Portobello Community Council is looking to work with Edinburgh Council, community and business owners to explore improvements to the Pipe Lane toilets and the surrounding area of the Promenade. The new partnership could include a commercial tender with a view to the successful bidders providing enhanced toilet provision and other facilities, including an extension to the building and catering facilities. Public realm improvements to the area around the toilet block could also form part of the project. Your views and ideas will be important in shaping whether and how this plan goes ahead. Please respond using the online form on the website.  Consultation closes 5 pm, Sunday 16 May 2021. More details and on line form for you to fill in here: http://www.portobellocc.org/pccpn/2021/04/25/a-reimagined-pipe-lane-toilet-at-the-heart-of-our-prom/

This spring, the public submitted questions to the Thistle Foundation about Covid-19 to local scientists from the Edinburgh BioQuarter. Dr Samantha Griffiths, Senior Research Fellow, Infection Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Thomas Christie Williams Paediatrician and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh answer some questions here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wxR2s4mqqs  You can watch all the video responses or read the Q&As on Thistle’s website: https://www.thistle.org.uk/blog-articles/ask-the-scientists-covid-q-and-a

Keep Porty Tidy volunteers have been working hard and found lots of cigarette butts, microplastics, like plastic cotton buds, amongst the litter on the beach and Promenade.  Want to join? You can volunteer to litter pick either weekly or monthly. You can litter pick solo or they can pair you up! Their sponsors, the Oscars Group, will provide all the kit you need. You can also claim a free coffee, tea or gelato from Oscar’s Gelato after your litter pick!  Email kpt@porty.org.uk