Jenny MacKenzie: United Leithers maintain history

Published on Tuesday 10 March 2009 08:41

THE people have spoken – the name has been changed. Edinburgh Harbour it will not be. Quite right too. Of course that wasn't the right thing to do. There was something quite silly in plonking a posh city name on this mixed bag and maritime part of the town. Leith Docks we are, and always will be.

For better and for worse, we are Leith.

When convenor for the North Edinburgh Neighbourhood Partnership, Councillor Rob Munn, stood up for the citizens that this advisory body represents, on one recent meaningful Monday, he spoke for us all. "You cannot ignore what's happening," he said. You must think again. I've got the proof right here. Its name is loud and clear. Democratic preference, that's what it is. It's given by the people, for its people, and it wants to be heard. Four thousand signatures say that the name you have chosen is wrong.

Director of Forth Ports, Charles Hammond, leader of the council, Jenny Dawe, deputy leader of the council, Steve Cardownie, and chief executive of the council, Tom Aitchison, a Leither himself, felt the spray from the sea of protest that surged up Leith Walk and were drenched by the strength of the feeling. As the meeting went on, Charles Hammond re-evaluated and promised that Forth Ports would think again.

Led at first by architects who had studied the Forth Ports plans, then quickly followed by artists, musicians, a poet and writer, activists, community groups and a church, a groundswell of opinion had risen with the incoming tide and quickly took on tsunami proportions. It threatened to batter the multi-million-pound Leith Docks regeneration plan beyond recognition, to drive away investors and leave a ruin of shattered hopes and dreams for the waterfront, the city and for Scotland itself.

One or two politicians joined in and before you knew it the issue was on prime-spot TV, in radio debates and talked about in pubs, on the buses and in the streets. International stars, and Leithers themselves, the Proclaimers, brought their musical magic to the cause, and by then there was no looking back. That name had to go.

So the name has been changed. The people have spoken. And don't you feel proud? Humble and proud?

Are we not fortunate indeed that democracy rules? We can be grateful that community life, its grassroots values of the better kind, its warmth, fun and sense of home are alive and well in this part of the town.

Is it not truly a blessing indeed that here, on this side of the city, in this part of the country, on this part of the planet, you can speak from the heart, and be heard?

Margaret Thatcher once said that there is no "society", and how wrong was that. Leithers knew she was wrong then, they know it now, and they have the social structure to prove it.

That slap in the face of co-operative living from a leader who should have known better might have paved the way for decades of Gekko-like greed, arrogance, and truculent pride in Britain's wider society. Most will say that it did.

The bland disinterest in other peoples' suffering that permeates today's business world, cocky and irresponsible gambling with other people's livelihoods and pensions, the totally unrealistic material goals that make truly mad men expect million-pound pensions at the expense of the rest were spawned from such a phrase.

But Leithers didn't listen then, and they don't listen now.

That's because they know better.

They do attend community group meetings in clubs, civic centres and church halls. They do form groups around ideas, define their vision and go for their goals. They do fund-raise for things they believe will make a difference. They do work together and give each other support along the way. They fight for the values they cherish and defend themselves and their friends.

And they will go on from here. The Leith Docks plan for the area could still be profitable for Forth Ports shareholders, it could make loadsamoney for some, but at the same time it can also be aspirational and inspiring for those who will live with its outcomes, with worthy environmental, ecological and socially responsible goals. Make no mistake, that's what Leithers want, and they will work very hard to achieve those goals.

Ok, so posh Leith is not. We can be honest and face up to the facts. This area can be ragged and rough round the edges. Sometimes the sentiment does go a grin too far. In some parts of this vibrant community there isn't the work ethic there should be. Too much pub talk, spitting on the street, smoke butts under your feet, strut, swagger and swill – yes, we have that too. And it doesn't help.

But we also have independence of mind, camaraderie, loyalty and honest endeavour. We have vision and grit, we believe that what we want, if it's right – not just for us, but the greater good – then it can be done.

We love the sea and its promise. We can build on what's best in this melting-pot town and we can improve. We know it, and we'll do it. We're on our way.

And as we go – one thing we will not do is to start pretending to be something we're not. One thing we will not do is trample all over our neighbours as we go hell for leather for greedy, greedy goals that corrupt a nation and rot its soul.

What's in a name? Only just about everything that makes life worthwhile.

Jenny MacKenzie is a freelance journalist and Leith community councillor