Earlier tonight, I attended the first meeting of 2012 of Community Spirit Action Group, the residents' group covering Polepark, Pentland, Cleghorn, Ancrum, Tullideph and surrounding areas.
Matters covered included :
* A presentation by the City Council's Chief Architectural Services Officer on the proposed capital investment on Blackness Library. Although welcome in itself - it will provide proper disabled access to the meeting rooms on the first floor - in my view it falls short of what is really required to create a proper community resource for the West End. This would include provision of a base for community groups, upgrading of the library and meeting rooms and ease of access to the facility in the evenings and weekends for local residents and community groups.
I have specifically requested a proper public consultation with the local community on the proposal, including a display and community engagement event at the library.
* There was thereafter an excellent presentation by Mark Chalmers of Sustrans about the Street Design Project in Kirkcaldy that has provided a low-cost, great value project that is giving the local community traffic and community safety improvements, dropped kerbing, landscaping and improved lighting and pathways. I have been in touch with Sustrans about how areas like Ancrum and Pentland can benefit from this sort of initiative.
* I updated the group on two projects I have proposed to the Community Payback Scheme to benefit the local area - upgrading the Blyth Street seating area (see right) and repairing the fallen fencing in Glenagnes Gardens.