SAVE ROYSTON SCHOOL

SAVE ROYSTON SCHOOL

PARENTS and pupils are stepping up their campaign to save Royston Primary from closure.
So far 1,700 people living in the Royston and Wardieburn community have pledged their support to save the school.Local businesses have also donated £800 to have hundreds of Save Royston School T-shirts printed up for all children in the school, as well as their parents.Campaigners say this support highlights the importance of the school to the local community.Education chiefs are proposing to close Royston, along with Burdiehouse, Drumbrae and Fort primaries, next summer.A public consultation will get under way next month and parents from all schools are building up as much support as possible. Grant Cunningham, chair of Royston's parent council, said: "We got £800 from five businesses so that every kid in school can have a T-shirt, as well as parents. This shows how much this is a community issue and not just a school issue."Closing the school would rip the heart out of the community."Fortunately nobody has panicked and taken their children out of the school, which is always a risk when a school is under threat of closure."The council says the school roll at Royston has dropped by 32 per cent over the past five years to just over 150 pupils, meaning it has a capacity rate of just 40 per cent.But campaigners argue that the school roll has improved considerably since the appointment of headteacher Andrew Hunter. Cammy Day, the Labour councillor for the Forth ward, said: "He was tasked to increase the roll and attainment and he has done that. The guy is ticking every box and he's done that in less than a year so this is a slap in the face to him, his teachers and his parent council."Obviously no-one can give cast-iron guarantees that the school is not going to face closure at some point but he was told these were the key priorities to address and he has fully achieved this."It wasn't even on the closure list the first time round so it doesn't make sense that it is on this time, given everything he has done."Mr Cunningham added: "The headteacher was given guarantees and assurances by (city education leader] Marilyne MacLaren that he would be given time to bring the roll up from 143."He put a school improvement plan in place, got the parent council active, introduced a pupil council and brought the numbers up to 156 in just a year."

GAGGED!!

Unbelievably!! Labours Leader in Edinburgh - Cllr Andrew Burns, was evicited from the chamber, by the SNP/Lib Dem adminstration... WHY?

Well, to read the full story click on Andrews link here basically - we caught them out, not providing the true and complete facts - yet we have them already!!

Today was a shambles, I thought the Lord Provost chaired these meetings but it seems to be who ever shouts loudest!

The unknown councillor up in the back benches who proposed this - didnt even know or understand what he was asking for?!!

This whole sad saga, brings the chamber into disrepute, this could have been clarified, then moved on - not into these draconian measures, its a blatant attempt to silence the true democratic voice of councillors who represent the people of Edinburgh!!

Well done to Andrew, keep exposing them!!

MORE CUTS!?!?

The schools closure report has just appeared on CPOL ... you can now find it here.Over a day after initial Press Coverage and the SNP/Lib-Dem Administration have finally released the report publicly.If you ask me, this all shows a complete and total lack of basic courtesy to the local communities involved in these proposed closures ... it's all about 'news management' instead of trying to involve those who matter most.Lets hope the communities affected don't forget about how they've been treated - as eventually they will be able to have their say on the current crowd running the city.

Ive yet to hear why Royston Primary School is on this new list - yet not on the provious one!?

And what will be done to support schools like Trinity Primary to cope with a huge increase in its intake??

I am keen to hear the SNP/Lib Dem councillors will be vocal in their views, on yet more cuts to Forth Ward!

Euro Elections... coming your way 4th June!

In a few weeks you will be able to vote for your MEP in the Europen Elections. To find out what the European Parliament does, click here

Labour's MEPs David Martin & Catherine Stihler have been touring scotland speaking to local people, and hearing some of the issues affecting them, and how Europe works..

Make your vote count on 4th June 2009

Expenses!

Well, the 'expenses' for all of Edinburgh's 58 Local Councillors - for the year ending 31st March 2009 - are published late this afternoon and you can see all the details for the 'Edinburgh Labour' Group of 15 Councillors by going .

You can see the complete list for all Parties by going here (2008-09 may not be there for an hour or two). If you're not certain which Councillor belongs to which Party , then you can find out here.

You'll see from the 'Edinburgh Labour' table, that almost all our Group of 15 are on the basic annual salary of £15,838 - the exceptions being Ewan Aitken and Andrew Burns, who have variously spent parts of 2008/09 as Group Leader which is regarded as a Senior Councillor post and for which the full annual salary is just over £24,000.

Salaries aside, the total of additional expenses claimed by our complete Group of 15 Councillors for the whole of 2008/09 is £9,797.

I'll briefly explain some of the column headings in the 'Edinburgh Labour' table for these additional expenses:

• mileage expenses - this relates to daily travel costs: principally 'mileage allowance' for car travel.
• taxis - for taxis fares related to Council work.
• subsistence expenses - 'accommodation costs' at any conferences attended.
• telephone and ICT expenses - telephone calls made for work purposes: principally 'home-telephone' costs.
• other allowances and expenses - this relates, in the main, to the £444 for an annual bus pass. As you'll see, most 'Edinburgh Labour' Councillors use this as their primary mode of travel. This column also includes any 'conference fees' and overseas travel.

As mentioned above, this totals £9,797 for our complete Group of 15 Councillors for the whole of 2008/09

I will always be open abou any pulic expenses I incurr, and you will be able to see other councillors claims by clicking; contrast it with what the other 43 Edinburgh Councillors have claimed

Any questions or queries, please get in touch

cammy.day@edinburgh.gov.uk or call 0131 529 3281

No funding, No Buses, now.. no trams!!!

Im a wee bit late in updating my blog site, so heres a few wee snippets!

Im sure you will now have heard, that here in Forth Ward, not only have the SNP/Lib Dem council cut nearly £800,000 from the local budget, not only have the subsidised bus routes to this side of the city been dumped!, but last month, the SNP/Lib dem shower, voted to 'suspend' progressing line 1b - the part to the north of the city including the waterfront link!

Telford College, Scottish Gas, Housing Developments, all created along the route - to benefit from a state of the art transport system, failed, failed and failed again!

what next!

Royston Wardieburn/Stepping Stones

You may have heard the recent political decision by the Lib Dem /SNP administration to cut £1.7 million pounds from the long awaited new community centre and integrated services..

Well thats now back on hold, no one knows where it will go, what it will be.. another feasibility study to accompany the one already done?

Whispers hear that they may be no desire to build a new 'extension' at Royston School, as this Administration have not yet decided the next raft of school closures? Is this true? and what does this mean?

I have argued against this, and other cuts in full council, and neither Cllr Morris or Cllr Cardownie say anything to support resources for Forth Ward in North Edinburgh, are they happy to see more resources ripped out from under our feet,, seems like it!

Stepping Stones were told nothing of this, while Royston were told the day before the decison was made in Full Council,, disgraceful way to treat local communities who have fought for and won the right for this centre to be built!

Lets hope the rain keeps off, or we will see the kids catching the rainwater through the roof!

Them n Us!

I recently attended the Intergenerational Debate organised by the Pilton Community Mediation (intergenerational Project), which was greatly attended by over 30 young people, and 30 older people.

The event was one of many to be organised, bringing togther young and older to discuss the many perceptions and beleifs held between young and old.

Well know and respected local beat officer Ian 'Stan' Matthews, gave some background information on how the Muirhouse area has greatly changed over the years, and massive regeneration has completely revamped muirhouse from in the 1980's.

The day was kicked off with Radio Forth's Grant Stott (with a few plugs for Forth ONe 97.3 and his many Panto apearances!) who confirmed this great opportunities to get young and old together to discuss and debate, and work together for a better community.

The event kicked off with some 'speed dating' and then broke into discussion groups, after a fine lunch served by Billy and Marjory, of Muirhouse Millenium centre fame!

The event was very well organised, well done to Tracey, Project co-ordinator, and SACRO for supporting the event!.. whats next....???

Skillnet & BCDP

I was pleased to be invited to attend the recent awards ceremony with Skillnet and the Black Community Development Project, based locally in Forth Ward which was held at Royal College of Physicians.

The course learners, have made an excellent committment to the course and many of the students were presented with awards on the day.

2 of the local participants spoke of their experience during the course, and the great support dfomr tutors and from BCDP alike.

Congratulations to all those involved!

Cammy Day

Labour Councillor

Forth Ward

BUDGET BALLS UP

Budget Update

Well, unsurprisingly the local Lib-Dem/SNP budget was voted through last Thursday in the Council Chambers.

There is a huge amount of detail in the confirmed budget - please don't hesitate to contact me directly if you'd like any specific information - but meantime here's some quick analysis of the main differences and some of the problems that will quickly become apparent with what the Lib-Dems and SNP have just passed:

- Both Labour (and Tories interestingly) put the 1.5% cut in School Budgets BACK INTO this year's figures ... some £2.7million would have been returned to schools. The Lib/Nats didn't, and instead allocated a paltry £250K to all of the city's schools - that's not very much for each school :-(

- In terms of allocation of additional funding to front line services ... here's the running order: Labour £28.1million; Tories £26.9million; Lib/Nats £25.6million. So, again, even the Tories appear to care more for front-line services than the current Administration.

- Very worrying increases in the 'school let' figures - which we rejected in our proposals - with the Lib/Nats raising charges for these rentals very, very significantly. For example, to hire a general games hall goes up from £21.25 to £27.63 - that's a shocking 30% (yes, 30%) increase. In total, this area of income is going up by some £319,000 and I confidently predict real pain for many over this, and I doubt if any of the 29 Lib/Nats even realised they approved it in their budget.

- Another £350,000 taken OUT OF Community Education - that's on top of the £850,000 last year - both cuts we rejected. Again, this will lead to serious service reductions in a whole host of areas and I doubt very much if those in charge politically, realise the full impact of what they've just agreed. I reckon the 'Scouts' and 'Lothian Association of Youth Clubs' can kiss goodbye to their seconded-posts, for example?

- No new monies for 'supported bus services' - this WILL come back to haunt them I'm sure - whilst we allocated an extra £300,000 to this area.

- No general uplift for voluntary organisations whatsoever - we did have 'inflation provision' for these organisations in our budget.

- No additional monies (once again, despite the avowed emphasis on 'doing things locally') for Neighbourhood Partnerships - we had put in an extra £600,000 for this.

- No extra monies for additional local Police Officers - the Libs had consistently failed to back this initiative when they were in Opposition and continue to show no real support - we had an extra £320,000 for this in our budget, which would have paid for 10 new Police Officers.

Overall, pretty poor emphasis on 'front-line service delivery', and it's certain that some very serious problems will arise out of what's just been approved.

In short, another weak budget for the city of Edinburgh's residents.

January NEN update

Firstly I’d like to say well done to the North Edinburgh News, despite
a very difficult time, that they continue to struggle on to provide a
great local newspaper for North Edinburgh. I was very
disappointed to read Cllr McIvor’s column about the NEN. I’m sure
the NEN would be keen to expand, if the resources were made
available for this to happen... not really a possibility given they’ve just
had a 56% cut, in addition to the cut last year when the SNP/Lib
Dem Council cut the grant from Edinburgh Community Newspaper
Trust, in total a cut of approximately 75% to the NEN!!
There are no community project ‘Empires’ in North Edinburgh, and
if there are - I’d be keen to know where and visit them!!
Fairer Scotland Fund I am continuing to work with officers to look for alternative
funding streams, including Health, Police and Council resources to try
and save the local projects threatened by the cuts imposed on
them. These projects are essential for North Edinburgh, and I hope
the whole community will rally to support them.

17 Bus

A number of local people have been in touch about the 17 service
being cut. We have spoken with Lothian Buses, and they argue the
service is financially unviable. My Labour colleagues argued
against this cut, but it was pushed through. This loss is in addition to
the 32 being peak only - means a drastic reduction in buses serving
this side of the city!

Clean Green and Safe?

The state of the streets continues to be high on local people’s agenda.
Whether it’s dog fouling, broken glass in the parks, litter or general
neglect, as I am keen to hear more from local people if this concerns
you then please get in touch - details are as follows;

Contact details

My surgery details are: first and
third Wednesday of the month at
6pm in Muirhouse Millennium
Centre then at 7pm in Royston
Wardieburn Community Centre
Second and fourth Wednesday of
the month at 6pm in the Prentice
Centre then at 7 pm at Trinity
Primary (during term times only).
Phone; 529 3281
Email; cammy.day@edinburgh.gov.uk
http://cammyday.blogspot.com/
City Chambers High Street
Edinburgh EH1 1YJ

Not sure what to say about the latest blundering of the SNP/Lib Dem Administration.. 1.5 % savage cuts to schoosl last year, anoither 25 proposed this year - devastating most school based budgets!

But no, theres been a u turn, roundabout decision making? or something else - there now wont be cuts to school based budgets?>!

I say well done to Parents who have rallied support to fight againt these cuts. Cuts to young peoples education in this city! and excellent campaign.. worryingly we've yet to hear where the saving will be made??

UN-

Many of you may have heard of the recent cuts by the SNP and Liberal Democtras to the North Edinburgh Community.
I have been meeting with officers to look for alternative funds to support many of the local projects that have taken cuts in excess of 50-60% - shocking, i know - but true!
If you are a project user, and these cuts affect you please get in touch. I will be working along side other councillors, your local MP Mark Lazarowicz and Malcolm Chisholm your MSP to fight these unnecessary cuts!!

Happy Christmas

Christmas time, council is off now until early January.

My Best Wishes to everyone for the festive season, I look forward to hearing from you.

Cammy

Cammy Day

Labour Councillor

Forth Ward

UNFAIR SCOTLAND FUND

This Thursday - many local people and local projects will attned the Full Council in the City Chambers, to push for the administration to re-look at the savage funding cuts to the Forth Ward.

The report - see here, has been referred to council, as Jenny Daze, oops Dawe, and her Liberal/SNP colleagues cant quite decide what to do?!

Even in past Labour Administrations, ward councillors would fight tooth and nail to save local resources, , not any more,, we dont hear a peep from Cllr Morris or Cardownie on what they intend to do.

As your Labour Councillor - I will stand up for this unfair allocation, and flawed process!

Buggy Brigade

Happy Christmas - Buggy Brigade!





Today I was pleased to attend the Buggy Brigade at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre - on their Christmas Party!





Was great to see so many young mums and kids having a great time - and well done to the mums who catered very well for kids and adults,, whilst I didnt have toime to wait for Santa, I did have time to nab a a jam piece! (sorry)

I look forward to viting the group again in 2009, and having more time to discuss the local issues raised.

SAVE THE MILLENIUM CENTRE

I was pleased to see, despite the weather, Muirhouse Millenium Centre having an indoor car boot sale of goods.

Unfortunatley, despite 4 attemps to win a prize (and the only £4 with me) I failed to win a prize! despite attempts to bend the rules!!

It was a good opportunity for me to speak to more of the local residents, introducing myelf as the new couniillor in FOrth Ward, and hearing how well used the centre is - despite the 60% cuts announced by the Council Administration.

I was heartened to see that they wont go without a fight - and look forward to supporting their fight to save the Muihouse Millenium Centre

Surgery's and Contact!

As promised - here are my surgery detials - covering the full forth ward, long with my contact details. Please feel free to contact me regadring any local issue.

I will work alongside your MSP Malcolm Chisholm and your Member of Parliament Mark Lazarowicz to progress issues for this community.

My Surgeries are as follows;

First and third Wednesday of the month at 6pm in Muirhouse Millennium Centre and at 7pm in
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

Second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 6pm in
the Prentice Centre and at 7pm in Trinity Primary School.

You can also call me on 529 3281, or email me at;
cammy.day@edinburgh.gov.uk or write to me at;

City Chambers
High Street Edinburgh
EH1 1YJ

Malmo Residents!

I was pleased to be invited to the Malmo residents association on Thursday evening (last night) , and welcomed by Ross Bell and the many residents who attended.

I hope that I can support the Residents Association with the many issues they raise..and look forward to working along side them!

More on the residents information can be found on their website - see link below.

http://malmogranton.wordpress.com/

Full Cooncil!

Yesterday saw my first ever full council meeting and maiden speech(s)!!

I was proud to be welcomed by my Labour Group colleagues, and to the Lord Provost and Leader for welcoming me, and grateful to the many positive comments from some of the citys political groups, and individual members


I was able to ask impportant question on the future investment of the new Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, and any likelyhood of investment in Granton Primary School.. the answers from the Liberal Convener - wishy washy to say the least, no start date, no contacts and no clue!

I also questioned the LIB DEMs on the Fairer Scotland (UNFAIR SCOTLAND FUND) and aksed to meet with the leader to look for ANY way of saving projects in the Forth Ward from closure - after repeatedly asking the question - she refused - I can only presume the Liberal Democrats are happy to see projets closed, and jobs lost - not what i call fairer scotland!!

I also put a motion up calling for projects to be goiven fair opportunity in mainstreaming and this was refused by the Liberal Democrat Lord Provost


Very dissapointing to see a casting vote used to close 3 schools - I hope the administration are proud

A long day for all - something im sure we need to get used too..