Eight jailed for housebreaking
Trams, trams, trams….
Budget Consultation
Diwali next weekend in Princes Street Gardens
This is Edinburgh wins big!
Eight men have been jailed for housebreaking offences in Edinburgh after being arrested during the successful initiative, Operation RAC.
Numerous properties throughout the city, particularly in the West, were broken into over the past year and various items of property were taken from within.
Dedicated Operation RAC officers investigated each of these incidents and as a result all of the men were detained and subsequently charged.
Over the past two weeks each of them has since been given prison sentences at court.
Nicholas Briggs (33) was sentenced to 36 months on the 4th November, while Christopher Horne (28) was given 17-months.
Paul Ness (42) appeared in court on Tuesday 10th November and was jailed for six months.
On Thursday 12th November three men – Robbie McLeood, Ryan Duddy and Adam Birrell were all given various sentences in court.
Mcleod (21) and Duddy (26) were both given 10 months in prison, while Birrell (20) was sentenced to 36 months.
Daniel Ross (19) and Daniel Lawrence (20) both appeared yesterday, where Lawrence was sentenced to two years and three months in jail and Ross received a sentence of three years and five months.
Detective Sergeant Bob Campbell from Operation RAC said: “Housebreaking is Edinburgh Division’s top priority and through Operation RAC we have regularly targeted acquisitive crime offenders and brought them to justice for their crimes.
“These sentences send a clear message that housebreaking will not be tolerated in the city and we work closely with our partners at the Crown Office to secure significant prison sentences for those found to be involved.
“I would urge anyone who has information relating to those responsible for these sort of offences to contact us on 101 or alternatively make an anonymous report to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
The council has a couple of decisions to take about Edinburgh Trams next week.
The first is just a noting exercise in that the council has to respond to the Chairman of the Edinburgh Trams Inquiry following his comments published on the Inquiry website, and his demand that the council revives Edinburgh Trams company tie.
The second however is more fundamental. It is the recommendation that the council signs off more spending, inching towards the big decision to spend £144million on the extension of the trams to Newhaven. Read more on this here.
The Council Leader Andrew Burns has issued his monthly Leader’s Report and uses it to remind you to contribute to the Budget Consultation:
“We are now midway through this year’s budget consultation and I would like to thank the hundreds of you of who have already taken the time to have your say. If you haven’t, there’s still plenty of time to do so – the consultation runs until 10 December.
“As part of this, and following the success of last year’s event, we are running another Budget Question Time on 23 November in the City Chambers. This is designed to give you the opportunity to quiz our panel of senior councillors on the Council’s budget proposals for next year and beyond.
“The proceedings will be chaired by Scotsman and Evening News Managing Editor, Frank O’Donnell, and broadcast live via the Council website.
“If you would like to put a question to the panel, or just come along and be part of the audience, please register online by next Thursday, 19 November. We are allocating places on a first come, first served basis.”
The Edinburgh Diwali Committee was constituted on behalf of The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh to organise Diwali the famous Indian Festival of Lights, and it will take place next weekend.
For first time the public event will be open to everyone at the Ross Band Stand in Princes Street Gardens from 12 noon till 7:00 pm.
The President Mohindra Dhall MBE told The Edinburgh Reporter: “We are organising art workshops where children will be making Diwali Lanterns for first time in Edinburgh. These will be lit up with LED lights in the Marquee which will be built at The Ross Theatre.
There will be Bollywood as well as Indian Classical dances like Bharatnatyam and Kathak.
Students from Mary Erskine and Stewart’s Melville College will perform Highland Dances with bagpipe music.
Dancers from Ceilidh Meetup will organise a Ceilidh on the Bella McNab Ceilidh Band.
There will be Indian Curries and snacks and a Bar serving Cobra Beer and Mulled wine.
At 5.30 pm sharp there will be 500 sparklers shining at one time and it will be followed by Impressive Fireworks Display on Castle Hill.
It sounds great!
On the day that George Clooney mania swept Scotland’s Capital city, Edinburgh was the big winner at the Scottish Business Awards, with its city centre marketing campaign, ‘This is Edinburgh’ taking home the top award of PR Marketing & PR Strategy of the Year.
The award, which was won by Edinburgh-based creative digital and advertising agency, The Lane Agency, was in recognition of the dynamic and creative marketing strategy which underpinned the two year ‘This is Edinburgh’ campaign that was created and managed by Marketing Edinburgh.
Launched in early 2014 in a bid to encourage locals back into the city centre, increasing footfall and retail spend, the award demonstrates what has been a positive and successful campaign for the city, with all targets on track. At its heart was an integrated marketing approach, overseen and managed by Marketing Edinburgh that saw The Lane Agency, Wire Media and Storm ID, work closely alongside the in-house team to ensure a seamless approach across PR, media, advertising and digital channels, in addition to new ‘This is Edinburgh’ events.
The innovative Borders Rail train wrap, which The Lane Agency was appointed to work on by Marketing Edinburgh was also singled out by awards judges as an example of excellence. The eye-catching livery was a joint collaboration between Marketing Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Council, Midlothian Council and Borders Railway, unveiled in celebration of the new line connecting the city with the south of the country, which became one of the iconic images used throughout media coverage of the railway’s September opening.
John Donnelly, Chief Executive of Marketing Edinburgh said:
“The Scottish Business Award recognition of ‘This is Edinburgh’ is a big win for the city. I am thrilled for all of those involved, but even more so, I am delighted by how much ‘This is Edinburgh’ has given back to the city’s residents. As the campaign draws to a close, we’re on target to have succeeded in our ambitions to increase footfall, along with retail sales in the city centre. I’m particularly proud of how much locals have embraced and engaged with ‘This is Edinburgh’, whether that has been on social media or attending events, like Edinburgh Fashion Week and Edinburgh Restaurant Festival that have made a real and very positive difference within the city.
“Earlier this year our campaign survey found that 88% of people were aware of the campaign and 95% felt more positive towards the city centre since its launch, this is a testament to the hard work and innovative approach of the whole campaign team.”
Ali Findlay, owner and managing director of The Lane Agency said:
“As a relatively young entrepreneurial business, winning the pitch to market the city of Edinburgh was one of our proudest moments. The campaign has evolved to market the city and its businesses, events and attractions, large and small, and more recently we were proud to reveal the UK’s largest train wrap for the Borders Railway launch.’ She added: ‘It’s been a great 12 months for The Lane with 12 award wins for several different clients and campaigns – our #Laners are very proud.“
For more information on the campaign, visit ThisisEdinburgh.com and keep up to date on their latest news and updates through Twitter (@edinburgh) andFacebook.com/Edinburgh.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
