Only two days to go...to the launch of the Porty calendar. The official launch will take place outside Kitcheners Deli on Saturday 13 November at 11 am, with Susan Deacon, MSP doing the honours.
There will be the customary Findlay's suasages on offer and a glass of Cava to wash them down, plus the chance to get your mitts on the first copies of the calendar to hit the streets.
Rush now, as Beryl of the Scotsman's shopping feature would say.
See you there!
PS There is an article about the campaign and the calendar in the current edition of the Big Issue.
Superstore - New Petrol Station - Parking - New Access
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Guest
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Guest
The calendar is absolutely THE funniest thing I've seen for ages. I actually laughed out loud in the middle of the High Street this afternoon when I saw James Allan 
The boys from Woodwares were fantastic and Joe Findlay and Co backed up by Porty and POP were brill (as of course was everybody else!) When will they be making the film? 
The boys from Woodwares were fantastic and Joe Findlay and Co backed up by Porty and POP were brill (as of course was everybody else!) When will they be making the film? Enough of your nonsense - get back to the Play Pen!
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Beach Babe
- Posts: 275
- Joined: 09 Jan 2004, 22:59
- Location: Portobello
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Beach Babe
- Posts: 275
- Joined: 09 Jan 2004, 22:59
- Location: Portobello
I think the calendar is super - my favs are Kareen from Borders Fruit Shop and Clive Scissorshand, but what I'm very curious about is who is the "Bare Lady" on the front page, running around the beach 
Come on Porty
own up - its you in disguise isn't it 
Come on Porty
own up - its you in disguise isn't it How old would you be, if you didn't know how old you are?
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mr magnolia
- Posts: 972
- Joined: 11 Jul 2004, 22:07
- Location: close to the edge
- Contact:
I'll get to the "bottom" of this eventually -
Guest
Sorry - can't shed any light on this mystery, but here's a link to today's EN coverage for anyone who missed it:
Are supermarket plan's days numbered?
Are supermarket plan's days numbered?
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Hawkeye
A huge thank-you is sent out to all the helpers who turned up last Saturday at the PCATS jumble sale and, of course, I would like to thank everyone who donated clothing, books, toys and household items. The response for jumble was overwhelming and the hall could hold no more. We still have some items for a future car boot sale.
Also on sale were some marvellous Christmas decorations and our table will look the more festive this year with one of the gold wreaths.
Now the exciting bit. We made a profit of over £1,225 which will be put towards the cost of the expert witnesses for the public inquiry. But we still need more - look out for forthcoming events and remember to buy ‘The Stars of Portobello’ for all your relatives this year.
Also on sale were some marvellous Christmas decorations and our table will look the more festive this year with one of the gold wreaths.
Now the exciting bit. We made a profit of over £1,225 which will be put towards the cost of the expert witnesses for the public inquiry. But we still need more - look out for forthcoming events and remember to buy ‘The Stars of Portobello’ for all your relatives this year.
Hawkeye, what an inspired idea. I've tried buying them lots of things in the past but they never seem to get the message. The Calendar should finish them off once and for all.Hawkeye wrote:..... and remember to buy ‘The Stars of Portobello’ for all your relatives this year.
.....ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Calender is FABB
I just got my copy today. I bought it expecting that it would be not very good, just to support the campaign, thinking it probably won't even go on my wall, but its BRILLIANT!! They are really funny photos, and most people who live round here will recognise at least a few faces. But they are also really excellent photos - I think the one of the chemist is beautiful! 
I am the SONG that SINGS the bird
Message from Lawrence Marshall
Dear All,
I thought that this report at today's Planning Committee would be of interest - to be found at http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=56955
It's not all that great but does point out that national guidance on retailing and town centres is expected to soon be reviewed (the consultation document will probably appear in the first quarter of 2005 for comment).
Committee amended the recommendations to take out the last part of a. (after "and") and insert "current" before "development". We also added a c. which basically said that we doubted current guidelines! The full minute will hopefully soon appear on www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cpol if you wish to look at this.
Lawrence
Most people do not agree with the current guidelines - unless of course you are a developer, and expect to make meggaaaas out of getting planning permission in place
Dear All,
I thought that this report at today's Planning Committee would be of interest - to be found at http://cpol.edinburgh.gov.uk/getdoc_ext.asp?DocId=56955
It's not all that great but does point out that national guidance on retailing and town centres is expected to soon be reviewed (the consultation document will probably appear in the first quarter of 2005 for comment).
Committee amended the recommendations to take out the last part of a. (after "and") and insert "current" before "development". We also added a c. which basically said that we doubted current guidelines! The full minute will hopefully soon appear on www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cpol if you wish to look at this.
Lawrence
Most people do not agree with the current guidelines - unless of course you are a developer, and expect to make meggaaaas out of getting planning permission in place
Tomorrow evening ITV 20.00hrs - worth a watch..
20:00 Tonight with Trevor McDonald
Jonathan Maitland assesses the impact of supermarkets' aggressive push into non-food retailing, asking if the traditional high-street giants can withstand the onslaught of ever cheaper clothing, or whether they will be forced out like smaller, local shops
20:00 Tonight with Trevor McDonald
Jonathan Maitland assesses the impact of supermarkets' aggressive push into non-food retailing, asking if the traditional high-street giants can withstand the onslaught of ever cheaper clothing, or whether they will be forced out like smaller, local shops
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Hawkeye
Christmas is a time for fairy tales. How about this one.
Have you heard about the proposal to sell before Christmas the land at the Pitz football site yet?
Well there’re two theories the conspiracy and the cock-up.
The conspiracy theory goes like this:
A developer wants to build a superstore on the Scottish Power site and some people say great but after much opposition by local people the Council says no because it is too far out of town. Some people don’t like this. The next thing we know there is a wonderful council plan to move the library, community centre and some housing next to the superstore site. Great say some people, we couldn’t move the superstore into the town centre but this is a fairy tale come true because the town centre has come to us.
The cock-up theory goes like this:
Department P rejects the application for a superstore on the Scottish Power site on the grounds that its urban design does not link with the rest of the High Street. Department L says it wants some cash to make the services better. Department E decides to sell land for housing in conjunction with Department P who will grant permission and in so doing undermine (a good word for an unstable site) the reason for rejecting the superstore. A fantastic example of what the Government would call joined up thinking.
Of course, I don’t subscribe to either of these theories although that may be a fairy tale as well.
But it does make you think why a scheme that has been kicking around for the past five years has suddenly been rushed through to a date for acceptance of offers. Where’s the rush and why the indicative plan now?
The move is dependent on a new site for Pitz to be found and go through the due planning process. If this is approved then the site would have to be built and Pitz move over. This all takes time even in never never land.
Is it really coincidence that this plan has been released so soon before the Public Inquiry? A plan that jeopardises the chance of the Council defending the one reason arrived at by officials for rejecting the superstore.
Have you heard about the proposal to sell before Christmas the land at the Pitz football site yet?
Well there’re two theories the conspiracy and the cock-up.
The conspiracy theory goes like this:
A developer wants to build a superstore on the Scottish Power site and some people say great but after much opposition by local people the Council says no because it is too far out of town. Some people don’t like this. The next thing we know there is a wonderful council plan to move the library, community centre and some housing next to the superstore site. Great say some people, we couldn’t move the superstore into the town centre but this is a fairy tale come true because the town centre has come to us.
The cock-up theory goes like this:
Department P rejects the application for a superstore on the Scottish Power site on the grounds that its urban design does not link with the rest of the High Street. Department L says it wants some cash to make the services better. Department E decides to sell land for housing in conjunction with Department P who will grant permission and in so doing undermine (a good word for an unstable site) the reason for rejecting the superstore. A fantastic example of what the Government would call joined up thinking.
Of course, I don’t subscribe to either of these theories although that may be a fairy tale as well.
But it does make you think why a scheme that has been kicking around for the past five years has suddenly been rushed through to a date for acceptance of offers. Where’s the rush and why the indicative plan now?
The move is dependent on a new site for Pitz to be found and go through the due planning process. If this is approved then the site would have to be built and Pitz move over. This all takes time even in never never land.
Is it really coincidence that this plan has been released so soon before the Public Inquiry? A plan that jeopardises the chance of the Council defending the one reason arrived at by officials for rejecting the superstore.
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Brian McCrow
- Posts: 224
- Joined: 16 Sep 2003, 12:11
- Location: Portobello
As I read the Council minute on NPPG8 guidelines re. Retail, it would appear that this states that sequential development from a Town Centre should improve the vitality and viability of the Town Centre and hence there doesn't need to be any Retail impact statement on that Town Centre. It also says that there may be some immediate impact on some existing Retailers but the increased competition will cause the Retailers to lift their game.
I don't think this should be applied to the Superstore as it's not a sequential development but PCATS should check this out with their Retail expert.
I don't think this should be applied to the Superstore as it's not a sequential development but PCATS should check this out with their Retail expert.
PCATS FUNDRAISERS
PCATS will have a stall at the Christmas Fayre on Saturday 11 December from 10 am - 12 noon on Portobello Town Hall.
On sale will be good quality bric-a-brac, home baking, including the customary parkin and Portobello calendars. Hope to see you there!
AND
Kitcheners Delicatessen is holding a wine and cheese evening on Friday 17 December from 7- 9 pm
Taste a wide variety of farmhouse cheeses, accompanied by complimentary wine and view their Christmas stock collection. All cheeses can be purchased the night plus the Christmas stock at a 10% reduction.
BY TICKET ONLY: £5
All profits from the tickets are going towards the campaign fund to fight the supermarket.
On sale will be good quality bric-a-brac, home baking, including the customary parkin and Portobello calendars. Hope to see you there!
AND
Kitcheners Delicatessen is holding a wine and cheese evening on Friday 17 December from 7- 9 pm
Taste a wide variety of farmhouse cheeses, accompanied by complimentary wine and view their Christmas stock collection. All cheeses can be purchased the night plus the Christmas stock at a 10% reduction.
BY TICKET ONLY: £5
All profits from the tickets are going towards the campaign fund to fight the supermarket.
Thought this was worth posting!
Chisholm to back green lobby over planning appeals
HAMISH MACDONELL
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
MALCOLM Chisholm, the communities minister, is preparing to turn against the business community in a crucial argument over planning appeals, sources in the Scottish Executive claimed last night.
The minister is deciding on the Executive’s approach to the thorny issue of third-party right of appeal during planning disputes.
Environmental campaigners want the Executive to establish a legal right of appeal for third parties in planning applications.
However, the business community, already worried about the length of time it takes to get planning applications agreed, is concerned that any extra right of appeal would stifle business growth and damage the economy.
Mr Chisholm is due to go to Cabinet soon with a recommendation on the issue, and insiders claimed yesterday that the paper he was drawing up would come out in favour of the environmentalists, playing down the views of the business community.
When the bill is published it will contain a set of compromises designed to reflect the views of both sides, but it is understood that Mr Chisholm is leaning towards the environmentalists and this will be reflected in his recommendation to Cabinet.
If Mr Chisholm does take that line, it will almost certainly be endorsed by his fellow ministers, putting the entire Executive on a collision course with the business community.
Third party right of appeal has already been rejected in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and business leaders warn that the adoption of such a process in Scotland would slow up business development north of the border.
Allan Hogarth, of the Scottish Confederation of British Industry, said: "The business community has been reassured by the Executive that there would be a lengthy, open-ended consultation of this process.
"We would be very concerned if there is any truth in this suggestion that the representations that the business community has vociferously made over the impact of third party right of appeal on the economic prospects for Scotland have been sidelined in any way."
And he added: "We have always argued that the response to this issue will be a litmus test of how committed the Scottish Executive really is to creating jobs and prosperity."
There have been unconfirmed reports that Mr Chisholm might put forward his recommendations as early as this week, but a spokesman for the Executive said that he would not discuss Cabinet agendas in advance of any meetings.
The spokesman said ministers would be publishing a white paper on planning in the spring followed by a planning bill late next summer.
He added: "On the specific issue of a third party right of appeal, ministers will look carefully at the responses to this summer’s consultation, in which there is considerable support for both sides of the argument, before Cabinet makes a decision in the context of planning modernisation as a whole."
Ministers are expected to agree to third party appeals, giving appellants a wider range of grounds, but balancing this with a more efficient system to speed up the planning process for the business community.
The Executive consultation took place during the summer and elicited 1,600 responses by the end of July.
The vast majority of the responses, 86 per cent, were in favour of introducing a new community right of appeal.
The respondents included major local authorities, public agencies, community councils, environmental groups and many individuals.
Mr Chisholm is understood to have taken more heed of these submissions than of the counter-arguments from the business community.
LOG JAM IN THE SYSTEM
A KEY question for MSPs on any third party right of appeal legislation is: will the planning system cope?
For even before any new legislation, Scotland’s planning authorities have fallen behind official targets of processing 80 per cent of major residential and business applications within four months.
Only two of Scotland’s 33 planning authorities met this target last year. One of these was the Western Isles.
The damning figures would appear to confirm business fears that Scotland’s planning system is already struggling to cope and that third party right of appeal will compound delays.
According to data released by James Mackinnon, Chief Planner, to the parliament’s finance committee earlier this month after questioning by Wendy Alexander MSP, only 49 per cent of all major planning applications in the year to March were processed within four months. As the table shows, planning authority "slowcoaches" include Edinburgh (26 per cent), Midlothian (17 per cent) and South Ayrshire (28 per cent). This "pass rate" is falling. In the year to March 2002, 57 per cent of applications met the target. Figures are worst for residential applications where only 44 per cent met the four-month target last year, down 9 per cent in two years.
Chisholm to back green lobby over planning appeals
HAMISH MACDONELL
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR
MALCOLM Chisholm, the communities minister, is preparing to turn against the business community in a crucial argument over planning appeals, sources in the Scottish Executive claimed last night.
The minister is deciding on the Executive’s approach to the thorny issue of third-party right of appeal during planning disputes.
Environmental campaigners want the Executive to establish a legal right of appeal for third parties in planning applications.
However, the business community, already worried about the length of time it takes to get planning applications agreed, is concerned that any extra right of appeal would stifle business growth and damage the economy.
Mr Chisholm is due to go to Cabinet soon with a recommendation on the issue, and insiders claimed yesterday that the paper he was drawing up would come out in favour of the environmentalists, playing down the views of the business community.
When the bill is published it will contain a set of compromises designed to reflect the views of both sides, but it is understood that Mr Chisholm is leaning towards the environmentalists and this will be reflected in his recommendation to Cabinet.
If Mr Chisholm does take that line, it will almost certainly be endorsed by his fellow ministers, putting the entire Executive on a collision course with the business community.
Third party right of appeal has already been rejected in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and business leaders warn that the adoption of such a process in Scotland would slow up business development north of the border.
Allan Hogarth, of the Scottish Confederation of British Industry, said: "The business community has been reassured by the Executive that there would be a lengthy, open-ended consultation of this process.
"We would be very concerned if there is any truth in this suggestion that the representations that the business community has vociferously made over the impact of third party right of appeal on the economic prospects for Scotland have been sidelined in any way."
And he added: "We have always argued that the response to this issue will be a litmus test of how committed the Scottish Executive really is to creating jobs and prosperity."
There have been unconfirmed reports that Mr Chisholm might put forward his recommendations as early as this week, but a spokesman for the Executive said that he would not discuss Cabinet agendas in advance of any meetings.
The spokesman said ministers would be publishing a white paper on planning in the spring followed by a planning bill late next summer.
He added: "On the specific issue of a third party right of appeal, ministers will look carefully at the responses to this summer’s consultation, in which there is considerable support for both sides of the argument, before Cabinet makes a decision in the context of planning modernisation as a whole."
Ministers are expected to agree to third party appeals, giving appellants a wider range of grounds, but balancing this with a more efficient system to speed up the planning process for the business community.
The Executive consultation took place during the summer and elicited 1,600 responses by the end of July.
The vast majority of the responses, 86 per cent, were in favour of introducing a new community right of appeal.
The respondents included major local authorities, public agencies, community councils, environmental groups and many individuals.
Mr Chisholm is understood to have taken more heed of these submissions than of the counter-arguments from the business community.
LOG JAM IN THE SYSTEM
A KEY question for MSPs on any third party right of appeal legislation is: will the planning system cope?
For even before any new legislation, Scotland’s planning authorities have fallen behind official targets of processing 80 per cent of major residential and business applications within four months.
Only two of Scotland’s 33 planning authorities met this target last year. One of these was the Western Isles.
The damning figures would appear to confirm business fears that Scotland’s planning system is already struggling to cope and that third party right of appeal will compound delays.
According to data released by James Mackinnon, Chief Planner, to the parliament’s finance committee earlier this month after questioning by Wendy Alexander MSP, only 49 per cent of all major planning applications in the year to March were processed within four months. As the table shows, planning authority "slowcoaches" include Edinburgh (26 per cent), Midlothian (17 per cent) and South Ayrshire (28 per cent). This "pass rate" is falling. In the year to March 2002, 57 per cent of applications met the target. Figures are worst for residential applications where only 44 per cent met the four-month target last year, down 9 per cent in two years.
Sustainable Development
What is sustainable development?: Guiding principles and approaches
Putting people at the centre. Sustainable development must enable people to enjoy a better quality of life, now and in the future. In the words of the Rio Declaration, 'human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.'
as to how a Superstore with the associated environmental ramifications can be a sustainable option for the future of Portobello
Putting people at the centre. Sustainable development must enable people to enjoy a better quality of life, now and in the future. In the words of the Rio Declaration, 'human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.'
as to how a Superstore with the associated environmental ramifications can be a sustainable option for the future of Portobello