A quiet day on the internal chat and communication of Portobello Central – an unusual occurrence. Guess we’ll all catch up on Monday at our weekly Zoom.
Only news item really was Geoff sharing the 20 minute neighbourhood (20MN) paper published for the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 10 June. Geoff knows how the machines of government and Council work and is fantastic at keeping on top of this sort of stuff so we keep informed.
You may recall that on 20th May when our proposal came up before the Finance and Resources Committee that our bid was recommended ‘subject to further discussions and engagement with the Council on the 20 minute neighbourhood proposals for Portobello’ so we’re reading up on this topic and are keen to know more and get stuck into conversation with the Council about this topic with regard to the Town Hall.
Jayne, in our team, has had a conversation with Ruth MacDonald, Estates Optimisation Manager for the Council about 20 minute neighbourhoods in her capacity as Treasurer of The Wash House but the Porty Central team have not had any conversations on the topic with the Council yet.
The 20MN document gives a ‘case study’ of Portobello stating:
“Case Study 5: Portobello Neighbourhood
Portobello houses several community assets conveniently located within walking distance from the town centre. Within five minutes’ walk of the centre itself sits Portobello Town Hall, three Community Centres and the Library. Other Council assets within a short walking distance from the centre include Tumbles, Portobello Toddler Hut, Tower Bank Primary School and Portobello Swim Centre, all dotted along or near the promenade. We’re starting to explore the potential of whether we can use these buildings better to co-locate services.”
Wonder that the three ‘Community Centres’ are? Wash House, Bellfield and Joppa Parish or Tribe? Only Wash House is a Council asset in that list. Intriguing as ever.
What actually drew my attention in the report were two sentences:
“Point 6.2 -The Scottish Government has announced a Place Based Investment Programme, which is a capital grant based programme (replacing the Town Centre Fund). City of Edinburgh Council has been allocated £1.998m in 2021/22 and it proposed to use this funding to help deliver the 20-Minute Neighbourhood Strategy.”
and
“A report on the Place Based Investment Fund will be considered by Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2021.”
Best start lobbying the ‘Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee on 25th June to secure a piece of PBIF for Portobello Town Hall to fill the gap in our plans where the Town Centre Fund was……
Got the Regeneration Fund Stage 1 application to get in with Council for 17th June too.
Jennifer’s Blog