Maureen Child: Report & Updates August 2011

[administrator]

Dear All

I hope you had a good summer - and still are!

Improvements to Hunter's Hall Park have been done in partnership with the Edinburgh Greenspace Trust. The new bike track is part of this and it's official opening is is on Friday 26 August, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm (poster attached). A stunt cyclist will do some tricks and cut the ribbon to open the track at 2pm. All are welcome.

bike track opening poster.pdf

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Taking of cycling, quite a few people asked about the legal basis for allowing cycling on the Prom and I have attached a briefing one from the Council's legal team, which formed the basis of an internal Council officer discussion on the matter in June. This will be a topic for discussion and debate by Portobello Community Council in September.

Portobello Prom - Access Rights for Cyclists on Core Paths..doc

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I have been asked to let you know that there will be a local Garden Fete on 27 August (this coming Saturday) at the Gate Lodge Garden, 27 Milton Road East from 2 to 4pm (opposite Jewel & Esk College) in aid of Postnatal Depression Services. There will be teas and stalls - including crafts, gifts, toys, baking & jams and face painting. I hope the sun shines!

Also on Saturday, and hoping for the sun to shine, is the Big Beach Busk from 12 noon until evening, centred around the foot of Marlborough Street on Portobello Promenade.

Before it tours Scotland, the Travelling Art Gallery's Autumn exhibition is on display in Portobello and Craigmillar. On 27 August it' will be outside the Bank of Scotland, Portobello High Street from 11am to 6pm. On Wednesday 31 August it will be at Craigmillar Arts Centre on Newcraighall Road, the church opposite the entrance to Fort Kinnaird, open from 10.30am to 3.30pm. Jonathan Owen and Charlie Hammond's contemporary work includes new screen prints made specially for the Travelling Gallery on the theme of 'Waste Management'. Their work is said to be 'of dark humour and absurdity'.

The local parks and greenspaces management are in the process of developing a Park Improvement Plan for Rosefield Park. As part of this, them Council officers are looking for feedback from the local community on how that park is used and what improvements people might like to see happen in the park. Please complete the on-line survey which can be found at: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/495/pa ... ace_survey

The 1st Anniversary of the start of the monthly Portobello Organic Market will be on 3 September 2011. To celebrate, PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) have a great programme of fund food related events to serve up. In association with Take One Action and Woodcraft folk, they'll kick off at 10.30am with a programme of short films on local food. Hear about the future of farming, about how to keep chickens in your backyard and about how local communities are growing their own all over the UK. Try out the cycle-powered 'Guerilla Cinema' in their yurt - and make your own energy in the Powerpod. At 12.30 the organisers are inviting you to join them in a local food picnic. Bring food you have grown or made - or buy some at the market - for a relaxed and sociable outdoor lunch. This event is one of 12 local food celebrations in urban and rural communities across Scotland being held as part of the Blasda Food Feast (Blasda is gaelic for 'tasty'). See http://www.blasda.org.uk for more

In conjunction with the Organic Market Anniversary, Big Things on the Beach are organising a human art installation, 'ToxMe', created by visiting Italian artist Federico Calo in which everyone is invited to participate. This event is part of Big Things on the Beach's Public Art Fest, which takes place in Portobello from 27 August - 3 September. Please visit http://www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk for full details of how you can join in. The Public Art Fest has been developed in collaboration with the Edinburgh College of Art and with GeoArte, an international cultural exchange organisation based in Puglia, southern Italy. GeoArte is bringing three Italian artists to engage the public in art projects located in a number of sites in Portobello, including a mass participation human installation on September 3rd. Venues include the Indoor Bowls and Leisure Centre, Mum’s Cafe, the Dalriada bar and St. Philip’s Church. The Edinburgh College of Art is coordinating three active workshops led by UK artists that take the Portobello townscape as their point of departure to explore what makes art public and what public art might become. On September 3rd at 2.00pm Big Things on the Beach invites everyone to join Rocca Gutteridge in Mum’s Café at the Edinburgh Indoor Bowls and Leisure Centre, Westbank Street and Promenade to discuss the question ‘What Makes Art Public?’.

Finally, two corrections to two of my previous email 'Updates', for those of you who received them at the time. First, the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund grant award was made to the new Community Alliance Trust (CAT), and not to the Community Neighbourhood Alliance (CNA) as stated in my Update of 10 June 2011. The CNA and CAT are different legal entities. Second, my Update of 15 July 201 stated that some information was distributed at Towerbank Primary School towards the end of the school term. This was actually the same Portobello Park Action Group leaflet which was hand-delivered through my own and other local letter boxes that week. The 'scaremongering' poster, as depicted in the Evening News that week, was not distributed in the school playground.

Best wishes for the weekend!

Maureen
Councillor Maureen Child | Labour Elected Member | Portobello/Craigmillar (Ward 17) | City of Edinburgh Council | City Chambers | High Street | Edinburgh | EH1 1YJ | Tel 0131 529 3268 |

[administrator]

Dear All

Please find my latest report attached.

Can I also remind you of a few events happening this weekend? The 1st Anniversary of Portobello Organic Market is on Saturday in Brighton Park (off Brighton Place) starting at 10am, with even more exciting stalls and activities than usual. See at the link:

http://pedal-porty.org.uk/

This year's Portobello Village Show is taking place form 12-5pm [admin: 2-5pm] on Sunday 3 September. Come along for an afternoon of the annual fun and games at Rosefield Park, organised by Portobello Open Door. Entrances are at the junction Rosefield Avenue and Rosefield Place or the end of West Brighton Crescent. Details at:

http://www.the-pod.org/forthcoming%20events.html

At both events, a few of us will be handing out leaflets promoting Castle Credit Union, the community based financial cooperative which is expanding its membership in Portobello. Do consider joining! And if you want to help us with the leafleting, you would be very welcome.

Big Things on the Beach's Art Fest is ongoing this week and into the weekend, based mainly at Portobello Indoor Bowls Centre but it's really all over Porty and hooked up to the Organic Market too. For programme details, this is the link:

http://www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk/c ... -programme

Finally, thank you very much for the emails so far about the dreadful Edinburgh Tram debacle. More would be welcome - yes, honestly! I had drafted up a briefing note for you. I am holding on to that draft until the situation becomes clearer and more stable, after tomorrow's Special Council Meeting. The ground shifts around us on this issue every day. If you are appalled and angry, multiply that several thousand times and you might get an inkling of what my thoughts and feelings and have been on the subject for over four years.

Best wishes for a fun weekend!

Maureen

Councillor Maureen Child | Labour Elected Member | Portobello/Craigmillar (Ward 17) | City of Edinburgh Council | City Chambers | High Street | Edinburgh | EH1 1YJ | Tel 0131 529 3268 |

Councillor’s Report
August 2011

Maureen Child, Labour Councillor for Portobello/Craigmillar

Doors Open Day – Portobello and Craigmillar
The Cockburn Association’s Edinburgh Doors Open Day includes local attractions, available for viewing on Saturday 24 and/or Sunday 25 September this year. Two in Portobello: Portobello’s Swim Centre, 57 Promenade, is open for guided tours and special activities on both days (12 noon-4pm) and St Marks Episcopal Church, 287 Portobello High Street is open on the Saturday 10am to 4pm. In Craigmillar, there are four great places to visit; Artspace, 11 Harewood Avenue (both days 10am to 1pm), The White House, 70 Niddrie Mains Road (sat 10am to 4pm), Wauchope Mausoleum, access between 34 and 36 Niddrie House Drive (Sat 10am to 4pm) and Craigmillar Police Station, 161 Duddingston Road West (Sunday 11am to 4pm. Brochures are freely available at public buildings - libraries (for example) or from The Cockburn Association itself in Trunk’s Close off the High Street.

Castle Credit Union
At last! Our local finance co-operative, Castle Credit Union has a landline installed and broadband at the (relatively) new office on the first floor at the Hays Business Centre, Hay Avenue. The new phone number for Castle Credit Union is 0131 258 9738. We welcome new members from across the area. Now we have everything in place - phone, broadband, new computers - we will be able to do a lot more development work across the whole area, especially Portobello where we will be distributing leaflets, starting next weekend. Now that we are financially self-sufficient, and stable, the priority is to recruit even more new members.

Christians Path Nearly Finished
It is good to see this path brought up to a proper standard by the cycling campaign group Sustrans; the Council who have installed the lighting; and the Neighbourhood Partnership who provided some of the funding. When we founded Portobello Amenity Society (PAS) in 1980 this was one of the first projects we identified as needing to be done. Those who took part in the first PAS clean-up of this bit of ‘spare’ British Railways land, with their kids, are now grandparents themselves. The fence still needs to be replaced, before it is complete, and something needs done about the stones left lying around. Some of those stones tend to get chucked over the neighbouring walls and may break windows or cause injury.

Cycling on Portobello Promenade
I reported on this in mid-July to my email group of constituents and got the biggest response I had on any topic, ever! It was quite a job to reply to them all before going off on a summer break. When Portobello Promenade was added to Edinburgh’s Core Path Network, the Transport Infrastructure and Environment Committee Members put in a very strong note of caution that consultation should be had with local people. There is huge concern about how cycling would be managed, if allowed at all. There is a range of views in Portobello about cycling, but I think we could all agree that people’s physical safety requires that pedestrians have the absolute ‘right of way’ at all times and the signage, management and cyclists’ behaviour needs to reflect that. The Portobello Community Council is due to discuss the matter at their 26 September meeting.

Illegal Motorbike Riding
There has been a spate of nuisance from motorbikes being ridden dangerously – off and on road in Portobello and Craigmillar - and this was one of the topics we local Councillors raised in a meeting with the Police Superintendant Hawkins who oversees the whole of our eastern area of the City. He wanted our feedback on how his Safer Neighbourhood Teams were working. Motorbike crime is the work of a very small minority of people, already well known to the police. Any witness accounts - with descriptions, times and places - empowers the police to arrest them and confiscate their bikes. That is a lot less rewarding for these show-offs than a chase would be! In an instance at The Fun Day at Jack Kane Centre and the surrounding Hunter’s Hall Park, my 999 phone call (hopefully among others) was followed by at least one arrest. The police do not turn up and give chase at the time, but they do know where these guys live and are just waiting for you and me to tell them what the culprits are up to. Call on the phone with a good description of the type of nuisance, date, time and place. If you don’t know the rider, all they need is a fair description of the colour of his clothes, helmet and bike. Any feature at all will help. Phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to remain anonymous, or the local police later on 311 3131, or 999 (as I did) if the incident is happening right in front of your eyes.

‘Doshday’
Lottery Funded Money Matters is having an information day of FREE advice, giveaways, prizes, things to do in Edinburgh, money saving ideas and more. Come along for a free cup of tea and a chat. ‘Doshday’ is on Wednesday 14 September from 10.30am to 3.30pm at the Hay’s Business Centre, Hay Avenue, Edinburgh (Lothian Buses 2,49, 21 and 30). A range of organisations are setting out their stall, including Castle Credit Union, Cyrenians, Community Renewal, and the Green House project.

Improvements to Portobello ‘Edinburgh’s Seaside’
The Council’s Economic development Committee unanimously agree to get the report I asked for on how to promote Portobello as Edinburgh’s Seaside. There is so much going on that enterprising local people organise and promote whether on a voluntary– Portobello Open Door, Big Beach Busk, Big Things on the Beach - or a private business basis. We want to make sure the Council continue to encourage and do whatever they can to facilitate our local seaside efforts to welcome people to come on down to Porty and to enjoy living nearby. My Motion said: “Council notes that the Marine Conservation Society's latest 'Good Beach Guide' awards Portobello Central (James Street) the highest level award of 'MCS recommended' and also notes that seven of East Lothian's Beaches have been given Seaside Awards by Keep Scotland Beautiful this year and calls for a report on how the Council can secure a Seaside Award for Portobello and market and promote 'Edinburgh's Seaside' more widely within Edinburgh and beyond.”

Portobello High Street Window Art
I received a number of complaints about the window art in what used to be the Pet Shop near the main central Portobello traffic lights and this hit the Evening News and Talkporty too. As a consequence, the choice of artwork was reviewed by the Council and partners and perhaps less ‘objectionable’ images put up as replacements. The town centre manager for both Portobello and Leith Walk areas, Sarah Woodford, is taking this otherwise very welcome initiative to encourage people to take on the empty shop and, in the mean time, providing more interest than a blank shop window would do. There are plans to work with a number of galleries and shop owners.

My Contact Details: Councillor Maureen Child, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1YJ; phone number 529 3268; e mail maureen.child@edinburgh.gov.uk