Planning Committee meets today – Lord Provost’s awards – Fantasy Project for Seafield – EdinburghReportage – Gorgie City Farm Seed Swap
The council’s planning committee meets today at 10am. One of the matters which they are due to consider is the increased use of digital advertising throughout Edinburgh. Concerned that this kind of advertising offering might have a detrimental effect on peoples’ eyesight, they commissioned a report on this since the possibility was first raised at the end of last year. NHS Public Health confirmed to the council that there is no research to prove such detrimental effect. In addition, Edinburgh is part of the World Heritage Site and must comply with the restrictions placed on the city as a result of that status.
Since Spring 2013 the council has had four applications to install large format digital displays. Three have been approved and one is outstanding. The large scale adverts are in Gorgie Road, Wheatfield Road, Croall Place on Leith Walk and Seafield Road (which is yet to be determined). Hollister on George Street has installed full window video screens which stream live video from California. These are in behind the display frontage, but nonetheless required council approval.
The trial is running till Autumn 2014 and will assess the impact on visual amenity and public safety. It is expected that these adverts will only be suitable for bus shelters and there are restrictions on how quickly the image changes. The advertising panel at Croall Place is the only one to have attracted some dissent and appears to give rise for concern. It had until recently been working after 11.00pm but that has now been remedied. Other complaints related to the light emanating from the advertising panel.
As well as the large scale adverts, there are moving advertising panels on bus shelters in Princes Street and on Morningside Road. The council have advised that these have not caused distractions for drivers, and of course on Princes Street the only drivers are those operating buses, taxis and trams.
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The Lord Provost has announced two grants from his Rapid Action Fund.
£1,000 will be going to the Ripple Project in the Restalrig and Lochend area to support an Advice Day on Saturday 8 March 2014 for local people in difficulty with welfare reform and other issues. Liz Ferguson from the project remarked that “there is a strong need for ‘rapid action’ in terms of helping people in disadvantaged communities mitigate the impact of welfare cuts, the Lord Provost’s Fund has allowed us to do exactly that.”
The second grant is £1,495 for the Bridgend Inspiring Growth farmhouse renovation group in South Edinburgh, to pilot ideas for a new support centre, while working closely with potential users and the local community. Will from the group commented that “we will now be able to work with a dedicated community development worker to establish new projects and devise appropriate services for the farmhouse in the future. It will mean that as many people as possible know what is happening with this historic site and can have their say over its future.”
The Rapid Action Fund is part of the One City Trust and is open for new grant applications (up to £2,000) for social inclusion projects and rapid action initiatives across Edinburgh’s communities.
If you would like to know more about the fund or have an interest in applying then please contact Norma Cuthbertson in the Lord Provost’s Office on 0131 469 3816 or email norma.cuthbertson@edinburgh.gov.uk.
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Proving to us yet again that there are people in the city who really care about how it looks. Have a look at this vision for development at Seafield! It may be a bit fanciful – but maybe there are some aspects which could be developed?
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EdinburghReportage our sister site is over here. At the moment we have a storyboard waiting for your photos of the Field of Light in St Andrew Square. Sadly some of the lights were not working when we visited last weekend, but we hope they are fixed by now…..
Come on send us your photos, video or just tell us what you think of the art installation by visiting EdinburghReportage!
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
