Home News Five things you need to know today

Five things you need to know today

May 13, 2016 6:00 am

Car share deal to help Edinburgh become greener
Go Plastic Free
Wayne Russell walking the UK coast
Gilded Balloon 2016
Get checked early Roadshow in Edinburgh today

Strides to improve air quality in Edinburgh received a welcome boost with the approval of a new citywide car club scheme for the Capital.

The City of Edinburgh Council has given the green light to a four-year contract with Enterprise Car Club, who have been providing an extremely successful car club service in Edinburgh for a number of years – giving residents and visitors the opportunity to use a vehicle by the hour, as and when they need one.

The revitalised scheme is intended to further drive down carbon emissions, reduce congestion and ease parking pressure across the city. Enterprise Car Club will be working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council to introduce more efficient vehicle technologies and greater access to vehicles to increase the sustainability of the scheme.

Enterprise Car Club operates one of the largest pay-as-you-drive membership schemes in the UK with more than 31,000 members, both private and corporate, and approximately 950 vehicles available to members in 19 UK cities. The company won the Transport Award at the 2015 VIBES Awards, which aim to encourage the efficient use of resources, enhance competitiveness, improve environmental performance and support the wider goals of sustainable development.

Transport Convener Councillor Lesley Hinds said: “This is really good news for the city. By signing up Enterprise Car Club to provide an improved citywide car-sharing scheme across the Capital, we’re helping promote a convenient, reliable alternative to private car ownership, which will cut down on congestion and competition for parking places as well as slashing carbon emissions. I’m sure we’ll see more and more people signing up to become members, especially with the reduction in fees and hourly rates for vehicle use.

“It’s great to see that Enterprise Club shares our commitment to improving Edinburgh’s environment and cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions; ridding their fleet of diesel vehicles and agreeing to provide at least 12 electric vehicles clearly demonstrates that they’re on board with this mission.”

Khaled Shahbo, Managing Director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK & Ireland, said: “We are absolutely delighted to continue our very successful partnership with the city of Edinburgh. It is one of our oldest car club partners, was an early adopter and has been at the forefront of sustainable advancements in transportation.

“We believe that great things happen when we listen to our customers, which is why we work closely with our local authority partners to develop Enterprise Car Club programmes that are tailored to local priorities.

“We can be flexible and respond quickly to our customers’ needs as our Car Club operation is closely aligned to our Enterprise Rent-A-Car branch network which has over 420 branches nationwide, and six branches just in and around Edinburgh.”
The Council estimates that the Enterprise Car Club contract will generate more than £1m for the public purse over its four-year tenure, while helping greatly towards the Council’s and national greenhouse gas targets of reducing emissions year on year.

The Council has always had a commitment, within its Local Transport Strategy, to encourage the more efficient use of cars through measures such as parking controls, management of the road network and promotion of car-sharing. It is the Council’s vision that, by 2030, Edinburgh’s transport system will be one of the greenest, healthiest and most accessible in northern Europe. Car-sharing is viewed as an integral part of achieving the Council’s ambitious transport goals.

The Marine Conservation Society would like you to go plastic free for a whole month in June.

Last year almost 850 people took part in the MCS Plastic Challenge, and over 95% said they would continue reducing their plastic use after the challenge was over. The charity hopes even more people will take part in 2016.

Dr. Sue Kinsey, MCS Technical Specialist – Waste, said she was amazed at the lengths people had to go to find products that didn’t contain plastic of any kind. “By its very nature, this is a tricky challenge. It highlights how reliant we have become on plastic. Last year challengers were making their own bread, yogurt, cleaning and bathroom products like mouthwash and sugar scrubs so as not to use plastic containers that are used once, then thrown out.”

Register to take part in the Plastic Challenge at www.mcsuk.org/plasticchallenge MCS offers help and advice through an online community in the run up to the challenge and all through the month of June.

Tomorrow Wayne Russell will arrive in South Queensferry as part of his epic journey to run the entire coast of the UK mainland unaided, and on Saturday he hopes to be in Newcraighall.

Wayne is undertaking the journey in honour of his late sister Carmel Webb and he is raising funds for the Superhero Foundation.

He left Greenwich on 6 September 2015 armed only with a tent and £1,000 of his own money. He is relying on the kindness of strangers along the way. The Fire Service have let him stay in active stations along the coast which he says has made a huge difference.

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The Gilded Balloon has just announced 162 shows this year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They have also teamed up with National Museums Scotland to offer a new auditorium where Rory Bremner and others will appear.

They are also opening four new theatre spaces using a Pay What You Want model. The full programme is here.

The benefits of finding cancer early will be highlighted to shoppers in locations across Edinburgh from today as the Detect Cancer Early tour kicks off at Asda The Jewel.

The tour, which will visit Asda Chesser on 14 May and Sainsbury’s store in Meadowbank on 15 and 19 May, is focused on raising awareness of the importance of screening and the potential signs and symptoms of breast, bowel and lung cancer.

The awareness drive forms part of the national Detect Cancer Early campaign to encourage more people in Scotland to get checked if they have concerns and save more lives.

Around 1,000 deaths could be avoided each year in Scotland if cancer survival matched the best in Europe. Early detection is key – the earlier cancer is found, the easier it is to treat.

Statistics show that the likelihood of surviving breast cancer is five times higher if detected at an early stage compared to a late stage, 14 times higher for bowel cancer and 20 times higher for lung cancer⁴.

The ‘Don’t Get Scared, Get Checked’ call comes as recent research shows that fear is a key barrier to people presenting with potential signs or symptoms and taking part in screening. This can often result in later stage diagnoses, when the chance of survival is lower.

The roadshow team will be on hand to provide tailored information to visitors at the stand – depending on their age and gender – while encouraging them to act sooner rather than later if they have any worries or concerns about themselves or a loved one.

Dr Elaine Anderson, Director of Cancer Services, NHS Lothian, said: “More people are surviving cancer than ever before thanks to earlier detection. It’s essential people realise that acting sooner rather than later can make all the difference to the chances of survival and, in some cases, even cure.

“It’s important to know your body and what’s normal for you – it will make it easier to spot any changes, whether unusual or persistent.

“If you do spot something, don’t worry, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer. It’s probably nothing to worry about but, either way, it’s best to get checked.”