biodiversity – Planning Edinburgh

We’re Hiring!

View of Waverly Court from Calton Hill. Old Town sits behind & Pentland Hills are visible in the background.

We have five exciting opportunities to work with us in the Edinburgh planning service:

We are Scotland’s busiest planning authority, handling over 3,000 applications a year in a city with internationally valued built and natural heritage. We have ambitious plans to realise Edinburgh’s vision of a fair, welcoming, pioneering and thriving city.

So, if you’re looking for an opportunity to get involved in a range of planning projects and processes, develop your knowledge and skills, and of course, work with a great bunch of people, then you can apply via myjobscotland.

The closing date for all positions is 15 January 2023.

In this short video some of the team share what it’s like to work here:

In an earlier post from 2022, one of our planners blogged about their experience of the job and how it helped them to develop their skills.

Find out more:

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/planningjobs

Edinburgh – a natural capital

Every three years, all public bodies in Scotland report to the Scottish Government on how they’re meeting the legal requirement to further the conservation of biodiversity. Our report sets out how we’ve looked after our valuable natural environment and worked with partner organisations to improve our green and blue spaces for nature.

Examples of the type of work include:

policy work to incorporate the natural environment in the Edinburgh Adapts climate change programme
site management changes across Council-owned parks to increase natural areas and meadows
community projects such as food growing projects, which have wider health and social benefits as well as increasing biodiversity
education, communication and professional in-house training are other related activities to highlight the importance of protecting and improving biodiversity.

Working with the Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership, the Council also supports work to look after some of our rarer species and habitats.

The report and the Edinburgh Biodiversity Action Plan 2016-18 are also available on our website.

Great Green Roof! City centre rooftop safari filmed at Council HQ

In common with several city centre buildings, the Council HQ at Waverley Court has rooftop gardens. Green roofs on buildings have many benefits including improving energy efficiency, reducing the urban heat island effect and reducing water run off in the built environment. They can also be a really good habitat for wildlife.

In recent years the grass areas on the Waverley Court roof have been changed into wildflower meadows to make them more attractive to people and pollinating insects. Back on a sunny August day, Anthony McCluskey from Butterfly Conservation Scotland ran a butterfly and bumblebee safari to give staff a lunch break with a difference! It was a lovely sunny day and you can watch some footage of the meadow and safari below.

Help out with a Swift survey

In Edinburgh we’ve been working since 2000 to help our declining population of swifts. This summer, in partnership with the RSPB, we are carrying out the first full survey in 10 years to identify where these amazing birds are nesting in the city. We need as many volunteers as possible to help and the good news is, this is a survey which works best in good weather!

A training event is being held on Wednesday 24^th May 6.30pm, hosted by Historic Environment Scotland at the Holyrood Park Education Centre. So if you fancy a summer’s evening stroll to look for these avian acrobats, please email Amber.Jenkins@rspb.org.uk to book your training place.

For more information on swift conservation work across Edinburgh email us at biodiversity@edinburgh.gov.uk

Edinburgh Biodiversity

Emma’s Blog Post #2: Edinburgh Biodiversity

Now, I’m sure you’re all aware of the Edinburgh Biodiversity Action Plan 2016-18 produced by the Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership… but just in case you aren’t, I’ll quickly fill you in; it was published in summer, and lists a number of actions that could and should be taken at specific sites to help support biodiversity. Go read it.

Anyway, recently the progress report for the Action Plan was published, and it shows some pretty decent results; 89% of the actions are in progress or completed. Not only has work been done to create meadows and increase grassland, but also encourage wildlife to thrive in the built environment, too. Stuff like using Swift Bricks – fake bricks in the side of buildings that birds can nest in.

Go look at the things the Partnership is doing, or do indeed send the people involved a question, keep them on their toes: biodiversity@edinburgh.gov.uk

Emma