Business Breakfast
Childhood Flu Vaccines
Fringe Tip of the Day
Property for Sale
Stockbridge & Inverleith Community Council meet this week
A long term vision of the region’s economy will be presented at a Business Breakfast this morning at the EICC, hosted by The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region – comprising the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Fife, Scottish Borders, Midlothian, and West Lothian Councils. Businesses will be asked to give their views on their key priorities for future growth and pledge their support for the bid.
The bid partners are working closely to develop a deal with the UK and Scottish governments designed to accelerate growth in Scotland’s capital city and wider regional economy that will benefit Scottish and UK economies.
It will concentrate on the region’s strengths – knowledge, culture and technology.
The City Region deal is a mechanism for accelerating growth through investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation. This will create a step change in economic performance that will generate funds to pay back this initial investment.
It is also about greater autonomy and disseminating powers for the region to make public service delivery more effective and to tackle inequality and deprivation across the city region. The ambition is to secure £1bn of funding and it is estimated that an additional £3.2bn worth of private sector investment could be leveraged if the bid is successful.
Working in partnership with stakeholders in the business and academic communities is crucial to the bid’s success. As well as the Business Breakfast, a similar event was also held with the region’s universities earlier this month, who have already pledged their support for the deal.
For example, the deal could generate investment in world class incubation facilities and realign skills activities to drive forward increased levels of productivity and reduce inequalities across the region.
Speaking on behalf of the six local authorities, City of Edinburgh Council Leader, Andrew Burns, said: “Work is gathering pace on our proposal and we are all collaborating closely on our submission. Monday’s event is extremely important as we are keen to garner the support of the business community and for them to be part of this exciting process. It is important that we align our ambitions with theirs, in order to deliver step-change in the economic performance of our city region.
“In shaping this deal, we want to build on our strengths, whilst tackling persistent inequality and other constraints that threaten to hold the region back. I am very conscious that as visitors flock into Edinburgh for the summer festivals, for example, we must act to secure the investment required to embrace and build on our cultural success, and put culture centre stage in our growth plans.”
Assuming a positive response from ministers, detailed work on prioritising potential investment would continue in partnership with representatives from both governments.
For further information businesses can go to www.acceleratinggrowth.org.uk from today and the hashtag is #acceleratinggrowth
***
Childhood vaccination programme gets underway for 5-11 year olds in Scotland.
Around 400,000 primary school pupils across Scotland will be offered the free flu vaccination this autumn.
The flu vaccination programme for children was introduced last year and resulted in more Scots than ever before receiving the best defence against flu.
Parents of primary school children are being encouraged to look out for their child’s consent form which will be sent home in their school bag at the start of the autumn term, and are being asked to return it within seven days.
The flu vaccination offers children the best defence against flu this winter, and the vaccine itself is a simple nasal spray that’s quick to administer, easily absorbed and pain free.
With children being up to three times more likely to be ill with flu than adults, it is important to protect youngsters from the dangers of flu and reduce the risk of flu being spread to others.
The Scottish childhood flu immunisation programme, which involves the vaccine being offered to approximately 550,000 2-11 year olds, is expected to eventually prevent an estimated additional 200 deaths per year and 1,100 hospitalisations from flu.
Dr Nicola Steedman, Acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said:
“Flu can hit children hard, which is why we’re appealing to parents who have children of primary school age to look out for the flu vaccination consent forms which will be arriving home in school bags from the start of the new term.
“Even healthy children can become seriously ill from flu and the vaccine not only helps protect them, but it also helps stop the spread of the virus.
“I’d like to reassure parents that the vaccine has an excellent safety record and was administered to more than a quarter of a million children in Scotland last year. Even if your child received the vaccination last year, it’s important they get it again this autumn as flu viruses can change over time.
“The programme will protect more people than ever before from flu which is why it is important that parents who want to protect their child from flu return the consent forms. We want all children in Scotland to be covered and the vaccine simply offers the best defence against flu this winter.”
Find out more about the flu vaccine for children at immunisationscotland.org.uk/childflu or call the NHS inform helpline on 0800 22 44 88.
***
Today we think you might like Mattias Nilsson playing Jazz Piano
A free lunchtime recital by the internationally acclaimed and award-winning Swedish pianist, who combines traditional jazz piano and Nordic tonal language to create a musical landscape with totally new shades of colour. ‘Superb dynamic piano playing’ (Lasse Seger).
1.10pm, St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmerston Place. Free admission – and you can also catch the Cathedral’s two festival exhibitions, The Arctic Convoys and Consider the Flowers of the Field.
***
An important property has come to the market this week in South Queensferry.
Specialist property adviser Christie + Co has been appointed to market the leasehold interest in 3 Bridges, a renowned riverside restaurant and bar in the idyllic village of South Queensferry. Restaurant and Pub Specialist Jamie Jackson of Christie and Co’s Edinburgh office is handling the sale of this once in a life time opportunity.
Sitting on the edge of the River Forth, the restaurant offers spectacular views of the Forth Road Bridge and the iconic Forth Railway Bridge – an engineering marvel and a World Heritage Site since last month.
The region attracts large numbers of visitors all year round and is a popular stop off point for a large number of cruise ships which stop off in the forth allowing their passengers to come to shore via the town.
Jamie Jackson comments “This unique business has been continuously developed and has become a very popular food destination within this region of Scotland. The building is owned by Punch Taverns and the current tenant has decided to sell so they can spend more time focusing on other business interests. The unit has recently undergone a large scale renovation with electrical and plumbing systems being renewed with stunning new interior fixtures and fittings, giving the restaurant a superb ambience. With an attractive rent and potential of increasing turnover even further there is a good deal more to squeeze from this business.”
Christie + Co are seeking £150,000 for the leasehold interest in the property.
***
Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council meet on Wednesday 19 August 2015 at 7.00pm at Stockbridge Parish Church.
The Agenda will be published later today but meantime you can sift through previous minutes here.
***
Sign up here for a daily email from The Edinburgh Reporter !
[mc4wp_form]
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
