Edinburgh Council

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Newhaven Trams (revised designs) – public drop-in events

Three Public Drop-in events are planned for consideration of the revised designs for the Trams extension to Newhaven.

This will enable people to see progress addressing results of the first consultation (May 2018). The drop-in events will be followed by a second consultation (date to be confirmed).

Date: Tuesday 02/10/2018
Venue: Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street (unstaffed exhibition)
Time: 2.00pm – 7.00pm

Date: Saturday 13/10/2018
Venue: Ocean Terminal (staffed exhibition)
Time: 12.00 noon – 5.00pm

Date: Monday 22/10/2018
Venue: McDonald Road Library (staffed exhibition)
Time: 2.00pm – 7.00pm

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upgrade/outage of Edinburgh Council’s Planning and Buildings Standards systems

The following email has been received by LHNCC from Edinburgh Council’s Planning Service Delivery relating to improvements to the Planning portal; an outage of the system is required to implement these changes. 

An upgrade of the Planning and Buildings Standards systems is planned for November this year. The upgrade will result in a number of improvements, such as making it easier to view documents, comment on planning applications and share information using social media.

The process to upgrade our systems will impact on the delivery of the service and the planning and building standards portal will be unavailable during this time. The weekly list of planning applications will not be issued and you will be unable to view and comment on applications.

The internal systems we use to manage applications will also be unavailable and staff will be unable to access planning and building standards records.

Please share this with anyone who might wish to know.

Further information will be issued in the coming weeks, including the specific dates of the downtime. You can also keep up to date by following us on Twitter @planningedin or subscribing to the Planning Blog 

Regards

David R Leslie
Chief Planning Officer
Place Directorate,The City of Edinburgh Council

Following further enquiries by New Town & Broughton Community Council (through Councillor Miller), we have been advised that the upgrade is expected to take place in early November (requiring a downtime of approx. one full week); but the precise date and duration will be confirmed in mid-October.

We have also been advised that the downtime of the planning portal will also impact the Development Management Sub Committee timetable and agendas, with the weekly list of planning applications including newly submitted applications and decisions to be issued once the system is back online. Planning decisions will not be issued during the period of downtime. Furthermore, as we had requested, additional time will be given to comment on applications affected by this planned downtime.

We are expecting further communication from CEC regarding precise dates as soon as their provider informs them.

In general, NTBCC have expressed support for necessary improvements to the planning portal but we are unsure as to either the extent of consultation (& comments received) or the precise weaknesses that this initiative is trying to tackle.

We have also requested further details on the improvements to be incorporated as although the email mentions ‘making it easier to view documents’ – which we would support – we are unclear how this is to be achieved. Improvements to  ‘comment(ing) on planning applications’ is also stated, but again with no details as to what these may be. We have highlighted drawbacks with the current system that we are aware of (which include the limit on number of words permitted, problems due to the time-out (if typing directly online vs. copy/paste) & the inability to attach images, JPEGs etc.

More information will be posted when we receive further details.

 

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Consultation: ‘Edinburgh: connecting our city, transforming our places’

(adapted Edinburgh Council’s consultation web-page)

Edinburgh Council invites take part in this survey to tell us what matters to you and how it should develop the best way forward for Edinburgh. Your views will shape multiple projects:

  • Edinburgh City Centre Transformation – an action plan for a vibrant and people-focussed capital city centre to improve community, economic and cultural life, working to the following vision. ‘An exceptional city centre that is for all, a place for people to live, work, visit and play. A place that is for the future, enriched by the legacy of the past.’

 

  • The City Mobility Plan – setting citywide transport policy and actions based around the following vision. ‘Edinburgh will have a cleaner, safer, inclusive and accessible transport system delivering healthier, thriving and fairer capital city, and a higher quality of life for Edinburgh residents’.

 

  • Low Emission Zones – the Council is taking a comprehensive approach to developing LEZs as a step towards protecting Edinburgh’s citizens from the harms of poor air quality, in line with Scottish Government priorities to introduce LEZs in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow by 2020.

Please see relevant information here.

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Free Collection by Edinburgh Council of garden waste to end in October 2018

(adapted from a post on New Town and Broughton CC’s website)

Edinburgh Council is introducing an annual £25 fee (per bin) to collect brown garden waste bins. Coincident with this – the new service will be fortnightly throughout the year, instead of once every three weeks.

The current free garden waste service will continue until 5 October 2018 BUT if you want to continue receiving garden waste collections after that date, action is required before 22 July to register and pay to receive this service after October 2018.

The council states that its reasons for introducing a charge for garden waste collections are :

  • Garden waste collection is not a statutory service, and with reducing budgets and increasing costs, the council can no longer afford to provide the service for free.
  • Over 40% of councils in the UK charge for a garden waste collection and some have stopped the service altogether.
  • The £25 per year charge was agreed by the council at a meeting in February and it is estimated it will save £1.3 million each year and allow provision of a more frequent service.

You do not need to sign up for this service, but if you choose not to sign up you will stop receiving garden waste collections when the free service stops. Further communication from the council is planned later in the summer.

More details can be found on the council website http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/gardenwasteincluding exemptions to the charge for those who qualify.

The website also has more details on the new policy, how the scheme is intended to work and legitimate options for those who do not sign up for the new scheme.

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Trinity Academy – LHNCC’s support for suitable investment

LHNCC supports Trinity Community Council‘s request to Edinburgh Council for ‘suitable investment’. Here is the text of that request:

FAO: Cllr Ian Perry, Convener of the Education, Children & Families Committee

cc:

Cllr Alison Dickie, Vice Convener of the Education, Children & Families Committee Cllr Adam McVey, Council Leader
Cllr Cammy Day, Deputy Council Leader
Alistair Gaw, Executive Director Communities & Families Committee Services, City of Edinburgh Council

 Trinity Academy – at the heart of our community

Location

Schools play a particular role in Trinity since the area has no other publicly owned infrastructure.

Trinity Academy itself is situated in the centre of the Trinity area, in Craighall Road. Nearby in Craighall Gardens are the Bangholm playing fields which serve not only as a sports area for the school but are also used by Trinity Academy FP rugby club, and Waverley Inverness Trinity hockey club. The school maintains close links with both the rugby club and others who use these facilities. Nearby is Trinity Primary School, one of the feeder primary schools to the Secondary in the area, the others being Wardie and Victoria. Holy Cross, while not being on the list of feeder schools, is nearby and also provides pupils to Trinity Academy. Continue reading →

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Industry Lane: LHNCC’s letter to CEC

(This letter was sent to CEC’s Chief Planning Officer and the relevant Case Officer on 29 May 2018)

David Leslie
Chief Planning Officer, PLACE,
Waverley Court,
4 East Market Street, Edinburgh , EH8 8BG

Dear Mr. Leslie

Re: 18/01876/FUL – 4 Industry Lane, Edinburgh, EH6 4EZ. Demolition of existing commercial garage and erection of new residential block 19 units with associated car parking and landscaping.

Applicant: Murascot.Ltd
Agent: Susan Stephen, Architects

Objection: Grounds for comment

A presentation by the Developer for above was held at Leith Harbour & Newhaven Community Council (LHNCC) Meeting on 22 May 2018, with representation from residents local to Planning Application area in attendance. The general consensus from Committee members was that this application is not appropriate for this site. It was suggested, by some members, that a more appropriate approach would be to convert the existing building to Mews/Colony style residences. There should be provision for people with special needs, including disabled parking facility. It was agreed that I would send a response on behalf of LHNCC.

The proposal is contrary to the following Local Development Plan (2016) Continue reading →

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LHNCC minutes: April 2018

Minutes of the Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council meeting, held at Leith Community Centre on Tuesday 24 April 2018 at 7.00pm

Actions and decisions are red italic underlined. Nem con means that no-one spoke or voted against an item. Continue reading →