Complete Louise’s survey here.
Later this week, Cllr Louise Young will be asking the Council’s new convener of environment about the problem of waste collection across north and west Edinburgh. She wants to hear about your own experiences in your street. Her survey takes no more than five minutes to complete.
So if you’ve suffered from missed collection or broken bins then let her know by using the link below.
One of our big priorities is trying to get progress that will allow the Burnshot Bridge to be re-opened.
Councillors got a detailed update this week. Council officials have now engaged a contractor to agree a works programme and a cost for safely demolishing the current bridge. This is a considerable exercise given the utilities which run along the bridge as well as the volume of traffic which passes underneath every day.
It is expected that the demolition work will commence before the start of winter. The Council is also seeking cost estimates to replace / refurbish the bridge. As mentioned before, money has been allocated both in this year’s and next year’s budget for the bridge.
We will keep passing on updates when we get them. This is also the very first issue which we plan to raise with the new Convener of Transport when they (finally!) get appointed.
We attended tonight’s ‘drop in’ event from GVA on proposals for housing at Foxhall.
Unfortunately there is no online version of the materials which were on display. GVA has promised to provide us with a PDF of the presentation and we are happy to share this. If you’d like a copy then just email us at kevin.lang@edinburgh.gov.uk or Louise.young@edinburgh.gov.uk
THE BASICS
GVA are looking to bring forward a formal planning application for up to 100 homes on the Foxhall site just to the east of Kirkliston.
There would be one access road into the development from the Foxhall/Conifox road with other pedestrian access points to the north and south.
The application will be for approval in principle for a housing development on this site on behalf of the land owner. The detailed planning application (which would include road layouts, housing designs etc) would come later.
THE PROCESS
GVA will likely undertake another period of formal consultation over the summer before the application is submitted. They are then aiming for a decision from the Council (again, on the principle of housing) by the end of 2017. That planning process would allow people to make objections as usual.
MAKING YOUR VIEWS KNOWN
The presentation boards from today are available to view in Kirkliston Library. As mentioned, you can email us for a PDF copy which we’ll happily pass on.
Frustratingly, there are only paper feedback forms and no electronic versions to share. You can however email comments to oliver.munden@gva.co.uk by 19 June.
WHAT WE SAID
We were clear in expressing our views to GVA tonight and explained the huge pressures which already exist in the village.
After running an initial consultation event last January, it was disappointing that GVA did not appear to have any detailed answers to the issues which were raised by residents five months ago.
In particular, we highlighted the problems we are seeing today in terms of school capacity. We also focused on the gridlock already experienced at the village cross roads. We explained how we had been elected to try and resolve that congestion, not make it worse. Again, at this stage, there was no solution offered in terms of the impact of another 100 houses within just a few hundred yards of the crossroads.
There is clearly a long process to go through before any decision is taken. We will work hard to keep folks informed as this proposal moves forward.
Again, if you’d like PDF copies of the GVA presentation, just email us at Kevin.lang@edinburgh.gov.uk or Louise.young@edinburgh.gov.uk
Wonderful day at Kirkliston Gala. Well done to the members of the organising committee for all their hard. Weather stayed dry too!
Congratulations to Christine Jardine on her election as the new local Member of Parliament.
We were delighted to support Christine and we know she’ll make a first class local MP. We can’t wait to start working as a team with her and Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP.
In the recent council election, we promised that one of our top priorities would be tackling the congestion at the Kirkliston cross-roads.
We have already discussed this with city council transport officials. We have started our push for a proper transport study that develops options for the cross roads that improves the flow of traffic.
Edinburgh City Council still doesn’t have an administration and a new convener of transport is still to be appointed. However, we intend to meet with them as soon as they are appointed to make sure this is a priority. We also want to use our petition (which includes 1,000 names) to show the strength of feeling in the village.
We will keep local people in Kirkliston informed as our campaign moves forward.
If you want to be kept informed by email then please sign up here.
https://kevinlang.mycouncillor.org.uk/emails/
Best wishes,
Cllr Louise Young and Cllr Kevin Lang
In the recent council election, we promised that one of our top priorities would be tackling the congestion at the Kirkliston cross-roads.
We have already discussed this with city council transport officials. We have started our push for a proper transport study that develops options for the cross roads that improves the flow of traffic.
Edinburgh City Council still doesn’t have an administration and a new convener of transport is still to be appointed. However, we intend to meet with them as soon as they are appointed to make sure this is a priority. We also want to use our petition (which includes 1,000 names) to show the strength of feeling in the village.
We will keep local people in Kirkliston informed as our campaign moves forward.
If you want to be kept informed by email then please sign up here.
https://kevinlang.mycouncillor.org.uk/emails/
The Council has started a 12 week consultation on the replacement Queensferry High School.
This is a pre-planning consultation so that initial designs can be shared with the community as well as information on the impact on surrounding areas.
The plan is to have two ‘drop-in’ events, both running 4-8pm at the high school on 13 and 22 June. There will likely to be another presentation on 26 June, so plenty of opportunity for folk to see what is being considered and feed in thoughts, ideas and concerns.
You can find out more here.
New councillors, Kevin Lang and Louise Young want to say a huge THANK YOU for the fantastic support they received in the recent council election. The result was pretty overwhelming – just look at the party first preferences totals:
Liberal Democrats – 7,217 (51%)
SNP – 3,211 (22%)
Con – 2,395 (17%)…
Lab – 786 (6%)
Green – 375 (3%)
Kevin and Louise said, “During the campaign, we promised to be a hard working and effective team of local councillors. That’s why we are getting straight to work, holding our first meetings in the City Chambers.
“We will be getting our telephone, email and surgery details all confirmed over the coming days. We will also start work on the issues we campaigned on so strongly over the last few weeks. As promised, we will keep in touch through regular newsletters and email updates.
“We are honoured to be your voices on Edinburgh City Council. We will now work as hard as we can to repay the trust which local people have placed in us.”
The local Lib Dem team always work to ensure broken street lights are replaced as quickly as possible.
Click here to report a broken street light in your area
Lib Dem council candidate Kevin Lang said, “I’ve already managed to get a number of broken street lights fixed by the council. I report lights and ensure that they are monitored until fixed. Street lighting is important for safety and security of road users and pedestrians. For street lamp repairs it helps to know what address the lamp is located by, or the number from the lighting column.”
You can report street lighting by filling in this form and Kevin will make the report.
Kevin said, “If you notice a problem in the local area then please report it. It takes just a couple of minutes to let us know and it helps us look after the area.”