Signing off

The electorate has spoken.

It is time for this blog to close as I am no longer councillor for Southside & Newington

I note there have been over 4250 posts in the last 15 years - almost all snippets of local news and information coming across my desk as a councillor and for the information of local people.  With over 1.2 million page views it has not been heavily trafficked, but each post has been tweeted for the information of 1,000 or soTwitter followers.

The blog will stay live but inactive for a suitable period and will then be removed.

It has been pleasure and privilege to serve as local councillor.  Best wishes to the current councillors.

Man arrested

An 88 year old man has been arrested in connection with last month's assault on a 14 year old boy at the toilets beside Hope Park Crescent - see here for my earlier post asking for witnesses.

There is a brief piece (here) reporting the arrest by police.

Gas main renewal work in Old Dalkeith Road

 Works begin soon on the installation of a large diameter gas main in Old Dalkeith Road.  I'm not sure the start date is quite fixed - but here is the notification from Scottish Gas Networks:

We'll shortly begin work to install a new large diameter medium pressure main within the Old Dalkeith Road area of Edinburgh.

We've planned our work in close consultation with the local authorities to reduce disruption as much as possible.

Phase one of our project will begin on Monday 9 May and will take approximately four weeks to complete. These works will concentrate within the verge area, a lane closure will be in place during this time although two way traffic will be maintained.

Phase two will involve excavating within Old Dalkeith Road under the aid of temporary signals, although manually controlled during the hours of 07:00 - 19:00 hrs, 7days, delays are expected. These lights are expected to be in place for up to six weeks. Works will then fall back into the verge to allow for our mains connections and disconnections. Two way traffic will be maintained during this time.

During these operations parking restrictions will be in place allowing safe access to our existing pipework and apparatus.

Emergency vehicle access will be maintained throughout our works.

We have extra safety precautions in place to protect our colleagues and our customers from catching or spreading the coronavirus as we carry out our safety-critical project.

Our colleagues will be keeping to social distancing on our sites and we’d ask communities to keep their distance too.

We’re writing to residents and other local stakeholders to make them aware of our project and explain the details of our work. Please feel free to also share this information with anyone you think may be impacted by our project.

We'll be working as quickly as possible to complete our work, and will be making every effort to minimise inconvenience to commuters the local community.

Thank you for your support during these challenging times and if there’s anything else you need please let me know.

New classrooms build at Sciennes delayed

Following the planning application approval (see here for more details) for new classrooms at Sciennes Primary School, contractors have now been appointed after a delay.  Here is an explanation of the current situation from the Council's education officers:

"I am pleased to inform you that we have just appointed Maxi Construction to undertake the construction of the new building following conclusion of the tender process.  Maxi are in discussions with the school about the programme for the works which we anticipate will begin shortly.

The delay to the start of this contract is unfortunate but was unavoidable.  Identifying contractors to undertake the necessary demolition works, preparation works and main contract has been challenging.  However, following the demolition of the classroom units the area they occupied has been available to the school to offset the loss of playground space at the front of the school.  Access to the closes off road space has also been made available.  

We will continue to work with the school through the delivery of the project and will issue a communication to all parents and neighbours once arrangements for the work schedule has been confirmed.. . "

Newington Library reopens

Earlier today Newington Library reopened after its use as a Covid testing centre.  Here is a reminder of contact details, and the opening hours:

Mon: 10am - 8pm

Tues: 10am - 8pm 

Wed: 10am – 8pm

Thurs: 10am – 5pm

Fri: 10am – 5pm

Sat: 10am – 5pm

A reminder about the Southside & Newington hustings - tonight

 Here is a link to information about the hustings tonight.

Here are the candidates who will all be there:

Conservative:  Cameron Rose

Green: Steve Burgess

Labour: Tim Pogson

LibDem: Pauline Flannery

SNP:  Simita Kumar

There are four councillors to be elected.

Southside & Newington ward hustings

All five candidates will be at the hustings arranged for this Friday evening - 22nd April - at 7pm.  It will be held in the Teviot Row Student building in 'The Dining Room'.

More details here on the Southside Community Council website.  I will list the candidates when I get a minute.