Around the constituency...

I've been using the last few days before Parliament resumes after the summer recess and conference reason to get round as many organisations as possible, and the end of last week was no exception. Readers of this blog will have seen below my comments about the funding crisis facing Stepping Stones (North Edinburgh). The funding crisis hasn't gone away, and I went along to the group's AGM at Royston/Wardieburn Community Centre to offer any help I could with their present problems. It really is a most impressive group, doing work with young parents, and if its services were to be badly cut back, it would be a big blow to the community.

The next day I was at another event organised by a group facing funding problems, the Local Parents Together group who hold their events in the Prentice Centre. It was the group's 10th anniversary, and they were holding an occasion to mark what they had done over that period (and also to raise money for Maggie's Centre). It's a really good project, where women have gained a great deal both personally and in terms of what they can do for their community. In their case, the problem is that the funding cuts which have been imposed on voluntary organisations throughout the city by the new LibDem/SNP administration on the council are likely to mean a cut in the opening hours for the Prentice Centre where they meet.

I've also had contact about the financial crisis facing the North Edinburgh Arts Centre, and the Pilmeny Project. What is concerning is that some of these groups had been offered "guaranteed" 3 year funding by the council, only to find that the guarantee wasn't worth anything. I really think the city council should be made to come up with alternatives to all these cuts - schools one week, and vital social services the next. I see that the Labour opposition on the city council has come up with a financial package which could mean these cuts being avoided, and I can't see why this was rejected by the ruling LibDem/SNP group.