• City Vision
  • Tesco fundraising for health charities
  • New store at Fort Kinnaird creates 7 new jobs
  • City Garden Project
  • Leith Food Assembly celebrates its first birthday 

Look out for tweets from 9:00am with the hashtag #Edinburgh2050. This will signify comments from the event which the council’s Chief Executive is holding this morning to discuss the future of the city.

This is the beginning of a process to engage with all citizens, businesses and groups across Edinburgh as to what they want Edinburgh to look like in the future. The council will not be determining the vision, but they will support and facilitate the creation of it.

Watch this space for more information!

We were told when invited that there would be an update on the Edinburgh City Region Deal too, although it has to be said that this has probably already happened.

The City Region Deal is very much on the table and is moving towards a further announcement expected in the UK Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in November.

There was a one liner in the Budget announced by the former UK Chancellor George Osborne which meant that the City Region Deal would be proceeding.

Tesco are running a mini-festival this weekend to raise funds for a charity partnership they have founded with Diabetes UK and The British Heart Foundation.

Read more here. 

A new furniture store will open on Saturday 1 October at Fort Kinnaird which has created seven new jobs for local people.

The Oak Furniture Land superstore is the second in the city showcasing the retailer’s 100% solid hardwood furniture.

Read more here. 

Architecture studio HERE + NOW want you to get involved in their urban project. They want to use every space they can find in the city to increase the amount of urban green space.

They are not looking for park sized areas but are thinking of really small scraps of land along roadways or between buildings. Do you know of any? Then they want to hear from  you! The spaces can be turned into wildlife habitat or community gardens.

You can find out more when you join them at Edinburgh Central Library on Friday 30 September 2016 anytime between 12noon and 3.00pm. Or you can have a look at their website here.

For the past year Food Assembly shoppers in Leith have been enjoying ordering their food online from local producers before dropping in to Jeremiah’s Taproom every Monday evening to collect their shopping. All of the food comes from an average of under 20 miles, compared to the average 600 miles that supermarket goods rack up.

Community has been at the heart of Leith Food Assembly’s success. Co-founder Stuart Guzinski says “Every week there are fantastic conversations between buyers and producers and everyone goes home feeling more connected than ever to their food”. By choosing to say a resounding ‘AYE to local’, shoppers have been supporting the Edinburgh food economy too, as for every £1 spent, 91p stays in the local economy.

Leith Food Assembly works with social enterprises, so that shoppers can regularly use their laptop or the innovative iphone app to purchase local products that also do the community good, such as Sourdough bread from Breadshare Community Bakery, windfall apple juice from Fruitful Woods or generously laden veggie bags from Cyrenians Farm. Other products include organic meat, poultry and eggs from Hugh Grierson Organics, delicious bagels from The Bearded Baker, ethically sourced coffee from Williams & Johnson and seasonal preserves from Dollop & Scoff.

Shopper Stan Blackly says: “I shop at Leith Food Assembly because I value knowing where the food I eat has come from. In this day and age of horsemeat scandals, soulless shed-like supermarkets, and faceless mega-food corporations, it’s a joy to be able to meet the actual people who’ve grown, raised or produced the food you’re buying, and to build up a personal relationship of trust, respect and even friendship with them. By shopping at The Food Assembly, I get to know exactly where my food has come from, and who and what has been involved in getting it to me, and I can support small businesses, entrepreneurs and the local economy by eating fresh, quality, local produce. I can heartily recommend The Food Assembly to anyone for whom the provenance, sourcing, traceability and quality of food is important.”

Leith Food Assembly is holding a free tasting party to celebrate its first birthday on Monday 3 October, from 6pm at Jeremiahs Taproom. Food lovers can meet farmers and food-makers, taste local food samples and discover more about where their food comes from.

 

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