Portobello Community Development Plan

[Guest]

The PCDP is the product of a small group of Community Council members who met recently to 'brainstorm' a 'manifesto' (as one member likes to describe it), facilitated by Brian McCrow.

Version 1.0 is simply that, a beginning, but I think you will agree that there are lots of good ideas there already.

I don't want to add any more as this is Brian's project and he is the best person to explain it, but I'm sure he would be happy to read your comments on progress so far.

[Brian McCrow]

This is an initial plan and we welcome input. We've already had input on the Powerleague, Community Centre, which has been very interesting.

You should think of the actions in terms of a chart with a vertical axis representing Degree of Difficulty and a horizontal axis representing Cost. The chart is divided into 9 segments with 3 along the vertical axis and 3 along the horizontal.

For example:

Degree of difficulty Cost

1 1 Lower left segment - easy to do and
inexpensive

moving up to


3 3 Top right segment - difficult and
expensive.

and if you did Higher Maths you'll have spotted that

2 2 Is the middle segment - medium
difficulty and medium cost

It looks easier when you see it in chart form but I don't have the technical ability to do this. Perhaps someone out there can help.

There are 73 actions and we reckon that spread across various community groups and individuals it would amount to no more than 2 to 3 actions each over a 3 to 5 year period.

The legend for actionees is:

EC Edinburgh Council
CC Portobello Community Council
WS Porty Web site
PAS Portobello Amenity Society
RG Robert Gatliff

A BIG action which emerges is the need for a Portobello Town Centre manager who would manage all of these activities as well as being involved in doing some of them.

I would also point you to North Berwick for examples of attractive street lighting, seating area along the High Street, Beach shelter halfway along East Beach and sculptures outside the Seabird Centre.

I also like Cardiff for the regeneration of the Bay area.

There are many examples around the country and we can learn from them in order to get Portobello's regeneration speeded up.

Volunteers are very welcome as well as comments and new ideas.

[Epykat]

I like the look of the plan so far and particularly the comparison with North Berwick. It's long been a mystery to me why we can't be more like North Berwick We have the same assets in the beach and parks but there the similarity ends We could take a lot of examples from NB, not least of all their floral displays which are great in the Summer (PHS is crying out for a bit of greenery ), but also their car parking facilities, which, although not huge, are still better than our ONE measly car park. I also like the idea of closing off the middle of the High Street to all but buses (or trams?). They did it in the centre of Carlisle and it's a total transformation - relaxed shopping.

[rathbone]

BIG Congratulations on getting this together.

As you have hopefully picked up from a number of threads on that other, more trivial forum, I am one of the facilitators of our local community plan here in Rathboneland.

Because not everyone in the community is interested, or prepared to support everything we want to do, we divided our actions up into nine categories each of them co-ordinated by a 'forum' that people can support and contribute to:

Community Safety
Better Transport
Healthy Living
Business
Lifelong Learning
Environment
Housing
Cultural Events
Children and Young People.

I run the Environment Forum.

We've been going three years. Our population here is 26,000 and about 2,000 are now actively involved, as well as the Council, the Police and the Primary Care Trust, which isn't bad going. By getting projects going and a lot of hard work, we have managed to tap into a lot of external funding from the European Social Fund, Lottery money etc. to the tune of £830,000 so far.

Good luck - you can make a difference if you try.
[/b]

[Brian McCrow]

Rathbone

I'd like to piggyback on work you've done. I'm particularly interested in the funding routes.

I also identified themes and it may be a good idea to divi up the responsibilities this way.

If you can send me any material I'd be grateful - my email is brian@mccrow.co.uk

Where is Rathboneland?

Thanks

[mr magnolia]

Big List with lots of good ideas, Brian!

As a newcomer, I was surprised that the Daisy Park doesn't have a swing park. Has that been an item for previous discussion / consideration?

[rathbone]

[Brian McCrow]

[mr magnolia]

[Brian McCrow]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Brian McCrow]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Gemini]

[Gemini]

Aims of Community Planning

The two main aims of Community Planning can be described as:

Making sure people and communities are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them; allied to
A commitment from organisations to work together, not apart, in providing better public services



b]Apart from PCC/PAS, what other community groups perhaps with the exception of BRA, have been consulted on the Portobello Community Development Plan?

[Bob Jefferson]

The CDP is a Community Council project, initiated by Brian McCrow. CC members were invited to join a sub-group. The group currently consists of Brian, John Stewart, Robert Gatliff, Nick Stroud and myself.

We have identified 74 actions. We have volunteered to take forward some of these actions ourselves. As an example, one of my actions is the provision of playparks in Portobello. I will be consulting with approx 1500 local parents of children aged 12 and under, along with nursery providers, council officials, our local councillors and other interested parties. I am also using the forum to stimulate debate on this matter and welcome input from everyone. After that, I hope to carry out a similar consultative exercise with secondary school pupils and I will be asking advice from Comm Ed, Maggie Le May, Brian Greatorex, local Police etc.

I will also be speaking to each and every local trader, guest house owner etc with a view to setting up a local business directory. For this, I will be calling upon the experience and expertise of people like Diana Cairns, Brenda Molony and officials at City Dev.

Each and every action will entail working together with other local groups and the reason I initiated this thread was to encourage participation and to give people the opportunity to chart our progress.

The CDP is still at a very early stage but already some excellent ideas have come out of it. Some are achievable, others may never see the light of day. Other people (not necessarily CC members) could be co-opted onto the sub-group. The reason you know about the CDP is because we are consulting people and we are trying to be as inclusive as possible, but like PCATS you still need a steering group.

Now, if you would like to volunteer to take one or more of the 74 actions forward, or suggest some of your own, then I'm sure you would receive a very favourable response.

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Brian McCrow]

[Gemini]

How does this fit into the Big Picture?

Environmental Assessment Bill
03/03/2005

All public programmes will be "green proofed" under legislation introduced to the Scottish Parliament today.

The Environmental Assessment Bill aims to put Scotland at the forefront of environmental protection by ensuring that all public sector plans, strategies and programmes are scrutinised for their environmental impact.

Environment Minister Ross Finnie said:

"This legislation puts Scotland ahead of Europe in the protection we afford to the environment.

"Too often in the past major public projects have been undertaken without proper consideration of their effect on our environment. This Bill puts consideration of environmental impacts at the start of the process.

"It gives the public a say in the preparation of all major public plans that affect our lives.

"Environmental assessment underpins our commitment to put sustainable development at the heart of public policy."

Lloyd Austin, Chair, Scottish Environment LINK, said:

"Scottish Environment LINK warmly welcomes the introduction of this bill. Strategic Environmental Assessment can only help decision makers avoid costly environmental mistakes if the process for undertaking SEA is managed effectively.

"We will work closely with the Executive and the Parliament to ensure that this bill creates a robust framework for all public bodies to use; in particular, we will scrutinise the Bill carefully and make suggestions for any improvements that may be appropriate.

"Thereafter, we will monitor the application of SEA by public bodies to ensure the new legislation is delivering on the Executive's good intentions."

Cllr Maureen Child, Vice Chair Scotland of the Sustainable Development Commission, said:

"The Sustainable Development Commission (Scotland) welcomes this pioneering legislation because it will enable the Scottish Executive to place sustainable development concerns at the very centre of public policy making."

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) provides a systematic method of considering the significant environmental effects on the environment of public sector strategies, plans and programmes.

Through its consultation provisions the Bill proactively seeks to increase effective public participation in public sector decision making. It does this through its requirements to notify and to consult with key environmental agencies, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland and Scottish Environment Protectoin Agency and with the public on the environmental assessments of the strategies, plans and programmes subject to the Bill.

SEAs cover all aspects of the environment including: biodiversity, population, human health, flora, fauna, water, soil, air, climatic factors, material assets, cultural heritage (including architectural and archaeological heritage), and landscape.

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

Here's that pdf: