Category Archives: Leith

Remember to vote online before 10 February!

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Online voting for this year’s £eithChooses is LIVE NOW and waiting for you!
Here is the link: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/voteleithchooses

Even if you voted in-person at the Community Centre on 24 January, you can still vote again online. To be eligible to vote, you must live in Leith, work in Leith, or volunteer or study in Leith and be able to give the post code. The details of all the projects applying for funding are laid out for you to read and you then click to vote for three different projects, plus one (optional) ‘boost’ vote for an ethnic minority project.

Do it now! And please be sure to share this info and get all your Leith friends, family and workmates to vote too!

Online voting closes on 10 February

Vote! Vote! Vote! Online is open now!

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Online voting for this year’s £eithChooses is now OPEN and LIVE and waiting for you! Here is the link: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/voteleithchooses

If you missed out on Saturday’s voting day, all is not lost, you can vote online. To be eligible to vote, you must live in Leith, work in Leith, or volunteer or study in Leith and be able to give the post code. The details of all the projects applying for funding are laid out for you to read and you then click to vote for three different projects, plus one (optional) ‘boost’ vote for an ethnic minority project.

AND – woo-hoo! – even if you voted in-person  at the Community Centre on Saturday, you can still vote again online – you get an extra vote for having turned out in the rain (only joking, it still works even if it is good weather).

Do it! And be sure to share this info and get all your Leith friends, family and workmates to vote too!

Online voting closes on 10 February

Who will YOU vote for?

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We are getting very excited as £eith Chooses Voting Day approaches – only one more week to go!
You can vote if you are 8 years or over, and you live in Leith, work in Leith, or volunteer or go to school or college in Leith. Please DO vote! You will be voting for funding for projects that can improve well-being within the Leith community.

The live Voting Day at the Leith Community Centre in the Kirkgate is Saturday 24 January 2026. It is always a really interesting and fun day, so please don’t miss it – be there, or be square!  The day opens at 11am for those who need some ‘quiet time’, and the main times are 12 – 3pm.

Sadly, not all of the great projects on offer will be able to win funding, as the Community Grants Fund ‘pot’ is limited to £44,707.16.  You really need to be sure to vote – and to tell all your friends and family to vote too!

If you can’t make it in person on Saturday 24rth, you can still vote online from Tuesday 27th January. Actually, you can do both! People who come along in person to support the community get an extra vote – one in-person, and one online at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/voteleithchooses. (This link is not live yet for voting though.)

It will help you to decide who to vote for if you take a wee moment here to read through the project outlines online before you come along.

 

 

 

Have a look at all these great projects!

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Wow! This year’s Leith Chooses has attracted a record number of applicants! The ‘Gallery’ is now open and you can see details of all the proposed projects here, in advance of voting in January 2026.

Loads of great projects are being proposed but sadly, not all of them will be able to win funding, as the Community Grants Fund ‘pot’ is limited to £44,707.16.  You need to be sure to vote for your preferred projects – and tell all your friends and family to vote too!

Date for your diary- Voting Day at the Community Centre is Saturday 24 January 2026 (online voting opens on 27 January). It will help you to decide who to vote for if you take a wee moment to read through the project outlines online before you come along, as otherwise the day can sometimes get a bit overwhelming.

Applications are being processed

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What’s happening just now at £eith  Chooses?

The deadline for applications has passed, so no new applications can now be accepted.

All the applications submitted by the deadline are being processed, and you will be notified very soon if there is any further information required, and whether or not your application is eligible and has been accepted.

You have until 28th November to supply any final missing details that you have been asked for, to complete your application, in order to have it accepted.

Aftert that, the proposed project outline of all the eligible applications will be published here on this website, from 5th December, so that voters can have a good long time to read the previews and start to form ideas about who they will vote for, in January.

Any queries, please contact: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

More support for applicants

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If you’re considering applying for LeithChooses funding but have any questions at all, you are very welcome to come to any of these support sessions (details updated due to factors beyond our control):

  • Saturday 4 Oct, 10am – 4pm at Utilita Leith (Kirkgate) 2:30 to 5pm at Persevere room, Leith Community Centre
  • Wednesday 15 Oct, 5.30pm at Leith Community Centre.

No need to book – just come along!

If you can’t make any of these, you are very welcome to email us at LeithChooses@edinburgh.gov.uk.

Reminders: LeithChooses applications are open, support for applicants

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Applications now open

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 that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should start after 31st March 2026 and run until March 2027 at the latest. The theme for this year is ‘Well-being in Leith’. Continue reading →

Theme for 2025/26 is ‘Well-being in Leith’

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The Theme for 2025-2026 LeithChooses will be:

“Well-being in Leith”

Following feedback from previous years’ evaluations and our 2023 Community Conversation session, we asked members of the Leith community for their views on what the ‘Theme’ of next year’s LeithChooses should be, giving a choice of four possible options and also inviting them to put forward any other ideas. This was circulated in  May/June via the LeithChooses website, and via NextDoor, FaceBook, ‘X’,  and by email to all past applicants and to the wider mailing list. Unfortunately only 35 responses were received overall (thank you for those!), and no single option garnered even 50% of the votes. No new suggestions were put forward. The four options provided were:

  • Healthier and Safer Leith (13 votes)
  • Nurturing Connections (8 votes)
  • Culture and Creativity (7 votes)
  • Greener and Cleaner Leith (7 votes)

Because 35 responses can hardly be considered representative of the whole Leith community, after careful consideration and discussion, the LeithChooses Steering Group decided on a different theme, which we feel encapsulates the core of the most popular theme ‘Healthier and Safer Leith’, and is also broad enough to cover project proposals from the other three suggested themes / areas of activity.

Therefore the Theme agreed upon for 2025-2026 LeithChooses is:

“Well-being in Leith”

Now – what exciting community projects will local groups come up with, in line with that theme? Can’t wait to find out!

Applications to £EITH Chooses 2025/26 will open on Wednesday 13th August 2025.

 

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.

The LeithChooses results are in!

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The LeithChooses 24/25 results are in!

Following the voting period, and after totting up all the votes cast by the Leith community, the groups that have been successful in receiving funding for their community projects are now revealed  (in no particular order):

  • Building Bridges
  • Leith Runs Together
  • Leith Community Growers
  • ELREC
  • Citadel Youth Centre
  • Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain
  • Hibernian Community Foundation
  • Dr. Bells Family Centre
  • Nepal Scotland Association
  • Edinburgh Remakery
  • Broughton Primary School Parent Council (partial award)

Congratulations to all of them, and wishing them the very best of luck in getting their projects up and running.

Commiserations to all those who were not successful on this occasion. We wish you well in all your other undertakings.

Warmest thanks to ALL who took part.