Category Archives: Uncategorized

Application deadline extended to November 5th.

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Local charities and constituted community groups are invited to apply for project funding of up to £5,000. As usual, projects should be new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 31st March 2026 and run until March 2027 at the latest. The theme for this year is ‘Well-being in Leith’ and the new deadline for applications is midnight on Wednesday 5th November 2025.

We welcome your applications using our new online form at edinburgh.gov.uk/applyleithchooses. If you would like access to the application form in a different format, please contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Be sure to also download and read the LeithChooses guidance notes, to check if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application.

New application deadline: Midnight on Wednesday 5th November 2025

Theme: Well-being in Leith

Application form: edinburgh.gov.uk/applyleithchooses

If you have any questions or would like any support from the steering group with your application, please get in touch as early as possible to allow time for discussions, by emailing leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Choose your themes for next year!

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Leithers, we need to hear from you, please!  We are planning for £eith Chooses 2026 now, but as per our ‘Community Conversation’ commitments, we would like YOU to determine which topics or themes ought to be given priority. In the past, some years we have had very ‘open’ themes, other years we have asked that all project applications for funding should be focused on particular areas/types of activity.

Here are a few suggestions. Please select the one (or those) that you like best, and/or add your own suggestions.

  1. Healthier and Safer Leith
  2. Culture and Creativity
  3. Greener, Cleaner Leith
  4. Nurturing Connections
  5. Other (your ideas)

Please email your choices and ideas directly to LeithChooses@edinburgh.gov.uk, with ‘Themes for 2026’ in the subject line)

LeithChooses needs you! Please help by filling in a short evaluation survey.

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Thank you to everyone who applied to and/or voted during LeithChooses in 2024/25. We would be very grateful if you would complete a short survey about your experience as applicants and/or voters. These surveys should each take no more than 10 minutes to complete, and we would really value your feedback so we can keep working on improvements the LeithChooses process for this coming financial year.

The surveys are open for feedback until Monday 31st March.

Leith Chooses needs you! Please help by filling in a short evaluation survey.

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Thank you to everyone who applied to and/or voted during Leith Chooses in 2024/25. We would be very grateful if you would complete a short survey about your experience as applicants and/or voters. These surveys should each take no more than 10 minutes to complete, and we would really value your feedback so we can keep working on improvements the Leith Chooses process for this coming financial year.

The surveys are open for feedback until Monday 31st March.

LeithChooses goes live!!

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We have lift-off!

Happy to announce that we can now reveal to you all the exciting projects that are applying to LeithChooses for funding, this year.

Deliberation
You can find the list of 24 projects here, and you have about 6 weeks to browse through all these projects and think about which you would like to vote for when the time comes. Remember to tell your friends, family and colleagues to have a look too.

Voting
Voting will open on Saturday 18th January 2025. You can come along to the Leith Community Centre on that day, and meet all the project applicants in person, and place your votes in the ballot box there and then.

Then there will be a further 2 weeks of online voting. If you didn’t manage to get to the in-person day at the Community Centre, you can vote online. If you DID vote at the Community Centre, you can ALSO vote once online.

Please remind your friends, family and colleagues to vote, too. Everyone who lives, works, volunteers or studies in Leith is eligible to vote.

Voting closes on Monday 3rd February 2025.

£eith Chooses goes live!!

Posted on by

We have lift-off!

Happy to announce that we can now reveal to you all the exciting projects that are applying to £eith Chooses for funding, this year.

Deliberation
You can find the list of 24 projects here, and you have about 6 weeks to browse through all these projects and think about which you would like to vote for when the time comes. Remember to tell your friends, family and colleagues to have a look too.

Voting
Voting will open on Saturday 18th January 2025. You can come along to the Leith Community Centre on that day, and meet all the project applicants in person, and place your votes in the ballott box there and then.

Then there will be a further 2 weeks of online voting. If you didn’t manage to get to the in-person day at the Community Centre, you can vote online. If you DID vote at the Comunity Centre, you can ALSO vote once online.

Please remind your friends, family and colleagues to vote, too. Everyone who lives, works, volunteers or studies in Leith is eligible to vote.

Voting closes on Monday 3rd February 2025.

What is LeithChooses up to now?

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The past month has been a busy one for paperwork and finances as the community groups that won funding in the recent LeithChooses voting liaise with the Council staff arranging payment of the funds so that these arrive into their bank account before the end of the financial year. Hopefully all done now!

 

So what happens next?

  1. The groups that won funding will shortly get started on their new projects, hurrah!
  2. LeithChooses Steering Group and Council staff partners meanwhile take a step back and check that the groups that were funded LAST YEAR have complied with regulations and have submitted a report on the completion of the project they were funded to deliver by 31 March 2024. We do not require long complicated reports but do require evidence of spending and basic info about what took place, how it all went, who benefitted etc. We do like to see photos, too! This is a really important step, because if a group does not submit a report on a past project, they are not eligible to apply again in future for funding for another project.
  3. LeithChooses web site and social media will be used to publicly share some of this information as feedback, so that Leithers can all see what happened following their vote back in 2023, and what benefits were brought to the community in Leith. This is a good way to remind everyone about the great work that so many charities and local groups are carrying out al the time on behalf of the community in Leith.
  4. The LeithChooses Steering Group carries out a review and evaluation of the recent LeithChooses event, with the aim of maintaining standards and ideally improving the process for future years. If anyone wants to share their views on how things could be improved, please submit by email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk
  5. The LeithChooses Steering Group considers what ‘theme’ next year’s LeithChooses might focus on. Any ideas? Email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

What is £eith Chooses up to now?

Posted on by

The past month has been a busy one for paperwork and finances as the community groups that won funding in the recent £eith Chooses voting liaise with the Council staff arranging payment of the funds so that these arrive into their bank account before the end of the financial year. Hopefully all done now!

 

So what happens next?

  1. The groups that won funding will shortly get started on their new projects, hurrah!
  2. £eith Chooses Steering Group and Council staff partners meanwhile take a step back and check that the groups that were funded LAST YEAR have complied with regulations and have submitted a report on the completion of the project they were funded to deliver by 31 March 2024. We do not require long complicated reports but do require evidence of spending and basic info about what took place, how it all went, who benefitted etc. We do like to see photos, too! This is a really important step, because if a group does not submit a report on a past project, they are not eligible to apply again in future for funding for another project.
  3. £eith Chooses web site and social media will be used to publicly share some of this information as feedback, so that Leithers can all see what happened following their vote back in 2023, and what benefits were brought to the community in Leith. This is a good way to remind everyone about the great work that so many charities and local groups are carrying out al the time on behalf of the community in Leith.
  4. The £eith Chooses Steering Group carries out a review and evaluation of the recent £eith Chooses event, with the aim of maintaining standards and ideally improving the process for future years. If anyone wants to share their views on how things could be improved, please submit by email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk
  5. The £eith Chooses Steering Group considers what ‘theme’ next year’s £eith Chooses might focus on. Any ideas? Email to: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

Happy Christmas – and vote in January!

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The £eith Chooses team wishes everyone in Leith a peaceful and happy Christmas, and sends warmest wishes to all for a good New Year!

When the New Year comes along, remember that it’s time to VOTE for your favourite local Leith community projects. You will have 2 chances to vote –

  1. Online voting will open on Monday 22nd January 2024 and will be open for two weeks until 5 February 2024
  2. In-person voting will be held in the Leith Community Centre on Saturday 27th January 2024.

You can vote once online and once in person. Please do try and come to the Voting Day in person, it is always a very lively day, fun for kids and a great chance to meet people and hear more about all the great organisations and groups that work to make Leith the fantastic community it is. Get the date in your diary now!