longer to reach a fire in the Restalrig, Leith Links, Leith, Seafiled, Craigentinny, Meadowbank, Willowbrae etc. areas. And as we know, the time it takes to attend a fire can be crucial in terms of saving lives, as well as protecting property and preventing fire spread.

If you would like to learn more and comment on these plans, please come along to the public meeting tomorrow, and/or please complete the survey mentioned below.

SFRS is running a public consultation on the future of Marionville Community Fire Station in the city of Edinburgh. We will be holding a public meeting as follows:

Tuesday 2 September (2-4pm and 6-8pm)

Craigentinny Community Centre, 9 Loaning Road,

Edinburgh EH7 6JE

In addition, SFRS has launched an online survey and is keen for individuals and groups from the local community to share their views. The consultation ends on 16th September.

https://firescotland.citizenspace.com/sfrs-communications/sfrs-service-delivery-review-consultation/

https://www.fbu.org.uk/campaigns/scotland-cuts-leave-scars

www.firescotland.gov.uk

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This Saturday – a grand day out!

The lovely folk from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (Edinburgh/Leith branch, based at Royal Terrace) are hosting a ‘Festival of Unity’ this Saturday, 23rd August, on Leith Links. It is free and open to everyone and indeed is aimed to bring Leithers from all backgrounds together in friendship.

The event is funded by the grant the group won through £eith Chooses, earlier this year, so obviously seen as popular in the Leith community.

This is a very friendly and welcoming group, and – going by their smaller events in past years – they throw a great party and do really great food!! Their choir has been singing at the Tattoo this year, and rumour has it that Leith’s own samba band Pulse of the Place will also be there to set the beat.

Please do go along on Saturday to support the group and join in the fun! Opens at 12 and runs until 4pm – suggest you get there before the cakes run out…..

           

 

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Next Meeting of LLCC, Monday 25th August, in person at Duncan Place 6:30pm

The next meeting of LLCC will be next Monday, 25th August, in person at Duncan Place, 6:30 pm

We have 2 speakers:
  • Matthew Farnham, Community Engagement & Operational Communications          Coordinator, Veolia (re Seafield)
  • Architect Joanne McClelland re the Leith Place Plan (in progress)
The meeting is open to interested members of the public.
Get in touch if you would like a link to enable remote attendance.
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Brace yourselves….

Sounds like there may be some Seafield related issues this week – two messages in today from Scottish Water –

(1) Dear stakeholder,

Veolia, the site operator at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works, intends to undertake a routine cleaning of the storm tanks commencing tomorrow, Tuesday 22nd July. 

Conditions are forecast as favourable for the duration of the task.

Both SEPA and the City of Edinburgh Council have been informed.

We will issue a further update once Veolia has completed the task.

and

(2) Dear stakeholder,

I am writing to let you know about urgent sewer repair work we will be carrying out on Seafield Street in Edinburgh.

From Monday 28 July 2025 we will be closing one lane at the junction with Seafield Road so that we can carry out the work safely.

Temporary traffic lights will be in operation, and it is possible there may be some delays.

We anticipate completing the work within a week.

We would like to thank everyone affected for their patience and understanding.

Kind regards,

Matt

 

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Who gets to say how Visitor Levy funds are managed?

This Herald article raises the question of who will influence how the £50million per year raised from the Visitor Levy is spent, across Edinburgh. Surely this process should be completely transparent, highly democratic and fully accountable, otherwise how can citizens / council tax payers trust/have confidence in it?

However, a recently set up Advisory Forum includes members whose names have raised eyebrows. For example, someone who is well known to this Community Council in his role as manager of the Cameron Guest House Group and agent of the Akbar Mir family who own and profit handsomely from an ever increasing number of ‘hotels’ and guest houses for homeless people (especially in the Leith Links area). Is this an appropriate background for an initiative that aims to “‘fund public services, infrastructure and resident-visitor experience’, and to “manage the impacts of tourism”?  

Our view, quoted in the article, is that the Forum should consist of members with a strong track record in delivering improvements for communities.

Read the whole article here.

What will our area be like in 20 years? Have your say!

What will our area look like in the future?
Well, what we put forward NOW will shape what happens later.

EALA Impacts are working with all three of the Leith Community Councils (Leith Links, Leith Harbour & Newhaven, and Leith Central) to make a Local Place Plan for Leith.

This is important because the Local Place Plan will feed into the City Council’s “City Plan 2040”, which sets out what is allowed to be built in the city, and will be used for many other things to shape the future of our neighbourhood.

It is really important that local poeple say what they want and don’t want in their area, in the future.

The deadline for submission to the City Council is Autumn 2025, but your comments and ideas should ideally be in by end of July / August.. Please use the QR code below or send in by email.

Read more about the importance of Local Place Plans, and how to make them, here

qr code
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Revised Leith Links Community Council Boundary

Since March 2025, when Community Council elections took place, there have been some changes to the boundary of certain Community Councils, Leith Links amongst them.

Our area has shrunk very slightly, just at its southern edge. A very small sliver of Restalrig has been moved from the Leith Links area into the Craigentinny and Meadowbank CC area. The new southern boundary of Leith Links Community Council now runs along the Restalrig Road Railway path, which is nice and easy to make sense of.

The reason behind this change is to align the boundary of the Community Council with the boundary of the City of Edinburgh Council Ward (i.e.Ward 13, Leith), which means that the elected Ward Councillors responsible for each area are not straddling two (or more) different Community Councils, and in the process either duplicating the work of the neighbouring Ward Councillors, or ignoring one part of their area.

The map below shows the new boundary.

Our neighbours are –

to the North, and NorthWest – Leith Harbour & Newhaven CC

to the SouthWest  – Leith Central CC

to the South, SouthEast and East – Craigentinny & Meadowbank CC

For more information, see:

https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/community-planning/community-councils/1

https://cityofedinburgh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=06d64c0a7ae1405cb243c18e3fa2cd97

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Next meeting of Leith Links Community Council, online at 6:30pm, Monday 30 June 2025

The next meeting of Leith Links Community Council will be held online at 6:30pm on Monday 30 June 2025.

Minutes of previous meeting are here.

Agenda is here.

We have a guest speaker attending, Catherine Scanlin, Senior Council Officer in charge of ‘Licensing’ at City of Edinburgh Council, who will give us some much needed clarity on how the Licensing process works, and be able to answer questions.

The online link will be sent to all Community Councillors and invitees. Members of the public are welcome to join;

Secretary LeithLinks invites you to a Microsoft Teams Meeting:

LLCC June Meeting
30 June 2025
18:30 – 21:30 (GMT)

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