Leith Shop Idol Winners announced

The City of Edinburgh Council have announced the winners of the Leith Shop Idol competition this week. More than 1000 people took part in the public vote, which was combined with the scores awarded by an expert judging panel to determine the ultimate winners. 

The winner of the £3000 first prize was the M1 Sandwich Shop on Easter Road, who won with their entirely edible Valentines Day themed window. Not bad for a shop that's only been open for two months! 

Coming in a close second was Flux on Bernard Street who created a beautiful rose-themed display of gifts and furniture.

In third place was The Doo'cot St Columba's Hospice on Leith Walk, which was one of the public's favourite in the vote on Facebook.

In total 35 businesses entered the competition. You can see all the photos on the I Love Leith Facebook Page. 

Leith Shop Idol will see shoppers award £3K to local business

A council plan to encourage local businesses to get involved in improving the appearance of Leith has been launched this week. 

Local shoppers will help a panel of judges decide which local shop owner should be awarded prizes worth up to £3000 based on the businesses shop fronts by voting during a designated window week - scheduled to kick off on Monday the 13th of February. 

The public vote will take place online on the city council run, "I Love Leith" Facebook page. As far as we can tell there's no other way for the public to vote.  So if you don't have a Facebook account, well, no luck.

Local businesses are being encouraged to take part in the competition, and they are being given a bit of extra help to participate too. There will be a free "Window Dressing Workshop" at the MacDonald Road Library on the 18th of January, from 6-9pm. 

There's also to be a panel of, as yet unnamed, judges who will score entries by looking for the the shop that’s made the biggest improvement to its window display leading up to Window Week. In particular they'll be looking for:

• Creative/innovative window displays

• Quality of paintwork/overall condition of shop exterior

• What your shop looks like when it’s closed

• Relevance of display to business and season

• Customer information provision

• Visual impact

If you are a business interested in participating or a local resident interested in voting - you can find out more from the special new website that's been set-up to promote the scheme at www.leithshopidol.co.uk

Bonus Bag scheme commended by councillors

 

This week Greener Leith recognition from city councillors on the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment committee for the bonus bag part of our We Love Leith scheme. They passed the following motion with unanimous agreement:

“That this Council:

Recognises the social, economic and environmental benefits of local high streets across the city and is committed to working with local traders to improve these essential and invaluable community assets;

Commends the work of Greener Leith in encouraging local people to use local shops through the promotion of the Greener Leith Bonus Bag where discounts and offers are available to shoppers using the Greener Leith or alternative reusable bag;

Recognises the aim of becoming a zero waste city given the need to save resources, cut CO2 emissions and reduce the financial costs to the city in waste disposal;

Notes the public support for measures to make Edinburgh plastic bag free;

Notes that Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced taxes on plastic bags and that countries including Italy have banned them entirely;

Agrees that a forward thinking capital city which markets itself as ‘Edenburgh’ can show the Scottish Government that more action is needed;

and calls for a report into how a reusable bag scheme can be rolled out across the city, looking, for example, at opportunities available within the Town Centre Regeneration projects for funding and promotion.”

The motion would not have happened without the support of local councillor, and now newly elected green MSP, Alison Johnstone , and Gordon Millar of the Ban Plastic Bags Edinburgh Campaign.

Whilst we are not funded to support the scheme anymore, there are still We Love Leith bags in use locally, and many of the participating businesses are still providing discounts to shoppers using them. Needless to say, Greener Leith would be delighted to play a role in any city-wide project that operates along the same lines, and it will be interesting to see if the council can make funding available to kick start a city wide scheme that might achieve the economies of scale required to make it economically self-sufficient.

You can read a bit more detail about how the scheme worked here:

Bonus Bag Outline

This news was also covered in this Edinburgh Evening News article.

Edinburgh Local Economy Day

Yesterday, around 40 people from all over Edinburgh gathered to discuss what role community groups could play in helping to build a more resilient and stronger local economy. You can view the whole agenda here.

A series of workshops and talks took place, that aimed to get participants to think about their relationship to money, and also how money circulates in the local economy and what will happen if there is a serious shock to our economy.

It was interesting to hear about various strategies that have been tried elsewhere, from Findhorn to Hawick and much farthar afield. Whilst lot's of people present were interested in the idea of an alternative currency like the Hawick Pound, it became clear that alternative currencies can be difficult to deliver, and that there were many other ways for communities to build local economic resilience.

Jonathon Dawson, of the Findhorn Foundation, works on this stuff for a living. He gave a 45 minute overview giving his perspective on the subject. If you've got time, it's well worth listening to the whole thing:

Jonathan Dawson Edinburgh Local Economy Day by greenerleith

Locally, it was really interesting to hear from people involved in the Edinburgh LETS scheme as well as the West Edinburgh Timebank. Greener Leith also shared our experience of running our Bonus Bag scheme too.

Members of both the Edinburgh LETS scheme and the West Edinburgh Timebank scheme spoke pasionately about how they help local people to swap skills and resources without the need for any money to change hands. In the case of the Edinburgh LETS scheme, it was clear that the scheme helped people to build relationships in the local community and make friends too. So, if either idea appeals we'd reccomend that you check them out. 

At the end of the day, we caught up with, Holyrood hopeful, Cllr Alison Johnstone, Justin Kenrick from PEDAL Portobello, and Leither, Adam Heriot from Transition Edinburgh who organised the day to get a feel for their thoughts on the day. You can hear what they had to say below:

Put your money where your mouth is

This is part two of a guest post written about food, by Tracy Griffen. You can find part one here.

Edinburgh is in the minority of British neighbourhoods. We have a huge variety of independently owned local shops, and we need to remember to frequent them for them to stay in business. My inlaws who live on the outskirts of Leeds no longer have a local shop, and their closest place to buy milk is a distant supermarket, a car drive away. So they don’t even have a choice of where to shop locally; us Edinburghers do!

Consider how many Tesco supermarkets there are nowadays. In Leith alone, we have had three Tescos open (Leith Walk, Duke Street and Great Junction Street, with another on Picardy place). Supermarkets have the financial clout to change urban landscapes, whilst small local businesses are being put out of business by the sheer scale of these retail giants. If you’ve talked to any of the convenience store owners on Leith Walk, you’ll know that they’re feeling the squeeze of the Duke Street Tesco. Not only do supermarkets have massive power in their supply chain (suppliers being asked to slash prices so supermarkets can run BOGOF (buy one get one free) deals, not being paid on time and the list goes on) but the food they regularly have on offer is junk food. Processed foods that have a high profit margin and long shelf life tend to be the only things that are better value at a supermarket. For affordable fresh fruit and vegetables, you’re better off frequenting a greengrocer.

Convenience is the main reason most people go to supermarkets, but at what price?

Here’s a reading list so you can learn more.

Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets – Joanna Blythman, 2004
One of the first books on the subject that I read, Blythman looks at the mechanics of how supermarkets operate. Even though Shopped was published seven years ago, it’s even more important now as supermarkets continue to pop up all over the place.

Champion of happy chickens, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall summed up this book neatly when he commented “Joanna Blythman has bravely and compellingly exposed the corrosive effect of supermarkets on our farming and our food culture. And she has rightly identified you, the consumer, as the only person who can do anything about it. Don't read it and weep. Read it and change the way you shop.”

Not On The Label: What Really Goes Into the Food on your Plate – Felicity Lawrence, 2004
Published the same year as Blythman’s Shopped (Scottish), Lawrence (London based writer for the Guardian) looks at similar issues, but breaks them down into specific foods. The chapter on chicken is a must-read, but not if you ever want to eat cheap chicken again!

Tescopoly - Andrew Simms, 2007
How did Tesco take over the world? Find out here.
Online you can check out www.tescopoly.org who are an alliance of organisations concerned with the negative impacts of supermarket power.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan, 2006
A tome of a book, it’s USA-centric, but increasingly we’re seeing same in the UK. Following food from production to the shelf, this is a comprehensive read exploring how we as omnivores can eat pretty much anything, but increasingly go for the ‘easy’ option. The easy option is usually not the healthiest, or the best economically for society in general. This book caused a bit of a ruckus in the US when it was published, but struck a chord for many disenfranchised consumers.

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual - Michael Pollan, 2010
If you can’t be bothered reading all 500 pages of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, then just have a flick through this wee book (with pictures) which summarises Pollan’s thoughts on how to eat healthily, ethically and environmentally friendly.

For those of you who are loathe to pick up a book, you can watch on the goggle box both Super Size Me (2004) and Food Inc. (2008) DVD’s. You’ve probably heard of Super Size Me, where director Morgan Spurlock lived on MacDonalds meals for a month, with grim health consequences. Food Inc. is an easy to watch overview of the American corporate food industry, well worth putting on your DVD rental list.

Tracy Griffen runs Griffen Fitness from her base at 3, Balfour Street. She's running an event called, "Everything you've ever wanted to know about food but were too afraid to ask," at Real Foods on March 29th.

Did you know you can buy fresh, healthy, organic and locally produced food every saturday at Out of the Blue every Saturday between 10am and 2pm? See: www.greenermonday.com

A version of this article was also published recently in the Leither magazine.

This weeks Leith biomass roundup

Half way through the window for public consultation on the Forth Energy biomass plant, there are so many things to report that this post has become a bit of a round-up.

As we posted previously, one Edinburgh resident who opposes the plant put together a Google Earth mock-up of the plant, based on the dimensions, and the graphics provided by Forth Energy in their planning application. The idea being that anyone with access to the program could see how the plant would look from anywhere - even space. A few locals then used this to come up with their own user generated images.

This week, the Google Earth file has been used in a new way. A supporter of the No Leith Biomass campaign has produced this 'fly-through' using Google Earth, and added some captions to provide people with more information on the plant. You can view it below:

Proposed Biomass Power Station Leith, Edinburgh February 2011 from EM 9o7 on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, I followed up one of the points made by at last weeks Leith Biomass public meeting, over how the plant would be connected to the grid - and the possible travel disruption this could cause. You can read the response from local business groups and Forth Energy on the North Edinburgh STV website.

A day later, a three person team of senior staff from Forth Energy were said to be sent home 'with their tails between their legs' from a meeting at the Mal Maison hotel after strong criticism from members of the Friends of the Water of Leith Basin group.

The No Leith Biomass campaign, who say that 'hundreds' of objections have already been sent to the Scottish Government, has also produced a campaign Twibbon. Meanwhile more and more people continue to use the #leithbiomass hashtag on Twitter to share campaign updates and information and nearly 800 people have signed the online petition.

In the last couple of weeks, the political mood has continued to shift against the proposals too. The Edinburgh Green Party has voted to oppose the plant, The Leith branch of the SNP has voted to oppose the plant and Shiela Gilmore MP had this to say on her blog, after joining her Labour colleague Malcolm Chisholm MSP at the No Leith Biomass demonstration last week: 

‘The plans just don’t add up; at a meeting last week, residents were shushed when organisers tried to claim the greater efficiencies would come thanks to the municipal heating system. This municipal heating system is at present an idea that will only be developed when consent is granted, so, efficiency of this green ‘renewable’ plant will be around 30-40%, similar to existing electricity plants.

‘Further still, in 40 years time, when Forth Ports have finished regenerating the area, the plant area will be again be redeveloped, without a plant to supply a municipal heating system!'

‘We need to reduce carbon emissions and use the resources that we have in Scotland. Sourcing the wood chippings from around the world is not green, nor is ferrying waste and ash through the already clogged roads in Edinburgh East.'

‘I’m with the campaigners on this one; the plant is too big, in the wrong place, and it is not green.’

The No Leith Biomass group plan to take the campaign to Holyrood next. There will be a demonstration on Thursday the 24th of February. If you want to go, meet at 12 as the demo is planned to run for an hour 12.30 - 1.30pm.

You can find out more about the No Leith Biomass campaign at www.noleithbiomass.org.uk

Shop front upgrade for Foot of the Walk

Whilst there were some people who were somewhat disappointed to learn that that "the major new retailer" that Leithers were promised for the old Woolworths site at the Foot of the Walk has turned out to be another charity shop, residents will be pleased to learn that a series of shop fronts near the Foot of the Walk are to be upgraded, thanks to grant funding from the Leith Townscape Heritage Iniitiative.

View Larger Map

Planning applications have been lodged for improvements to numbers 7B, 9A and 11 Duke Street, and around the corner on Constitution Street, numbers 177, 179 and 181 are also set to benefit. The scheme will see some of the more garish signage removed, and a more consistent look applied to the shops, with more of the original stonework revealed.

All the shops appear to be owned by the same company, NWG Investments Ltd, and are basically part of the same listed building.

Bonus bag to go city-wide?

Our innovative We Love Leith 'Bonus Bag' loyalty scheme that encourages Leithers to support local independent businesses has won praise from a local city councillor. Cllr Alison Johnstone would like to see the idea go citywide as part of a bid to declare Edinburgh a plastic bag free city. 

Cllr Alison Johnstone, who is the Green Party representative for the Meadows and Morningside ward of the city said: 

“Three years ago I asked for a City Council report into the possibility of Edinburgh becoming Scotland’s first plastic bag free city.  I received a negative response at the time but it seems clear that the City Council is lagging behind public opinion.

“There’s a real willingness from the public to start addressing this issue.  More and more people are using sustainable bags and I think the Council should be a bit braver and help lead the way.

“Among the things that the motion will call for will be to highlight the work of Greener Leith on plastic bags and suggest looking at how this can be rolled out across the city.”

Alison is a supporter of the non-partisan, Ban Plastic Bag Edinburgh campaign, which has already gathered nearly 400 other supporters already using a Facebook page.

Sadly, we're out of stock of the We Love Leith bags at the moment - but you may still be able to buy one from participating retailers in the neighbourhood.

You can find out more information about how the Bonus Bag scheme works here.