Listening to Inverleith 19th June 2009
Community Conference Report
Neighbourhood Partnerships are a new way of working where service providers work more closely with the Community to improve local service delivery and put you, the community, at the heart of its decision making.
Partners include representatives from Community Councils, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisatons Council, local Councillors, City of Edinburgh Council, Lothian & Borders Police and Lothian Health. Many of the above plus other local voluntary organisations and community groups are also involved in the thematic Action Group.
The Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership is convened by Councillor Stuart Roy McIvor (pictured above) and this role will be taken over by Councillor Iain Whyte from September 2009.
More than 100 local people, workers and service providers attended the first Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership conference. Feedback was very positive and participants welcomed the opportunity to meet with others and to have your voices heard.
The Conference was organised by the above Partners and led by staff from CEC Community Learning & Development and Services for Communities. It aimed to bring together key stakeholders to discuss local issues, to introduce the new school and to allow local people and workers to get to know each other to discuss the way forward.
The new Broughton High School was very well received, and the involvement of pupils added a welcome inter-generational element to the day. Special thanks also went to the Jazz Band, the different partners who were involved as organisers, and to everyone who came along.
We agreed to circulate the main points from the day and a summary of where we go next. The following points will be discussed by the Neighbourhood Partnership and appropriate action will be reported at future meetings and built into local Action Plan.
A number of workshops were held and a full report of these will be fed into the relevant action groups. Some of the things you think should be celebrated, and could be improved, in Inverleith are summarised here:
- Introduction of Neighbourhood Partnerships is leading to better communication between partners, and the best way to get involved is through Community Councils, Neighbourhood Partnership events and ‘Planning for Real’ exercises!
- Inverleith feels like a safe area and Police Neighbourhood Action Unit well received, but key numbers and contacts could be better disseminated.
- Inverleith environment excellent for healthy lifestyles including cycling and walking networks, but could we have better parking for cycles?
- Our libraries work well with the community and are a great source of information, but we need even more! North Edinburgh News is a valuable resource and could be of great use in Inverleith. We could also use more noticeboards.
- There is a lot of greenspace which is well protected and well used by locals and visitors including parks, allotments and Water of Leith, but could we have toilets in Inverleith Park?
- Good traffic calming measures, but could we have more 20mph zones, and enforce speed limits more?
- Streets are generally clean and tidy, but street bins need to be improved and we need to know where we can report graffiti!
- The majority of young people make positive use of public spaces, but higher educational input on green issues would be welcomed
- Good facilities for young people including Open all Hours at Ainslie Park Leisure Centre, the new Tunnels project at King George V and Scotland Yard Parks, Edinburgh BATS rugby and also range of indoor and outdoor activities at Fet-Lor and Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, but this is not equal across the ward. Blackhall in particular lacks a suitable community venue! We also need clearer, accessible information about facilities and activities across Inverleith through website or leaflets.
- Range of voluntary projects working across sectors such as health provision, but information is not readily available, for example we need to raise awareness of Minor Injuries Unit at Western General Hospital, and also which dentists are currently accepting new NHS patients!
- Development of Timebank can offer opportunities for all, but information needs to be circulated about this and local contacts developed to raise awareness of potential
- It is an area of relatively low unemployment, but because of lack of job centre services locally, we need better outreach to target those in need in Inverleith particularly in light of recent economic downturn
- Lots of adult learning opportunities in the area, but this could be better co-ordinated
You also asked for a regular opportunity to meet to discuss similar issues, in various ways such as another annual conference or more focused events on specific issues. Ideas for the latter include:
- a networking event
- parks and environment
- fundraising surgeries
Your comments on the above report and on any local issues are always welcome. Further information about the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership can be found online at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/page/Inverleith.aspx
Contacts:
Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership, c/o City of Edinburgh Council, 8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP. . Tel: 0131 529 5050,
email
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Community Learning & Development, Broughton High School, 29 East Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh, EH4 1EG. Tel: 0131 332 6316,
email
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Edinburgh Council 
