The Edinburgh Reporter September 2023

55

Edinburgh drug deaths hit a high

EDINBURGH COLLEGE will be affected

by national strike action on 7 September

when 2,000 support staff in Scottish

colleges strike over pay and conditions.

College employers increased their pay

offer from 2% to a £3,500 flat rate

payment over two years, but UNISON fear

compulsory redundancies remain a threat.

UNISON further education branch

secretary Chris Greenshields said: “College

staff were due this pay increase a year ago.

It’s unacceptable, even by the standards of

the college sector, to take this long to

agree a pay deal.

The employers’ idea of a resolution to

the crisis is to threaten our members with

compulsory redundancy. Effectively

members are being asked to pay for their

own pay rise with their job, during a

cost-of-living crisis. We need the same

guarantee that has been given to the rest

of the public sector that there will be no

compulsory redundancies.

“UNISON has appealed to the Scottish

government to help us find a solution -

employers must extend the no

compulsory redundancy guarantee to

college staff. Colleges are publicly funded

but the Government refuses to intervene.

The Minister seems willing to allow the

strikes to proceed rather than ensure staff

get a decent pay rise.”

Strike action

at college

Drylaw and Telford Community Council want to make improvements

Suggestions please

By STAFF REPORTER

RESIDENTS IN THE Drylaw and Telford

Community Council area will have the chance

to have their say on what improvements they

would like to see in the area’s greenspaces as a

consultation gets underway.

The local voluntary group secured funding

earlier this year from the Council to

commission the Edinburgh and Lothian

Greenspace Trust to carry out the consultation.

Locals will soon be invited to take part in a

variety of events in the area when they can have

some fun, learn new skills and put forward

their views.

The consultation will be for everyone in the

community to take part in, and will include

work with the local schools as well as the

Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.

Community Council Chairperson,

Sara Collins, said: “We are all really excited to

get the consultation started and we have been

working very hard over the last few months

with the Greenspace Trust team to get us to

this stage.

“We are very fortunate in the area that we

live to have such lovely greenspaces to enjoy

and I am sure local people will have ideas on

how we can make these even better.

“As a Community Council we are committed

to making Drylaw and Telford the best it can be

and we hope that as many people as possible

will take part and offer us feedback.

“Once we have completed the consultation

we will look to secure funding to make some of

the improvements people have asked for.

“We are thankful to the Council who granted

us £5,000 for the work and we know they are

fully supportive of us as we seek to make

improvements.”

In the coming weeks locals will see the

project team out at various events and street

stalls as well as a promotion of the online

survey on social media.

And next month a community graffiti art

workshop will be held for local people to get

involved with the consultation.

This consultation work will build on a

previous survey carried out by the Community

Council more than 15 years ago which resulted

in more than £500,000 worth of investment in

improving local open spaces.

Charlie Cumming, Edinburgh & Lothians

Greenspace Trust, Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted to be working with the

Drylaw and Telford community Council

again to help develop plans to improve the

local greenspaces.

“There are many opportunities to help make

the area greener and more biodiverse which

will mitigate against climate change.

“The aim being to create a great place for

future generations and to encourage greater use

of the greenspaces for local families.”

Co-ordinator of the

Drylaw Warm Hub,

Sara Collins

By DONALD TURVILL

Local Democracy Reporter

DRUG DEATHS HIT a record

high in Edinburgh last year,

figures have revealed,

prompting new calls for safe

drug consumption rooms

in the city.

The number of people

who lost their lives from an

overdose rose slightly to 113,

up from from 109 in 2021.

The latest statistics

released by National Records

of Scotland (NRS) show the

number of drug-related

fatalities have almost

doubled in the capital over

the last decade.

Meanwhile there were 279

fewer drug deaths across

Scotland, representing a 21

per cent drop – the biggest

year on year decrease since

the series began.

Those living in the most

deprived areas of the country

continue to be

disproportionately affected,

with the data demonstrating

they are 16 times more likely

to die from drug misuse, and

men twice as likely to than

women.

In Edinburgh, 82 of the

113 deaths – 72 per cent –

were men and the remaining

31 women.

Ninety seven of them were

attributed to accidental

poisoning, 9 to intentional

self-poisoning, 6 to drug

abuse and one was

undetermined. The vast

majority of fatalities – 88 per

cent – were linked to opiate

overdoses.

Councillors said setting

up a drug consumption room

in the city which would

provide users with a safe,

controlled environment

would be vital to reducing

the number of overdose

deaths in future years.

Cllr Finlay McFarlane, SNP,

said: “We are eagerly awaiting

the result of the feasibility

study currently underway for

community drug checking

and safe consumption room

facilities in Edinburgh but

remain concerned that the

implementation of these

facilities is restrained by

outdated and failed drug law

reserved to Westminster.

“That said, where we can

push for caring and

compassionate drugs policy

and poverty reduction

measures we will continue to

do so, and it is important to

recognise the herculean

efforts of third sector and

those campaigning with

lived experience in making

this cultural and political

change possible.”

Lib Dem councillor

Euan Davidson added:

“It is so important that we

see progress on the safe

consumption room trial

agreed by full council

last year.

“There was unanimous

cross party support for my

amendment and it is vital

that we see this public health

measure coming to fruition.

Until we see the political will

to move to decriminalisation

of drug possession we must

take what steps we can here

in the city to move towards

a medical and social model

rather than a criminalised

approach.”