Friends Group
Join the Friends of Montgomery Street Park at their AGM at Hillside Bowling Club on 30 May at 8pm(enter down the stairs at 9a Brunton Place). This is a voluntary group which seeks to improve the park for everyone’s benefit.
They would like any new members to join them and get involved in community action. No experience is necessary just some enthusiasm.
Ross wants transparency from the SNP Leader about the party’s finances
Douglas Ross the leader of the Scottish Conservatives will ask again for a statement from the First Minister about the SNP finances.
Despite the fact that Mr Ross would not answer questions about the membership of the Scottish Conservatives or the whole party, he thinks that the SNP should exercise greater transparency on party and government affairs.
Landlord refused leave to appeal
The name Mark Fortune is well known to many unhappy tenants in Edinburgh. He has enjoyed a good lifestyle while in the past few years more than 40 of his tenants banded together to prevent him from renting out properties in Edinburgh.
He was prevented from being a landlord ten years ago – the first landlord who failed to get on the Landlords Register – but used a variety of persona to get round the ban. He also tried to use holiday let paperwork rather than short term leases – which give the tenant more rights.
Last month the Upper Tribunal refused Mr Fortune (who is sole director of Edinburgh Holiday & Party Lets Ltd) leave to appeal against an earlier decision finding that the landlord was in breach of keeping properties in good repair. The original action was raised by The City of Edinburgh Council, so now the landlord must abide by the original court decision which ordered them to put a properly at Gillespie Crescent into good repair. The flat in question was found to be “not fit for human habitation”. The court decision is here.
Read more about Mark Fortune and the investigation here on The Ferret website.
No Mow May
At the Botanics they are giving nature a chance by following the No Mow May initiative – Plantlife’s annual campaign to give nature a helping hand. This means that their Living Lawn in Edinburgh which extends to 1000 square metres has been planted for nature and will not be cut until later summer or early autumn.
There will be mown pathways to encourage visitors to enjoy the area which has 37 species of grass and wildflowers.
Curator of the Living Collection, David Knott, commented: “The Living Lawn, which is part of the Edinburgh Living Landscape initiative, was sown in 2019 using a seed mix which includesAnthyllis vulneraria (kidney vetch), Bellis perennis (common daisy), Rumex acetosella (sheep’s sorrel) and Thymus polytrichus(thyme). Living Lawns are excellent at encouraging and enhancing biodiversity, only need cutting every three to four weeks during the summer months and are more tolerant of extreme weather conditions so they can withstand long dry spells.’’
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