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[email protected]Editor: Phyllis Stephen
Designer: Felipe Perez
Photos: Martin P McAdamGET IN
TOUCH
TODAY!
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THIS IS THE month of love hearts and
romantic dinners, so we thought that rather
than ignore it we would embrace it - and our
centre spread is devoted to some ideas of
ways to celebrate St Valentine.
At the City Chambers this is an important
month as the councillors have to approve a
balanced budget for the year ahead. This is
the first time that the Labour administration
will be tested on its financial acumen. There
are difficult choices to be made and around
£80 million to be shaved off expenditure
while continuing to deliver around 700
council services. The Edinburgh Reporter
invited all the finance spokespersons from
all parties represented on the council to tell
us how they will apportion available monies.
The comment pieces are on Page 4 and 5.
With apologies for concentrating so much
on the council, there is a lot to talk about in
the gilded rooms on the High Street. Frank
Ross, an SNP councillor and former Lord
Provost resigned in December sparking a
by-election in the Corstorphine/Murrayfield
Ward. The resignation came as the SNP
failed to back Cllr Ross who proposed
compensation for traders in Roseburn.
This is an important seat due to the way
the numbers will work out afterwards.
At present Labour has 13 councillors and
the LibDems - whose leader Kevin Lang tells
me they will win the by election - have 12.
If the Liberal Democrats do win the seat it
would be the first time that one party has all
three seats in one ward. We still live in
interesting times.
In this issue on Page 10 we remember our
photographer John Preece who provided
many great photographs for The Edinburgh
Reporter in the last decade. John died
suddenly in January. In December his
fabulous photo of the Snow Queen adorned
our front page. His sport photography was
in my view where he excelled - at one point
capturing a rugby player who looked as if he
was standing on his head - except his head
was not touching the pitch and it was just a
split second in time. Many other press
photographers have told me how much they
will miss John, and how admired his work
was. I only wish he had heard some of those
well-deserved comments.
Phyllis Stephen, EditorTHERE ARE 6,000 copies of the Edinburgh Reporter distributed through a
network of city businesses and public buildings.
You will find copies at Farmer Autocare, Summerhall, Art & Craft Collective,
EICC, LifeCare on Cheyne Street, Coffee Angels next to St Mary’s by John
Lewis, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and the Western General Hospital.
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ter.ooo/subscribePlanning News
THE SHERIFFHALL Overarching Objectors
(SHOO) want to ensure that theirs will be a
meaningful presence at the Public Inquiry
into funding of major construction works
whcih has just begun.
The group has a GoFundMe page where
they have already raised just over £4,000 to
pay the costs of retaining a legal team and an
expert on carbon emissions (both working at
50% of their fees) which they estimate will
be around £8,000.
The roundabout was proposed in the
Edinburgh and South East Scotland City
Region Deal and around £120 million is
allocated to it from the billion pound pot.
The objectors have stated their case against
“destructive road building”:- The proposal would generate more traffic
and contradicts Transport Scotland’s goal
“A route map to achieve a 20 percent
reduction in car kilometres by 2030”. - The construction of the Scheme would
involve immense carbon emissions, primarily
through the consumption of diesel oil,
concrete and steel, when immediate
reductions in emissions are essential to avoid
catastrophic climate change. - In its operation, the scheme makes no
significant or genuine contribution towards
the rapid carbon reductions required to meet
the targets of the Scottish Climate Change
Act: building and operating it jeopardises any
chance for Scotland to deliver net zero as
required by The Scottish Government’s
own laws. - The initial budget for the Scheme was £
million, but with massive inflation in the
building industry, the actual cost would likely
be at least £200 million. Even if those sums
are available for transport, given widespread
poverty and the financial pressures on
government, they could be far better spent
on public transport and active travel.
Cycle campaign group, SPOKES, support
SHOO and have donated £500 in support.
Spokes’ Inquiry Statement supporting
their case is relentless, saying: “Regardless
of the eventual cost of the scheme,
the money would be better spent on
improving sustainable transport
infrastructure. £120m could, for example,
pay for approximately 100 km of “Cycle
superhighways”, which would be enough
to completely revolutionise cycling in each
of Scotland’s cities. Alternatively, it would
pay for a free bus pass for everyone in
Midlothian for 10 years, which would dofar more to reduce congestion on the A720.”
East Renfrewshire Council has already
changed its City Region Deal to scrap
a major road.
SPOKES suggests the same is done here
and perhaps some money could be spent on
Winchburgh station, promised but not
delivered. The Local Democracy Reporting
Service wrote last March that the cost of the
station had soared, but the planning
permission for the housing there depended
on a train station being built on the main
Edinburgh to Glasgow line. West Lothian
Council is to explore funding from the City
Region Deal signed in Edinburgh when
Theresa May was Prime Minister.Arguing that spending on Sheriffhall
Roundabout is no longer needed