- Capital Rubbish – who has the answer?
- Pedal for Scotland
- Planning application at New Brunstane
- What now for the Sick Kids?
- Buggy Walks
There is an ongoing story which does not every go away no matter what the season, and that is rubbish. Whether it is late bin collections, no collections at all (yes I seem to be victim of that one) or overflowing bins on our streets it is always there.
Now it seems that in light of a BinWatch campaign led by the Edinburgh Evening News there is a reaction.
Councillor Lesley Hinds the Convener of the Transport and Environment Committee has decided that enough is apparently enough.
The council has decided to crack down on trade waste in their latest announcement made on Friday:
A Waste Compliance Team has been set up by the City of Edinburgh Council to tackle the issue of the illegal disposal of trade waste by businesses, particularly around communal bins.
The team, which comprises of six staff, a team leader and five wardens, started their inspections on Monday, 5 September and to date they have visited 35 premises – of these 29 could not produce a trade waste contract at the time of the visit. Fifteen of them have admitted they don’t have a contract at all and have been given seven days to have one in place before facing prosecution.
As a Council we are keen to support businesses and will only take legal action where absolutely necessary. The other 14 say they have a contract and have been given seven days to produce it.
In addition, the team have also issued three, £200 fixed penalty notices to businesses for illegally depositing waste on the street.
Cllr Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, said: “Illegal disposal of trade waste is one of the challenges we face, which can cause some of our communal waste collection sites in the city to overflow. The team’s immediate focus is visiting commercial properties in areas that are served by communal bins to identify businesses that do not have legal agreements in place and are using our communal waste bins to dispose of their waste at the expense of the taxpayer. Businesses who have the correct certification in place and dispose of their waste appropriately are to be thanked.
“We have already made huge progress in reducing the amount of commercial waste being stored on public spaces by businesses and have seen the removal of 80% of trade waste bins from the streets. The enforcement team will help us to tackle this issue further.”
So it appears that all the blame for overflowing bins actually lies with businesses who use them to deposit their rubbish. We think that is an oversimplification of the problem.
Another two bins on Dundas St to start the day with – overflowing and residents have still put their rubbish out pic.twitter.com/fOdNLtx5KB
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) September 2, 2016
Any bins we have seen which are overflowing often have what looks to us to be domestic waste placed beside them. And as we have alluded to our own recycling has become so erratic that we have stopped bothering with it. Yes we still use the food bin as that is the only one that actually gets collected regularly, but otherwise we put everything else into general waste and take our own bottles to a bottle bank.
Councillor Marion Donaldson is also doing something about rubbish in her Ward next weekend when she invites local people to join in.
— Cllr MarionDonaldson (@Marion_Donals1) September 11, 2016
What do you think? And what do you think the answer is?
Pedal for Scotland took place yesterday with over 7,500 people taking part in the annual cycle from Glasgow to Edinburgh to raise money for charity.
Scotland’s Minister for Transport Humza Yousaf took part along with a host of STV people.
This is the 18th year of the challenge to cycle from Glasgow Green to the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.
Of the number around 550 die hards took on the Big Belter which is Glasgow to Glasgow this uses a different route with over 2,400 metres of ascent along the way. We hope they are all feeling fine this morning!
The Wee Jaunt is a 10 mile cycle from Linlithgow to the Royal Highland Centre and is for riders of all ages and abilities to join in.
An application for Planning Permission in Principle has been submitted by The EDI Group, an arms length company owned by the council, for New Brunstane.
A major housing-led masterplan in the south east of Edinburgh, New Brunstane will play a significant role in helping Edinburgh meet its housing requirements.
The company plans to build up to 1,330 family homes with the application the first to be submitted of the key strategic sites earmarked by both the City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Government to help Edinburgh ease its housing shortage and meet future growth targets.
EDI submitted a Proposal of Application Notice back in December 2015. Since that time, they have been working closely with the local community and stakeholders on the emerging masterplan for New Brunstane with community consultation events held in March and May of this year. The company says that feedback received at these events, along with ongoing discussions with statutory bodies has helped shape the final plans.
The masterplan, which includes 23% of its land area as green spaces, is well positioned and in close reach of three railway stations, along with bus stops and pedestrian and cycle routes.
It will include along with the proposed residential development a primary school, retails, transport links, infrastructure and some food and drink outlets. So far the application has attracted 47 public comments, 43 of which thus far are objections.
There will be a Public Meeting tomorrow evening 13 September 2016 at the Church of the German Speaking Congregation in Chalmers Crescent at 7:30pm. This will deal with the existing building which is home to the Sick Kids and what will happen to it when the new building is eventually ready.
The meeting will be co-hosted by the Planning Action Group for the Sick Kids Site and by Marchmont & Sciennes Community Council. NHS Lothian will attend to provide a short summary of the engagement exercises they intend to provide in relation to the pre-planning application stage – and to answer questions. Representatives from PAS (Planning Aid Scotland) and from a community planning consultancy will also be present.
Buggy Walks is a partnership established in 2016 by 3 keen ramblers in the Edinburgh area who recently won a contract to promote and lead walks for new parents using the city’s QuietRoutes in the autumn of 2016.
This forms part of the Council’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme, aiming to spread the word about the opportunities for walking in Edinburgh.
Buggy Walks’ aim is to encourage and support new parents home alone with baby to come out walking locally, as a way to exercise and meet up with other new parents in a relaxed, inclusive and friendly environment.
Business manager, Oddny Jonsdottir, from Iceland says she was inspired to do this as a result of the isolation she felt in a strange city when her children were born. “I was used to a work environment and none of my colleagues had kids.
It was a shock to the system to be home alone with baby – an initiative like buggy walks would have made a huge difference.”
Our walks are suitable for early after delivery as they are a gentle foray into the fresh air and company of others with a café to sit down in at the end of the walk. The cafes have been carefully chosen to be buggy and baby and breastfeeding friendly as well as offering baby changing facilities. Our walk leader team are keen to promote the benefits of regular fresh air and exercise, while aware of the needs of new parents.
The Autumn 2016 programme includes walks in the areas of Fountainbridge, Leith, Pilton, Meadows and Stockbridge. These will start in the last week of September and be offered weekly at no cost.
Natalie from Portobello said “it was lovely to get out in the fresh air and great to be able to swop stories with another new parent going through the exact same thing as me- not all my childless friends want to hear about my feeding issues- we swapped numbers and have stayed in contact thanks to buggy walks!”
Full details of the walks as well as a simple registration method can be found on: http://www.meetup.com/Buggy-Walks-MeetUp-Edinburgh/
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
