A selection of my recent votes in Parliament:

Voted for Parliamentary Constituencies Bill
Voted for amendments to Digital Economy Bill

These are just some of the issues I have voted on. For a complete breakdown visit the Public Whip website. You can also contact me at any time on the above details to share your views of a piece of legislation, or Government policy more generally.

 

You may remember from last month’s update that the Boundary Commission have proposed to split the Edinburgh South constituency down the middle- with the Liberton/Gilmerton ward and part of Southside/Newington moving into Edinburgh East, and the rest moving into a newly created South West and Central constituency. I have put forward a counter proposal which meets the Boundary Commission’s stated objectives as well as making the new seats contiguous with full Council wards and bringing them closer to the current Westminster and Scottish Parliamentary boundaries. You can download my proposal here.

Boundary Commission proposal

My proposal

You can make representations to the Boundary Commission by submitting an online response through this consultation portal, by letter (Boundary Commission for Scotland, Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5HD) or by email (comments@scottishboundaries.gov.uk). You can also express your views in person at public hearings. 

The Commission are taking submissions until 11th January 2017 and you are of course welcome to support my proposals. You can do this by downloading the file via the above link or by simply making reference to my submission. 

If you have any questions about my proposals or about the process in general please contact me.

 

 

Update from Community Policing Inspector Graeme Nisbet

Firstly on the 17th of October 2016 there was a change and re-organisation of police resources within Edinburgh.  This has resulted in more officers to attend calls far quicker and a smaller but dedicated community policing team.

I am encouraged by this change and having worked under a similar model in the past I think it will offer great opportunities and deliver excellent results for community policing.

Along with the dedicated ward officers we also have the benefit of a dedicated sergeant for each of the ward areas.

PS David Cuthbert, based at St. Leonards is now in charge of the Southside/ Newington & Meadows/ Morningside wards PS Mark Innes, based at Howdenhall is in charge of the Liberton/ Gilmerton ward

Our ward officers are now supported with additional community policing officers and we have already seen some real benefits of them patrolling the known “hot spot” areas and dealing with the issues being experienced by communities.

The sergeants and community officers also work a bespoke shift pattern to match the community demands and this will better enable them to carry out that function.

I remain in place covering the 3 ward areas.

There is and will be some changes to the ward officers,

PC Ross Stewart (Southside/ Newington Ward) has left us and has been replaced by PC Chris Harris, PC Neil Mackay (Southside/ Newington) remains in place PC Sasha Ponniah is moving at the end of November and we will be identifying an officer to replace him, PC Alan Jenkins (Meadows/ Morningside) moved to become the School Link Officer at Bouroughmuir/ James Gillespie’s, so we still have him n our area, and he was replaced by PC Stuart Fraser.

PC Rebecca Wilson & PC Craig Cairns remain in the Liberton/ Gilmerton Ward.

The community teams and sergeants can be contacted through the dedicated email addresses of

EdinburghSouthsideNewingtonCPT@Scotland.pnn.police.uk

or

EdinburghMeadowsMorningsideCPT@Scotland.pnn.police.uk

or

EdinburghLibertonGilmertonCPT@Scotland.pnn.police.uk

A few things to make you aware of:

You may be aware of the attack in Salisbury Place, a few weeks ago. I am in touch regularly with the department overseeing the investigation and we are following positive lines of enquiry and hope to release an update soon. Please be assured we are doing all we can to resolve this quickly, however we believe the person responsible is no longer in the area.

A recent attack on an elderly man has also gained media attention, I spoke to the officer who is investigating this terrible crime this morning and I am informed it is going well with a likelihood of the individual identified soon. Increased patrols and engagement with the residents is ongoing.

We have had several reports of anti social behaviour and officers have been tasked to these areas, they include areas in the Gilmerton, Inch/ Moredun, Morningside and Nicolson Street areas.

We are in the middle of our Halloween and Bonfire operation and officers were deployed over the weekend in case of any unwanted trick or treaters visiting the area, the weekend went well with our officers kept busy. Our bonfire/ Guy Fawkes part of the operation is about to be implemented and this is a joint operation with our partners/ colleagues from the local South department of the City of Edinburgh Council and of course my colleagues/ partners from the local Scottish Fire Service. 

Road Safety is high on our agenda particularly with the early darker nights, officers have been involved in the monitoring of the 20mph limits but we have also conducted speed checks in the Prestonfield, Braids and Sciennes areas.

We are also going out with our partners from the Road Safety department of the City of Edinburgh Council this week and next to provide support and advice to those cycling in the town and will be issuing free lights and high visibility items for them to wear.

At this time of year houses and sheds can become targets, again due to the early nights, please look to secure your property and simple things like, timers on your lights, keeping tools and objects used for climbing locked away all help.

If you need any advice please do not hesitate to contact the local community team for assistance, we also have a lot of useful information on our website at:

http://www.scotland.police.uk/keep-safe/home-and-personal-property/

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with any of the ward officers and or the new community sergeants should you require any help or have specific complaints and or feel free to let get in touch with myself.

We are already planning our Christmas/ New Year policing plan, after all it is only 7 weeks away!

Regards and best wishes

Graeme Nisbet

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