Rubbish – Fireworks safety advice – Potholes – Blogging – 4G

Residents in North Edinburgh plonked their rubbish on the doorstep of their Neighbourhood office yesterday to draw attention to the ongoing problems they are having with their refuse collection. Under the headline A rubbish protest or a protest about rubbish? the North Edinburgh News explains the argument that has broken out between residents and the Environment convener.

Reader, Jon Chase, who lives in the Fettes area has sent us a copy of the letter he has sent by email to his local councillor and also the Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Lesley Hinds. He has explained to the council that the new regime of collecting refuse was not actually explained to the residents in the street where he lives until he contacted the council for clarification. As a result there has been some confusion.

He established that the ordinary rubbish was to be collected each Sunday and recycling each Thursday. But on Sunday last two bin lorries arrived at different times to collect general rubbish, and Mr Chase has indicated to the council that this is simply not good enough. What about you? Are you still experiencing any difficulties? Then do let us know.

You can get an automatic reminder by email about when your recycling will be collected. Sign up here at Green Box Day.

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Police have issued fireworks safety advice just ahead of Halloween and Guy Fawkes night next week. You can read more here.

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Today’s photo is of Dublin Street and we think it shows only too well the condition of the road surface. The council say that they inspect each and every street in Edinburgh each year, but they also take reports of potholes on their website here. Do you have a street which needs some attention?  Then let us know and we will pass on the details to the council’s Transport convener. There is also Fix my Street which is supposed to alert the council automatically, although we have been told that sometimes it does not work.  If you know of another reporting service like this which is reliable  then you might tell us about that too.

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Some of our local councillors have blogs. Notably our Council Leader, Andrew Burns, has his Really Bad Blog. Conservative Leader, Cameron Rose, has two blogs, one devoted to Ward matters here and his rebuttal of the climate change argument is to be found here.  Lib Dem group leader, Paul Edie, has a blog which is perhaps given a little less attention by its author in opposition rather than administration which you will find here. Ricky Henderson, Labour councillor for Pentland Hills has a blog here where he writes about council matters, and the Edinburgh Greens have a blog here for all six of their councillors.

And the Lord Provost has a blog here to tell us all what he is up to. (There is a fabulous display of objects he brought back from Abu Dhabi just outside the main council chamber.)

Who have we forgotten? Do let us know and we will then add the details to our Edinburgh bloggers list which is a living list here. Again we need help from you if you are an Edinburgh blogger and you would like to be included.

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History is being made today as EE, who claim to be the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, launches the UK’s first 4G network in Edinburgh, one of the first eleven cities to benefit from the rollout of the UK’s first ever 4G network.

As of today, residents of Edinburgh will be among the first in the UK to experience EE’s pioneering superfast mobile service, with speeds typically five times faster than 3G, and 4G Fibre Broadband for the home and office. The service includes a range of state-of-the-art devices to ensure all customers get the most out of the superfast network.

Derek Smith, Regional Manager East Scotland, at the EE store on Princes Street commented:-“We are hugely excited about being one of the first cities in the UK to launch a mobile and fibre broadband 4G service. Customers signing up to the new service will be able to download media and access the internet at phenomenal speeds. We are looking forward to switching on Edinburgh’s 4G and welcoming our first customers through the doors at 9am this morning.”

EE is investing £11 million in its network in the region. All eight Orange and T-Mobile stores in Edinburgh will have a full store refurbishment to become EE stores, offering services from Orange, T-Mobile and EE from today.

EE is the UK’s most advanced digital communications company, providing mobile and fixed line services to 27 million customers, and from today, will become the first company in the UK to provide 4G mobile services, as well as Fibre Broadband.

Let us know if you manage to access 4G and how good it is?

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.