Crackling telephone lines in Queensferry – update

Local MP Christine Jardine has called on BT to do something about the dozens of people experiencing problems with phone line in South Queensferry. 

Around 50 people have contacted councillor Kevin Lang with the same problems of cracklings and interference on their phone lines.

Christine said: “Residents in a number of areas of South Queensferry are experiencing much the same problem so this is far from an isolated incident. I’ve asked BT to look into this and come up with a solution. I think it’s important we stay on top of this and find a solution for an issue that is causing so much inconvenience to so many people. I’m continuing to press them on the issue and will report back.”

Airport flight path update – Queensferry

Alex Cole-Hamilton, Christine Jardine and I met with representatives of the airport today. This included a discussion on the changes to flight paths which have been submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for approval and involve a new departure route over Queensferry called D0.

This caused a lot of concern, with over 1,000 residents signing our petition in the space of just a few weeks.

Today’s discussion with the airport allowed us to get some additional important information;

1. The decision of the airport to change their plans and only use the D0 flight path 6-10am means they are limited to 7 flights a day near Queensferry. This is down from the 56 flights a day which the airport had initially proposed.
2. The airport will have to consult and, more importantly, get CAA approval if they want to increase this number in future.
3. The flight path will only be used when aircraft are departing to the west, approximately 70% of the time. For the other 30% of the time, there should be no flights routed over Queensferry.
4. Aircraft are to bank more steeply on departure, at 15 degrees, as opposed to the current 8 degrees. This will mean the aircraft which do fly near Queensferry will be much higher, at 5,000-6,000 feet up, helping to reduce noise.

To be clear, we continue to believe the airport should not be flying over Queensferry. This is what the initial consultation proposed. We will continue to make this argument.

However, thanks to community pressure, it is clear the noise impact of any change in operation will be massively reduced to what was feared.

Kevin

Let’s get Queensferry the swimming pool it deserves

The building of the new Queensferry High School offers us a huge opportunity, not just to provide a fantastic new educational facility but also to deliver improved facilities for the local community.

With only weeks to go until Council officials submit the final plans for the new school for approval, there has been a real community campaign to get a six lane swimming pool rather than the current four lane pool.  This would help ensure the pool is available during the week, even when the school is in session.

We were pleased to get the Council’s new Education Convener and Vice Convener to agree to come to Queensferry to meet with us, the community council and parent council to discuss the plans.  This took place in mid August. The head teacher and deputy head were also present.

It’s safe to say that we all left Cllr Perry and Cllr Dickie in no uncertain terms as to the need for improved sporting facilities in Queensferry. We emphasised the huge opportunity that the new school presents in terms of providing better swimming facilities which the wider community can use throughout more of the week.

Cllr Perry promised to look in detail at the option of extending the number of lanes. He accepted that operational issues around shared use of the pool were surmountable but, inevitably, much of the concern comes down to cost. One promise Cllr Perry did make was that, whatever happens, the new pool would be available during school holidays.

There are obviously no guarantees as what will be brought forward next month. However, we feel we all made the arguments as best we could.

Kevin also highlighted the issue at the full meeting of Edinburgh Council, saying it was time for Queensferry to get the kind of swimming facilities that many other parts of Edinburgh take for granted.

Officials still plan to submit the school planning application in September so we sit at a critical stage of the process.

Edinburgh Airport flight path update – Queensferry

As you will know, we have been campaigning hard against the airport’s plans to change its flight paths and route thousands of aircraft directly over Quensferry, including Echline Primary.  Well over 1,000 people in Queensferry signed our petition against the proposals.

We have been working hard on this issue with local MSP, Alex Cole-Hamilton.  Our new MP, Christine Jardine has also been a terrific help and support since she was elected in June.

The airport has now submitted its proposed new flight paths to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) tomorrow.

These plans continue to involve flying some planes over Queensferry.  However, the airport has made a number of important changes from what was proposed at the beginning of the year.

Critically, the airport says the proposed new flight path will not come in before Spring 2019.  If approved by the CAA, the new flight path over Queensferry would only be used 6-10am.

With Edinburgh Airport being a 24 hour operation, getting them to agree to restricting this flightpath to a few hours each day is important progress.

Let’s also be clear – this has only happened because of the huge objections which were made by local people.

However, our work must go on. We continue to believe the proposals are wrong and that other, more sensible alternative flight paths exist.  Along with Alex and Christine, we will now take our arguments directly to the CAA, not least because of the many flaws in the airport’s own consultation.

Let’s get the Jubilee Clock working again!

Back our campaign to get the Jubilee Clock  working again.

This year marks 130 years since the Jubilee Clock was erected in Queensferry.  It was installed to mark the jubilee of Queen Victoria and, since 1887, it has been one of the iconic landmarks of the town.

However, the clock stopped working last year. Since we were elected last May, many residents have contacted us concerned that such an important part of Queensferry has been left not working for so long.

We’ve been pressing officials at the City of Edinburgh Council but we still haven’t been provided with a date on which the clock will be fixed.

We need to tell the Council that ‘time’s up’ and to get the clock working again before the end of this important anniversary year.

That is why we have set up a new petition for local people to show their support.  The more people who add their names, the more pressure we can put on the Council to get the clock fixed.

Your can sign our petition here.

It was the people of Queensferry who, back in 1887, worked together to help fund the new clock.  130 years on, we hope you’ll back our campaign to get the clock working again.

 

Ferry Fair 2017 – all the details including traffic changes

Both of us are excited about this year’s Ferry Fair, which all kicks off on 6th August and culminates ovet the following weekend, including the parade on Saturday 12 August.

Raffle tickets (£1) and programmes (£3) are on sale in most outlets in the Ferry.  You can support the fair by buying programmes and raffle tickets as the event relies heavily on these sources of income.  You can also make a donation direct here.

You can find more via the Ferry Fair webpage or the Ferry Fair Facebook Page.

There will be lots of changes to traffic and parking arrangements during the Fair.

Most of the High Street and all of Burgess Road will be closed 11th-13th August.  There are also a host of parking restrictions which you can see via this link.

There are also a host of parking restrictions which you can see via this link

Finally, a huge thank you and well done to the organising committee who give up so much time and effort to make the Ferry Fair a success.

 

Official airport figures show massive opposition to new flight path

Official figures from Edinburgh Airport have shown massive opposition to proposals to fly thousands of plans over Queensferry.

The official findings report on the airport consultation showed that, of those who responded and had a view on the flight paths, over 60% were opposed to the suggestion that aircraft should be changed in this way.

The airport unveiled proposals to change its flight paths earlier this year.  In the first consultation in 2016, Edinburgh Airport promised to look at flight paths within a broad ‘envelope’ – this did not include aircraft being routed over Queensferry.

However this second consultation proposed something completely different. The new plans involve a preferred flight path (called D0) for departing planes. The new flight path would route many thousands of aircraft directly over Queensferry.
Local people were rightly shocked by this. There was no suggestion of such a proposal in the airport’s first consultation last year.  Over 1,000 people signed our petition against the plans.

We submitted a joint response to the airport’s consultation with local Member of the Scottish Parliament, Alex Cole-Hamilton. We explained how unacceptable it was for the airport to propose a new flight path which was NOT included in the original 2016 consultation design envelope.  We feel this brought the integrity of the airport’s consultation programme into serious doubt.

We understood Edinburgh Airport suggested the new flight path because other residents in West Lothian objected to initial proposals.  However, residents in Queensferry would have also objected if this new proposal had been suggested in the 2016 consultation.

Queensferry is a large and growing community.  It is also an important tourist and heritage site given its position next to the Forth Rail Bridge.  This new flight path will expose thousands of people to increased aircraft noise.  The preferred flight path would also take planes close to Echline Primary School and a possible new school which may be built south of Builyeon Road.

Given the huge opposition to the proposals, we hope the airport will now confirm that it will not proceed with this change.  A formal decision by the airport is expected later in the year.

Weeds – time for action from Edinburgh City Council

One of the issues re-emerging over the summer months is the problem of weeds across west Edinburgh.

This issue was debated at a recent meeting of the full City of Edinburgh Council with concerns raised about the under resourcing of the team responsible for removing weeds.  There have also been problems since the decision to phase out the use of harmful glyphosate weed-killer with a delay in developing effective alternatives.

Both of us backed a motion to push for urgent action.  Unfortunately, this was voted down by the Labour and SNP administration councillors. Instead, they chose to delay taking action until later in the year.

The failure by those running the Council to properly understand the seriousness of the weeds problem was shown when one administration councillor glibly argued that “a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.”

Labour and SNP councillors may be happy to see our streets covered in weeds but we think residents deserve better.  That is why we will keep fighting for action.

If there is a major weeds problem on your street then let us know by contacting us on kevin.lang@edinburgh.gov.uk and/or louise.young@edinburgh.gov.uk

 

 

 

Travel information for the Queensferry Crossing Experience

When the announcement was made on the planned Queensferry Crossing walkover in September, we quickly made contact with Transport Scotland about the transport arrnagements.

Recent events including the launch of the HMS Elizabeth have caused a great deal of congestion in and around Queensferry. We are keen to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum when the crossing event takes place in September.

Here is the information we got back from Transport Scotland.

Dear Councillor Lang

Thank you for your e-mail to Transport Scotland regarding the transport arrangements for the Queensferry Crossing Experience on 2nd and 3rd September 2017.

For successful applicants in the ballot, the only way to reach the Queensferry Crossing on the day is via one of our Queensferry Crossing Experience travel hubs. Successful applicants will be assigned to their nearest travel hub. Each successful applicant and their group will receive a bus departure time.

Upon completion of each Queensferry Crossing Experience, buses will return people directly to their original travel hub. Departure points will be clearly sign-posted at the Queensferry Crossing. By adopting this approach it will minimise the impact on the local roads and communities immediately adjacent to the site. I can assure you that City of Edinburgh council officials are invited to all the planning meetings relating to the Queensferry Crossing Experience.

Parking is limited at the travel hubs so we are recommending using public transport to reach them where possible. Parking spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. As soon as these spaces have been filled, individuals will have to park out with the hub and at their own risk.

For information, there will be a limited number of disabled parking spaces available at each travel hub. These spaces will also be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

I hope this has been helpful and I will provide you with further details of the arrangements that have been made in the near future.

 

IMPORTANT – WASTE AND RECYCLING UPDATE

Many more residents have contacted us over recent days about the problem is missed waste and recycling collections.

We have now received a full briefing on this and it is clear the problem is an acute lack of HGV drivers which is causing major delays across the city.

Here is the update we received.

WASTE & RECYCLING COLLECTION UPDATE
Waste and Recycling collections are currently experiencing delays in parts of the city. Garden waste collections are running three days behind schedule. There are also some delays of between one and two days for some food and glass collections.

The main issue causing the delays is a shortage of available LGV (HGV) drivers.

A recent recruitment exercise resulted in 10 appointments. However, a mix of both agency and permanent staff have subsequently left the service for work elsewhere. Our agency provider is assisting in trying to source drivers but has so far been unable to cover all vacancies. This shortage is not an Edinburgh specific problem (as several other Scottish councils have confirmed to officers recently). Both the public and private sectors are citing issues in securing and retaining HGV drivers.

As of the start of the week commencing 10th July the service was 10 drivers short; eight at Russell Road Depot and two at Seafield Depot. All of the driver vacancies are on kerbside services – individual household bins for garden, landfill, mixed recycling, food and glass services.

The actions being taken to eliminate the delays on services are:
1) The hourly rate being offered to agency drivers has been increased and adverts have been placed on social media sites, via our agency partner.
2) LGV drivers from the Cleansing service will undertake driving duties in waste collection for the remainder of the week, including the weekend. This will be reviewed for the following week subject to progress against delayed collections whilst ensuring that cleansing requirements are not compromised.
3) Other employment agencies are being contacted and invited to supply drivers. Two drivers have been sourced and are being assessed on the 11th July with a view to an immediate start.
4) Supervisors with appropriate licences have been employed on driving duties.
5) Extra collection routes are being serviced on a Saturday and Sunday to reduce the number of collection rounds running behind at the start of next week.
6) Given the national shortage of drivers the service is looking at upskilling existing staff through a learning contract. This is not an immediate solution but is more sustainable in the long term than reliance on agency and will avoid future recurrences.

It is also recognised that changes to the way in which customers can contact the Council to report a missed collection has caused frustration due to the number of options available to the customer.

Resulting from recent customer feedback a dedicated line for waste enquiries is anticipated to be operational by the end of July. This will make it more straightforward for residents to log missed collections.