Actualización sobre la peticiónEdinburgh Council to reinstate "No Dogs in Cemeteries" rule that was in place pre-CovidWeekly Update 2 - 24th February 2024
Andy LeesEdinburgh, Reino Unido
24 feb 2024

Hello everyone.

Welcome to the second of our weekly updates, informing you of what steps we have taken in our campaign this week, and any notable developments.

Firstly, the weekly roundup of figures.

This petition was lunched on 30th January 2024. Which means it has been running for 25 days at the time of writing

At the time of writing, we have 920 signatories, it has been viewed 8,812 times, it has been shared 552 times, and it has had 16 very kind promoters who have contributed £67 to promoting the petition link to a wider audience – we thank all our signatories and promoters from the bottom of our hearts.

We list ways you can help us at the end of this update.

What has been happening over the past seven days?

1: We have issued three important updates, which we would encourage you to go and read if you missed them:

1.1   “Call to Arms! – Send a “Letter of Support” to your local Edinburgh Councillor(s)”
http://tinyurl.com/2p8sujpn

1.2   “If It Ain’t Written Down…It Didn't Happen”
http://tinyurl.com/4p7zdnn4

1.3   “We finally met!”
http://tinyurl.com/2j84rnaz

The last one was a real joy. Up until now, we had only conversed online, so it was a great pleasure to meet. We agreed it was to be the first of many meetings…we are considering a larger gathering where anyone is welcome to come along and speak to Paul face-to-face.

2: Contact with Edinburgh Councillors, MSP’s, and MP’s

We have continued to engage with Edinburgh Councillors, MSP’s, and MP’s this past week, and have received some very encouraging support.

First and foremost, we acknowledge this is an Edinburgh Council issue, so we are focussing our efforts on engagement here initially.

Our strategy behind contact with MSP’s and MP’s is for the future. We are just getting the issue “on their radar” for now, although many have already been very helpful in facilitating meetings with Edinburgh Council and writing to Edinburgh Council or our behalf.

With that in mind, we were very pleased to receive this email from Councillor Mandy Watt, Labour Councillor for Morningside (Paul’s ward). Mandy is also Deputy Council Leader:

I have never supported allowing dogs into cemeteries. I think it was wrong to allow it and I would welcome returning to a policy of not allowing it, except for guide dogs.

Whilst I have some sympathy for bereaved people who find comfort in taking their pet to the cemetery with them, I do not think that this should be prioritised over the distress felt by bereaved people at dogs being allowed into these very special places.

I hope that your campaign succeeds in having this reconsidered by Council and I will support not allowing dogs in cemeteries.

Kind regards,

Mandy
Councillor Mandy Watt
Labour Councillor for Morningside
Deputy Council Leader

Due to strict parliamentary protocol, many of the Councillor’s, MPs, and MSP’s we have personally written to cannot take up our case, as neither Paul nor I live in their wards/constituencies.

However, they may be your Councillor, MP, or MSP.

Use our template text here to write to them: http://tinyurl.com/2p8sujpn

So far, we have received personal replies from:

  • Cllr Jason Rust
  • Cllr Finlay McFarlane
  • Cllr Neil Ross
  • Daniel Johnson MSP
  • Jeremy Balfour MSP
  • Gordon MacDonald MSP
  • Foysol Choudhury MSP
  • Miles Briggs MSP
  • Sarah Boyack MSP
  • Angus Robertson MSP
  • Alex Cole Hamilton MSP
  • Christine Jardine MP
  • Deidre Brock MP
  • Ian Murray MP

The only one who stated that they felt the current “dogs on leads” rule was sufficient was Alex Cole Hamilton MSP. 

We have had acknowledgement emails back from the offices of:

  • Cllr Neil Ross
  • Cllr Ben Parker
  • Cllr Edward Thornley
  • First Minister Humza Yousaf
  • Ash Regan MSP
  • Lorna Slater MSP
  • Sue Webber MSP
  • Tommy Sheppard MP
  • Ben Macpherson MSP

We are giving a fair period for Councillors, MSP’s, and MP’s to reply to us, they are after all busy people. However, in what will be an election year, we would expect a reply from all of them eventually. We will keep you posted on who has taken the time to reply, and who has not.

2: Edinburgh Council Culture & Communities Committee

We personally wrote to all ten members, and the Convener, of Edinburgh Council’s Culture & Communities Committee. It is this Committee that governs the Cemetery Management Rules.

It’s current members are:

  • Cllr Val Walker (Convener)
  • Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron
  • Cllr Fiona Glasgow
  • Cllr Dan Heap
  • Cllr Finlay McFarlane
  • Cllr Amy McNeese Mechan
  • Cllr Max Mitchell
  • Cllr Marie Clair Munro (also a Councillor in Paul’s Ward)
  • Cllr Hal Osler
  • Cllr Alex Staniforth
  • Cllr Edward Thornley

We have already had a very productive personal reply from Cllr Val Walker, Convener of the Culture & Communities Committee. We thank Cllr Walker for her prompt reply, her useful information and will be taking up her offer of a meeting.

That is now two meetings we have in the future with Edinburgh Council staff, one with Jeremy Balfour MSP attending.

3: Freedom of Information Requests

We have submitted a further eleven FOI requests, taken our running total of current FOI requests to twenty-three.

Results are starting to come back in, and we will make these available when appropriate.

Expect an update post on our first Freedom of Information request, which we now have the results for, in a day or two.

4: Application for a Scottish Parliament Petition.

We have still not heard back from the Scottish Parliament re our application to run a petition.

Previous unrelated experience of this process tells us that if they were to reject the application straight away, we would have heard in a matter of days. We can only assume it is away for consideration, so “no news is good news” on this front.

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As we have said before, getting Edinburgh Council to revisit the Cemetery Management Rules is not going to happen overnight. It will take time, hard work, engagement with elected officials and people power (pressure).

But nothing is set in stone - rules are there to be challenged, and when deemed appropriate, changed.

We are committed to the long haul, whether it is six months, one year, two years or longer…and we can only do it with your help (see below).

Thanks for your support,

Paul & Andy

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