How has Edinburgh coped with the first 50 days of lockdown?

SHOPS shut, restaurants closed, hotels boarded up, theatres dark, school cancelled, tourist attractions padlocked, streets and pavements virtually empty - Edinburgh and the rest of the UK have now been in lockdown for 50 days as the country tries to beat coronavirus.

“It’s a huge difference to the way the city looks and a huge difference to the way everyone lives their lives,” said council leader Adam McVey.

“Edinburgh is a city full of amazing restaurants and coffee shops and shops - they are all things that enrich our lives and we’ve had to put a pause on all that.”

But he is impressed with the way the people of the city have responded to the Covid-19 crisis and all the restrictions.

“It’s hard to tell how these things are going to go down with people because none of us have had to live through anything like this, but I think people have really understood the why behind everything they have been asked to do, so that has made it a lot easier for people to follow what’s being asked of them because it’s been understood this is literally life and death for so many people in our communities.

“I don’t think it has been easy for anybody but people have really come together and coped.

“There are really fantastic examples right across the city of communities coming together and supporting each other through it, making sure people are not suffering too much isolation and they get the help they need.”

He praised community and voluntary organisations for the way they had pooled resources to deliver meals and other help to those in need.

And he claimed there had been a similar willingness to work together among government, council and other public sector bodies.

“Everyone has approached the last few weeks with a real can-do attitude, people have put barriers to one side and just asked ‘How can I help?’ It has been incredibly refreshing.”

Within days of the lockdown, Royal Bank of Scotland announced it was turning part of its Gogarburn headquarters into a distribution centre for foodbank donations and linking up with Cyrenians and Social Bite to get food and other essential supplies to people in some of the Capital’s poorer communities.

They appealed to businesses to donate food they had in their canteen fridges which would no longer be used since offices and workplaces were closed.

In Pilton, former Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack winner John Loughton repurposed his Scran Academy charity into a highly-organised production line getting thousands of free, healthy meals safely distributed to vulnerable people across the city.

And in other parts of the city, similar operations were mounted in a bid to prevent anyone going hungry during the crisis.

Many small businesses forced to close by the lockdown were promised government grants to help them survive and the city council, in charge of processing the applications, have paid out more than £61.5 million of the aid to more than 4700 businesses. The council was criticised for a slow start which meant delays for firms in receiving the cash, although staff were transferred from other departments to create a 100-strong team to get the grants out.

Some businesses, however, have not qualified for the government schemes and have spoken out about their plight.

Many workers have been furloughed and others have lost their jobs.

One benefit of the lockdown was a noticeable improvement in air quality. After just a week of the measures, the huge reduction in the number of cars, lorries and buses on the streets meant levels of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere had fallen by 50 per cent in some areas, including Nicolson Street, previously a pollution hotspot.

And Cllr McVey is pleased the council has managed to safeguard the environment in another way by maintaining food waste collections throughout and getting glass recycling and garden waste collections restored as quickly as possible.

“I’ve had so many letters and emails and messages, people just saying thank yo to the waste crews. The services people take for granted are now being recognised.”

But he praises Capital residents: “People have been absolutely superb for the last 50 days and there’s nothing to indicate they won’t be just as fantastic for the next 50 days, but we have to stay aware of the reality of where we are - this is still a pandemic and we need to follow the advice.”