The following letter is quoted from in the article of 16 April 2018.
Cllr Lewis Ritchie
The City of Edinburgh Council
City Chambers
High Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1YJ
12 April 2018
Dear Mr Ritchie
Following your decision to become an independent councillor for the Leith Walk ward, I would like to bring to your attention some of the concerns of the community council as expressed during our last meeting of 19 March 2018.
Firstly, the last time you attended our meeting was about a year ago; 20 March 2017. An apology was received for the June and November meetings in 2017, but since then we have received no further communication from you. Understandably, we are not very happy about this, especially as we have no idea on what basis you are currently representing the ward.
Furthermore, we understand that shortly after your election as SNP councillor in May 2017 you said that you would not be attending a community council meeting for another 5 years. As I’m sure you will understand, it is very upsetting for LCCC members, a group of dedicated and hard-working volunteers, to hear this from someone who is legally their representative at the City of Edinburgh Council, in receipt of of remuneration. Furthermore, the question now arises, not having been to any of our meetings for over a year, how well you are acquainted with the issues that currently affect our ward.
As our meetings are open to the public, you are welcome to attend them, but if you do, you will be asked to apologise for that remark and must expect a lively debate regarding your current activities and plans to represent the ward.
With best wishes,
Charlotte Encombe
Chair Leith Central Community Council,