January summary

Here are highlights of posts in this local newsblog in the last 3 weeks:

1. Catholic chaplaincy to expand - George Square
2. Upcoming march - and demonstration threat
3. Council leader muses on Flat Earth Society - and local councillor
4. Recycling grants available - ideas wanted
5. Observatory scientist dies in fall - on Ben Lui
6. Community in the Meadows - from the Big Issue seller
7. Goodwin lands a job - with RMJM
8. Robberies - man arrested
9. Snow lying in Meadows - 26 days
10. New city commander at St Leonards - Ch Supt Gill Imery

George Square chaplaincy expands

Plans to improve and expand the Catholic Chaplaincy at 23/24 George Square have been approved at the Planning Committee earlier this week. The Chaplaincy has been looking at ways of increasing space for some time and these plans will see a meeting space extension to the rear (on the Middle Meadow Walk side).

You can see the planning application and report here.

A tale of two marches!

Fly posting is appearing in abundance in the Southside area of the ward about a march which is proposed by the Scottish Defence League in Edinburgh on 20th February. The proposed march is not welcome but the sources behind the posters are a very significant part of the problem. Here are the facts as I understand them.

The Scottish Defence League is a provocative organisation with links to the British National Party. (As well as displaying a wholly unpleasant form of nationalism, not many people realise that the BNP are fundamentally a socialist party. Their policies are (as were the Nazis) dominated by a centralising tendency advocating state control.)

The various Defence Leagues specialise in marches and have proposed and advertised the intention to march in Edinburgh on Saturday 20th February. My understanding from contact with the police is that they have not to date lodged an application to hold a march and that any such march is likely to be illegal.

Now the fly posting. The posters appearing in the ward, and especially around the University, scream 'Nazis not welcome here'. They are in the name of Unite against Fascism, an organisation which is dominated by the unions and left wing Labour MPs (though it has a smattering of others who have put their name to the founding statement, including some Conservative MPs). But now it's modus operandi seems to be that of a far left extremist group. I am afraid they are part of the problem for several reasons.

• First they are a polarising influence. I might want to publicly oppose the Scottish Defence League if they march in Edinburgh but am hardly likely to risk associating with such a partisan organisation.
• Second they are deliberately adding hype to the situation e.g. advocating a 'mass demonstration' to stop the march.
• Third, if the Scottish Defence League do turn up that is a matter for the police to take action. The prospect of Unite against Facism creating a confrontation will simply make the situation more complex for the police - who are the proper authorities - to deal with public order.
• Fourthly, their posters and their campaign have all the appearance of being designed to whip up fear, particularly within the local area in Southside where we have a large multicultural community.

So, a plague on both your houses. Oh, and Unite against Facism, I will be grateful if you will stop putting up your illegal posters.

Does the Flat Earth Society exist?

Today was the monthly meeting of the full council. And the Council Leader suggested I might well be a member of the Flat Earth Society, if it exists !

Every month the Council Leader provides a report on events in the last month, which is the opportunity for any of the other 57 councillors to ask questions of the coalition leader Jenny Dawe.

An increasing amount of public policy (and legislation) is influenced by the the current assumptions on global warming. In Edinburgh, building standards, the issue of parking permits, waste collection and disposal, and much, much more are heavily influenced by assumptions of global warming.

So, my question to the Leader was that, given so much of public policy rested on assumptions of global warming, and given new information coming into the public domain in the last few months had cast doubt on some of the very foundational assumptions which have come to drive public policy, in the ensuing confusion, would she ensure she was well supplied with balanced advice on the developing issues?

Her response included the suggestion about me with which this post begins. Rather more graciously, she then agreed to accept my gift of a book which is a recently published damning indictment of one portion of the 'science' which has been so influential in directing public policy, namely the 'hockey stick'.

The range of rather startling assertions which have come to light from a variety of sources in recent weeks combine to call into  questionsome of the key climate change assumptions on which a significant number of our public policies have been constructed.

You can find the book which I am reading at the link above, or on the part of the sidebar entitled 'Books worth reading'. The information it contains needs to be carefully considered rather than dismissed on the basis of preconceptions.

Saturday's orienteering event

The Meadows, Newington, St Leonard's and the Dynamic Earth area of Holyrood Road and the locations in the ward for the annual Edinburgh University Orienteering competition. The event is between 11am and 4pm in Saturday 30th. They caused a stir last year.

Free bike surgeries tomorrow

Tuesday 26th is the last Tuesday if the month - time for the monthly free bike surgery run by The Bike Station. They are positioned in Middle Meadow Walk just down from Peter's Yard and operate between 8:30 and 10am and between 4:30 and 6pm.

The idea is that you can get your bike checked over for free.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle grants

Edinburgh Council has to his targets for recycling and reducing waste. They are offering grants of between £50 and £2,500 to community groups, schools and residents towards projects which will encourage the reduction, reuse or recycling of waste. See here for the details. The next deadline for applications is February 8th.

Southside suspect in custody

It is understood from the police that following December housebreakings in South Oxford Street (2), E Preston Street (2) and East Newington Place (1), a suspect has been arrested and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. He has been remanded in custody for trial. Goods stolen included laptops and associated material.

Local scientist dies on mountain

Dr Timothy Garn, a researcher in extragalactic astrophysics at Edinburgh's Royal Observatory, died after a fall near the summit of Ben Lui near Tyndrum on Sunday.

More details here.

Local teacher wins award

Kirsten Braden (21) a probationer teacher at Gracemount Primary School has won an award for the best undergraduate thesis in teacher education in Scotland.

Kirsten won the George D Gray award as she graduated with a First Class Hons BEd from Strathclyde University for her thesis entitled 'Background Music in the Classroom'. She lives in the King's Buildings area. Find more information here.

Alfred Place flats proposed

Proposals have been brought forward for a development of 10 villas and 5 flats on the long vacant site in Alfred Place the Blacket area. Details can be found on the council's planning portal here.

'The Meadows has been a salvation'

So states 64 year old John White about himself who has become a minor local legend in Middle Meadow Walk. He sells the Big Issue there in all weathers, from early morning and has plenty of good chat up lines.

John has been on the Meadows pitch for 5 months and as well as the above quote, says working in the Meadows has restored his self confidence and faith in people. He continues, 'The Meadows has really brought me closer to people again and I am lucky to have my regular customers and people I chat to every day. I feel like part of the community here and have met people from all walks of life and nationalities.'


That community has now extended into a Facebook Group with with 358 members (to date). And you can find more about John White in this week's edition of the Big Issue (page 24).

Preston St lollipop person needed

Preston Street Primary School needs a school crossing guide. You can get details of the job here.

Commonwealth Pool bid

In the current Scottish budget negotiations Margo MacDonald is holding out for some extra money for the Commonwealth Pool refurbishment. See here for details.

Vindictive self-righteousness

There have been calls by some politicians for Scottish public authorities to boycott Scottish architecture and engineering firm RMJM because they have employed Fred Goodwin. Allan Massie in this morning's Scotsman dismisses such policy as a) unwisely laying authorities open to legal action and b) 'repulsive and vindictive self-righteousness'. For the full article you will need to buy the print copy or subscribe online.

Local resident Fred Goodwin gets a job

Here are various reports of Sir Fred getting a new job with RMJM, the international architecture and engineering firm.

• Herald
• Scotsman
• Timesonline

Haiti relief and appeal

Local involvement:

• Mercy Corps, who have their European headquarters in Sciennes are active in sending resources and relief. For example, details here and here.
• Edinburgh Council established the Emergency Disasters Response Committee in 2009 designed to co-ordinate support from Edinburgh and provide a channel for people to respond to a major disaster elsewhere in the world. This is the first major incident in which it has been called into action. You can donate here.
• The British Geological Survey in West Mains Road was central in monitoring the 7.0 magnitude earthquake and local resident Roger Musson is quoted as saying, 'The situation in Haiti is similar to the San Andreas Fault in California in that two plates are sliding past one another. The fault in this case is called the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault. This fault has been locked for the last 250 years gradually accumulating stress which has now been released in a single large earthquake.' Here is one of many press reports which highlight local monitoring of the quake.

Education tussle over Royal Blind

The Herald newspaper today reports on a tussle between Edinburgh Council Education Department and the parents of 13 year old Ciara McGearey who is blind. Her parents wish her educated at the independent Royal Blind School in Craigmillar Park but the Council has appealed a tribunal ruling that the Royal Blind School would be better than the Council's own provision. Details here.

Roads budget - your call

Every year, on top of the city wide allocation of the roads capital budget, around £100k is allocated to the South Central Neighbourhood Partnership for allocation of roads work. The councillors along with a number of local representatives (eg community council members) suggest projects which need undertaken which would otherwise be unlikely to be completed, and prioritise them, in the current case, from April 2010 to March 2011.

So suggestions will be welcomed for me to submit to the process. The should be in the 2 wards making up the NP (map here - the allocation is for two wards - Southside & Newington and Meadows/Morningside). Last year projects included road surface repairs, providing dropped kerbs for wheelchairs, renewing steps. Suggestions will be costed before consideration for inclusion and prioritisation. £100k is probably enough for around 10 such capital projects

Contact me with your local suggestions.

Bristo robbery: Man arrested

This blog reported earlier this month a robbery in Bristo Square when a male claiming to have a knife forced a man to take him to a cashline machine and withdraw money.

Police have reported the arrest of a 21 year old man in connection with the crime and the STV report more of the details as Nicholas Wynne appeared in court this morning.

Waste collections today, Tuesday

Household waste collections
We are informed that waste crews due to collect household waste in Southside & Newington were diverted for the first part of the shift to complete yesterday's rounds which in the event collected 65% more waste than in a normal collection day.

Hence, domestic household Tuesday waste collections began rather later than usual but I understand all normal rounds should have begun after 9am.

On-Street Communal Bins
In addition an extra crew was allocated in the ward area today to collect the backlog of on-street communal bins.

Let me know of outstanding collections needing attention and I will get them prioritised.

Garden waste collections have been suspended till further notice.

Responding to poverty

Yesterday's Scotsman highlighted concerns of Eric Milligan, former Lord Provost of Edinburgh, on proposals to withdraw the £35,000 grant which the council makes annually to the One City Trust. This article contains the details and a response from the Council leader Jenny Dawe, and support for her, albeit from a different angle, comes in a letter in today's Scotsman from me.

Ch Supt Gill Imery takes over

St Leonard's Police station is now home to a new commander in charge of policing Edinburgh. Ch Supt Gill Imery is now in charge of 1300 staff. More details here.

Cleaning up the refuse

Daily door to door collections resume as normal in the Southside & Newington area as of tomorrow morning. The usual Tuesday rounds should be undertaken plus efforts to catch up with the backlog. This excludes garden waste collections (brown bins) - which have been suspended to concentrate on the domestic waste backlog. We are also told that additional staff have been diverted to deal with the on street communal waste bins.

Snow: Day 26 - thaw reveals green sward

At the end of 2009 this post noted we had reached Day 15 of the Meadows being covered with snow. Well, the thaw is now revealing green grass in the Meadows again and having reached Day 26, this snow cover count is being called off.

Unless we get another snowfall.

The year so far - in summary

1. School holiday dates - from now to July 2011
2. 108 year old dies - local resident
3. Contacts for gritting - including Clarence
4. Extreme unicyclist - needs training area away from the snow
5. Weather and school closures - Council's newsblog
6. Two assaults - in Bristo and Peffermill
7. Twitter - of Council emergency newsblog

You can also use Twitter to get new posts from this newsblog on your phone.

Community Council off this month

Marchmont and Sciennes have cancelled their January public meeting scheduled for next Wednesday (13th). Details here.

Viewcraig steps repairs postponed

In December this newsblog reported that the work on renewing an external stairway in the Viewcraigs had been scheduled for the beginning of January. Not surprisingly it has been postponed and rescheduled to begin on or around the 18th January. However, it is still not clear that the slow thaw will have cleared the ground of snow by then.

Winter weather and council activities

Just a reminder that the Council now has an emergency blog for latest information on school closures and re-openings, refuse collection and other matters. It also supplies information by Twitter.

The council is also publishing a line for people to contact if they have concerns about the welfare of anyone who is vulnerable and requires support: contact 0800 731 0964 (weekends or out of office hours) and 0131 200 2324 (during office hours).

Man robbed in Bristo Square

A man was approached and forced into make a withdrawal from a Bristo Square cash machine last night about 6pm. Again, more details in the police press release here.

73 year old assaulted in Peffermill Road

Lothian and Borders Police have released an appeal for witnesses after an elderly man was assaulted in his own home in Peffermill Road around 10:10pm last night. Further details from the press release here.

School closure updates

The latest information (4pm today) can be found on the Council's emergency newsblog. AQll of the schools in Southside and Newington are expected to be open tomorrow. These are:

• Preston Street Primary
• Sciennes Primary
• Prestonfield Primary
• St Crispin's Special School

Extreme unicyclist needs help

Recently I received the most interesting request from a constituent this year! It was from Jason Auld who, in 2008 won the UK championship at his sport - Extreme Unicycling. The snow of the last three weeks has put a dent in his training schedule in preparation for regaining the title in April this year and he is in need of a warehouse - or covered area which he can use for regular training during the bad weather.

I posted earlier this week on his request and the Evening News has picked up the story and today carries this article.

I understand Jason is still looking for training space as he moves to follow in the footsteps of Danny MacAskill.

Jason resides locally in the Newington Road area.

School update:St Crispin's open tomorrow

Details of the which schools are open and which are closed can be found on the Council's newsblog (they've copied me!) which is here. The schools update (posted just before 6pm) is here.

The latest waste collection update can be found here.

Ward schools set to open tomorrow

As of 3pm today the list of schools which will not open does not include any in the Southside and Newington ward. If in doubt you can get updates from the Council's schools page here (which includes the schools not opening tomorrow) or from the Council's emergency news blog. Morning updates will be given on the radio on Forth 1 and Forth 2

PS. The schools definitely not opening tomorrow are Buckstone and Gracemount primaries and Redhall and Woodlands Special schools.

Gritting requests

A number of you have contacted me with requests for gritting in a particular area. So here is some information and contact details about what to do if you have a problem which is causing particular difficulty.

First, if you have a concern about roads/icy patches you can report them to Clarence on 0800 232323 or e-mail clarence@edinburgh/gov.uk .

Next the salt bins. There are 1,600 salt bins around Edinburgh and residents are encouraged to use them where possible. If you are lucky enough to have one near you, contact Clarence for a refill - but you might need to be patient!

Gritting priorities: The gritters and mini tractors work their way through the categories from one to three but if snow starts to fall again (as has been wont to happen during the last 19 days), then they revert back to category one routes to ensure they are cleared. This means that some category three routes might not get seen to for some time.

• Category 1: the council gives priority to Category 1 roads and pavements, that is principal roads, major bus routes, access roads to hospitals, ambulance depots and fire stations.
• Category 2: Other main routes and bus routes
• Category 3: Residential streets and pavements

For more information, including the number of gritters operated, see here. For your information there are of 1,365 kilometres of roads and some 2,700 kilometres of pavements within the city boundaries.

The council issues occasional updates on its website here or on its blog here.

Helen Marshall dies, 108

This newsblog has reported on recent birthdays of Helen Marshall, one of Scotland's oldest residents. She resided in the Savile Terrace area of Newington and died on 28th December shortly after her 108th birthday. More details here.

UK champion needs training space

A locally resident UK sports champion who resides in Southside is looking for premises to train during the current period of snow which has prevented outdoor training. The sport is extreme unicycling(!) and use of a warehouse or large shed would be make a huge difference as the team trains for the UK convention in March. Here is an opportunity for sponsorship for someone for a local organisation. See here for a video of the sport.

This follows the remarkable success of Danny McAskill who also displays some remarkable stunt riding. Contact me if you have suggestions for suitable training venues during the period of current cold and snowbound weather.

School holidays and Libraries

For many this is the time of year for planning holidays. Here are the Edinburgh school holiday dates for the next 18 months.

And if you plan to use the library service (which is undergoing a few changes) here are the local libraries and the recent library news can be found here. Online library services can be found here. You can even get a reminder of your overdue books on your RSS feed.

Recycling your Christmas tree

The collection advice:

• Christmas tree recycling: Cut your tree in half and place it beside your brown garden waste bins. If you are in a tenement area place your tree beside your communal waste bin. Trees will be collected on Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th January 2010. You can also take your Christmas tree to any of Edinburgh’s four Community Recycling Centres. Trees will be made into compost for city gardens.

For latest news on and waste collection disruptions, see here.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

And thank you for reading this newsblog