Cameron Rose, Councillor for Southside/Newington, Edinburgh - Conservative
Local Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths is under scrutiny once again - this time for the veracity of his expense claim (which was turned down) for £3,600 to help listen to Scottish TV and radio. This piece points out that digital radio (for which he had claimed) was incapable of picking up Radio Scotland in London.
The spring edition of the Grange Association newsletter has an article by Tom Breheny giving an account of - sex in our city. It is compelling. You can find the newsletter here but you will need to scroll down to page 7 for the relevant article.
Yesterday the Council agreed not to approve new events on the Meadows until a management plan is in place. The Lady Boys of Bangkok (Urban Circus) has already been approved and is certain to go ahead in August for just over four weeks. It will be on the area close to the George Square Library on the north side of the events area. (The events area is the section of the Meadows east of Middle Meadow Walk which has services installed.)
A few days ago I indicated a reduction in articles on expenses! I drew attention to my article on ConservativeHome about councillors' expenses in Scotland. Here is a follow up you might like to read. And here is one councillor who promised the electorate he would only draw 90% of the councillor's salary and does what he said he would.
Yesterday's full council meeting approved my call for detailed publication of Councillors' expense claims. If you have missed the recent discussions you can find councillors' expenses details here and here.
Between 4pm and 8pm on Saturday 30th Mentone Terrace will be closed between Moston and Glenorchy for their annual street party.
Emergency repair to high voltage electricity cables has resulted in the closure of Newbattle Terrace between Canaan Lane and Whitehouse Loan. The road is expected to reopen by Monday 1st June
Many will recall the horrific 1991 attack on an 11 year old girl near to Newington Library in 2001. Having been sentenced to 12 years at the time, the culprit has been released early and is now seeking legal aid to challenge the conditions imposed on his early release. His lawyers are founding on the European Convention of Human Rights. No wonder confidence in the current Scottish judicial system is low.
I have been asked what is happening to the Scottish Natural Heritage building in Hope Terrace.
In August 2008 the premises were sold by SNH to Medina Sun Ltd and Kirkbride Investments. The Edinburgh Gazette of 28th November 2008 shows this company as going into administration. I am not sure what the position is with Kirkbride Investments - their office is given as International House, 16 Bell Lane, P.O. Box 872, Gibraltar. Strictly, they are not a UK company and I don't know more about them.
The junction of West Savile Terrace at Mayfield Road has witnessed 14 crashes involving cycle casualties in the last 10 years. The last of these was this afternoon around 5pm when a cyclist was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after a collision involving at least two cars.
Following the Sick Kids press release about their refurbished drop-in centre for parents and children, The Herald has produced a feature about centre at 21 Millerfield Place.
Here is the last post on expenses for a few days! It is worth saying that the totals of councillor expenses seem modest. Generally the rules on which the claims are based will stand scrutiny - though there is an element of confusion amongst councillors as to exactly what is included and what is not. For example, when a councillor is attending an event on behalf of the Council it is not clear whether travel is charged to councillors' expenses consistently. There are other anomalies.
Yesterday the summary of expense costs per Edinburgh councillor for April 2008 to March 2009 was published. You can find the table here in Excel or PDF format.
I thought you might like to see my councillors' expenses article published today on the Local Government pages of ConservativeHome. My motion to next Thursday's meeting of Edinburgh Council can be found here (scroll down agenda to item 10.1). The indications are the administration will support it.
Charity shops in Nicolson Street and the Newington corridor have been particularly targeted by criminals using forged non Scottish £20 notes. Other shops have been caught out as well and police have been working on an early warning system to prevent further losses to local shops in the Southside. The local paper has an article about this here.
Soul Recruitment based in the Newington Business Centre have been fined £200 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for operating as a gangmaster without a license.
The West Crosscauseway Association are holding an ideas workshop on 16th of June between 10am and 4pm. In 2007 they sponsored a project to transform the part of the street at the Buccleuch Street end. Now they are bringing local people together for an ideas workshop with a view to transforming West Crosscauseway permanently. If you want to be involved, contact Isobel via their website.
After some delays the Meadows Festival is once again on track. It takes place on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June on the west Meadows. As always volunteers to help in varying roles from stewards to litter pickers are sought to help make this event a success. If you can help, contact volunteer co-ordinator Nikki Thomson on meadowsfestival@yahoo.co.uk with details of when they would be available and what they might like to do. There will be a meeting for volunteers at 5pm on Friday 5th June outside the Pavilion Cafe (beside the jawbone). The website this year can be found here.
The Sick Kids drop in centre at 21 Millerfield Place celebrates its third anniversary today. Details in this press release.
John McCallum, a GP based at a local surgery, faces charges after a neighbour dispute near his home in Merchiston. More here.
Friday marks 150 years since the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A series of events at the Royal College of Surgeons marks the anniversary. See here for more relevant information about this famous resident of the area. Born at 11 Picardy Place he also lived at Sciennes Hill Place, Argyle Park Terrace and George Square.
Alfie has escaped. He has been known to climb walls or he could even have walked out of the gate. He tends to dig in slightly, or hide in the bushes, so that only the top of his shell is visible. He also tends to dig in when he can go no further ie. against a wall or fence. Archie is a tortoise and if you come across him contact someone at the Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council.
Tom Bonallo of Briery Bauks has been nominated for an Evening News Good Neighbour award. See here for the details.
The Irn Bru Scottish Curry Awards 2009 has given the Kebab Mahal in Nicolson Square top spot in the Take-away of the year category. Their victory was announced yesterday in Glasgow and Zahid Khan, the curry chef who opened the Kebab Mahal 30 years ago still runs the premises with his family.
Following complaints of antisocial behaviour in the newly refurbished Nicolson Square, it can be confirmed that the police and council are close to setting up an exclusion zone which give greater powers to move on the congregating drunks. This will be similar to that which was implemented several years ago in Hunter Square and was broadly successful in improving the atmosphere in the public square. Many local people have reported that with gatherings of 3 to 15 drunks loitering in the gardens at Nicolson Square the benches and grass become unsuitable for local people and children as a place of public resort.
The local paper has used a freedom of information request to prepare it's front page lead today. The item seeks to contrast the police resources spent on Sir Fred's broken windows with the poor solvency rate for vandalism in general. The line taken is that these police resources would have been better spent on more deserving people.
It is fair enough to ask the question - we do need to scrutinise the deployment of police resources. However when the Evening News reporter called me on Saturday, told me of the story and asked for a comment, I readily gave a comment - which clearly did not suit their story. I declined to criticise the police operation and noted there were good reasons why it seemed reasonable to me the police had devoted considerable resources to the incident.
I have already posted on the need to get a proper balance in these situations.
It is 25 years since the Cameron Toll Shopping Centre was opened. The current owners have proposals to upgrade the centre which will come before the Council Planning Committee soon. You can see the application here. There will be an opportunity to hear the proposals from the developers at the Grange/Prestonfield Community Council this coming Wednesday (20th May) at 7:30pm. This will be preceded by the Community Council's AGM at 7pm. Both meetings are open to the public.
Carlton Cricket Club in Grange Loan, beat Watsonians on Saturday. See here for details of the match.
The administration on Edinburgh Council has denied my request to publish full details of councillors' expenses.
Southside Community Council meets this evening between 7 and 9pm in the Nelson Hall, Spittalfield Crescent.
This morning the Planning Committee approved the proposals for development of at the Archers Hall in Buccleuch Street at Boroughloch. You can find the background details on this earlier post and more information in the links there.
Another award for Prestonfield House Hotel this week, with chef John MacMahon picking up the silver medal for hotel chef of the year at the Scottish Chef Awards in Glasgow on Sunday night.
More details here.
The Edinburgh Community Backgreens Association is becoming increasingly active amongst the tenements on the Southside of Edinburgh. After a recent launch in the area their community gardener will be speaking at the Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council meeting next Wednesday evening at 7:30pm. See here for details of that meeting.
The King's Hall in South Clerk Street will host an exhibition bringing together more than 20 local artists - using painting, photography, illustration, sculpture, card design, jewellery, floristry and printmaking. And there is a cafe and live music. The hours are 11am to 5pm Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th May. See here for more details.
The long awaited report which will be the backdrop for management arrangements for events in the Meadows is now available here. This will go to the Policy and Strategy committee on Tuesday 12th May.
Many have been in touch with me about this. There has been growing concern about overuse of parts of the Meadows in recent years - particularly the section designated for events just east of Middle Meadow Walk - resulting in ground conditions failing to get enough time to recover. Of course, the Meadows is a jewel in the crown of Edinburgh and the Meadows is a fantastic venue for events. In fact, the Meadows is an important part of Edinburgh's reputation as a leading events and festival city. Although it has taken a while to get to this stage (as the report makes clear) we now need get management rules in place which give clear guidance.
Council officials have been negotiating with potential users and events managers in recent months and there has been considerable uncertainty for event organisers. Nonetheless a number of large events have been moved for this year (Taste of Edinburgh and the Moonwalk).
The Head of Transport agreed to bring forward a review of the implementation and effects of the S1 controlled parking zone to the next meeting of the Transport Committee (28th July). It is understood this will look at merging S1 with the parts of zones 7 and 8 between S1 and the Meadows which is seen as forming a natural boundary. It is also expected that it will look at the pressures created by S1 on the Findhorn Place and other boundaries of S1, and on the usage of road space for parking within S1.
The proposal to introduce a CPZ in the area south of S1 (generally the Grange to Dalkeith Road and to the South Sub) was abandoned this morning at the Transport Committee. A commitment was given to review local pressure points with a view to reporting back localised options - rather than a full blown CPZ. The report considered today can be found here and it should be noted that the recommendation is made on financial and local opposition grounds.
It was noted, however, that the problems areas thrown up in the initial consultation had not been dealt with before the scheme was put out for consultation. This resulted in many of the respondents, who were broadly in favour of the scheme, commenting negatively on a part of it. This resulted in 'opposition' to the scheme as being a key reason for abandoning it.
CPZ proposals require to be self funding and the report expressed doubts that the cost to implement the scheme would not be recouped.
The committee did approve a motion to look again at the pressure points 9especially on the periphery of S1 and to report within 6-8 months. See next post for revisions to S1.
At the meeting of the Transport committee this morning the proposal to impose a controlled parking zone throughout Prestonfield was abandoned. The report (click here and view particularly appendix 5) indicated that the majority of comments were against the proposal but highlighted the pressures in Kilmaurs, Kirkhill and Priestfield. It was agreed that transport officials would look again at this area for any measures which might alleviate the current pressures. A report can be expected in six to eight months on such options.
The main reason for abandoning the proposal was the views from the consultation and doubts that it could be made to be cost neutral. You can read the full report at the link above.
The Committee will decide how to proceed on Tuesday but it is clear from this report that there will not be a CPZ in the Prestonfield area in the near future. There is now a need to look at the pinch points in Kilmaurs/Priestfield/Kirkhill areas to see if there are viable alternatives to reduce the pressure currently being experienced.
The full report and map of the area affected can be found at Appendix 5 of this report.
Suspended PC Anna Wong, based at St Leonards Police Station, has admitted charges of accessing personal information on police computers. See here for further details though the article does not reveal precisely what she did which breached the Data Protection regulations.
A couple of weeks ago there was a letter in the Scotsman which is part of a campaign to have Historic Scotland call in for full enquiry the decision last October by the Planning Committee about the Odeon. On 29th October the Planning Committee approved a proposal which would retain the Art Deco frontage but allow the auditorium to be demolished to enable a boutique hotel and art centre. For previous correspondence in the Scotsman on this issue see here and here. This last letter was published on 16th April and today the Scotsman has published (eventually) my response which I append in full below.
IN the next few weeks, Historic Scotland may decide the fate of the former Odeon cinema in Clerk Street, Edinburgh. Or perhaps they will continue the saga that has now gone on for six years.
And that is the point. The community has for six years had a potential asset in its midst which has lain virtually unused. This is planning blight – or more accurately, listed building blight.
The auditorium, which the current campaigners seek to save (Letters, 16 April) is B-listed and worthy of retention, but not at any cost. In this case the shadow of procedural delay and uncertainty has an opportunity cost which is to the detriment of the city.
The campaigners seek to correct an alleged wrong in process. And there is room for argument on the predicted future economic viability of the site with the auditorium retained. Nonetheless, I have viewed the documents on which they apparently found their arguments and am far from convinced they lead to the conclusions they seek to draw. I believe it is time to bring this lengthy procedural review to an end and endorse the decision which has already been taken by the planning committee.
(CLLR) CAMERON ROSE
The Great Edinburgh Run is a major event on Sunday 3rd. Many of the participants will be raising money for charity. Click on the link above and you will get a video of last year's event as well as more information about route and timing.
The reports on proposed controlled parking zones have now been published (links below). for consideration at the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment committee which meets at 10am on 5th May in the City Chambers. More comment will follow later.
Doubtless there will be some locally who have been in contact with affected areas of people. Here are sources of official information about the outbreak:
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