Merchiston Community Council
13 March 2010 
Speaking up for the people of Merchiston  
Community Services and Contact Details
                            - quite lengthy but hopefully a useful reference point
You can find below:
Your MSP
Your MP
Your MEP
Your CEC CouncillorsYour LibraryYour Post Offices
Health And Safety numbers
(Gas Water Electricity)

Free Fire Checks
GP surgeries
Pharmacies        Recycling / Reuse 
LitterFreecycle

Community Political Representation

The Community Council is a non-party political body but as mentioned on the committee page and the Neighbourhood page we have several elected City of Edinburgh Councillors and then we have a local MSP Mike Pringle and are also represented at Westminster by MP Nigel Griffiths and then at Strasburg by several MEPs

Scottish Parliament - Link to Scottish Parliament homepage

Local MSP

Mike Pringle
(Liberal Democrat)
Edinburgh South


The 'List' MSPs for Lothian or Lothians Regional MSPs are
Party Name
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Gavin Brown
Scottish Labour George Foulkes
Scottish Green Party Robin Harper
Scottish National Party Fiona Hyslop
Independent Margo MacDonald
Scottish National Party Ian McKee
Scottish National Party Shirley-Anne Somerville

UK Parliament
Edinburgh South

European Parliament

MEPs do not represent particular constituencies within the UK. Seven members represent the whole of Scotland.
See the European Parliament website.

Councillors Surgeries
Local Surgeries - no appointment necessary, simply turn up:

Andrew BurnsEvery WednesdayFountainbridge Library, Dundee Street
(all year round)
6:00pm

1st and 3rd Thursday of the monthSt.Cuthbert's Primary School, Hutchison Crossway
(during term-time only)
6:00pm

2nd and 4th Thursday of the monthCraiglockhart Primary School, Ashley Terrace
(during term-time only)
6:00pm
Gorden Buchan
Telephone 529 4267 for appointment





Jim Lowrie
Last Wednesday of the month
or
St Cuthbert's Primary School
(during term-time only)
6:00pm - 7:00pm

Telephone 529 4976 for appointment


Paul Godzik1st Tuesday of the month

St Peter's Primary School,
(during term-time only)
6.30pm


Bruntsfield Primary School,
(during term-time only)
7.15pm
Alison Johnstone1st Wednesday of the month

Bruntsfield Primary School
(during term-time only)
7:00pm - 8:00pm

4th Wednesday of the month
or
telephone 529 3291 for appointment
South Morningside Primary School
(during term-time only)


7:00pm - 8:00pm


Marilyne MacLaren1st Wednesday of the month

South Morningside Primary School
(during term-time only)
6:45pm - 7:45pm

1st Wednesday of the month James Gillespie High School
(during term-time only)
5:30pm - 6:30pm
Mark McInnes

1st Friday of the month

Cluny Parish Church,6:00pm

2nd Friday of the monthEric Liddell Centre,6:00pm

3rd Friday of the month Polwarth Parish Church, 6:00pm

4th Friday of the monthTollcross Community Centre,6:00pm

Fountainbridge Library

137 Dundee Street, Edinburgh EH11 1BG

Tel: 0131 529 5616
Fax: 0131 529 5621

Opening hours

Monday 1pm – 8pm
Tuesday 10am – 5pm
Wednesday 1pm – 8pm
Thursday 10am – 5pm
Friday 10am – 5pm
Saturday 9am – 1pm
Sunday Closed

Post Offices

We have two post offices in our area.

Bruntsfield Sub Post Office, 1 Merchiston Place EH10 4NP
Dundee Post Office, 181 Dundee Street EH11 1BY

Health and Safety

In emergencies and only emergencies Fire, Police, Ambulance - dial 999
Gas Emergency 0800 0400 007
Electricity 0845 2727 999
Scottish Water 0845 6008 855

Free Fire Safety Checks

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service offer FREE home safety checks. To arrange a home visit call 080...


Free Crime Prevention Survey
Lothian and Borders Police are happy to give your house the once over and advise on security issues free of charge. To arrange a survey call 0131 654 5512.

If you have any questions regarding the system please call 013... or e-mail police.uk@lbp.pnn.police.uk

Health
We have GP and Optician practices but unfortunately NHS Dentists are so thin on the ground we cannot identify any in the ward

Polwarth Surgery
72 Polwarth Gardens
EH11 1LL
Tel :0131 229 5914
Bruntsfield Medical Practice
11 Forbes Road
EH10 4EY
Tel:0131 228 6081

Opticians

R C Cunning Optician
114 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh EH10 4EQ

Pharmacies

Polwarth Pharmacy
10 Polwarth Gardens
Edinburgh EH11 1LW
0131 229 3199
Fountainbridge Pharmacy
179 Dundee Street
Edinburgh EH11 1BY
0131 229 8281
Lloyds Pharmacy
129 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh
EH10 4EQ
Paton & Finlay
177 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh
EH10 4DGM


NHS 24
For all out of hours health queries 08454 24 24 24

Ambulance Transport for hospital appointments

New arrangements in Lothian for booking ambulance transport. This is only provided to patients who have a medical or mobility need. It is important that patients only use this service if they have no other means of getting to hospital, or if their medical condition determines it.
If you need non-emergency patient transport for a hospital appointment please contact :
Ambulance Booking Line on 0131 447 0434
Monday to Friday. 9.00am to 4.30pm

Royal Hospital for Sick Children - outwith our area but of interest to all parents

Click HERE to see the plans for re-provisioning of the Sick Kids.

NHS Lothian - Click HERE for a great deal of information about current happenings, consultations, reports, etc within the NHS.

-------------------------

Litter

A local resident having got thoroughly fed up with seeing litter spoil our lovely Edinburgh (and other places) resolved to do something about it. To this end (in July 2003) she started an initiative called PAL - People Against Litter. In a nutshell, a PAL commits to picking up just one piece of litter per week (more if they wish but that is up to the individual to decide) and asks someone else to do the same who in turn recruits another and so on. As the number of 'PAL's increase, the less litter we all have to live with.
Edinburgh City Council also have a litter response team which can be called via environment dept on 0131 5...


Reduce Reuse Recycle

Recycling


In Edinburgh the Council has made some provision for local recycling.
In tenement areas, which we have, communal recycling bins are available.
In villa areas, which we also have, residents are provided with brown bins for garden waste, blue boxes for tins, glass and paper, and red boxes for cardboard. Green bins are for other household refuse which goes to landfill, but communal packaging bins do take plastic. Plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to decompose so all are urged to use 'bags for life' rather than single use carrier bags or better still good old cotton or other more sturdy shopping bags.


The City Council Waste Aware Scheme can be contacted at 0131 529 3030 or wasteaware@edinburgh.gov.uk.
You can get replacement blue or red boxes or rain caps from them should you need it.

If you require new blue bags for paper they can be had from the library.

What goes in which box?

The Red box is for
The Blue box is for
Clean flattened
  • Cardboard
  • Cardboard drinks cartons
  • Cereal boxes
  • Greetings cards and postcards
PLEASE no Plastics, Lids, Polystyrene or Styrofoam
Glass
Not
Cans
Not
Glass bottles and
Glass jars
broken glass or
light bulbs
glass dishes or
windowpanes
Aluminium, steel or tin cans
Empty aerosols
Clean aluminium foil
crisp packets
or
sweetwrappers

Within the box is a blue bag for
  • Newspapers,
  • Computer paper,
  • Magazines and all directories
No cardboard, envelopes, food wrappers or plastics.

They are also keen to accept textiles in the form of clothing, towels, clean sheets, and pairs of shoes but please no duvets or pillows.


Brown Bins

These bins are for garden waste and cut flowers. (Please not Rabbit bedding or other rubbish that blows into your garden)
All other domestic vegetable foodstuff waste should be composted. The City Council provide very cheaply priced compost bins in several sizes if you have a garden. If you don't, a wormery is an alternative. There are many available online and just think of the reduced trips to the communal bins!

Recycle Low Wattage bulbs

Low Wattage bulbs should not be disposed of in your domestic waste bins.

Those of you who started using low wattage bulbs some years ago will be finding them coming to the end of their life and the City Council are looking into setting up recycling bins at some point this year at all of the Community Recycling Centres. Meanwhile Ikea will recycle any low wattage bulbs purchased from them.

Remember too that any strip lights can be taken to one of the Community Recycling Centres listed below.

Braehead CRC, Craigs Road, EH12 0AA
Craigmillar CRC, Old Dalkeith Road, EH16 4TB
Seafield CRC, Fillyside Road, EH7 6RD
Sighthill CRC, Bankhead Avenue, EH11 4EA

Recycle your batteries

Don't just put used batteries in the bin. As of February 2010 all shops selling batteries [except in very rare cases] should collect batteries for recycling. So PLEASE put old batteries aside and take then to a collection box on your next shopping trip.

Batteries must not be put in normal domestic bins because of the toxic chemicals they contain, which contaminate landfill sites.

.
The City of Edinburgh Council is not collecting, for recycling, household batteries but that doesn't mean we should just dump them in the landfill collection.
The nearest CEC recycling site is at Sighthill (Bankhead Avenue, EH11 4EA).
Your corner shop or supermarket is handier.

Please make use of these facilities and so encourage companies who can help us to recycle and spread the word.


Mobile Phones

Yes if you do not want to resell your 'last season' model which would be our first recommendation, even these should be recycled and envelopes are available from OXFAM or the Co-op who are working together to recycle those mobiles which no longer satisfy your needs.


Reuse

Even better than Recycle is Reuse. We all have items we no longer require but have plenty of life still in them. Charity shops will be happy to take things they can relatively easily sell but that doesn't cover it all. There is a group who offers an alternative: Freecycle now also Freegle

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of over 4,000 groups with more than 5,000,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. To sign up to the Edinburgh branch you need to join their Yahoo Group
http://www.freecycle.org/group/UK/Scotland/Edinburgh
You will be amazed at what is on offer and what is wanted. Possibly used primarily by students it is actually used by anyone wishing to keep stuff out of landfill. Give it a try.

Litter

A local resident having got thoroughly fed up with seeing litter spoil our lovely Edinburgh (and other places) resolved to do something about it. To this end (in July 2003) she started an initiative called PAL - People Against Litter. In a nutshell, a PAL commits to picking up just one piece of litter per week (more if they wish but that is up to the individual to decide) and asks someone else to do the same who in turn recruits another and so on. As the number of 'PAL's increase, the less litter we all have to live with.
Edinburgh City Council also have a litter response team which can be called via environment dept on 0131 5...