Christmas and New Year – important information and updates

Over this Christmas and New Year period, we wanted to provide some information on the issues which local people most frequently ask us about during the festive season

We hope the following is helpful.

Gritting and grit bins

Current resourcing of gritting in Edinburgh means the Council’s gritting vehicles focus on priority roads such as bus routes and main roads.  You can see a map showing the priority roads in Queensferry and Dalmeny here.

Grit bins are located in many locations for local spreading.  You can see a map of the bins in your area using this link.

If you have a damaged or empty grit bin then you can report it here.

Public transport

Bus services will be significantly changed over the Christmas and New Year period.  Here are links to the revised bus timetables;

Scotrail service changes can be seen here.

Edinburgh taxi fares will be higher than normal 24-27 December and 31 December-2 January.  Full details can be found here.

Health Services

NHS24 will be working throughout Christmas and New Year.  You can ring them by dialling 111.

Accident and emergency services will be available at St John’s and the Royal Infirmary.  The Western General will operate reduced hours for its minor injuries clinic.

Here are details for any emergency dental care.

Christmas tree recycling

Edinburgh City Council runs a free collection and composting service for Christmas trees. If you have a brown bin then you can recycle your Christmas tree by placing it on the kerbside on your scheduled brown bin day by 6am.

Remember to cut your tree in half if it is 6ft tall or higher Also, don’t forget to remove all decorations and stands.

You can also take Christmas trees to any of the Community Recycling Centres. The sites will be closed 25, 26 December and 1, 2 and 3 January.

Bin collections

If your recycling or waste bins are usually collected on a Monday there will be some changes to your collection dates. You can see the changes here.

All other collections should operate as normal.

Parking

There will be free parking across the City of Edinburgh council area on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.  Meters will not be operating on these days but will operate as usual on all other days.

More information is available here.

Shops and postal services

There will be no Royal Mail deliveries 24-26 December or 31 December-2 January.  Deliveries should be as normal around these dates. More information from the Royal Mail is available here.

Check your local post office for opening times over the next couple of weeks.  General information is available here.

Christmas and New Year opening times for major stores can be found as follows:

(Christmas opening times for Scotmid were not available online so please check in store)

Please also remember to support all the fantastic independent local shops over Christmas and New Year.

Leisure Centres

Christmas and New Year opening times for Edinburgh Leisure operated sites are available here.

Emergency services

An usual, you should phone 999 if you need emergency assistance over the festive period.   If you need to contact the police about a non-emergency or have a general enquiry then dial 101.

Here is more information on how to stay safe over Christmas.  I want to make a point of thanking all those people who I know will be checking on their older neighbours and friends in their community over the Christmas and New Year period.

Donating Food

Finally, it’s not too late to donate food to those who need it this Christmas.  Foodbank collection points are easy to access and more information is available here.

I hope all this information is helpful.

Wishing all our constituents a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

With best wishes,

Cllr Kevin Lang and Cllr Louise Young