2014_02 Princes Street view 8

Commonwealth Day – Buzz at Holyrood – Rent arrears – Trams – Edinburgh Bach Choir

Today is Commonwealth Day and the Lord Provost will raise the Commonwealth flag above the City Chambers this morning. We hope to bring you photos later.

***

Soon there will be a real buzz about Holyrood, and we don’t just mean the MSPs chat. Holyrood is to get a colony of bees, and will be the first UK legislature to do so. On 5 March 2014, the Presiding Officer oversaw the arrival of the latest feature in the Scottish Parliament gardens – two beehives – to help support the honey bee population. The beehives will be home to Scottish honey bees which will arrive later in the year.

***

The council meet this week and in advance of that the Council Leader, Andrew Burns has issued his monthly leader’s report. In it he emphasises the council’s plea to those in rent arrears to get in touch with the council to discuss their problems.

The Council Leader said:-“You may see some high profile adverts and messages around the city over the next few weeks encouraging council tenants in rent arrears to contact us before they get any deeper into debt. The Council can help and does have some funding available, particularly for those adversely affected by the recent welfare reforms. As long as people are making arrangements to pay their rent, we can help.

The last thing we want is for people to lose their homes but, at the same time, we rely on rental income to invest in providing cheap-to-heat, modern and comfortable homes fit for the 21st Century.

If you know of someone who is in arrears with their rent, please encourage them to contact us to get help. They can email rentfirst@edinburgh.gov.uk or phone 0800 028 2786.”

The council have a policy of non-eviction for rent arrears if the difficulties relate to the ‘bedroom tax’ but only if the tenant is in active conversation with the council.

***

Have you seen a tram on the street yet? If you have and you had time to take a photo then please add them to our collection on EdinburghReportage. We would love to see where the tram was when you spotted it. Most of our own photos centre around Princes Street and Haymarket.

***

Bach-March-2014The Edinburgh Bach Choir sings at St Cuthberts on 29 March 2014 at 19.30. Tickets available from the Usher Hall box office here.  If Bach is your thing then you can also follow the choir on Facebook.

 

 

 

Website | + posts

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