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Footway and carriageway improvements – Waverley Bridge, Market Street, East Market Street

To complement the recent changes to vehicular access into Waverley Station made by Network Rail, the City of Edinburgh Council is to make major changes to the road and pavement layout on Waverley Bridge and Market Street. These changes will support anincrease in pedestrian and traffic movements, as well asfurther enhancing the public realm and improving connectivity for pedestrians between Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns.

On 26 May the City of Edinburgh Council will begin construction of £1.2m worth of improvements around Waverley Station.

The project is due to be carried out in two stages:

  • Market Street – 26 May to 26 July
  • Waverley Bridge – 8September to 1December

The construction work includes: widening and resurfacing the footways in natural stone paving, installing new raised tables to improve pedestrian crossing points, installing a new zebra crossing, providing a new 10 bay taxi rank on Market Street, creating new loading areas, a new cycle lane, new street lighting, resurfacing the carriageway and reducing street clutter.

These improvement works have been carefully planned to minimise disruption to businesses and associated tourism, with programming purposely avoiding the summer festival period.

At certain stages of the project there will be a need for temporary traffic lights, lane width restriction and parking suspension, however access for pedestrians and deliveries will be maintained at all times and all shops and businesses will be open for business as usual.

We will continue to work with the local residents and businesses throughout the course of the project so that we can minimise disruption and inconvenience to all those affected by the works.

If you require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the City Centre and Leith Team on 0131 529 3535 or environment-ccl@edinburgh.gov.uk. Regular updates on the progress of the project will also be available from the CEC website.

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Influencing the next South East Scotland Strategic Development Plan (SDP2) – Your Say

There is one week left to complete our survey which will help inform the next Strategic Development Plan for Edinburgh and South East Scotland. The survey closes at 5pm on Friday 30 May 2014.

If you wish to have your say, the short survey is available to complete on the SESplan Consultation Portal (http://sesplan-consult.objective.co.uk/portal/mir_ee/influence_the_plan).

Housing Need and Demand Assessment

In a few weeks time, we will be seeking comments on a draft Housing Need and Demand Assessment. This document sets out future estimates of the numbers of households we need to plan for up to 2038. This key document will inform the content of the Main Issues Report for the Strategic Development Plan to be produced later this year. Therefore we want to hear your opinion on it. We will send a further email when it is available for comment.

Housing Land Supplementary Guidance

Following the consultation in late 2013, the SESplan Housing Land Supplementary Guidance has been submitted to Scottish Ministers. They have 28 days to consider the documents. Unless instructed otherwise, at the end of the 28 days the SESplan member authorities will formally adopt the Supplementary Guidance. The Supplementary Guidance sets out how the housing requirements up to 2024 for each of the SESplan local authorities. This will inform each authorities Local Development Plan. Details are available at http://www.sesplan.gov.uk/strategic-development-plan/housing-land-supplementary-guidance.

If you have any queries, please contact the SESplan team at 0131 524 5165 or email us at contactus@sesplan.gov.uk.

To keep up to date follow SESplan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SESplan

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Make Leith a safer place

Tell us how to make Leith a safer place

 We are still looking for suggestions of things we can do to make Leith a safer place over the three month period starting in June 2014.

 For more information & to make your suggestion follow this link: http://www.edinburghnp.org.uk/neighbourhood-partnerships/leith/about/feeling-safe-community-forum/suggest-a-feeling-safe-neighbourhood-priority/

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Leith Walk Works (Pilrig Street to Crown Place)

(With thanks to Leith Links CC – the following was taken from their website.)

In advance of the construction work starting on the Pilrig Street to Crown Place stretch of Leith Walk on Monday 19 May, we’re now in a position to provide more information relating to a number of aspects of the work.

 Duration of Works

 The Pilrig Street to Crown Place section of the Leith Walk works is scheduled to last 30 weeks and with an anticipated finish in mid-December 2014.

Number of worksites

 There will be twelve separate worksites in total on this section of Leith Walk.

 Size of worksites

 The size of the worksites will vary but will, in general, be between 60-80 metres in length each.

 Duration at each site

 This will depend on the complexity of each individual site but is expected, on average, to be in the region of a month. In some sections, this may be less, while in others it may be more. We’ll provide more detailed updates during the works at each site.

 The first worksites

 Two separate worksites will be running in tandem at any one time. The first two will cover the following areas:

  • 366 Leith Walk to 337 Leith Walk (area taking in Iona Street junction northwards)
  • 202 Leith Walk to 172 Leith Walk (area taking in Smiths Place junction, Springfield Street junction extending south)

 Temporary loading/unloading bays

 Temporary bays will be provided adjacent to each worksite. A questionnaire has been distributed to local businesses in the worksite areas seeking information regarding the delivery/collection requirements of each business in order to help inform our contractor and to assist in trying to minimise any disruption to normal business operations.

 Waste collection arrangements

 Presentation points for both domestic and trade waste will be provided adjacent to each worksite and the collection times will remain the same as they currently are. Domestic waste will continue to be collected on Wednesday and Sunday evenings while the current trade waste presentation windows (10:00am to 11.30am and 2:00pm to 3:30pm) will continue to operate. Letters are going out to residents to inform of the temporary domestic waste arrangements while local businesses have also been informed in the delivery/collection questionnaire distributed by our contractors. Signage will be put in place directing people to the temporary presentation points.

 Bus stops

 The bus stop at 352 Leith Walk (adjacent to St Columba’s Hospice charity shop) will move temporarily northwards adjacent to 332 Leith Walk. The bus stop at 177 Leith Walk (adjacent to Miller’s Flooring) will move northwards to the former Lothian Buses depot at 165 Leith Walk.

 Pavement and Road resurfacing

 Work will firstly commence with the resurfacing of the outer pavement areas before then carrying out the resurfacing of the pavements in adjacent to property frontages. Every effort will be made to maintain access to businesses and residential properties at all times. In some cases, if the contractor identifies a significant problem in ensuring this, work may take place outside of normal site hours. Carriageway resurfacing will be carried out following this footway work and it is the intention to use lane closures on Leith Walk with the appropriate Traffic Management arrangements, such as temporary traffic lights where required. It will be necessary to temporarily close some side streets when the work is being carried out but these will be kept to a minimum and as much advance notice as possible will be provided.

 Parking

 While it will be necessary to restrict parking while the works are ongoing in specific areas, our contractors will endeavour to keep these to a minimum.

 General questions regarding the work can be addressed to the City Centre and Leith Neighbourhood Team, citycentreteam@edinburgh.gov.uk, or 0131 529 7061. Issues related to the works on site, such as access enquiries or concerns can be directed to myself, in the first instance, as I will be based in the area and available on mobile number 07739 188438 or email alan.dean@edinburgh.gov.uk

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Training and mentoring for community groups: workshop

What: workshop for community groups doing heritage-led regeneration projects

Where: Riddle’s Court, 322 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2PG

When: Thursday, 22 May 2014 from 10:00 to 16:30

Who: Prince’s Regeneration Trust

Cost: £15.75 + VAT and processing fee. £25 per person travel bursaries are available

Here’s the full announcement:

The Prince’s Regeneration Trust has recently started a new UK wide training and mentoring programme – Building Resources, Investment and Community Knowledge (BRICK). BRICK is a three year programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and a number of corporate sponsors, and it is aimed at community groups taking forward heritage-led regeneration projects. For further information about BRICK please see here:http://www.princes-regeneration.org/resources/BRICK.

The second in the series of BRICK workshops will take place in Edinburgh on 22 May 2014. The day-long event will bring together community groups in Scotland and beyond, interested in learning about:

  •  Ideas to options – Developing creative options for the reuse of historic buildings and sites
  •  Funding journey – Funding strategies and effective management
  •  Innovative financing – Social investment and community banking.

Speakers include representatives of Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, Purcell, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Social Investment Scotland, alongside The Prince’s Regeneration Trust.  The event will also feature interactive sessions and surgeries with the speakers, as well as a tour of the venue – itself a regeneration project. The event will be chaired by Rosie Fraser, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust’s Operations Director.

We are contacting you because we believe that you may be interested in this workshop. We encourage all community groups and all those involved in community lead regeneration projects to take the opportunity to learn through BRICK over the next three years. Further information about BRICK events will be disseminated through various heritage and regeneration agencies and membership organisations, local and regional press, social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter), email and via our new BRICK web site once that is up and running.

If you think that the workshop in Edinburgh might benefit you and would like to attend, please note that a registration fee of just under £20 per person will apply. This includes the cost of lunch & refreshments, online registration charges and VAT. A small number of travel bursaries are available on application.

To register for the event please follow the link: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brick-workshop-2-edinburgh-tickets-11398696809 .

We would also be grateful if you could pass along details for this event to any other contacts or community groups that you think may benefit from attending.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at BRICKworkshops@princes-regeneration.org if you have any questions or require further information. Apologies for any cross-posting.

Kind regards

The BRICK Team
Building Resources, Investment and Community Knowledge
The Prince’s Regeneration Trust
14 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0QP
T: 020 3262 0560  F: 020 3262 0570
E: BRICKworkshops@princes-regeneration.org
W: www.princes-regeneration.org

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REVIEW OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR NOISE REGIME:

Call for Evidence,

What: call for evidence about antisocial noise policy
Where: via web(?)
When: 22nd May 2014
Who: 22nd May 2014
Cost: nil

Here’s the full announcement:

Please see the link to a consultation on the Scottish Government website.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/05/9660

This is a Call for Evidence to support a policy review of the noise regime under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland ) Act 2004 Part 5. The noise provisions which came into force in 2005 introduced a fixed penalty notice deterrent for domestic noise offences for any part of the day or night.

The regime is being reviewed with the objectives of ensuring that the implementing regulations and guidance remains fit for purpose.  The consultation runs till 25 August 2014.

I have also attached a flyer (PDF) which we are running in conjunction with Environmental Protection Scotland.  Places are limited and if you wish to attend please use the contact details on the flyer.

Please feel free to forward this email to others in your organisation.

Linda Story
Policy Advisor
Pollution & Strategic Delivery
Environmental Quality Division
Scottish Government
Area 1H North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
tel. 0131 244 1521
fax. 0131 244 0211 e-mail : linda.story@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Did you know that Noise Action Week 2013 is taking place between 19th and 24th May? Find out more about this initiative to tackle local noise problems atwww.noiseactionweek.org.uk.