Millions of meals will flow from new depot to tackle city food poverty
Plus: Drug gang feud latest; ski hotel site for sale; and famous city property firm takeover
Big move in the battle to ease food poverty in Scotland’s Capital
Almost one in five of all Edinburgh residents suffers from “food insecurity” – meaning they have eaten less, or even gone a day or more without eating, because they couldn’t access or afford food.
It’s a startling statistic, and explains the optimism felt by a major organisation which helps tackle the food crisis – and at the same time tackle food waste – at their move to much larger premises which will allow them to do much more.
FareShare surplus food depot, which in the Edinburgh city region is run in partnership with the Cyrenians charity, last year delivered the equivalent of 2 million meals.
With the move from Jane Street to their much larger premises at Seafield just announced, the partnership can deliver FIVE times more food to the network of community groups and charities which support people in need.
The background:
The depot has been run by Cyrenians for 25 years, connecting communities throughout Central and South-East Scotland to good quality food that otherwise would have been sent to landfill.
The team works in partnership with FareShare, a charity dedicated to mitigating food waste, by working with major retailers and suppliers such as The Co-op, Tesco and Asda. They redirect high quality food which is useable but at its use by date to those who need it most.
Since the pandemic in 2020, the need for fresh affordable food has been steadily increasing. 200,000 tonnes of good to eat food is going to waste across the Scottish food industry every year, when it could instead be going to support people in need.
The level of need:
Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive of Cyrenians, told the Inquirer: “The need for good affordable food in our communities is even greater than ever. This move also allows us to introduce frozen food into our offer and develop our employability programme including adding in a qualification in forklift driving. We do all of this as part of our public health approach to homelessness prevention - strong communities and access to work are fundamental.”
Across Scotland, research carried out by foodbank operators The Trussell Trust and IPSOS in 2022 found that 17% of people said that they or their household have experienced food insecurity over a 12-month period - around 1.2 million people. Around 7% had used at least one type of food aid during the previous year, or around 530,000 people. Even more worrying, a vast majority of those experiencing food insecurity – almost 80% - had not used any form of food aid. In Edinburgh, 20% of children live in relative poverty.
Benefits of the move:
Last year, the Edinburgh depot team were able to save over 800 tonnes of food from landfill. By expanding capacity more of this food could be going to strengthening communities throughout Central and South East Scotland.
As well as being able to turn over five times more than the previous smaller depot, the increased space at Seafield means the partnership will soon be offering accredited forklift training as part of an employability programme.
Lynne Collie, Senior Enterprise Manager, said: “We now have a custom-built space that will allow us to not only distribute more surplus food by increasing our capacity to take more ambient, chilled and frozen products. It will also give us the opportunity to give people the skills they need to access new job opportunities, in a live warehousing environment.”
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
DRUGS FEUD: The on-going drug gang-related violence which has seen one home in Hay Drive, Niddrie, firebombed for the second time in less than two weeks reportedly has its roots in a decades-old feud. Two men have appeared in court after four were arrested in a series of police raids. Meanwhile, a video posted online appears to show two firebombing attacks being carried out. It features threats to jailed city cocaine dealer Mark Richardson and his associates, and signs off with a line in Brazlian Portuguese, Tamo Junto, which roughly translates as ‘We’re in this together’.
£450M SUPERYACHT: One of the world’s largest and most luxurious ‘floating hotels’ is heading to the Capital. The Ritz-Carlton Ilma has 224 suites with private terraces and charges from £16,000 per person for 11-night cruises which will berth in Edinburgh in August.
STUDENT FLATS FIRST: The first purpose built student flats in East Lothian, outside of the Queen Margaret University campus, would be built in Musselburgh under plans submitted to the local authority. The 250-bed development is primarily aimed at students of Queen Margaret and Edinburgh College which both have campuses nearby. It would replace an existing office building close to Lidl on Newhailes Road and could be up to six storeys high.
SKI HOTEL: A major hotel development site is being marketed at Calderstone, just off the A702 Biggar Road near the city bypass. The site has in-principle planning permission for a 102-bedroom hotel with spa and leisure facilities, and 38 eco-lodges within the surrounding woodland. When first announced, the project beside the Midlothian Snowsports Centre was valued at £30m. The move comes days after national property consultancy Colliers said Edinburgh remained the UK’s leading hotel investment market, driven by its thriving international tourist appeal delivering high occupancy rates.
PARTY AT THE PALACE: Tom Meighan, Squeeze and Boney M have been announced as the headliners of this summer’s Party at the Palace in Linlithgow on 3 and 4 August.
CREATIVE POST: Former East Lothian Council chief executive Angela Leitch is to lead a review of the arts body Creative Scotland, a month after the previous chair Dame Sue Bruce quit for health reasons. First Minister John Swinney has promised the review will “ensure the appropriate approach is in place to meet the needs of the sector” following controversy over public funding of the arts.
CRASH DEATH CHARGE: A 22-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the death of an 87-year-old pedestrian, who died after being knocked down on St John’s Road, near the Drumbrae roundabout, on 30 December last year.
SPEED-Y PROCESS: The introduction of 20mph limit on all Midlothian streets is to be considered by a meeting of Midlothian Council Cabinet next month following a public consultation. If approved, the addition of a further 850 roads will be added to those which have a 20mph limit – with only around 70 streets in the county retaining a 30mph limit.
24-HOUR BURGERS: Burger King has been granted permission to open 24 hours-a-day at Fort Kinnaird. The chain said round-the-clock opening would serve shift workers, emergency service crews and motorists travelling on the A1.
NO PARKING TALKS: Public consultations ahead of proposed extensions of controlled parking zones in the Capital are to be scrapped. The move is designed in part to speed up the implementation of new zones. Residents will still be able to object to any plans when they are advertised, but there will be no pre-publication consultation as has happened in recent years.
SONGS TO PRAISE: Two linked North Berwick choirs have raised funds for mental health charities during their spring concerts. Julie Loporto leads both Sister Sister and Voices, and their recent concerts at St Andrew Blackadder Church will support Stepping Out, a local charity that helps adults with severe and enduring mental health problems, and Brain Power, a charity supporting brain tumour research, through the efforts of BBC journalist and local resident Glenn Campbell.
CORE WORK: Edinburgh has joined Core Cities UK, which has a history of implementing policy change across the UK, joining Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. The capital will play a key role in the group's thinking around inclusive economic growth and other members hope to learn from its development of a tourism levy, which will come into effect in Edinburgh next Summer.
PIC OF THE WEEK
THE BUSINESS
Majority stake acquired in capital-based commercial property consultancy
One of the best-known names in Edinburgh’s commercial property landscape has secured investment.
National property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton has taken a majority stake in the Capital-headquartered Scottish property consultancy Ryden. which has more than 120 staff across its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and northern England, will retain its identity while gaining access to LSH’s nationwide network of offices.
Both firms will retain their brands, with the latter gaining access to LSH’s nationwide network of 30 offices. LSH is part of Connells Group which is owned by Skipton Building Society and is the UK’s largest residential estate agency.
Alan Gilkison, managing partner of Ryden, said: “The businesses are an excellent fit in terms of geographical coverage and areas of expertise. The investment will allow us to develop our core strengths and expand into emerging sectors.”
UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE: Mary Jane Brouwers has been appointed entrepreneur in residence at Edinburgh Napier University. Experienced in early-stage equity investment, working with venture capital firms and university spin-outs, she will be charted with developing the Investing for Impact Hub at the university’s business school to link the academia, industry and investment communities.
POWER BROKERS: Edinburgh headquartered Scotmid Co-op has signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement with RWE to supply electricity from renewable energy sources to their network of Scotmid, Semichem and Scotmid Funerals sites.
BIG APPLE TRADE AT CORE: Scottish Chambers of Commerce has signed an agreement with the Greater New York Chamber to keep trading options open - despite the ongoing Trump-led tariff war - through trade missions, networking and knowledge exchange. The agreement was reached during a trade mission to New York for Tartan Week. The US is Scotland’s biggest inward investor, and second largest export market after the EU.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
RECORD STORE DAY: Withered Hand lead an exciting Record Store Day line-up at St Vincent’s Chapel on St Stephen Street. VoxBox Music will also be opening their popular pop-up record store for the all-day celebration on Saturday.
ROCK ME AMADEUS: Straw Moddie bring their much-anticipated production of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus to the Pianodrome, in Granton, from Thursday to Sunday.
ROARING TWENTIES: Celebrate the best of new Scottish artistic talent at the fifth edition of Academy Late at the Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound. The gallery opens late on Friday for a night of “live music, powerful performances and artwork from Scotland’s boldest rising stars. Expect glamour, as the dress code for the night is “Roaring Twenties”.
QUICK BITES
VIVA NEW OPENINGS: One of Glasgow’s favourite Mexican eateries is to open in Edinburgh by the end of this month. Mezcal, which first opened through in the west in 2019, will operate from its venue in Teviot Place.
BIG SPOONS: Pub giants JD Wetherspoon are to open a spacious new venue in the city centre later this year. The group, which owns several venues in the city, will open at the site of the former Revolution Bar on Chambers Street. The two-storey venue, which catered for up to 600 customers, closed last summer.