The Friends of Craigmillar organised a clean up on Saturday morning beginning from the library. There were two shifts – one morning and one in the afternoon, and the 30 volunteers collected more than 60 bags of rubbish.
Donald Anderson Chair of Cre8te shared his thoughts. He said: “I am now covered in chalk paint but I hope the stencils we used are a useful reminder for people to use a bin. Quite a few residents and shopkeepers stopped and spoke to us and one of the shopkeepers said he would take an anti-litter poster. I think it is a great start. There are some issues however – the shrub area has functioning lights around the trees but you can’t see them because it is so overgrown. There was a huge amount of litter there and in the car park behind the library. Great work everybody!”
Chris Murray MP joined the group picking up litter in his constituency along with some of his office staff. He said This is a brilliant initiative. There is a whole group of people in the community to make it a better place. Things like the litter picks are great. It makes a difference to people’s lives and I couldn’t support it more.”
Elly Kinross of Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust said: “We had a total of 30 volunteers and around 60 bags of rubbish. Still lots to do but we made a start.”
Create is a community business based in Castlebrae Business Centre which it also runs. The Board of Create recently invited Donald to become chair as part of a review into the effectiveness of the organisation and with the aim of becoming more active in regenerating Craigmillar.
The immediate focus is on delivering action quickly to help improve the area. A pilot project has been established that focuses on “town centre management” issues, established in partnership with Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust. Create pays for part of the time of staff member, Elly Kinross, to work along with the council and the local community to improve Craigmillar. The project aims to make a visible difference to the town centre within months and is focused initially on Niddrie Mains Road.
The council’s cleansing team has already done a lot of work cleaning the street furniture on Niddrie Mains Road, and the volunteers out this weekend are helping in a different way as they can address litter on areas not owned by the council.
More information about Friends of Craigmillar.
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