Throwing stones in Restalrig Road, East Restalrig Terrace and Restalrig Terrace - Campaign Day 11

Young people have been taking stones from people's gardens and then throwing them at houses, windows and cars. Small nuisance behaviour like this costs people money, but also lets the area down. Co-operation and consistent effort in this area can make the difference.

Blackie Rd, Gldstone Pl, Summerfield Gdns, Claremont ..., East Hermitage Pk - Campaign Day 10

Prostitution is an issue of concern to local residents. I believe that prostitution can operate safely away from residential areas.

Leith Links - Campaign Day 10

The Links can be like the Meadows for this part of the city - a huge attraction for all ages. To do this we have to be strong on issues such as dog fouling and drinking.

Lindsay Road - Campaign Day 10

It's a sad fact but a poor tone in an area attracts poor behaviour...and setting a better tone can improve that behaviour.

Restalrig Road and Summerfield Gardens - Campaign Day 7

Speaking to residents in Restalrig Road, Summerfield Gardens and Gladstone Place today I was given a better idea of some of the issues in the area. Restalrig Road is a very attractive street with a lovely view from the hill looking West. Summerfield is a pleasant street that opens into the Links, and Gladstone Place is a collection of stately tenements that gaze onto the Links.

Residents spoke of some familiar issues:

Anti-social behaviour in the street and young people gathering at street corners being intimidating have been problems. Most residents said that it was a lack of something to do. Nonetheless, there had been vandalism of cars and cracked windows because of people throwing stones at houses. I do not think that a lack of something to do can excuse gratuitous vandalism: the Links is only 50 metres away.

Prostitution was cited as a problem at the bottom of Restalrig Road. A phone box was being used, and, so one resident told me, had her stair. (It had no intercom entry system.) This has been a persistent problem though residents have always been sympathetic to the women themselves.

The Prostitution problem was shifted from one area to the above streets. It was done for the sake of new developments and people maintaining their house price value. But the same argument applies to these streets.

I believe a strong residents campaign, persistent use of CCTV and police resources, can move the problem further East to non-residential areas of Seafield Road. This will save the area from the feelings of intimidation that some people, especially female dog walkers at night, have experienced; it will also stop this part of residential Leith being a dumping ground for problems that no one else wants.

Portland Street Again - Campaign Day 6

It will come as little surprise to some that anti-social behaviour is one of the main issues for many people. Sadly, it is often people who live in their own area who spoil it. This was brought home forcefully to me today when, in Portland Street, I met a young couple. Having now been in hundreds of stairwells I would have to give this one the prize of 'most graffitied'. It was in a terrible state.

This was a bought house in a stairwell that was a mixture of council and bought. When I saw the mess and suggested to the couple that they apply, as a stair, for an intercom system, they told me that the graffiti and minor vandalism had been done by young people up the stair! And that the council were installing an intercom system to help prove that the graffiti was done by people in the stairwell.

Now once the council have evidence, then something can be done, but until the intercom is installed the evidence cannot be gathered, and...if the intercom is broken? Does that invalidate the evidence that it is people inside not outside doing the graffiti? It does not appear a strategy that is well-thought through.

Issues like this make a huge difference to the quality of people's lives and it is one where action is important.

Portland Street, Madeira Street and Prince Regent Street - Campaign Day 5

Without doubt there are many areas of Leith Ward that are extremely beautiful. Unfortunately, some of these areas suffer from neglect. I believe we should be preserving and enhancing our beautiful streets and buildings in this part of the city.

Largo Place - Campaign Day 4

Just off Ferry Road there is a lovely street, easily missed, called Largo Place. It is right next to a park that should be a pleasant place for the community to both look at and use. But some behaviour, especially in the summer, is spoiling it.

East Hermitage Place - Objections

With the proposed extension to a local guest house that has been cited as being problematic in the area by residents (see previous blog), some people have asked me whether anything can be done.

'Yes' is the short answer.


April the 11th is the deadline for objections to the proposed extension. People in the area can write to the following address and make their objections known. Residents have advised me that their objections have fallen mainly on the grounds of health and safety, the fact that it's an area for families, and anti-social behaviour issues. Make sure you quote the planning application number: 07/00277/FUL

Planning Department
City of Edinburgh
Waverley Court
4 East Market Street
EH8 8BG

Campaign Day 2 - Responsibility in the community at the Colonies

A guest house on East Hermitage Place has been taking guests that have caused problems in the local area. Residents have complained of -

- tips stolen from a local restaurant

- staff pestered for money during breaks

- discarded bottles and needles

- drinking at 9am as children go to school

- noise during the night

The guest house has been used to help relieve Edinburgh's housing needs. However, there is little management or concern about what its patrons are doing in the local area.

There are even plans to expand the building to 25 rooms. This has alarmed local people greatly. One resident said to me: 'I'm sympathetic, but enough is enough. The plan is to expand the house and makes the rooms tiny: it's inhuman.'
This resident, although objecting to patrons' behaviour, still felt concern at the small space vulnerable people were to be housed in. People I spoke to were sympathetic, up to a point. The point being their and others safety.

Another resident, a mother of two, said: 'I don't want to be taking my children to school with needles lying on the ground. I don't want my kids to see that. We're a community down here and we all look out for one another.'

I am glad that the council participates in a compassionate policy towards vulnerable people or people undergoing difficulties, however, there has to be a shared understanding of what is acceptable in a community. Communities should have the final say on what their children are exposed to and what surrounds them. The policy should be operated very tightly and immediate action taken if patrons or proprietor are not living up to their end of the bargain. I do not believe that people should make money without a responsibility to the community they operate in.