Hi all
We want to thank each and everyone of you for all your support and hard work - it appears to have paid off.
Remember you can email us anytime at: cemeteries4all@yahoo.com
The Culture and Communities meeting was held this morning and the issue of dogs in cemeteries was discussed.
We did embarrass ourselves a little at the end of our deputation as we went overtime, we were origionally under the impression we had 5 minutes but were told only yesterday we had three and the motions and amendments paper was released yesterday and we wanted to make a point about that.
We hope we didn't let you down.
3 out of 4 deputations (75%) were against a ban. Us. City tour guides whose livelihood may be affected by a ban and a spokesperson from Dalry Friends group who stated they would not exist if it weren't for people walking dogs in cemeteries and who noted safety concerns re removing this footfall.
Here's where we got a little confused as it went very slowly then wooshed to a descision - we have spoken to supporters who have agreed this is what happened.
So this is what we are pretty sure happened but will double check. We are sharing names as this will be shared on the council website anyway.
Councillor and Convener of the Board Val Walker proposed a ban which was seconded but would require certain other measures to put it in place. Apparently she'd also asked for something else but people stated they hadn't recieved it.
However, councillor Phil Doggart stated that this was very different to previous discussions. He then proposed that rules should continue as they are and the 5 "problematic" cemeteries should be monitored and recieve education by the council with the council reporting back in 4 cycles (we think this is a year).
He also emphasised the need to go by evidence not emotion which is what we have argued for all along so we are grateful he stated this.
Phil Doggart's motion was seconded and won by a vote of 8 out of 11 (73%)
You should be able to view the webcast once it is uploaded, we think it will be here:
https://edinburgh.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/902859
Deputations are first. There's a few comments by councillors at some point a out cemeteries then the matter is properly discussed in the buisness bulletin. Sorry we can't do timings as we need a rest for today.
So for the present time people with dogs are safe in our council cemeteries but we came close to losing this space.
We would seriously urge people to please use a lead on your dog in cemeteries and pick up their poo so we don't lose this space as given the history it's seems likely the issue may be raised again despite the fact a dog ban has been raised and objected to 3 times now, evidence suggests it is not required and 8 out of 11 councillors don't support it.
It should be noted in one of their updates the other petition stated they only had one shot at this so maybe they will accept the same decision from the three times that they have raised the issue.
At the time of writing we have seen no comment from the other petition are interested to know what their thoughts are.
In all honesty we are not sure we can do this again as it took a lot of time and stress and quite frankly we got a little tired of the abuse aimed at us - we are very very glad we remained anonymous.
We want to thankyou again for all your support from signatures to spreading the word to defending us on social media to those who gave interviews - you made this happen!
Let's keep cemetries4all responsible, respectful people!
Official current cemetery rules:
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/33467/cemetery-management-rules
Remember should you ever have any concerns about cemeteries you can contact:
Write to your local councillor - List of your local Councillors:
https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0
Write to committe members who will discuss and decide on cemetery rules - List of who is due to be at the committee meeting including committee members:
https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/mgMeetingAttendance.aspx?ID=7281
Bereavement services:
bereavement@edinburgh.gov.uk
Police:
Emergencies 999
Non emergencies but requiring attention 101
Or their "contact us" page has a form for non emergencies: