Following his recent petition about extending the Lothian Buses 25 route from Riccarton campus to Balerno, Tom Inglis met with First Buses in Livingston, who wanted to find out if a bus service from St. John’s Hospital via Livingston Centre to Balerno, Currie and beyond makes business sense.

The Scottish Government recently passed a new Planning Bill with the support of the Scottish Conservatives, which fails to radically overhaul planning in Scotland.

Tom Inglis and the Focus Team have heard from a number of residents who are affected by uneven pavements in Juniper Green, Currie and Balerno. Elderly or disabled people often find it difficult to get about if the pavements are in a poor state of repair.

Tom Inglis has been working with Pesticide Free Balerno to investigate safer alternatives to Glyphosate and has written to the Council.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats were the only party on the Council’s Transport & Environment committee to oppose the cut in opening hours at the Sighthill Recycling Centre.

Following his recent petition in the community about extending the Lothian Buses 25 route from Riccarton campus to Balerno, Tom Inglis met with First Buses in Livingston.

The Focus Team have been contacted by a number of residents concerned about the level of air pollution from gridlocked traffic along the Lanark Road in Juniper Green and Riccarton Mains Road in Currie (especially the stretch of road outside Currie Primary School).

Last year’s controversial schools review saw the Liberal Democrats and opposition parties outvote the Council Administration in favour of an option to keep Currie HS, Woodlands School, Balerno HS and WHEC open.

Our petition to extend the Lothian Buses 25 service to Balerno attracted 1,100 signatures, a massive number for this kind of campaign, which demonstrates the real depth of feeling about this issue in the community.

City of Edinburgh Council is going to consult on its next Local Development Plan, called City Plan 2030, in the first half of this year. This plan will determine what new houses are built in our area.