Dear All,

A few people asked me when our local libraries are re-opening? Craigmillar Library will reopen on Monday 14 December.  Can’t wait!  https://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/web/arena/library-reopening. I will continue to press for the safe reopening of Portobello Library too.

If you haven’t already, do fill in this consultation, by close of play TODAY, Friday 11 December, and do use the space for further comment, perhaps about your own home street and its traffic issues: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/brunstane-traffic-calming.  This is a consultation on the scheme drawn up by Council officers following a workshop mainly with the residents in Coillesdenes and Brunstane Road. 

The COVID-19 Spaces for People changes, which actually require no consultation, continue to be rolled out since they were agreed by the Council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee in May.More here: https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s24012/Item%206.8%20-%20Creating%20Safe%20Spaces%20for%20Walking%20and%20Cycling.pdf.  This is the report giving the rationale behind these schemes. Appendix 2 includes bike lanes on Duddingston Road and Milton Road West.  These SfP changes are temporary. To make them permanent requires Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) such as the temporary one being proposed for the ‘Joppa Triangle’. None of this change is as easy or uncontroversial or simple as it really ought to be in the current climate.

I visited Craigmillar Now last Monday – by bike – and had a great time chatting to local community member Billy McKirdy about Craigmillar Festival memories, the Craigmillar  archives and how we hope to conserve it, add to it and make all that wealth of memory and material accessible. Craigmillar Now learned this week that we have secured a grant of nearly £10,000 from the Climate Action Fund to repair staged glass put secondary glazing on the inside of all the windows.  Keep up to date here: https://craigmillarnow.com/ and book a tour, although spaces are limited.

I mostly get around Portobello/ Craigmillar Ward on foot, and occasionally get the bus or cycle. Sometimes I feel a bit scared when cycling and I shouldn’t be made to feel like this. Click here, read on: https://medium.com/@karen.liebreich/the-othering-of-cyclists-20f1031aedd. Please do consider the vulnerability of the person on the bike next time you are behind the wheel of a vehicle, or next time you email me to oppose bike lanes and street closures.  And, yes, when we ride bikes we need to be fully mindful of the safety of those on foot. 

It’s lovely to see the decorated windows in Portobello right now – Window Wanderland. More about this in David Calder’s fab Podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/71622/6439375-190-window-wanderland

Last week’s Porty Podcast was about the RNLI lifeboats teams who keep us safe.  They were called out to Joppa last week, though it turned out to be a false alarm.  Click here and have a listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/71622/6691790 .  And do contribute to their upkeep through their Just Giving page, if you can.

I reported a couple of weeks ago that I had done my own research on pedestrian crossing waiting times all along Portobello High Street.  The long waiting times have been properly fixed at last and I am pleased to report that our wait for the pedestrian phase should now take no more than 20 seconds, and a lot less in most circumstances.  If that ever changes, please do let me know!

I very nearly got caught by a phishing email last week which claimed I had missed the delivery of a parcel. This good advice from Police Scotland.  Be sceptical! Click here: https://www.scotland.police.uk/takefive?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=SM_Fraud

A huge amount of work goes into the City Plan 2030, the development plan that will help shape our growing city.  We hoped to put a Proposed Plan before the Planning Committee in early December but there was a whole lot more studied to complete and we had to postpone until late February.  Our first preference is to enable development in brownfield sites for a greater proportion of affordable housing, and to save greenfield and Green Belt land, but we have to make sure those sites are deliverable within the period of the Plan.  More here: https://planningedinburgh.com/2020/12/03/city-plan-2030-timetable-update/

Nice to see some great photos of beach volley ball activity at Portobello beach, even in winter!   Like here: https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2020/12/beach-volleyball-in-portobello/

Stay safe and have a good weekend!

Maureen

Councillor Maureen Child