New Portobello High School - PPAG Judicial Review

[Paxetamor]

Deliberate misinterpretation then, is that better? Arse isn't a swear word, by the way, so please don't feel you have to ignore it, especially when it was central to what I was saying i.e. Porty is so far from being positive just now that it's a total misnomer.

[Porty]

[Epykat]

[Lashylass]

What's happened to Betty Windsor? Is she on hols....or has she been banned?

[Lashylass]

Some interesting posts on Edinburgh Sooks - worth a look!

[wangi]

[seanie]

The line of questioning?

[Lashylass]

Yeah? Line of questioning - to repeat myself, you were there so know what was said. If you choose not to divulge that then the hordes of Pfans who were not in Court will think there's something you should be sharing with them.

[seanie]

I was there for two days, and I have a fair recollection of what was said, but have no idea what you're referring to when you suggest a particular line of questioning had me agitated.

So once again, instead of pissing about, just spell it out.

[Lashylass]

I don't think I need to.

[seanie]

Well you'll need to if the ladies & gentlemen, boys and girls at home, are to have any idea what you're on about.

[Bob Jefferson]

Or alternatively, we could just delete the last 50 or so posts and then try to get back on topic?

[Bob Jefferson]

A reminder that the petition asking PPAG to drop the appeal remains active.

[Sceptic]

Annual Report;

Some of the boys and girls are not too good at playing together.

Name calling and other things are not the best ways of making friends.

Could parents have a word with their little dears? If not checked, this could escalate into something much worse.

Thank you.

[gillian]

Sorry, you are all right I have deleted my posts, well I tried to anyway. I will try not to get involved again. I will try to not get involved again. I will try not to get involved again........

[Porty]

I spoke with a QC pal of mine on Friday evening and he gave me more insight into the machinations of the Inner House, which I found helpful. He knows very little about the PPAG case and did not opine on the chance of success. He did say that for a reclamation ogf a JR he would usually expect a judgment in 5/6 weeks. When I explained that delay was one of the issues being appealed and that the Courts had moved to facillitate an early appeal hearing, he thought a decsion may come quite a bit quicker.

I'm still gobsmacked by the frequency PPAG's solicitor deferred to PPAG for guidance during the hearing. Seems very odd indeed.

[Bob Jefferson]

[gillian]

You're right Bob. Best to ignore. Hope you've still got that champers on ice.

[Lashylass]

Someone using different identities to get his kicks - are you describing yourself there?

[Bob Jefferson]

[Makaveli]

Could organise some sort of Party in the Park celebration - would be the first time I ever saw the park being used apart from people letting their dogs use it as a toilet!!!

[Porty]

Several years ago, maybe 2007 PPAG press ganged their kids and a few others to have the inaugural "Party in the Park". The idea was to demonstrate the park was well used and the hope was the PITP would grow arms and legs, as years went by. It took place one Saturday afternoon in September and was well publicised on Radio Forth and in the Evening News.

In the end, and even allowing for the sunny day, it was a damp squib. Only memorable for the verbal assault on one of the local councillors who attended and some pics of a few moribund kids. It was the inaugural and ultimate party in the park.

So maybe it is time for another.

[wangi]

Is that what the photos on portygreenkeepers.org are?

http://www.portygreenkeepers.org.uk/gal ... 87%29.html
http://www.portygreenkeepers.org.uk/gal ... 83%29.html

and others

[Makaveli]

That website you just linked above Wangi is very interesting - I have never seen that site before.

I note that they call it Portygreenkeepers and have links to join PPAG on there - seems odd that they seem to be coming from a whole 'green' angle (please help us save our precious parkland the ask) yet this group were offering up every other park in the area as suitable to build the school on!!!!!!!

Surely even the most blinkered of people would not fail to see the irony in that?

[Porty]

Wangi- yes, it looks like the ones. Not as many kids as I thought.

[seashell]

Party in the Park sounds great. I'll bring along my dog as a cunning disguise.

Those photos are rather sad in terms of attendance/turn out. Can anyone explain the significance of the standard lamp with the yellow lampshade in one shot? A surrealist comment on the whole affair?

[Porty]

It was a party come fundraising jumble sale. The theme was "things you wouldn't want in your backyard " think that's what the lamp was all about.

[tufty]

http://www.portygreenkeepers.org.uk/gal ... es/pp%20(9).html

Had a look at the portypark page and thought their picture of an empty field was a mistake until I realised it was the park!

My S5 has just sat highers in the hall, lucky this year the new curtains helped control the temperature. it's usually too hot or too cold, just pointless expense for new curtains and who knows what else being reparied or replaced when the school should not even be open, and the curtains should be for the new building.
Regardless of their own personal aims PPAG must realise the pointless expense they are causing the council in repairs and court case, in the end paid for by all Edinburgh council tax payers.

[seanie]

[seanie]

If what Kirstyn was trying to say was that there was no investigation into where the school could have been built, than she's profoundly mistaken. The feasibility of the following sites was considered back in 2006.

The combined PHS & St John's sites
Portobello Park - golf course
Portobello Park - pitches
Bingham Park
Freightliner Terminal
Cavalry Park
Scottish Power site
Jewel Park
Pitz
Marine bus garage
Meadowbank stadium area
St Margaret's House
Greenbelt land
Waterfront

From those the first three were taken out to consultation.

[seanie]

Also the lease for the golf course will not run out soon, principally because there is no lease.

Edinburgh Leisure manage the golf course on behalf of the Council but they don't lease it.

[seanie]

As to whether a school and a golf course can exist side by side, the old PHS was adjacent to the golf course, and Holyrood is and has been next to a golf course for decades.

[seanie]

And the principle reason re-building on the existing site was discounted is its size. At 2.9 Ha it's less than half the minimum recommended size. It simply isn't big enough to accommodate the required facilities. Money is indeed a factor also, as rebuilding would require an extended and very expensive decant. To spend considerably more money, only to achieve a building fundamentally compromised by a site that's too small makes little sense, especially when additional money spent on PHS is less money spent on other schools also in need of investment.

Any potential capital receipt from the existing site wouldn't constitute a 'profit', Local Authorities not being profit making enterprises. Although no final decision has yet been made, the departmental thinking is to re-build St John's on an expanded site incorporating some of the PHS site, selling the remainder for further capital investment in Wave 3 schools. In fact any money raised could be allocated to the rebuilding of St John's itself. The current figure being suggested us around £1M, which in the context of a £43M budget allocation to PHS is a relatively small consideration.

[Bob Jefferson]

But these things aside, what did you think of her post?

[seanie]

I like the pink hair.