Edinburgh school pupils alongside the Lord Provost next to the card designs on Princes Street
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Twelve winning ‘Season’s Greetings’ designs by Edinburgh school pupils are set to bring festive cheer to shoppers on Princes Street this weekend as seasonal artworks are displayed on digital bus shelter screens from Thursday 4 – Sunday 7 December.
Organised by the Council and advertising company JCDecaux, two competitions ran simultaneously offering a chance for children and young people to see their artwork displayed on Princes Street bus shelters and for their design to be selected in the annual Season’s Greetings card contest.
Now in its ninth year, the competition is open to learners across Edinburgh schools and this year encouraged children and young people to design and submit festive artwork on the theme of ‘Winter Wonders’.
The winners are:
– Louis Wood, Firrhill High School
– Frankie Conroy, Oaklands School
– Malin Marr, The Royal High School
– Zarko Zarkov, Wester Hailes Community High School
– Eva Barclay, Kirkliston Primary School
– Zoey El Roi, Tynecastle High School
– Gabriella Bochenska, St Augustine’s RC High School
– Elspeth Vaughn, Duddingston Primary School
– Karima Kamal, Gracemount High School
– Ethan Popa, St John’s Primary School
– Peter Peacock-Smith, Pilrig Park School
– Margherita Vetrani, Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce
In addition, six of the winning designs by Louis Wood, Frankie Conroy, Malin Marr, Zarko Zarkov, Eva Barclay and Zoey El Roi were selected to feature on the official festive greetings’ cards for the City of Edinburgh Council.
Lord Provost, Robert Aldridge said:
“Once again, I am astounded by the standard of creativity from children and young people across the city. We received a staggering number of entries and it has been difficult to select winning designs. I hope that pupils, along with their families and teachers, enjoy seeing their creativity brighten up Princes Street this weekend, and I’m sure they’ll bring joy to all who see them.”
Mike MacLennan, New Business Development & Partnership Manager at JCDecaux UK said:
“Our annual Season’s Greetings collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council is a wonderful celebration of the talent and creativity of young artists in Edinburgh schools. We are delighted to showcase the winning artwork on digital bus shelter screens along Princes Street, bringing seasonal cheer to people out and about in Edinburgh.”
The designs will be displayed on bus shelters on Princes Street on Thursday 4, Friday 5, Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 December.
Edinburgh City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
An Edinburgh Council meeting was interrupted suddenly as furious protesters stormed the building to oppose plans to demolish a block of flats.
Protests over the planned demolition of Westfield Court forced the council’s housing committee meeting to be halted on Tuesday morning as around 20 people entered the floor of the meeting room.
Participants loudly demanded the council instead undertake work to renovate the building.
The plans to demolish the building was announced earlier this month, marking a sharp reversal from earlier plans to refurbish it.
Council officials said deteriorating conditions inside had made it not ‘practically or financially viable’ for continued investment to be made.
A report set to go before councillors at the Tuesday meeting states the condition of waste outflow pipes in the building have reached a critical state.
It adds sewage was regularly flooding flats in several blocks, adding to a long list of other issues facing the 73-year-old building.
At the time, housing convener and Labour councillor Tim Pogson said the council had the interests of the building’s tenants at heart.
He continued: “It’s just not a situation that we want at all, I can’t think of anything worse than having a situation where dirty water, sewage is coming into properties.
“It’s completely unacceptable on all grounds.”
Several residents of Westfield Court spoke in deputations at the meeting, expressing discontent with the council’s handling of the building.
Around 10.20, the public gallery in the room the committee meets in was over capacity, with some attendees standing on stairs and on the floor near the entrance.
Many of the issues facing the building involve risers which carry utilities up the back of the building and into flats.
The presence of asbestos inside them has made administering repairs difficult.
West Lothian Litter Pickers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A volunteer litter pick group collected 256 tonnes of rubbish in West Lothian in the year to September.
West Lothian Little Pickers have been applauded by councillors across the county as the stats for the year were passed on to local area committees.
Becky Gallagher from WLLP said around 200 diehard pickers “have made a huge impact.”
Beginning in the darkest days of the pandemic lockdown the community self help group has developed at speed, with increasing tonnage lifted by volunteer pickers year on year. Collecting teams either have regular stretches or blitz specific, often heavily littered areas. The bagged rubbish is then collected by council Cleaner Communities crews.
Councillors heard that around 36,000 collection bags have been handed out by the council over the last year.
Council staff from the Cleaner Communities team attended the Litter Pickers AGM and highlighted impressive collection details as well as high points from the year.
These include:-
Support for the Spring Clean Campaign which saw 20 tonnes of bagged litter lifted.
– The use of the new ‘E-Form’ for reporting Community Clean-ups tot he council has been well received with around 500 enquiries logged (June 2024-August 2025).
– Over the summer a joint litter pick was done for example along the A899 Livingston where traffic management was implemented to create a ‘safe space’.
– Where road closures were implemented on routes otherwise too hazardous to pick, opportunities to use both Street Cleansing staff and volunteers who have expressed an interest to pick – saw this joint work being facilitated.
– A show of thanks from the WLLP admin team was given to the Cleaner Communities Service for the support received over the year.
Future partnership work in development and planning for the 2026 Spring Clean Campaign in collaboration with WLLP, has already started.
Becky told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I reckon there are approximately 200 regular diehard pickers who help keep their local areas clean and make a huge impact on certain areas like Dedridge and Craigshill in Livingston.
“WLLP is made up of lots of sub groups who regularly tackle their local community. One of the most recent big hauls was 300 bags of household waste litter picked by WLLP at Craigswood after the eviction of the travellers.”
It’s not just the labour intensive lifting of litter on a daily/ weekend basis. Since the Litter Picker first formed during Covid it has developed as a group to work with schools and local businesses.
Becky explained: “We also have lots of members who are involved in education and prevention by doing things like getting kids involved in litter picks from nursery age up to high school.
“Big companies such as McDonalds and Amazon also help out on a regular basis by sending their employees to get involved with group picks.”
