Greener Leith News

Free Earnest Marples!

Ally — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:20:51 +0000

The Royal Mail have taken legal action against a non profit service, little known outside 'techy' circles called Earnest Marples, shutting it down. You're probably wondering what Earnest Marples is, and why it matters. Well Earnest Marples was a clever little service that did a simple job for lots of other non-profit on-line projects. It allowed other people to send it a postcode, and it would convert that postcode into a lattitude and a longitude, so that it would be easy to plot the postcode on a map and do other things with it.

Now that Earnest Marples has been switched off, a free service called Twitter Plan that we really liked doesn't work anymore. It used to send us a message automatically every time a new planning application in Leith was posted on the City of Edinburgh Council website. Twitter Plan, was a great example of a non-profit service that made it easy for people all over the UK to participate in decision making about their local neighbourhood. It was built by volunteers, and was often a huge improvement on the service provided by local authorities, who in theory, have much greater resources to throw at these things, and should be setting up these services anyway.

Sadly, The City of Edinburgh Council doesn't provide a free local alerts system. So you can't sign up to get an email when a planning application is lodged near you. Now that Twitterplan is down, if you want to know about new planning applications in your area, you'll need to remember to go to the City of Edinburgh Council website every week and check through the 'Weekly List' of planning applications lodged with the council.

Twitter Plan wasn't the only really useful service that relied upon Earnest Marples that had been built by volunteers to improve upon government services. The brilliantly named "Job Centre Pro Plus" used to allow users to get email alerts every time a new local job vacancy was posted to the governments Job Centre Plus website. It's a simple idea, but try going to the government funded Job Centre Plus website and see if you can even get it to give you a simple list of all the jobs available in Leith, and you'll see how useful Job Centre Pro Plus was to people who are unemployed. Well, Job Centre Pro Plus doesn't work now either.

There were other non-profit services using Earnest Marples including ones that were providing live bus timetable information, a 'find your local hospital service' and one that helped people to find their nearest polling station.

So, we hope you'll agree with us, even if you didn't use any of these services, that perhaps it would be a good thing if the Royal Mail would allow non-profit users of post code data to get access to the information they need for free, as this would encourage geeks all over the UK to build all sorts of other socially useful websites.

If you do agree, there's a couple of things that the people behind Earnest Marples would like you to do.

Firstly, you could use another non-profit website that makes it easy to work out who your local MP is called WriteToThem.com, and you could use it to write to them to ask them to support Early Day Motion number 2000, that calls on the Royal Mail to provide a free license of the Postcode Address File for non-profit uses.

Secondly, you could also sign the petition that's been started on the number 10 website. You can find it by clicking here. And lest you think this all a bit obscure, and that no-one really cares, you might be interested to know that more than 2200 people have signed the petition since it was started, just a few weeks ago.

More information on the Earnerst Marples blog.

National Spring Clean 2010.

Ally — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:04:01 +0000

We know, it's not even Christmas. However, Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) have already opened registration for National Spring Clean 2010. Last April 60,000 people volunteered accross Scotland to take part in the campaign, clearing a truly stupendous amount of litter from Scotlands public spaces. Greener Leith helped to organise two clean-up events in 2009, in Pilrig Park and along the walkway from Easter Road to Seaflield.

We'll certainly be planning a community clean up event to coincide with National Spring Clean month. Our question to Leithers is this: Which area should we choose?

More information on the National Spring Clean 2010 campaign is available on the Keep Scotland Beautiful website. The website features pages for different types of group; as well as information about what you need to organise your clean up, competition and offer details, case studies from last year and an online map of registered events. If you want to register your own event, KSB will even send you a clean-up kit nearer the time to help get you started.

Holyrood enquiry seeks your views on active travel

Ally — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:48:36 +0000

At Holyrood, The Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee is holding an inquiry into walking and cycling in Scotland. Whilst Greener Leith has already submitted the results of our We Love Leith Travel Survey to the committee for their consideration, individuals - such as you - can also give evidence.

The questions that the enquiry are asking are:

Question 1	What more can be done to encourage people to change their travelling habits and walk and cycle more?
Question 2	Is enough progress being made in developing and delivering improvements in the uptake of walking and cycling?
Question 3	If not, what are the barriers to progress? (for example, lack of policy development, lack of political leadership, lack of funding/investment, the lack of prominence given to active travel in transport policy development, project planning and construction etc.)
Question 4	Why do walking and cycling policies set out in national, regional and local transport plans not result in a greater modal share for walking and cycling?
Question 5	What further action is required by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other bodies to ensure that significant progress is made in the development and implementation of walking and cycling, particularly if transport is to make a greater and more meaningful contribution to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions?
Question 6	What can Scotland learn from good practice/successful implementation in other countries?

You don't need to answer all of them if you don't want to, and the parliament will accept a submission by email. More information here:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/ticc/inquiries/ActiveTravelViews.htm

Cycling: It's not scary

Ally — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:00:36 +0000

Our We Love Leith travel coaches are not as scary as these people...There may be lots of scary things out and about on Halloween, but Greener Leith is determined to show people that cycling isn't frightening by inviting everyone to a "Cycling: It's not scary" event on the 31st of October, 2009.

As part of our We Love Leith campaign, we've given local volunteers the chance to get free accredited cycle leader, and bike maintenance training. Now the first volunteers have completed this training we're ready to run our first bike event. "Cycling: It's not scary," will be an easy, short cycle ride from the The Shore to the new Botanic Gardens Visitor centre - and we'll bring you back to The Shore again if you wish.

We plan to meet in the square opposite the Mal Maison hotel at 12pm, where we'll make sure that we give everyone a chance to practice their cycle skills (imagine a short 'cycle proficiency' course for grown-ups), and a free bike check before we leave. The route will be mainly on traffic free off road cycle paths, or low traffic roads. Everyone who takes part will get a free 'We Love Leith' travel map, and of course, there may even be a few We Love Leith bike bells on the go to.

Whilst you can simply turn up on the day, if you would like to come then we'd be grateful if you could let us know by contacting us.

Also, if you do come please bring with you:

A bike!
A responsible adult if you're over 18.
Waterproofs, and warm gloves. (Lycra, or other kinds of fancy dress isn't required).
A bike helmet.
Bike lights - it may be dark by the time we get back.

Please also note that it is your responsibility to let us know if you have a medical condition that you think you, or someone you will be responsible for, may be affected by the ride. This could include, for example, diabetes, asthma, or a heart condition. You can simply tell the cycle leaders about any medical condition on the day, or you can tell us before hand, in confidence, using this contact form.

The bike ride will go ahead unless the weather is really bad.

And lastly, for those of you who are over 18, we might take a little visit to Sofi's Bar afterwards - as there might be some really scary things in there.

Leith joins the Kitchen Canny Challenge

Ally — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:14:17 +0000

To get to your kitchen, the humble apple often makes a journey of several thousand miles after being grown, watered and harvested. It’s then packaged, chilled, and transported to the supermarket and then your home. But this common part of Scottish householders’ diets also contributes to the £70 million worth of fresh, edible fruit thrown away every year.

In direct response, Leith is joining communities across the Lothians and Borders by taking part in the Changeworks Kitchen Canny project. Over the next year, the project will be working with 3000 households overall to look at practical ways to cut down on the food they waste.

Greener Leith, the local organisation working with Changeworks, is now looking for local households to get involved. By trying out the Kitchen Canny action kit, households will get a real snapshot of the food they waste and lots of practical ideas on how to reduce it.

"Changeworks have produced a fantastic action kit that is easy and fun to use. I've no doubt that it will help anyone who takes part to cut the amount of food they waste, save cash and maybe even learn some new cooking tips.” says Alastair Tibbitt of Greener Leith.

Apart from throwing money down the drain (£430 a year in every household according to WRAP), all that food waste also ends up in landfill - and when it decomposes it produces methane, a gas that contibutes to climate change.

Anna Derricourt from Changeworks has seen a great response from householders currently taking part in the Lothians, “Already people are saying that it’s been really eye-opening because they didn’t know how much they were really throwing away and how easy it is to really make an impact.”

To get your free action kit or find out more go to www.changeworks.org.uk/kitchencanny or visit Greener Leith at the Changeworks office, 36 Newhaven Road.

Trees company

Ally — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:15:03 +0000

Some time ago, Greener Leith ran The Leith Links Ask, which asked local residents to vote for three proposals that would improve Leith Links. At the time, some people were surprised that proposals to plant 'mini-nature reserves', wildflowers and establish a 'Leith Gardens' came in high on the results list.

It's therefore interesting to see that Leithers attitudes to their parks aren't so different from people who live in the rest of the city. The City of Edinburgh Council have just released the results of their 'Parks Survey' that sought, amongst other things, to identify what people value about their parks. Here's the list of things that people said they thought were 'very important' or 'quite important':

Aspect	%
Trees and woodlands	96%
Nature reserves	94%
Presence of wildlife	93%
Grassed areas	92%
Public toilets	77%
Facilities for young people	76%
Sports facilities	74%
Signage	74%
Educational activities	72%
Formal planting	68%
Allotments	65%
History of parks information	59%
Events in parks	57%

These figures are based on the views of just over 1000 residents from all over Edinburgh. It would seem that Leithers are not the only people to value green space, wildlife and trees. As we've noted previously however, it is unfortunate that Leithers have access to a lower amount of green space than other parts of Edinburgh, and the parks, and the play facilities we do have are not of the same quality as elsewhere.

Interestingly, the report also highlights the fact that the older people get, the less likely they are to agree with the statement, "Edinburgh's parks meet my needs." Does this mean that more thought needs to be given to making parks enjoyable and accessible for older people too? The report suggests another possible reason for this trend - is it because older people have higher expectations of maintenance than younger folk. If this is the case, perhaps this is a case where we should listen to our elders?

You can download the whole Parks Survey Report here.

Local residents call to cut traffic on the Shore

Ally — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:20:10 +0000

It's been almost a month since we organised Car Free Day on the Shore, and sadly it's taken us this long to get some usable film footage out of our camera. On the day, we spoke to George Johnson, who is the chair of a newly formed group in the area - The Friends of the Water of Leith. He kindly agreed to go on camera and share with us his groups thoughts about the traffic on the Shore.

Do you agree with the Friends of the Water Of Leith? Or do you have other ideas that would help people to walk, cycle and take public transport more? We're asking everyone to vote in our Future Travel Action Plan here: http://www.weloveleith.com/future-travel-plan/

If you can't play the video, you should be able to watch it here.

Path Improvements On The Way?

Ally — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:55:54 +0000

Greener Leith has been working for months to persuade anyone who'll listen to us that the current barrier on the traffic free path from Easter Road to Hawkhill Avenue and Lochend Park needs to be removed. As you can see from the picture below, the barrier is designed as an extremely tight chicane, and it prevents cyclists, wheelchair users, and people with buggies from using the path altogether.

It also looks really horrible.

You can see in the photograph, that the path surface deteriorates to mud for about 20 metres, before it joins a cobbled lane. So we're delighted to hear that, (subject to the approval of around £17,000 worth of funding from the Housing and Built Environment Sub Group of the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership) the ugly barrier is set to be replaced with a new chicane that will allow most wheeled objects through, and also that the muddy section of path will also be improved and brought up to the same standard as the rest of the footway.

This one improvement will make it possible to walk with a buggy, push a wheelchair or cycle all the way to Lochend Park, and both Meadowbank and Easter Road stadiums from the foot of Easter Road - with very little contact with motorised traffic.

We're particularly pleased about this improvement, as it supports our 'We Love Leith' campaign that seeks to inspire Leithers to choose a greener way to travel. Simple improvements like this make it even easier, not to mention more appealing, to walk and cycle. To date, hundreds of Leithers have so far made a We Love Leith pledge, and many are keen to walk, or cycle more with their kids to school. The removal of this barrier will make it possible for many more people to walk or cycle all the way from Lochend and Restalrig to Leith Academy without going on a busy road.

Redbraes Hydro Feasibility Study Confirmed

Ally — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:07:11 +0000

Greener Leith is pleased to announce that Community Energy Scotland have awarded funding to support a coalition of Edinburgh based community groups, including Greener Leith, to conduct detailed feasibility studies on developing hydro electricity generation on four sites along the Water of Leith.

The Redbraes weir was identified by previous research commissioned by the City of Edinburgh council, as one of 15 sites along the river, where microhydro may be feasible. This study suggested that a 'reverse archimedes screw' might be the best way to generate power from the Redbraes weir. This would be similar (but smaller) to the one in this video clip below, on the River Dart in Devon.

This latest funding award, worth about £6000 to the Leith area, will see the site assessed to see whether a microhydro scheme would in fact be feasible, both from a practical and financial perspective. It will therefore look at issues like:

The best technologies to use.
Who owns the land.
The impact on wildlife and flooding, and what could be done to reduce this.
Estimating how much electricity, and money, the installation would generate each year.
How it would be connected to the national grid and the costs of doing this.
Installation, insurance and maintenance costs.

Although the site has the lowest capacity of the four sites being assessed in detail, we hope that it will nevertheless prove to be a viable project.

On its own, the project will never power the whole of Leith - but we do hope that it will provide a small income stream from selling renewable energy into the grid. If this is the case, our intention would be to establish a community managed company to invest any income from the project into helping residents nearby to cut their carbon footprint. The project could also play an exciting role as a demonstration and educational resource as well, with a possibility of linking with the Redbraes community garden (where volunteers have just won the 'Best Community Garden' award in this years Beautiful Edinburgh in Bloom competition). It would be visible from the public footpaths on the West bank of the river too.

Historically, the Water of Leith has been heavily modified along it's entire length, and the weirs were originally built to power mills during the industrial revolution. Therefore it seems fitting to try to bring these weirs back into use, providing a clean, green power source for local residents, using the best of modern technology.

If the project is workable, there is in an incredible amount of fundraising, and project development work to do - but at the moment we're optimistic about working with local residents groups like the Redbraes Residents Association to take the project to the next stage.

The other sites that will be investigated in detail as part of the same funding bid are Harperrig reservoir (Kirknewton Community Development Trust), Harlaw reservoir (Balerno Village Trust), and the larger of the two weirs in Dean village (Dean Village Association).

A ‘swap shop’ for Leith that can do great things for charity too!

Ally — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:19:57 +0000

Simon Pailin is one the people behind JumbleAID. We thought it was a fantastic idea, so we asked him to write a guest post for our blog to explain how it works. Here it is:

By Simon Pailin – JumbleAID.com

Greener Leith are doing a fantastic job for the local community and as a guest blogger I’d like to introduce JumbleAID to you all to see if it ticks the right boxes to help with your cause.

JumbleAID is a new ‘FREE to use’ fundraising website that enables anyone with an unwanted item to find a new home for it, thus keeping it out of landfill, and, in the process, converting it into valuable funds for their chosen charity.

JumbleAID’s mission is to ‘Keep stuff out of landfill and help charities at the same time’. It was born out of frustration with the throwaway society and a genuine wish to unlock the second and third hand value of unwanted stuff for the good of the community.

Although JumbleAID is a national organisation it can be used very effectively on a local level because of the clever searching facilities it has within the site.

JumbleAID creates a community that is all about giving and care for the environment and because nobody can list an item for personal or commercial gain and also because no item is taken totally for free, it cuts out any profiteering and opportunism found within sites such as ebay, Freecycle and Freegle.

How does it work?

Very similar to the ebay process, funds are raised by ‘Gifting’ unwanted stuff online and people make a donation in return for the items. The whole process is administered through the Jumble aid site and all money is securely collected and distributed to charities by Charities Trust – a not-for-profit charity specialising in the collection and distribution of charity funds. Their fees are fixed at a flat 4% to cover transaction charges and Gift Aid administration (the Gift Aid process has been approved by HMRC).

Not a penny of any donation goes to JumbleAID. JumbleAID sustains itself through advertising revenues on the site and selected sponsorship agreements.

So how could JumbleAID be used by the people of Leith?

As a community everyone within the Leith district who shares the views of and aims of Greener Leith could use JumbleAID to find new homes for unwanted stuff – it could be anything from a TV to a truck-load of top soil, from an old computer to a unwanted Christmas gift. There’s a new home out there for just about anything!

The person who gifts the item selects the charity to benefit (so it could be Greener Leith who you select to benefit, if you want to raise money to improve your local neighbourhood) - or a national charity such as Marie Curie Cancer Care. The choice is down to the "gifter."

When it comes to searching for stuff on the site you can select items near to any postcode so that it keeps the JumbleMILES down and keeps the items within the community. You can also search by different supported charities.

The word is starting to spread

The site is now starting to gain awareness through PR, social networking, search engine optimisation and ‘Group Schemes’ where an organisation uses the site to involve their members in community fundraising.

Promotion is starting to build with over 300 charities having contacted the site to register their interest and founding charity partners starting to spread the word in a whole range of communications.

The site is also developing a growing following with Local Authorities who, as advocates, are starting to recommend JumbleAID to the communities they serve as a worthwhile and responsible way of finding new homes for unwanted stuff and keeping it out of landfill.

Please have a look at the site and let us know what you all think and start listing your unwanted stuff today – it may well help someone in your community tomorrow!

Contact: Simon Pailin – JumbleAID Email simon@jumbleaid.com Tel 01422 820787

If you've got stuff you'd like to get rid of why not become a 'gifter' on JumbleAID and help Greener Leith in the process? To get started you need to register on the JumbleAID website at www.jumbleaid.com. When you go through the registration process, be sure to select Greener Leith as a favourite charity. Please also join the Greener Leith group using the code: JA0020 as this will allow us all to see how much money we've raised. If this all seems to technical we may be able to post unwanted items to JumbleAID for you. Please do get in touch if you'd like our help.

Events in parks: who decides?

Ally — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:40:28 +0000

In the Meadows area local residents have been voicing their concerns over the use of the Meadows as an events venue for years, and this has now culminated in calls for council officers to develop a city wide Parks Events Strategy. Greener Leith, along with other community groups in the city, have recently been invited by the Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links to contribute towards a statement they're preparing to give to the officials involved. Apparently this document is set to be considered by councillors in November.

It would seem that a great deal of debate has been focussed on setting firm numbers on the duration, scale and the frequency of events in parks. The Greener Leith committee considered these issues and felt it that it was in fact very difficult to come up with hard a fast rules over what should and should not be permitted.

We are of no doubt that some parks are 'over used,' and for people who live close to over used parks then it is easy to understand the perception that commercial operators are able to clean-up on profits, whilst creating noise, mess and damage to the park, that the local residents have to live with - often for months later.

Nevertheless, there are also parks that would benefit from greater use, and more events. Locally we've seen both sides of this equation. This year, for example, the news that the Mela would return to Pilrig park, generated a degree of concern from local residents over the potential for traffic, litter, noise and long term damage to the park. Changes were made by the organisers to accomodate these concerns, and it would seem little lasting damage resulted, this year at least.

On the other hand, Friends of Parks groups, such as the Friends of Montgomery Street Park are helping to bring their local pocket parks to life by organising events that encourage people into their local park, and perhaps to make more use of it longer term. In fact, the Friends of Montgomery Street park masterplan for improving their park includes more hard standing to make it easier to hold even more events in the park.

Each park is different, with different pressures, and different uses. Therefore, rather than a strategy that establishes hard and fast rules over the number, frequency or duration of events, we propose that responsibility for managing events in parks beyond a certain size is simply devolved to the various local Neighbourhood Partnerships.

If each Neighbourhood partnership had the power to veto events, or impose management conditions on particular events going ahead, then this could provide local democractic oversight over the events that take place in an area. Afterall, neighbourhood partnerships have all the right people around the table - local councillors, local community councillors, representatives from the emergency services, local businesses and local voluntary organisations. Why not give them the power to decide?

3 ways to get cheaper groceries without going near a chain store

Ally — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:35:52 +0000

As part of our We Love Leith travel survey we discovered that lots of people in Leith mainly use their car (if they have one) to carry out 'the dreaded weekly shop.' So, in an effort to help people avoid the weekly shop, and thus a regular weekly car journey - we've put together 3 ways that you can avoid the weekly shop, cut your carbon footprint and still get cheap vegetables. However, before we start it's worth pointing out that last time we checked - local independent shops in Leith were 15% cheaper than the chain stores anyway. So we hope the discounts we've negotiated below provide an even bigger incentive for folk to shop local and shop smart.

The first way you can do it, is to get as many of your regular purchases delivered straight to your door. Most of the major supermarkets provide a delivery service, but we're pleased to announce that local organic farm 'Damhead' have agreed to provide Leithers with a 10% discount on their box delivery scheme. If you choose to eat organic food, you get a double carbon saving. You cut down on your car journeys to the shops - and the food you get delivered also has a lower carbon footprint because less manmade fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals have been used in their production. The chances are most of the food you get will have travelled a shorter distance to get to your door too.

More details on this great offer from Damhead in the We Love Leith directory.

Even if you get a regular food delivery, chances are you'll need to top up during the week. One of the cheapest ways to buy your food is to get it from a local food co-op. There are two local food co-ops taking part in the We Love Leith campaign. The Village Store at Out of the Blue offers customers a 10% discount of selected seasonal produce every Friday afternoon, whilst the Fort Food co-op is offering to give any customer with a We Love Leith shopping bag a free '5 a day' bag of fruit and veg with every purchase. More on both offers here.

Staying local, but with better opening hours, we're also pleased to announce that amongst the latest businesses on Great Junction Street to offer discounts to Leithers shopping locally, Fruit Heaven offers a 10% discount to people who spend more than £20 there.

10,000 bulbs bound for Leith this Autumn

Ally — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:02:25 +0000

Between them, community groups in Leith plan to plant more than 10,000 crocus, snowdrop and bluebells in Leith parks this Autumn. That's an incredible undertaking.

Friends of Montgomery Street park plan to plant 3000 mixed crocus bulbs in the park on the 11th of October. Volunteers are set to meet at 10am on the day, and according to their website only a complete deluge will deter the planting from going ahead. Drinks and biscuits are provided for willing workers, and if you have trowels or work gloves please bring them. More information on the event here.

Meanwhile, Leith Links Community Council, together with local schools, and a range of community groups, including Greener Leith are planning to plant more than 7000 bulbs over four days in late October. The community volunteer day is on the 1st of November between 2pm and 4pm. Again, all welcome, and if you have gloves and trowels, please do bring them along. Some time ago Leithers identified more flowers and a greater diversity of planting as something they'd like to see more of as part of our Leith Links Ask consultation about the future of Leith Links. It's great to see Leith Links Community Council put funding in (alongside a contribution from Greener Leith) to get improvements happening in the park.

Lastly, we should also note that the City of Edinburgh Council are also supporting both events by providing tools and staff support.

Lament for a vandalised tree

Ally — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:44:08 +0000

In urban parks vandalism is too often a problem. This poem was attached to a tree that had obviously been destroyed by vandals in King George V park. We wonder whether it gave any of the people involved in vandalising the tree pause for thought? Can poems be more effective that calling the police in the long run?

However, it seems the Friends of King George V and Scotland Street Parks are undeterred. They plan to organise a community clean-up event on Sunday the 11th of October at 3pm. Everyone is welcome to join in. The more local residents get stuck into improving their local parks - the less chance there is of vandalism.

The LGBT Community gets its green fingers dirty!

Ally — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:46:51 +0000

This new community garden isn't in Leith - but would welcome volunteers from Leith.

Lauren Fox, Community Development Officer with LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing said:

‘I am really excited about starting a Community Garden in the Centre of Edinburgh. So many people want to grow their own vegetables but don’t have access to gardens and the waiting lists for allotments are huge. The idea is that this garden will be self owned and everyone will take a vested interest in its development. Hopefully in years to come this will be a lasting legacy for the LGBT Community’

We are currently looking for volunteers who have green fingers and want to get mucky. The group will meet fortnightly starting on the 10^th October at 10.30 am.

Contact Lauren Fox at lauren@lgbthealth.org.uk or on 0131 523 1100 for further information.