Cameron Rose, Councillor for Southside/Newington, Edinburgh - Conservative
Has your recycling bin blown away or is breaking up (like mine)? You can order a new one - or just a rain cover or extra blue plastic bags for paper. You can also get the calendar of collection dates if you have lost the one originally delivered to you. All this can be done online at this page on the council website.
Brothers James and Stewart Clegg are both British record holders. As promising blind swimmers they are tipped for success at future Paralympics competitions. Here is a quote from their mother Moira about the Royal Blind School in Craigmillar Park: '. . . the Royal Blind School has been amazing in its support of both boys, and Libby, who left the school last year and is now a full-time athlete who is also training in sports massage'. See here for the full story.
The end of next week (Good Friday) is the current projection for the removal of the temporary traffic lights in Dalkeith Road at Prestonfield Avenue.
The new gas main, one of the biggest in the UK, has now been installed and decommissioning work is currently being completed on the old equipment. When satisfactorily completed the road surface will be reinstated and that is expected to be complete by the end of next week.
Rigorous checks on the new pipe revealed a very small leak and the identification and remedying of this was a principal source of the delay.
Yesterday an incident with a heavy goods vehicle at the bridge at Cameron Toll led to diversions and considerable delays and congestion in the area.
Following removal of the traffic lights, work will continue to complete the new district governor equipment in the off road section just next to the cemetery.
Hotels are suffering particularly from the current business rates revaluation. This article contains the above comment from Prestonfield Hotel owner James Thomson
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court 61 year old Douglas McNaught yesterday admitted breaching a lifetime ban on approaching children. He engaged a 9 year old in conversation in Prestonfield causing some considerable upset, not only to the boy but to local residents. He was hounded out of his house in Prestonfield Avenue last September. McNaught will be sentenced next month. More details here.
The Number Shop is under threat. The problem is that a move to save money within the Community Learning and Development section of Edinburgh Council is proposing saving money by closing the premises at the top of the Pleasance and distributing the service to various places (hubs) around the city.
Here is the remarkable story of how Ian Watson was bitten by a bat in the Innocent Railway tunnel two years ago and sustained blood poisoning which almost took his life. The full story is here.
Claims that giving an additional weighting to applications from local students works as a bias against English students receives attention in a number of papers this week. See the Record, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Guardian.
I am the person who persuaded the council to put councillors' itemised expense claims on the internet allowing detailed public scrutiny. I am also one of the 19 councillors (out of 58) who have not claimed any council payment for taxis in the last two years. Nor do I have a bus pass paid for at public expense.
Today the Evening News runs an article Councillors' £3k taxi bill despite free bus passes. It lists the taxi claims of each councillor over the past two years (table not in the online version) and highlights a call by Cllr Alison Johnstone (Green) not to use taxis because public transport is available.
That gives me the opportunity to note that it is perfectly reasonable for a busy councillor to use taxis where they will make him or her more productive. Particularly where a councillor has a demanding post the use of taxis can enable him or her to use their time and ability more efficiently and he or she should have no hesitation in claiming from public funds for genuine public service. It is to be expected that the conveners of busy committees should have larger bills than others.
The point is to get good value for the public pound and to carp and complain about the use of taxis in principle is shortsighted and unrealistic.
A theft of property from a house on Granby Road earlier this week is thought by police to be part of a series of incidents across the city where thieves have targeted vehicles after breaking into houses. Details of the Newington incident in this press release from the police today.
Here are the details of the proposed expansion of the Festival Theatre on the Potterrow side.
Details of the intake arrangements for local authority schools, including catchment area and capping rules, are coming before the Education Committee this Thursday (18th March).
This document gives the details, including the abandonment of the maximum 25 class size for P1 and the setting of a cap of 40 on the 2010 intake for Preston Street Primary. Maximum class sizes for primary 1s will be 30 for most schools (with schools in deprived areas having a lower limit).
The remake of the Edinburgh University Charities Week, now known as the RAG (raising and giving) Week, is currently under way. Expect collection boxes being wielded across Southside.
Here is the result of the election for the new president of the Edinburgh University Students Union.
Around 100 people are expected to participate in the run. Actually it is a half marathon with a 5k run alongside. Here is more information.
The beleaguered fundraising campaign for the Sick Kids in Little France has now been closed down with all staff being made redundant. The website has been taken down. More details from the BBC here.
The Underbelly is to move to the McEwan Hall for its events at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. More details here.
Alex Arthur, having split with his promoter earlier this week is to feature in a new gangster film called Revenge. Details here. Alex lives in the Southside.
The Shell Chairman James Smith joins Alex Salmond at Prestonfield Hotel this evening for a debate on renewable energy in Scotland. It is sponsored by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.
A 42 year old man has been arrested and two women charged after a Serious Crime Squad enquiry which included the search of a house in Mortonhall Road in the Grange.
Weekend work on the bridge over the South Sub railway line at Blackford Avenue is set to continue until 25th April. This will involve the road being completely closed on occasions during the week-end.
MercyCorps, the international charity with its European headquarters in Sciennes, has raised £300,000 for relief in Haiti. The charity partners with Edinburgh Council in providing a rapid fundraising response to disasters around the world. See here for more details.
Channel 4 reported at the weekend on claims that Professor Boulton, an Edinburgh University member of the Independent Climate Change Email Review had a CV in 2007 which indicated links to the IPCC, directly counter to the claims of the Review Chairman.
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