Joys of Summer

One of the joys of the summer season is that most formal Council committees don't meet and given that many colleagues are on holiday its a chance to shake off the dust of the City Chambers and spend more time in the local community. Monday night's Ratho Community Council meeting went ahead as scheduled and we managed to conduct the business without any undue difficulties. Tuesday, sandwiched between two constituent visits in Clovenstone and Balerno, I accepted an invite to visit the new Bridge 8 Hub at the Calders. A social enterprise initiative led by Sean Barry the idea is to create an outdoor activities centre that can be used by young and old from the surrounding communities and also tap into the commercial possibilities presented by the corporate market seeking team building opportunities. Canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, archery and a community garden are the initial offerings but Sean and his colleagues have big plans for the future and seem to have done their homework in terms of potential custom and other sources of funding. It's certainly a great idea and nothing similar exists on this side of the city so I wish them well and if you want to read more about them there's info here on their web site.

Tuesday evening was the latest meeting of the South West Communities Forum, basically a forum for local community councils to come together to discuss a collective response to the ongoing process of the Local Development Plan and the increasing number of attempts by developers to breach the Green Belt in our area. Excellent discussion and a good chance to discuss future strategy and how we should attempt to shape policy decisions.