The Edinburgh Reporter September 2023

77

£EITH CHOOSES, the event where

community votes lead to community

projects, opens its application process

this week.

Small grants of up to £5,000 are

contested for by organisations who would

like to run a project in the Leith area.

Early next year, people who live, work

and volunteer in Leith will have the

opportunity to vote on the project

applications which will receive funding.

Last year, more than 1,000 people cast

votes - some as young as eight years-old.

Information and application packs can be

found at http://www.leithchooses.net/people-

make-leith-eith-chooses-2023-2024-

opens-today with a closing date of 10

October.

A REVISED route and timetable will be

put in place from 10 September for the

Lothian number 9 bus, responding to

community feedback.

Two alterations will be made to the

route. Buses will run along Waterfront

Avenue, West Harbour Road, Granton

Square, and Granton Road instead of

Pilton Drive North, Boswall Parkway,

and buses will run Potterrow, George IV

Bridge, The Mound, Hanover Street,

Dundas Street, and Great King Street

instead of Bridges, Leith Street, and

Broughton Street.

Additional journeys will be introduced

to and from King’s Buildings at peak

hours to provide capacity for students

and staff returning to campus.

Further details are available on

the Lothian website and the bus

operator said that the revisions to the

network should improve reliability

and connectivity.

There will be no changes to Lothian

Country or East Coast Buses services at

this time.

Changes will however be made to

stopping patterns at Waverley Steps and

Waterloo Place to reduce congestion and

speed-up bus journey times.

Local money for

local projects

New route for

the number 9

Cavendish to become student flats

By STAFF REPORTER

OWNERS AND developers

Silvermills Estates & Land Ltd plan

to use the site of the former Atik

nightclub for purpose built

student accommodation (PBSA).

Silvermills wants to replace the

former nightclub with a PBSA-led

mixed-use development,

including commercial/community

uses at a ground floor level,

providing active frontage.

Commercial/community uses

could include a restaurant/café,

community space, fitness/martial

arts studio. The intention is that

the PBSA will be located in three

blocks of accommodation,

centred around a generous

ground floor courtyard,

opening westwards towards

Lochrin Terrace.

By delivering three blocks, a

landscaped central courtyard will

be created. This will aim to

provide a sense of place and

quality to the facilities, which may

include social lounges, cinemas,

gym facilities, learning and

co-working areas, as well as more

incidental ancillary uses such as

laundries and reception space.

Redevelopment of this

brownfield site will serve to

address a chronic undersupply

of student accommodation,

and through this potentially free

up housing more appropriate

for families.

It will also masterplan the

whole site to provide a coherent

development, as well as serving

to minimise anti-social behaviour

that can be created due to

the nightclub.

A public consultation event

took place at the end of August.

Exhibition boards outlining the

development were available to

view, with the development team

on hand to answer any questions.

Exhibition material detailing

the proposed development are

available to view on the website

http://www.west-tollcross.scot.

The Edinburgh Reporter first

reported the story that the

nightclub was closing in January

this year with only a few days

notice. Atik, known to

generations of live music and

dance fans over the years as The

Cavendish, Clouds, Outer Limits,

Bermuda Triangle and Lava &

Ignite, told shocked staff that the

famous venue would pull down

the shutters the next weekend.

It marked the end of an era for

the much loved West Tollcross

venue which in its heyday played

host to famous acts including

Pink Floyd, The Jam, The

Ramones, The Clash, Depeche

Mode, Simple Minds, Culture Club

and, more recently, Calvin Harris.

By PHYLLIS STEPHEN

THERE ARE AROUND six or seven distinct

communities in this large council ward and I

began a visit with Cllr Ross McKenzie at Dalry

Colonies. McKenzie explained he had recently

brought a motion to full council about the

construction noise from the Haymarket site

putting a bit of pressure on construction

company McAlpine who are now, as a result,

going to start work an hour later on Saturdays.

This was just one example of him "getting

things done". Purely by chance at the other end

of our trip we met a man with a measuring tape

who was preparing a quote for the removal of a

fence at Sainsbury's. Ross explained he had

been on at the supermarket for ages to get the

fence taken away after most of it had fallen

down anyway. Another good result.

And on one side street he was at pains to

show me that the communal bins have been

moved off the pavement onto the street -

something else he was involved in.

On the road itself Ross explained it could be

better. He said: "I would like to see it narrowed

right out with wider pavements and segregated

cycle lanes. And what we hope is that with the

20 minute neighbourhood project there will be

an improvement to ‘place’- so pocket parks and

street art. A prime example of what could be a

pocket park is outside the Coop where there

are three dilapidated phone boxes and a cash

machine. This is an example of a sizeable space

which could be a public space with planters,

flowers and benches.

"We have been round the houses with BT

and they have cleaned the phone boxes because

they were really, really disgusting. It is a million

miles away from what they were. But BT are

still intent on replacing these boxes with

display units.

“And there will be a 5G mast here - one of

those we can't stop which come with five

massive boxes alongside them as well. They get

pre-approval from the Scottish Government

and there's nothing you can do. Sighthlll

Community Council were desperate to stop

one, but it has just gone up.

"Across the road this has been identified by

the 20 minute neighbourhood team as as a

really important pedestrian thoroughfare. So

you've got Telfer subway, which connects you

to Fountainbridge, and people are walking or

cycling to work along this route. Orwell Terrace

could become - with I think some pretty minor

changes - a much more pleasant space to walk

and cycle."

He continued: "We are in Dalry right now

where the majority of people don't own a car.

And I think that it is achievable for us to to

make the area a lot more friendly for people

who are walking or cycling, or who want to sit

out on the street and really improve how

people live in the area."

He is one of the four councillors elected in

2022. He was chosen as a Labour councillor but
      has since resigned from the Labour group on
      the council and the Labour party. He explained
      why that happened: "I don't have to go to the
      Tories and Lib Dems to get to get things
      passed, as as the Labour group seems to have
      found itself doing so that unravelled very
      quickly. I wasn't really ever going to be able to
      survive in an arrangement like that. And it was
      it was quite a surprise to me that that was the
      road Labour went down."
      We took a cycle with him from Dalry
      Place all the way to Sainsbury's Murrayfield
      along the main road and chatted about his
      hopes for the area, meeting some people
      by chance along the way who wanted to say
      hello and recording our chat for the latest
      episode of our podcast which you can find
      using the QR code on page 2 or by looking
      for The Edinburgh Report wherever you listen
      to podcasts.
      [email protected]

Actions louder

than words

On a visit to Sighthill/Dalry with Cllr Ross

McKenzie he shows us what he is ‘getting

done’ there to help his constituents