An Update From Councillor Sanne Dijkstra-Downie

from The Trinity Spotlight February/March 2023 Issue

by Sue Hutchison

SIMPLE WELLBEING STRATEGIES

Cllr Sanne Dijkstra-Downie | Lib Dem Councillor for Forth

Cllr.Sanne.Dijkstra-Downie@edinburgh.gov.uk

Visit Facebook.com/SanneLibDem for news & updates

Trinity Controlled Parking Plans Scrapped

You will remember that in summer 2021 the Council consulted on the introduction of parking permits in Trinity and Newhaven. The Lib Dem team and I worked hard to let people know about this consultation and to encourage everyone to have their say. The results of this consultation were finally reported to the Transport and Environment Committee on 8 December 2022. Following overwhelming local opposition against the introduction of parking charges, the Committee agreed with officer recommendations NOT to introduce a priority parking area in Trinity and Newhaven. Some 80% of respondents said they did not have problems parking during the day, and a large majority was in favour of keeping the status quo. This confirms what we already knew from the results of our own Lib Dem Residents Survey, which many of you kindly took part in last year. The Council will monitor any potential impact from the introduction of controlled parking in some surrounding areas, but no controls will be introduced here at this time.

This does not mean that there aren’t issues with inconsiderate parking at times. Following reports of unsafe parking near local schools, I asked our community policing team to attend. They spent some time outside Trinity Primary and Holy Cross Primary and wrote up recommendations, which included repainting the zigzag road markings outside the schools. I’m pleased to say that the yellow zigzags outside Trinity Primary, Holy Cross Primary and Trinity Academy have now all been repainted.

Road Works And Cabling

CityFibre cabling works have caused significant disruption in Trinity over the past few months. I have assisted residents with specific issues including a blocked disabled parking space, accidentally cut cables and the number of work sites in the Dudleys in progress at the same time. Unfortunately, the Council has limited say over the schedules of private contractors that are designated “statutory undertakers” but we have been able to intervene where there has been unnecessary disruption. Separately, the resurfacing works on Granton Road, Stanley Road and Newhaven Road are now complete and buses are back on their normal routes. At the time of writing, some works are outstanding on the pavements in the Derby Road / Park Road area and I am liaising with Council officers to make sure residents have the most up to date information about the works

Budget Negotiations

On 23 February, the Council will vote to adopt its annual budget for 2023/24. At the time of writing, Council officers have not yet published the full list of proposals for dealing with the budget cuts that the Scottish Government are imposing on the City of Edinburgh Council. But there’s no doubt that hard decisions will have to made by all parties on the Council in order to present a balanced budget.

Liberal Democrats have made it clear that any budget that we will present or support will have to reflect the priorities from our manifesto, which in turn are based on thousands of conversations with residents across Edinburgh. They include: investment to accelerate the maintenance and repair of our roads, paths and pavements; safeguarding funding for our schools so that our children’s education and well-being are protected; and delivering a cleaner, greener Edinburgh. Be assured that my colleagues and I are committed to delivering on these priorities for our residents.