April/May 2014
Keane Wallis-Bennett
I, like everyone across the city
and across the country, was truly shocked and saddened by the tragic
incident at Liberton High School earlier this month. My thoughts and
deepest sympathies are with Keane Wallis-Bennett's family, friends and
the whole school
community.
The Council has since inspected
over 200 schools and other facilities across the city, focusing on
free-standing walls, and various precautionary works were carried out
over the Easter holidays.
We are determined to provide
reassurance to parents, pupils and the people of Edinburgh that we will
do everything in our power to prevent anything like this happening
again.
It's vitally important that we
understand the cause of this tragedy and we are continuing to work very
closely with Police Scotland, and the Health and Safety Executive, as
part of their ongoing investigations. As a parent of a Secondary School
child myself,
I know just how important it is that we find out exactly what happened.
Margo MacDonald
I'm sure I speak for everyone at
the Council when I say that Edinburgh, and indeed Scotland, has lost one
of our finest public servants following the passing of Margo MacDonald,
whose memorial service was held earlier today.
Margo was a principled and
committed politician who worked tirelessly to champion the Capital's
interests at a national level. She was truly one of a kind, both
passionate and courageous, and she will be very much missed. Our
thoughts are with her family
and friends.
Mortonhall report
As you may have read, our Chief Executive, Sue Bruce, has received Dame Elish Angiolini's report into Mortonhall Crematorium.
The report is lengthy and
wide-ranging and Sue needed time to read it thoroughly before setting a
publication date, which is now expected to be next Wednesday, 30 April.
Parents will receive a personal copy that morning, ahead of wider
publication.
I understand how anxious they are to receive the report and hope this timescale will reassure them.
Tram project latest
Tram testing and driver training
continues apace. Each of the 40 drivers is busy clocking up their
required 60 hours' driving time, getting them used to interacting with
other road users, especially along the city centre section of the route.
Pedestrians, drivers and cyclists
are also becoming accustomed to the return of trams to our streets and
we've refreshed our safety campaign with a new #carefulnow hashtag to
add to the popular #dingding and help raise awareness of how to walk,
cycle and
drive safely around trams.
We're now gearing up towards the
launch of passenger services, the exact date of which will be announced
very soon - watch this space. Remember you can keep up-to-date with the
latest tram news by following
@edinburghtrams on Twitter.
Use your vote
With both the European
Parliamentary Elections and the Scottish Independence Referendum taking
place this year, it's important that you are registered to vote.
This is your opportunity to be
part of our democracy and make your vote count. Registering only takes a
few minutes and being on the Electoral Register has other benefits such
as helping improve your credit rating and for background checks such as
Disclosure
Scotland and applying for benefits.
Contact the Electoral Registration Office by calling 0131 344 2500 or visit
www.lothian-vjb.gov.uk by 6 May to register, or to apply to vote by post or proxy by 7 May.
Our new website
The launch of our new 'responsive' website
earlier this month marks a real milestone in the Council's ambitious
ICT plans. The design and functionality of the site, which is easy to
access on smart phones and tablet/iPads,
is based on extensive customer research.
In time, benefits to customers
will include faster, automatic responses to online enquiries, a single
record of contact with the Council and a secure 'myaccount' function.
Please do take the time to have a browse - we'd be grateful for your
feedback.
Stay in the picture
Keep yourself in the picture with our
news section online. Watch live full Council and some committee meetings on our
webcast. Join the debate on Twitter #edinwebcast
If you wish to unsubscribe please
email us.
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