Investment for Royal Edinburgh Campus announced
Viewpoint on Braid Hills
Garden of Remembrance opens today
Forth Road Bridge closure tonight
Five Edinburgh authors win writing competition
Details of a multi-million pound package to fund new hospitals and health centres round the country were revealed yesterday by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The main beneficiary is Royal Edinburgh Hospital Campus with a further £120 million to complete its redevelopment.
It is all part of a £409 million plan with investment to be secured through a £1 billion extension to the Non Profit Distributing (NPD) programme, which now extends through to 2019-20.
NPD caps private sector returns, there is no dividend bearing equity and any surplus is directed in favour of the public sector.
Community health projects will be delivered as Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) projects via the hub initiative.
Other projects in the £409 million package include:
- £90 million to develop Aberdeen Women’s Hospital
- £20 million for the new Aberdeen Cancer Centre
- £65 million East Lothian Community Hospital
- £20 million community health projects in Highland including Skye, Lochalsh, south west Ross-shire and in Badenoch and Strathspey
- £19 million for primary care in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
- £19 million primary care projects in Grampian including Newmachar, Balmedie Blackburn and Elsick
The NPD model has been developed by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) which has been set up by the government to support infrastructure investment in Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon said:
“These health projects will provide state-of-the-art facilities to care for thousands of patients across Scotland.
“This £409 million investment will deliver the highest quality of health and social care services. This government’s vision is to deliver world-leading safe, effective and person-centred healthcare.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that, despite the massive cuts to Scotland’s capital budget from Westminster, the Scottish Government will continue to deliver substantial investment in the infrastructure of the NHS through use of the innovative NPD model and the Hub programme.
“Infrastructure investment is also fundamental to delivering sustainable economic growth. It supports our construction industry and helps attract business activity to our communities.
“That is why we recently announced, as part of the draft budget, a £1 billion extension to the NPD pipeline extention to 2019-20.”
Barry White, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust, said:
“This massive investment in healthcare will deliver first-class, well designed buildings to support local healthcare and create thousands of jobs across Scotland. The SFT-managed £3.5bn NPD programme stands as one of the largest infrastructure investment programme of its type across Europe.”
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An updated view indicator has been unveiled at one of Edinburgh’s highest points offering a fascinating panorama from Seven Hills Outlook in the Braid Hills. As well as Edinburgh’s seven hills, visitors will be able to identify around 200 famous landmarks in the city and beyond. The view indicator also gives an insight into how the landscape was formed.
The original indicator was conceived more than 20 years ago by George S Russell WS and John C Bartholomew, a former President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Honorary President of the Scottish Rights of Way Society (now Scotways) and a member of the famous Edinburgh map-making family.
Following fire damage, the indicator has been lightly updated by John Bartholomew’s son, the photographer Ivon Bartholomew, with help from William Cairns, who was on the original project team and who designed the pedestal on which the indicator sits. The renewed Seven Hills Outlook panel has been installed with support from the Friends of Braid Hills volunteers and Edinburgh City Council’s Parks and Greenspaces Department
John Bartholomew’s widow Ginette Bartholomew helped Lord Provost Donald Wilson unveil the new indicator, watched by some of the walkers, golfers and horse riders who enjoy the Braid Hills.
“Like many Edinburgh people, our family love the Braid Hills viewpoint,” said Ivon Bartholomew, “and my late father, who always enjoyed a great view, would often bring us up here and teach us about the landscape, the city and even the stars. He was very proud to leave this as a lasting legacy to the city which he knew and loved, and which has given so many people, of all ages, so much enjoyment ever since.”
The refurbished view indicator was welcomed by Lord Provost, Donald Wilson: “The Braid Hills offer stunning, panoramic views across the city and this new view indicator will help highlight some of Edinburgh’s most important landmarks. I am sure it will enhance the experience of visitors to the city and would encourage people to go and make the most of this fantastic new resource.”
Elaine Anderson, Co-chair of the Friends of the Braid Hills, said this was a special place in Edinburgh. “Braid Hills has a beauty and wildness that people love. Our Friends group is about people who enjoy the hill, who care about protecting that wildness and promoting the biodiversity for future generations. From the Braid Hills we have wonderful views across the city and Firth of Forth, as far as Munros such as Ben Vorlich and Ben Lomond. The view indicator is great to help identify what you’re looking at.”
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Adam Carruthers BEM, Edinburgh’s longest serving Legion Scotland Standard Bearer joins The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh and serving military in uniform to lay wreaths at the opening ceremony of the Garden of Remembrance.
Dozens of Standard Bearers will line up at the side of the Scott Monument along with the senior Pipe Major from Legion Scotland and the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland to mark the start of the ceremony.
Poppyscotland Field of Remembrance, adjacent to the Garden of Remembrance, will be open to view immediately following the ceremony.
The official Legion Scotland ceremony with The Rt. Hon. Donald Wilson Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, representatives from Scottish Government, ex-Service charities, the military and regimental associations laying wreaths starts at 11am. The Edinburgh Reporter will be there and we hope to bring you photos later this morning.
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The new Queensferry Crossing is making progress, and according to news issued at the beginning of October it is even further UNDER budget by another £50m.
From last night there are road closures on the A90 which will cause you all some diversions if you plan to travel to Fife and the North:
Drivers using the A90, M90/M9 Spur and B800 to the south of the Forth Road Bridge are being advised of a series of overnight closures planned to start later this month. Two separate phases of restrictions are required to allow the safe installation of the new B800 overbridge and ITS driver information gantries as part of improvements to the existing network being made by the Forth Replacement Crossing project (FRC).
FCBC will fully close the A90 (south of Echline Junction and west of B924 Dalmeny Junction) and the M9 Spur from 20:00 hrs to 06:00 hrs each night from Sunday November 2 to Tuesday November 4 (inclusive) for the installation of the new bridge beams and erection of gantries. Diversions will be signed via Kincardine and the A8/M9. There will be no restrictions for local traffic using the B800 or the A904/B924.
Steven Brown, Transport Scotland’s FRC Roads and Infrastructure Manager, said: “The construction of new roads and the upgrade of existing infrastructure as part of the FRC project has been carefully designed by our contractor FCBC to minimise disruption as far as possible.
“These restrictions are required to allow installation of beams for a major new B800 bridge and ITS gantries which will bring benefits to road users when the project is open at the end of 2016. “To ensure the safest and most efficient installation, the carriageways underneath must be closed to normal traffic. However, this work is timed at night to keep disruption to journeys to the absolute minimum. “We advise drivers to plan ahead – especially for those travelling across the Forth to and from Edinburgh Airport – and avoid any unnecessary journeys that may be affected by the closures.”
Timing of the phases is weather dependent. In the event of a need to reschedule the works, further notification will be given. – See more at: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/news/major-road-improvements-part-forth-replacement-crossing-project-progressing#sthash.0LzLB2y4.dpf
Real-time journey planning information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland.org.
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Five Edinburgh residents who wrote short stories about what ‘home’ means to them for a national writing competition have had their submissions chosen to be published in a book.
They beat off competition from over 500 other entries to win a place in a special book entitled Scotland’s Stories of Home. Their submissions will feature alongside entries from 33 other winners and author contributors such as Alan Warner, Vic Galloway, Kirsty Logan and Beatrice Colin.
The winners include:
Seonaid Cook, writing as Shona Cook, who submitted ‘Home Run’, a story that recounts a train journey from Edinburgh to London in which she ponders her feelings about the Scottish Referendum.
Commenting on the publication of her story, Seonaid said:
“The project was timely; helping me confront complex feelings about where I belong after changes in family and career and discussions around the independence referendum. I’m excited, if a little nervous, to see my work in print for the first time since I set out to be a writer.”
Sine Kay Harris, a student at the University of Glasgow, submitted ‘Shell’, a story about finding ‘home’ in amongst the bookshelves of Edinburgh’s public libraries.
Commenting on the publication of her story, Sine said:
“I think the Scotland’s Stories of Home project is a really wonderful opportunity to give the people of Scotland a chance to speak for themselves about what this country we all call home means to them.”
Laura Clay, an editor for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, submitted ‘A Story of Homecoming’. Her story explores her experience of getting to know Edinburgh again after eight years of living down south.
Commenting on the publication of her story, Laura said:
“The Stories of Home project has meant a great deal to me; having moved back to Edinburgh after eight years away, it’s been a good way of reconnecting with the city I love. I feel very lucky to be included in the book. It’s the first time my writing has been published, and I’m hoping my other work will be similarly successful in future!”
The other Edinburgh winners were Julie Morrice, a music teacher living in Newington, with her poem ‘Travelling Home’ and Lorna Malone, a copywriter for an investment company, with her short story ‘A Potful of Home.’
The competition was held by Scottish Book Trust, the leading agency for the promotion of literature, reading and writing in Scotland, and encouraged members of the public to express in writing what ‘home’ as a place or a concept means to them. Contributions included poems as well as prose that tell tales of childhood, communities, family life, travel and food.
To celebrate the third year of Book Week Scotland (24 – 30 November 2014) more than 150,000 free copies of Scotland’s Stories of Home will be gifted to people throughout the week. The books will be distributed in local bookshops, public libraries, prisons, hospitals, visitor information centres, ferry terminals and train stations. All the stories entered for the competition are available to read at www.bookweekscotland.com.
Scotland’s Stories of Home also features original commissioned contributions from some of the best-loved names in Scottish arts and literature, including Alan Warner, Des Dillon and a special contribution in Gaelic from Catriona Lexy Chaimbeul.
Sophie Moxon, Acting Director of Scottish Book Trust said:
“Scotland’s Stories of Home has given people of all ages living in Scotland a chance to express in writing what ‘home’ means to them. We received hundreds of submissions from members of the public, sharing beautifully unique stories of home as a place and a concept and are delighted to be able to give away 150,000 free copies of this wonderful book for Book Week Scotland 2014.”
The Edinburgh winners’ stories are available at the following links:
Shona Cook’s ‘Home Run’: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/stories-of-home/story/home-run
Sine Kay Harris’ ‘Shell’: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/stories-of-home/story/shell
Laura Clay’s ‘A Story of Homecoming’: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/stories-of-home/story/a-story-of-homecoming
Julie Morrice’s ‘Travelling Home’: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/stories-of-home/story/travelling-home
Lorna Malone’s ‘A Potful of Home’: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/stories-of-home/story/a-potful-of-home
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
