There are four runners left in the race for Edinburgh Airport according to Reuters. Final offers for the travel hub which is being sold by Spanish owners Ferrovial are expected in early April. The price tag is expected to reach anything up to £700m.
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The Council’s Transport Committee decided yesterday to ask The Scottish Government to try and reverse the decision of Lothian Buses to raise bus fares next month. The Scotsman explains that this comes hot on the heels of the bus company cutting services following the reduction in the grant the company gets from Holyrood.
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The Council’s Culture and Leisure Committee meet today at 10 a.m. Part of their time will be devoted to discussing the outcome of the Libraries Consultation, and the recent council decision to spend an extra £300,000 on libraries in the next year. Nearly 10,000 people in Edinburgh responded to the recent consultation, and were most vocal about the proposed changes to Sunday opening, and it is now hoped that these changes can be avoided by the use of the extra funding. However not all are happy with the proposed changes and you can read our separate article about that.
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The Journal reports that The City of Edinburgh Council spent about £6m over four years on the provision of CCTV in the city, making it the biggest spender in Scotland in this area. The privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch obtained the figures through Freedom of Information requests.
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And Dance Base have put out a call for interest in Edinburgh’s Big Dance 2012 celebrations. Big Dance 2012 is the UK’s biggest ever celebration of dance with events taking part around the UK in the Olympic year. As part of the Scottish Government’s policy to Get Scotland Dancing, Dance Base has received investment from Creative Scotland to produce a celebration of dance – bringing dance to the people and people to dance.
“On Sat 30 June and Sun 1 July 2012 we’re thinking big and inviting every dance group, school and society to perform, teach or demonstrate in themed stages/areas throughout the city centre. At night we’ll show an outdoor dance-along movie and a fringe programme of dance in bars and clubs will bring people into the city to celebrate dance.”
Dance Base is coordinating celebrations for the Edinburgh region and hopes to work with as many partners as possible to make the Big Dance celebration a high profile event attracting thousands. For more info on Get Scotland Dancing see www.creativescotland.co.uk and Big Dance 2012 www.bigdance2012.com
