Trainspotting in Leith

In the latest in our ocassional series on random YouTube videos filmed in Leith we're pleased to bring you this clip of a freight train making its way into Leith Docks. 

Although this particular level crossing never featured in the book Trainspotting, we're pretty sure that it's exactly this sort of thing inspired Irvine Welsh to go on to become the success he is today.

The video clip by Steamboatwilley (whose YouTube channel is worth checking out if you like this sort of thing) features running light engine 66112 and 66518 with a coal train arriving at Leith.

For non-trainspotters, perhaps the best thing we can glean from this is that it shows that the council decision to avoid building this level crossing into the Portobello prom - Leith Links cycle path link was maybe more sensible than we first thought.

Even if there aren't many trains it would be pretty annoying to be in a hurry and find your path blocked by a stationary train sitting the level crossing.

Portobello and Leith Community Wind Turbine hits stumbling block in land negotiations

Portobello and Leith locals show their support for a community owned turbine at Seafield

Regular Greener Leith readers will know that we have been working for more than twelve months to develop a community owned wind turbine on land at Seafield, in partnership with PEDAL Portobello. Below, is an update and press release on the project.

Plans for the first urban community wind turbine in Scotland have hit a stumbling block after the landowner, Scottish Water changed their stance on the project at the start of this year.

Negotiations stalled after the private sector companies that manage the PFI contract at the treatment works demanded that Scottish Water accept liability for any accidents involving the proposed turbine on the site.

Although the risk of the wind turbine damaging the sewage works is extremely small, Scottish Water have said they are not willing to accept the risk, even though PEDAL and Greener Leith would fund an insurance policy as part of the project.

Talks with the landowner, Scottish Water, and the companies that manage the Seafield site through a Private Finance Initiative began in February 2011. Despite receiving several written assurances from senior staff representing the organisations involved that they would back a turbine on this site, it was not until 19th January 2012, nearly a year later, that Scottish Water changed their stance on the crucial land deal.

The two sides last met on 1 February 2012 in an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the issue. Since then community volunteers, having already put in many hundreds of hours over many months to get the project to this stage, have attempted to lobby Scottish Government ministers, who are the sole shareholders of Scottish Water, in a bid to find a way forward.

To date Scottish Water has not changed its stance on the project.

Proposals to build a single wind turbine on the site are the result of long standing collaboration between neighbouring community groups PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town and Greener Leith.

The extent of the influence of private contractors over Scottish Water is unclear as the project requires a land deal that would last longer than the current PFI contract at Seafield – and the land, like Scottish Water, is ultimately owned by the public sector.

We have called on Scottish Government ministers to direct Scottish Water to indemnify the PFI contract holders from any risk associated with this project.

Alternatively, the Scottish Government should create an indemnity bond to cover community renewable projects on land subject to PFI. This could be covered in the future from the proceeds from community projects that have benefited from it.

PEDAL and Greener Leith already have funding from the Scottish Government and British Gas Energyshare in place to take the project to planning application.

Expert opinion suggests that the Seafield site is the most productive site in the area.

To date, the groups' feasibility work has not uncovered any environmental or engineering reason why the Seafield project could not proceed.

Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said: “We are bitterly disappointed to have got this far only for the project to be stalled on what looks like a technicality.

“We are exploring every available option to resolve this impasse, and will not give up on the project yet.

“We owe it to the thousands of supporters who voted for us on Energyshare.com; the hundreds of local people who will benefit and our project funders to try to find a way to break the deadlock.”

Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said: "We are particularly frustrated that Scottish Water has taken a whole year to identify these issues, during which a huge number of volunteer hours have been put into the project.

“Our feasibility work shows there are no technical ‘show-stoppers’ to building a turbine here, we are the most supported of nearly 1000 projects across the UK that took part in the Energyshare competition, and we have all the funds in place to take the project to planning submission.

“We continue to try to resolve the issue of liability through negotiations and political solutions. It seems extraordinary that dozens of wind turbines operate without incident on sewage works around the world, but this cannot be done on public land in Edinburgh.

“We simply cannot accept that, which is why we are determined to find a way forward.”

Georgy Davis of Community Energy Scotland, a membership organisation that represents community renewable energy projects in Scotland said: “This is a disappointing turn of affairs for this inspirational project that is a result of significant community efforts.

“The issue of indemnity for third parties in relation to land that has existing infrastructure on it is one that could be of increasing significance for community-led renewable projects particularly in the urban environment potentially hampering the Scottish Government’s ability to achieve it's target for renewables in general and community renewables in particular.

“We believe the issue needs resolved.”

You can download this post as complete press release in pdf format by clicking here.

Update: Since we posted this on our blog, Scottish Land Ownership expert Andy Wightman pointed out that the Scottish Government could simply direct Scottish Water to allow the project to go ahead if they wished to. 

@PEDALPortobello Section 56 (3) of Water Indutry Act gives @AlexNeilSNP the power of direction over Scottish Water. goo.gl/iK057

— Andy Wightman (@andywightman) April 30, 2012

That Leith Ward hustings debate in full

On Thursday evening Leith Links Community Council hosted an hour and half long hustings meeting to give local people a chance to raise local issues with the various different candidates standing for election.

An audio recording was made of the whole debate and below it's been split it into the individual questions that were asked so if you're not interested in a particular issue - you can skip it.

The meeting was chaired exceptionally well by Jim Scanlon, Chair of the Leith Links Community Council, and as the recordings show below - there was no shortage of topics to discuss.

Indeed - there was no time to get through all the questions that were submitted so all the candidates will be invited to give written answers to the ones that weren't debated. These will be posted to the Leith Links Community Council blog in due course.

Six of the seven candidates standing in the Ward were present at the hustings. Each candidate was invited to give a short introduction before the debate started. Marjorie Thomas was first to start - and she started talking before the record button was pressed - so we missed her name at the start of the first audio clip: 

 The first question focussed on Trams. An issue that has effected everyone in Leith for years. Which candidates support bringing trams to Leith? And when will it happen?

Next up, Mathew Wheatley from Leith Against the Cuts asked the candidates how they would approach future council budgets.

The third question of the day sought to gauge how much support candidates were willing to put into keeping Leith Waterworld open. (It got a bit heated, this one.)

There's no shortage of big issues to debate in Leith. Following the Leith Waterworld quesion - locals wanted to know what candidates would do if another biomass power plant proposal was lodged by Forth Energy for the docks..

Even though Scottish Water has spent £20million on tackling the infamous Seafield Stench, a recent "odour incident" led locals to ask once again what candidates proposed to do about the prospect of further unsavory smells in the neighbourhood. 

And lastly, locals who live near the Shore remain concerned over the levels of silt in the Water of Leith there and whether there is a risk of serious flooding. Candidates also gave their views on this issue.

 After the hustings, there was a bit of discussion on Twitter between Leith Waterworld campaigners and some of the candidates and part activists. This has been summarised on the Splashback campaign blog here.

The final list of candidates for the Leith Ward is available on the council website here. 

You can find out about how to register to vote in the Local Council elections here.

The most famous flying wheelie bin on Leith Walk

Leith was battered by winds greater than 100mph today, leading the Police to call on people to avoid travelling and the MET office to declare a "red alert." Some roads were blocked in the area, with lot's of people on Twitter reporting damage to their property. 

Sandervdd, took this youtube video of a wheelie bin flying down Leith Walk:  

Within hours of it being posted, hundreds of people had viewed it.

Grant Mason also shared this photo of another flying wheelie bin, below, that took out a fence at Lambs House, just off the Shore. He also shared photos of structural damage to the Waterline pub, and damage to the signs on the Kirkgate branch of Boots.

A bus stop was uprooted out of the ground near Sainbury's at Meadowbank. Seumus took this photo. 

Concerns over debris getting blown off the old Co-operative building on Great Junction Street forced Police to close the road and divert all the traffic. Stephen took this photo. 

Local councillor Rob Munn, also spent the day surveying his ward and updating people on the storm damage he found. This included shop windows that had been blown in, downed traffic lights at Seafield Street, blown over fences in Western Harbour, blown over railings on Madeira Street and a fallen tree in Leith Links. He used the hashtag #leithstorm

Meanwhile there were countless other stories of advertising banners, rubbish, fences, sheds and roof slates being blown all over the place, with a few reports of cars being damaged by all the flying debris.

It will not be a happy new year for insurance companies. 

We put together a much more detailed review of the damage caused by the storm using Storify. You can find that here: 

http://www.greenerleith.org/greener-leith-news/2012/1/4/leith-takes-stock-of-the-storm-damage.html

Leith to Portobello cycle path improvements approved

Today councillors gave full planning permission to proposals to upgrade the cycle path from Leith Links to Portobello, with work now due to start in the new year on a new ramp out of Leith Links and up to the railway line. 

You can see a detailed map of the Leith Links end of the proposed works here.

This means that the cycle route eastwards from Leith will be much improved. The new path will be tarmac, and not mud, it will be wider, and it will connect properly with Seafield Street and a wider, shared use pavement along Seafield Road that links up with the Portobello promenade. It will also be lit at night for the length of the whole route. 

Lastly, it will also connect with the newly improved loop of path that runs from Seafield Street around Lochend and into Easter Road by Leith Academy. 

Altogether these improvements mean that the cycle routes around the Eastern half of Leith have been much improved - something Greener Leith has been campaigning for since 2007. 

The only things that look likely to cause a delay to the works are bats, badgers and archealogy - according to the planning report. 

Whilst we're assured that these improvements have just about managed to slip in before steep proposed Scottish Government cuts to active travel bugets begin to bite, if you want to see more facilities being built like this in Edinburgh it might be worth taking some action to support the SPOKES campaign to hold the SNP to their budget promises on Active Travel.

You can find out more about the proposed active travel cuts and what you can do to persuade the Scottish Government not to implement them here. 

Important: We've made it into the last round, now help us win

We're excited to announce that The Portobello and Leith Community Wind project has seen off literally thousands of projects from throughout the UK to make it onto the final Energyshare fund shortlist.

We estimate we now have about a 1 in 5 chance of winning funding of £80,000 towards the costs of building Scotland's first urban community owned wind turbine at Seafield.

To get the grant we need all the 658 people who backed the project in the first round to go back to the Energyshare website and vote for us once again. If you aren't one of the 658, don't worry, you're not too late. We still need you to join up and vote. 

You can do that here: http://www.energyshare.com/portobello-leith-community-wind-energy-project/

Voting opens on the 15th of November. Please vote as soon as you can, as this time it really is a case of every vote counts.

As you may recall, we have already received a loan from the Scottish Government for £118,000 to cover 90% of the pre-planning costs. The more money we get from grants, like this one, the less money we need to borrow - and if the project gets the green light - the more money that will be available to support local community projects. 

That's why your vote on the  Energyshare website is so important. 

We've updated our "Frequently Asked Questions" document too. You can see the revised document here:

Portobello & Leith Community Wind Energy Project FAQ Final

Leith and Portobello community wind turbine project receives loan boost

A predicted view of how the turbine might look

Scotland’s first community-owned urban wind turbine took a step closer to reality today with the announcement of a £118,000 loan to Greener Leith to undertake preparatory works on the project.

Members of the community group expressed delight at the award from the Scottish Government under the Community and Renewable Energy Scotland loans fund, which covers 90% of the costs of pre-planning submission work for the proposed wind turbine on the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works. The group are still fundraising for the remaining 10% of project costs, but are hopeful the remaining costs can be raised soon.

The project, which is a joint venture between Greener Leith and neighbouring community group PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town, proposes to build a single wind turbine on the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Site of between 500kw and 2,300kw. The electricity would be sold locally and the surplus from the turbine would allow a community fund to benefit the communities of Leith, Portobello and Craigentinny.

Commenting on the announcement, Charlotte Encombe, Chair of Greener Leith said:

"We’re delighted to receive this backing from the Scottish Government, which will help us take this exciting project forward.

"If the wind turbine goes ahead, its surplus will allow a community fund that will directly benefit people living in Portobello, Craigentinny and Leith. Not only will it will provide the resources for green projects that in the current economic climate may not receive funding, we hope it will become an inspiration for other communities to do the same for themselves. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done before the project gets the final green light, but we hope that the proposed wind turbine will become a landmark and a source of local pride; an example of what can be achieved when local communities work together towards a common purpose.”

Eva Schonveld, Chair of PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town said:

"PEDAL have worked hard with Greener Leith to secure this finance for Portobello & Leith Community Wind Energy Project. If it goes ahead it will bring material benefits to the local area as well as wider society and could also provide an inspiring visual focus for real sustainability on Edinburgh's seafront. Clearly there is much still to do, not least in consulting fully with those who will be affected, but this award means we now have the majority of funds in place to take this exciting project to planning submission.”

Seafield wind turbine generates debate in Holyrood and The Evening News

We are delighted to report that our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine within Seafield Waste Water treatment works has been the subject of motion at the Holyrood parliament, thanks to new Edinburgh MSP Kezia Dugdale. It reads:

 S4M-00300 Kezia Dugdale: Scotland's First Urban Community Wind Turbine? —That the Parliament notes the joint venture between Greener Leith and PEDAL (Portobello Transition Town) to build and operate the first 100% community-owned urban wind turbine at the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Plant; commends their drive in pursuing the feasibility of such a project; considers the costs involved in producing noise and wildlife impact assessments prohibitive and encourages the Scottish Government to maintain and develop the schemes that it operates to ease the burden of such explorative work; considers that the development could generate tens of thousands of pounds for the local community; recognises that the environmental impact on the landscape must be assessed alongside its value as an asset to the whole community, and looks forward to seeing the results of the feasibility study in due course.

The motion currently has the support of the following MSP's:

Jamie Hepburn, John Pentland, Bill Kidd, Elaine Murray, Mark Griffin, Sarah Boyack, Mike MacKenzie & John Park

Should you wish to use a service like www.writetothem.com to encourage further sign-up by your local MSP's then we'd be most grateful.

Recently, the Evening News published an opinion piece by a Mr Robert Duncan, who is sceptical of our proposal to build a community owned wind turbine at Seafield waste water treatment works. You can find his opinion piece here

As we felt that the piece was somewhat misleading, we are delighted that the Evening News published an edited version of a letter we put together in response to Mr Duncans letter.

We publish our response in full below here too: 

Sir,

Robert Duncan made some interesting points in his opinion piece, “Why sewage plant turbine plan is such a stinker, Monday 21 June.

While it is unfortunate that the 1kw wind turbine on his roof performed poorly, this does not necessarily mean that the proposed community turbine at Seafield will also fail. The obvious difference is that Seafield is on the coast, and therefore windier than the city centre. But our proposed turbine will also be installed at a hub height of between 60 and 98 metres, where wind speeds are considerably higher than at roof level. The rated output of our turbine will also be between 500 and 2,300 times greater than roof-mounted turbines. We will be measuring the wind resource at Seafield as part of our feasibility study, and if the wind is shown to be insufficient, we will not proceed with the project.

Mr Duncan’s assertion that urban wind turbines are unsuccessful would be disputed by the managers at the Michelin factory in Dundee, where two turbines have generated nearly 30 million kwh since they were installed 5 years ago. That’s equivalent to a third of the plant’s electricity needs.

Mr Duncan asserts that solar power, not wind, is the answer. We agree that solar can play a big role in cutting emissions, which is why PEDAL last year promoted this through its “Solar Porty” scheme. It’s also possible that the revenue from the Seafield turbine could subsidise the installation of solar panels on local residents’ homes.

We hope that the urban communities of Portobello, Leith and Craigentinny will not miss out on the opportunities that this renewable revolution holds.

Yours faithfully

Jane Lewis
Chair
PEDAL – Portobello Transition Town

Charlotte Encombe
Chair
Greener Leith

Lastly, if there is anything you can do to help to encourage more people to sign-up to support our bid on Energy Share we'd be most grateful. If you have a Facebook account or a Twitter account please share this link with anyone who you think would be willing to support the plan now:

http://bit.ly/kAwGL4