March 2023 news from Councillor Neil Ross
Main highlights
- Council approves Lib Dem budget
- Canny Man’s Hotel plans
- Warrender Baths Re-opening soon?
- City Car Club goes electric!
- Road treatments for Braid Road & Fox Spring Crescent
- Destination Hillend
Council approves Lib Dem budget
In a surprise outcome last month, the Lib Dem budget proposals were approved. Here are the main points:-
- £5.5m of cuts to schools were rejected,
- £11m extra for paths, pavements and roads,
- £3m more for street sweeping, gully cleaning, fly tipping and graffiti removal,
- More money to tackle climate change, incl. £2m on flood prevention measures,
- £3m for improvements to parks and greenspaces,
- £3m for the Kings Theatre.
All of this with a Council Tax increase of 5%, less than both Labour and SNP budgets. The budget also called for possible savings through Best Value service reviews and a saving of £600k from the Council’s redeployment pool. You can read more about the budget here.
Canny Man’s Hotel plans
Plans have been submitted for a four storey 12-bedroom boutique hotel with two ground floor short term let flats in the car park between the Canny Man’s pub and the small Lane Hotel, all under the same ownership. Plans can be viewed on the Council’s planning portal under reference 23/00359/FUL here. Unfortunately, the deadline for comments has passed.
Warrender Baths Re-opening soon?
The Council’s most recent update on the refurbishment works to Warrender Baths indicates work continues to take longer than expected and, once complete, will be followed by several weeks of preparation before eventually re-opening to the public. Delays to the project include finding wet rot in the roof and timber joists and additional works to the roof, to the slab floor and walls and windows. More info here.
City Car Club goes electric!
Good news! 34 locations for the City Car Club are to have electric charging points. A report was considered at a recent meeting of the Council’s Transport Committee and includes a map with locations in appendix 2. The report (available here) also announces 10 new public charging points to add to the city’s network. Suggestions for new charging points can be made here.
Road treatments for Braid Road & Fox Spring Crescent
Surface treatment work is to be carried out on a section of Braid Road, between Braid Hills Road and Pentland Terrace, and also on Fox Spring Crescent.
Destination Hillend
A set of exciting developments for Hillend Ski Centre were approved recently by Midlothian Council, including a climbing wall, alpine coaster, zip wire, jump slope and tubing activity – read more about this here. Road works on the A702 to create a new junction at Hillend are expected to start soon.
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