Thursday, July 09, 2020

Saughton Park - the UK's first Eco Powered Park!

What meets the eye in Edinburgh’s beautiful Saughton Park almost has to be seen to be believed but there is a lot more to it than that! It is green in more ways than one!

The completion of this incredible project makes it the UK’s first eco-powered greenspace, proving that modern technology can be introduced to historic public parks. These are both aspects I have been personally involved in and I’m passionate about. The turbine was part of an original idea brought to me over a decade ago by Paul Turner. The idea was to return the weir to its original use with the installation of a water turbine that would power the winter gardens and possibly more. The reality is even better with the max output of 39kw and the addition of two ground source heat exchangers, this more than powers the new renovated park including the new cafe with plenty left over to feed into the grid.  It has been a dream of mine for over a decade and to have it become reality in such an impressive way is just fantastic.

Read the full article here -

Saughton Park - the UK's first Eco Powered Park!


Ground Source Heat Pumps



Changeworks

Now is your chance to participate in an exciting new project and receive a free heat pump!
We're working with Warmworks to deliver the project. Click here to find out more www.warmworks.co.uk/electrification-of-heat
Funded by Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Heat pumps are a renewable energy source that can provide all the heating and hot water you need for your home and could be the ideal solution if you want to generate your own heat.
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Sunday, June 28, 2020

Great News for Gorgie Dalry!

Following pressure from me at the Policy and Sustainability Committee on the 11th June Gorgie Dalry has been moved up to top priority for Spaces for People. The background to this is that it had been given a low priority in spite of a robust input from the Gorgie Dalry Community Council and myself as the only local member on the Committee. Pressure also from other local members such as Cllr Fullerton and Cllr Dixon and together we have managed to get the priority raised to top with an immediate start date.  See below an extract from the letter that went out...

' Covid-19 Emergency Road  Measures

Proposed– Local Town Centres - Gorgie and Dalry Town Centres


In Edinburgh, shopping and leisure uses are mainly provided in a network of centres distributed across the city. Out with the City Centre, town centres serve as a focal point for local communities providing a diverse mix of shopping facilities and other commercial and community services.

On 18 June the Scottish Government confirmed that, from 29 June, shops with outdoor entrances can reopen. To support this positive change, we are proposing an initial phase of measures targeted to quickly address some of the most pressing issues that people and businesses have told us about. These relate to the narrowness of pavements and street clutter which cause difficulties in achieving safe physical distancing.  

In this first phase of proposals we aim to create additional space on routes within Gorgie and Dalry town centres by widening footways, removing guardrails and street clutter. To widen footways we need to suspend all parking places (apart from loading bays and Disabled persons’ parking places). The streets being considered for these proposals are illustrated in the attached map.   

The second phase of proposals, which we will share in the coming weeks, will focus on more strategic and complex measures relating to traffic reduction  and aiding cycling and public transport provision. Proposals will also align, where possible, with further announcements around the opening of food and drink establishments. We will continue to work with business representatives and individual businesses on how measures can best support town centres as part of the city’s economic recovery. It is essential that the needs of residents and businesses are taken into account as we progress measures benefiting the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the city and region.

The proposed measures  are part of an overall emergency requirement to re-designate key parts of the road network to facilitate safe travel while meeting physical distancing requirements.  Such measures are required urgently to help prevent people from becoming ill or coming to harm by infection from COVID-19 whilst implementing physical distancing requirements.  '

This represents a great victory for the area which those of us a bit longer in the tooth will remember has been an aspiration since the building of the Western Approach Road (when these exact same measures were promised). See map for details....



Saturday, May 02, 2020