Labour Councillors To Oppose Edinburgh Leisure Budget Cut

Terrific news for the crèche campaign - the Labour group in the Council are proposing a new budget for Edinburgh Leisure which would include enough money to continue providing crèches.

You can read the news article about it here.

With a proposal like this on the table, we'd like to remind you to please get in touch with your local SNP and / or Lib Dem councillors to ask them to support moves to keep the crèches open. You can see details of who they are in the previous post.

Thanks!

Merry Christmas to All - But Before You Put Your Feet Up...

A wee update before everyone breaks for Christmas and New Year.

The Council Motion (which you can see if you click the link) was very good news.

However in reality, it means nothing unless the Councillors remember their support when they put forward their budget in 2010.

In case that budget commitment doesn’t happen, we also need to keep:

• progressing discussions with Edinburgh Leisure themselves (they have now offered User Group meetings in the New Year)
• petitioning our own Councillors – and those whose wards include the creches – to keep them aware of the need for these vital services.
  

So please have a good break but also:

1. Get in touch (via link to right) AND confirm which crèche you use most often (for the User Group meetings)

2. contact your own Councillors again and - especially – contact those listed below because SNP/LDP have overall Council control :

Ainslie Park (Forth ward)

• Steve Cardownie (SNP)
• Elaine Morris (LDP)

Drumbrae

• Colin Keir (SNP)
• Robert Aldridge (LDP)
  

Gracemount

• Tom Buchanan (SNP)
• Conor Snowden (LDP)

Portobello

• Michael Bridgman (SNP)
• Stephen Hawkins (LDP)
  

Seasons Greetings and thanks for your continued support!

GPs Support Crèche Campaign

We've got support from GPs in our campaign to keep Edinburgh Leisure's crèches open!

Chair of the Royal College of GPs Scotland, Dr. Ken Lawton, said:

"Access to affordable methods of maintaining and improving health and wellbeing are vital. This is important to all groups in the community, including families, and reasonable support is key to enabling their use of these services. Closure of all crèches is likely to have a very negative impact on this group."

Front Page News as Councillors Approve Motion

The demonstrators at the City Chambers yesterday made front page news in the Edinburgh Evening News. The good news for our campaign is that councillors unanimously passed a motion which allows us and Edinburgh Leisure to continue to look for alternatives to closure. More details in the New Year - there's lots of work to be done and we're going to need everyone's support!

A Massive Thank You To All Demonstrators

A huge thank you to everyone who turned out this morning to the demonstration at the City Chambers on a truly hideous day. Press coverage of the day is starting to come in, and you can see the stv report here.

 

After the demonstration, a smaller group of protesters and accompanying babies and toddlers moved into the City Chambers to make a deputation to the full council. Shairron, Claire and Gillian made a terrific job of speaking and handling questions from the councillors - many thanks to them. We don't yet know the outcome of the motion raised on our behalf as latest reports are that the Council are still debating the previous schools closure motion.

 

News we were given today by Councillor Deirdre Brock is that Edinburgh Leisure has approached over 100 childcare providers with a view to putting alternative provision in place, and has scheduled meetings this week and next with some interested parties. Edinburgh Leisure are also hoping to meet with crèche user groups in the New Year to discuss the provision, so we'll keep you posted on what happens on that front!

 

Thanks again, and hope you've all thawed out.

Please Come To The Demo Tomorrow

Don't forget the demo tomorrow (17 December), outside the City Chambers on the High Street, from 0930 to 1030. Please bring children, costumes, face paints, banners, all the petitions you've had signed and good voices...

... And In Porty Too!

There was also a terrific turnout at Portobello Swim Centre - many thanks to all who came, and who played, sang and danced. The support from passers by was terrific - petitions were taken down to the bowling centre and to local builders, proving that the crèches aren't just important to parents, carers and children.