Harvest Drive, Ratho Station to close for three weeks

Harvest Drive, one of the two main roads in and out of Ratho Station, is to be closed for up to three weeks. This is to carry out emergency repair work and follows a recent inspection.

The road will be closed at the south end from 14 January. A diversion will be in place with signage put up around the area. However, it will mean the only road in and out of Ratho Station during this time will be via Station Road/Glasgow Road.

Click here for the full map and diversion plan

Whilst the work could take up to three weeks, transport officials have told us that, with good weather, they may be able to complete it in a shorter period.

SNP and Labour vote down action plan on local buses

Earlier today, we brought an urgent motion to Edinburgh Council, seeking a new action plan to address the declining bus services in rural West Edinburgh.

After the halving of services in Kirkliston, the loss of the St John’s bus link and changes which routed buses away from Newbridge, it is clear a different approach is needed.

Unfortunately, the SNP and Labour administration of councillors voted down our motion. They said the current approach was sufficient. We couldn’t disagree more.

Surprisingly, even the SNP councillor for Kirkliston and Newbridge voted against our motion. It is clear the SNP led administration simply doesn’t get the scale of the problem.

We will continue to stand up and fight for improvements to local bus services.

New campaign for airport night flight limit

We have launched a new campaign with Christine Jardine MP and Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP to introduce a new limit on the number of night time flights at Edinburgh Airport.

Edinburgh Airport has launched a new consultation on a draft noise action plan. This includes a range of measures to minimise and mitigate aircraft noise.

However, the draft plan retains the current practice of an unlimited number of night time flights (between 2330-0600). Other major airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted already have limits imposed on night time flying by the UK Government.

In launching the campaign, we know Christine Jardine will be writing to households around the airport to encourage residents to respond to the consultation and support a new limit.

Limits on the number of night time flights been in place at a number of other major UK airports for many years. However, there are no such restrictions at Edinburgh Airport. Whilst we all want to see the airport thrive, that can’t be at the expense of those living in the community and their ability to get a good night’s sleep.

The airport is forecast to grow considerably over the coming years. A new limit on night time flights would go a long way to show that growth will be managed responsibly.

The airport does a lot of good work to mitigate the noise from aircraft. However, the latest traffic figures show the number of night time flights are increasing. This is often the most disturbing parts of the airport’s operation.

As councillors, we will be bringing forward a motion to the next meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council in a bid to get cross party councillor support for a new limit.

Given its commitment to being a responsible neighbour, now is the time for the airport to adopt a new night time limit which is at least as stringent as seen at other major airports. We hope other councillors will support this later this month.

Getting action on pot holes and broken pavements

Today was budget day in the Council. Along with our fellow Liberal Democrat councillors, we proposed an extra £4.5 million to sort out the disgraceful state of roads and pavements in the city. This was 5 times what the SNP/Labour administration were proposing in terms of additional investment.

Kevin used his budget speech to talk about why this investment was so important to sort out pot holes and broken pavements in many of the areas we represent.

Unfortunately, SNP and Labour councillors running the city rejected our proposals. We will keep fighting to get action in our communities but that job has been made more difficult by the refusal of the administration to invest the money needed.

Kevin and Louise help force action on gritting

At this week’s meeting of the full Council, we were pleased to work with other Liberal Democrat and opposition councillors to ensure there is a proper review of the Council’s gritting operations.

The whole gritting and winter resilience plan has caused a huge amount of frustration amongst our constituents over the last two months. The colder weather created treacherous conditions in many parts of the city and the response from the Council was wholly inadequate.

However, Council officials admitted the online gritting map is completely out of date. Grit bins have been left empty, days even weeks after being reported. Requests for new grit bins appear to go into a big black hole and school bus routes were left ungritted, forcing pupils to miss school. That is why we thought it was so important for lessons to be learned and big changes made for next winter.

In the end, the Council voted unanimously for a motion to review the priority routes. The motion also included our own amendment to improve the whole system of requesting new grit bins which is cumbersome, difficult and also ensure the online grit bin and prioriy route map, which so many people rely on, is kept properly up to date (currently, many grit bins and priority routes are missing from the map).

Here was the full text of the motion passed:

“Council

Acknowledges the good work carried out by Council staff in servicing Priority 1 routes during the recent snowy and icy weather, to keep the city moving and minimise accidents and injuries;

However, recognises that a significant number of roads and pavements outwith Priority 1 – across large swathes of Edinburgh – received no gritting treatment and that many suburban grit bins were empty or not refilled in a timely manner, creating hazard for many people such as the elderly, disabled and active travellers.

Calls for a report to the Transport and Environment Committee within three cycles reviewing the continued suitability and responsiveness of the current priority system, including, but not limited to, consideration of how the council can better service suburban and other ‘non priority’ areas; give due consideration to the divergent topography and thermal make-up of the city; make better use of technology like ‘routesmart’ to improve response times; and better advertise, service and encourage safe use of grit bins by local residents in their community.

Council further:
• recognises the importance of providing residents with accurate information via the online
winter road and pavement maintenance map and notes that officials have admitted the
current map does not include all grit bin locations or show all current priority gritting
routes.
• acknowledges the current difficulties in obtaining information on the status of new grit bin
requests and the decision making processes involved in the siting of new grit bins

Council therefore agrees that the report to Committee should also cover:
• how the updating of the online map will be made a priority for next winter.
• the potential to develop the online map in order to provide real time information on
planned and completed gritting of priority routes.
• the improvements that can be made to the processes for requesting new grit bins and the
information that is available on the status of new grit bin requests.

Fireworks – local team push for action

Earlier this month, we received many emails and telephone calls from constituents concerned about the misuse of fireworks over the Guy Fawkes weekend.

People told us they were petrified to leave their houses. Local newspapers described some communities we represent as being like “war zones”. One local police officer even had to be rushed to hospital after being injured from a thrown firework.

Of course, the vast majority of local residents buy, use and enjoy fireworks in a safe and responsible manner. But a small minority are causing damage, distress and misery for many.

That is why we brought a motion before today’s meeting of Edinburgh City Council calling for action. It was passed unanimously and means the Council Leader will now write to both the UK and Scottish Governments calling for a review and changes before next November.

Here is our full motion passed today;

FIREWORKS

Council;

1. recognises that the vast majority of Edinburgh residents enjoy fireworks responsibly as part of the annual Guy Fawkes night celebrations,

2. commends those working in Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service and other agencies for their commitment, bravery and professionalism in seeking to protect our local communities from harm,

3. condemns the reported acts of violence which took place in some parts of Edinburgh around 5 November, including fireworks being thrown at emergency service staff, and expresses its sympathy and support to those who suffered injury,

4. acknowledges motion S5M-08695 which was recently tabled to the Scottish Parliament and which has received cross party support, calling on (i) the UK Government to review the rules governing the sale of fireworks, and (ii) the Scottish Government and its partner agencies to investigate and address the antisocial use of unlicensed fireworks,

5. agrees for the Leader of the Council to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills to express the Council’s support for both reviews so new measures can be considered and, where possible, implemented before 5 November 2018.”

Plans for major extension to the Newbridge Inn.

The Newbridge Inn has submitted a planning application to significantly expand its premises.

This would involve the erection of a new accommodation block, extensions to the existing building including and roof alterations. The adjacent cottage on Bridge Street would also be demolished to increase overnight accommodation at the Newbridge Inn to 41 rooms. There would be increased car parking on Old Liston Rd.

Residents can view the full plans via the Council planning portal. Any comments must be submitted by 27 October 2017. The matter will then go the Council planning committee for a decision.

Click here to see the full plans.

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

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.

Rubbish/recycling collection – have your say

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.