This blog is where you will find community council information, including meeting times, minutes and agenda. Do please comment on postings.

Sunday 15 September 2024

MSCC - Draft Agebda for 25th September 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 25th September 2024 at 7.30pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall


A G E N D A


1` Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 25th June 2024

Matters arising not included in this agenda

a )Earl of Marchmont defibrillator

3 Police Report

4 Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

5 City Councillor report on topical local issues



Items for discussion

6 Publicity

7 Use of Community Space in IQ student accommodation block (The Mont)

8 Funding application for a Community Consultation re achieving net zero in heating/insulation of

flats

9 Planning (Applications & consultation)) (report attached)

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

11 Treasurer's report (circulated)

12 Meetings attended : Bin hubs workshop (Anne Laing)

13 Progress in provision of Public Toilets on the Meadows (circulated)

14 progress on Sylvan PL development

15 Xmas tree event



16 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 23rd October 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Wednesday 10 July 2024

MSCC Minutes of the May 2024 Meeting

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on May 24th, 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Cllr. Pauline Flannery, Stephen Antram - local resident

 

Apologies: Susie Agnew - MSCC, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:32pm

 

Draft Minutes of 24/04/24

Alison notes that 27-31 Ratcliffe Terrace should be listed as a property, not a house, and also requested that it be clarified that Calum Bell will be donating the table tennis and benches to FOMBL, but they do not yet have these.

Anne moves to pass, Alison seconds, the minutes pass.

 

Matters Arising

None.

 

Police Report

None.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

On the bin hub issue: Cllr. Flannery gave statistics on bin hubs - there have been 135 changes to bin hubs, approximately 9% of bin hubs in total. There will be a list of changes published and there are some changes to come as well. The main difficulty is the rigidity of the application of the criteria for bin hub placement. In some places, there were particularly good reasons for moving bin hubs that have not made the bins be moved. Controlled Parking Zones is another reason why moving bin hubs is difficult. There are some bin hubs where CPZs are different, so 2/9 properties on a street are in one area and 52 are in another. The ward councillors are meeting in the next few weeks to try and figure out the issue. The noise of the glass bins is also being addressed because the lining of the bins is not sufficient. Douglas asked about whether there might be a mandate to recycle glass through shops, but this seems unlikely.

Brian notes the circulated email from Cllr. Ross about Cllr. Osler bringing a motion to the committee tomorrow, Cllr. Flannery believes that this motion is a possibility for to go through. The bins that have not been changed already will be monitored and will hopefully be able to be changed if necessary.

It may be possible for the bins to be changed without a TRO if moving them takes less than 45 minutes, Cllr. Flannery is going to check on this.

There is a meeting of the Transport and Environment Committee covering bin hubs on the 23rd.

 

There is a local housing strategy online and people can sign up and give their views - this may be specifically relevant in Marchmont/Sciennes due to its diverse population.

The student housing application on Causewayside was withdrawn, but there is a possibility that the sale of Summerhall could result in more student housing. Summerhall is being sold with protections for the groups that use it, meaning that it is likely to still be an arts community centre of some sort. The property has also acquired an alcohol license for the entire property. It is possible that one part of the property will be sold but not the others. Cllr. Flannery will be looking into what parts of the property are listed. There is a petition on Change.org about the sale of Summerhall and there have been meetings and requests for councillors to try and give support. If people want to try to preserve Summerhall, this likely needs to be a community effort.

 

The feasibility for the tram extension from the North to the South will be looked at tomorrow, but the money necessary is not available at the moment - it would be difficult to justify this cost to council. If this does go through, there will be a consultation.

 

Douglas asked about what is happening to St Catherine’s Argyle church, Anne says that it is being sold at the end of the year and the congregation is merging with Marchmont St Giles - a new name for the union is being chosen but has not been decided on yet.

 

Publicity

None.

 

Planning applications

Grange Association report has been circulated.

 

FOMBL Report & Meadows Festival

There will be an AGM in June along with a public meeting, this is on their website and has been circulated to the MSCC mailing list.

 

There should be updates upcoming about the installation of the toilets, the only current information is that they are on their way.

 

MSCC will be contributing to the Southside Community Council’s tent at the Meadows Festival.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding project

Two updates have been circulated, including a diagram of the plans for the works.

 

Treasurer’s Report

£1280 in the bank, the audit is done and ready for the AGM.

 

Meetings attended

None.

 

Bin Hub Situation

Anne reached out on behalf of the MSCC to Michael Richardson, but the only response was an attachment to the next two phases. Alison wrote to Cllr. Pogson about the planning and whether there is any flexibility. Cllr. Flannery notes that it is worth reaching out again and copying in Paul Lawrence, who is high on the chain of command. Stephen Antram has reached out to Paul Lawrence, who delegated to a clerk, and he got a response eventually. His bin hub is now being used as a smoking area and people have been dumping garbage disproportionately in his bin. Cllr. Flannery notes that it is good to continue exerting pressure, specifically referencing bad communication and lack of consultation. The motion going in tomorrow is specifically on the impact on the local community. Brian spoke with Cllr. Arthur about the bin hubs and got nowhere.

 

AOCB

Douglas is going to try to figure out who now owns Mortuary Chapel, as it has been sold by Downing, possibly to a student accommodation company.

 

Stephen Antram also notes that the storm drains need to be cleaned - he has reported this to council, but nothing has happened. Cllr. Flannery will chase this up. There are also several overflowing bin hubs near the previous Downing site, Douglas is going to chase this up.

 

Dates of events taking place in the Meadows:

27-28 May, James Gillespie’s High School Sports Day

29 May, Sciennes School Sports Day

14 June, Archers event

6 July, World Naked Bike Ride

15 July, World Orienteering Championships

28 July, Mindful Peace Walk

 

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, June 26th, 2024 - the AGM will also be at this meeting

 

 

 

Tuesday 18 June 2024

MSCC Draft Agenda for 26th June 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council


Meeting on Wed 26th June 2024 at 7:30pm (including AGM)

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church hall



A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2   Draft Minutes of last meeting 28thJune 2023; actions and matters arising (not otherwise on Agenda)

3 Police Report

4 Meadows & Bruntsfield Links: Including FOMBL report

5 Publicity

6 City Councillor report on topical local issues

7 Update on progress of buildings replacing old Sick Kids





Items for AGM



A1 Approve Note of last year's AGM

A2 Matters arising from the AGM minutes

A3 Annual Report - Chair (Brian Gilmore)

A4 Annual Report - Secretary (Anne Laing)

A5 Annual Report and presentation of audited accounts - Treasurer (Alison Service)

A6 Election of Officers

A7 Date of next AGM

A8 Ordinary meeting dates for 2024-2025

Proposed: 4th Wed of each month except no meeting in July, August or December

A9 AOCB



Items for discussion

9 Planning applications

Any significant?



For info:

11 Treasurer's report

12 Meetings attended

13 AOCB



14 Date of next meeting: Wednesday 25th September 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Monday 27 May 2024

MSCC - Agenda for 22nd May 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 22nd May, 2024

at .7.30 pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall












A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 24th April 2024

Matters arising not included on this agenda

3 Police Report

4 City Councillor report on topical local issues



Items for discussion

5 Publicity

6 Planning (Applications & consultation)

7 FOMBL and Meadows Festival

8 Update on Sewer Flooding project (circulated)

Items for information

9 Treasurer's report (circulated)

10 Meetings attended

11 Bin hub situation

12 AOB

Date of next meeting and AGM: Wednesday 26th June, 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Friday 24 May 2024

MSCC - Minutes for 24th April 2024

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on April 24th, 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Calum Bell - JR Builders, Susan  - local resident, Gordon Mulholland - resident, Ryan Gilmour - local resident, Margaret Coughtrie - local resident, Richard Robinson - local resident, Morag Macrae - local resident, Stephan Antram - local resident, Ruth Dolan - local resident

 

Apologies: Susie Agnew - MSCC, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:30pm

 

Draft Minutes of 27/03/24

Douglas Rogers corrected that the property on 27-31 Ratcliffe Terrace is currently being sold, it has not already been sold.

Cllr. Ross had a correction that Quenton Rd should be Clinton Rd.

A member of the public wanted concern noted about no mention in last month’s minutes on concerns on the behavior of the chair of the meeting. The concerns about the behavior of the chair at last month’s meeting are now recorded in this month’s minutes.

Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds.

 

Matters Arising

Cllr. Ross was asked to look into tree memorials - executive of the trust has given a response clarifying that homemade displays are inappropriate and will be reminding donors that these are not allowed and will be removed.

On the fallen stone outside of Margiotta’s - investigation showed that the stone was of completely different type than those on the building, Anne notes that CCTV footage showed someone placing the stone outside the building.

Douglas Rogers notes that Tim Pogson got in touch with someone with expertise in the historical preservation and Douglas is meeting with him tomorrow.

 

Police Report

None this month.

 

JR Builders update

Calum Bell attended the meeting to answer any questions. He also says that he is able to donate three new benches and a new table tennis table to FOMBL. Douglas asked about any time scales for completion, Calum says that they are looking at being finished in April 2025. Progress is going well and relatively quickly thus far.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

No councillors attended this meeting.

 

 

 

Publicity

Kayleigh is happy to produce material (flyers and maps) for the Meadows Festival if the MSCC can pay for it. Alison notes that new leaflets may not be needed but other material is helpful.

 

Planning applications

Grange Association report (circulated) has no updates.

On the Raja’s application, the response to concerns about the listed building consent says that investigations made the people who approved the application believe that the ducts would not have adverse affects on the building. Brian notes that there was an article in Edinburgh Live saying that Rajas is selling the building, it is unclear whether or not this is true.

 

FOMBL Report & Meadows Festival

FOMBL projects largely going quite well - many new trees are being planted, the new log house and wooden train were installed in the playground. Benches are being restored, birdboxes cleaned, and the wildflower Meadow coming along well with a bush perimeter.  Future projects include more bench restoration, another table tennis table for the South Links, new stores at the three toilet areas, and new exercise equipment - the tennis table and benches will now be provided by Calum Bell.

 

Alison is looking at getting an information point for community councils in the middle of the festival area, they will need volunteers. Festival is on 1st and 2nd of June.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding project

No updates.

 

Treasurer’s Report

£1445 in the account this month.

 

Meetings attended

Douglas attended meetings for NESTA, LHEES, CHEF, EdinBrick, Home Energy Group, and Edinburgh World Heritage. They are looking at ways to decarbonize houses in the next ten years. He also encourages the meeting to attend the Grange Association Home Energy Open Evening on April 30th.

Two local residents question the necessity of reaching net zero, Douglas notes that this is not the forum to address this and the MSCC is not a political group.

 

Bin Hub Situation

Cllr. Tim Pogson looked into the question of planning permission being needed for bin hubs - the response is that it is probably not due to how long the bin hub review was out, as this likely would have been brought up before. A local resident questioned why planning permission is not needed, the MSCC believes that this issue has been dealt with and the MSCC has taken this as far as we can.  Several local residents argued that this was not good enough and that the MSCC should be more a voice for the locals.  Alison, as an MSCC officer, said she would write to Cllr. Pogson to push for more clarification from the Council as to exactly why planning permission can't be sought retrospectively as it was felt that the 5-year limit had not been reached.

 

Cllr. Ross got answers about the questions that were brought up at the last meeting, these were circulated to Google Groups. The responses are as follows:

On glass bins: glass bins have always been on residential streets and are now just more spread out than before. Noise assessments are being done now and they hope to have a report on this soon.

On the 50 metre rule: review framework allows for this to be relaxed to 100 metres in certain circumstances. The bins also aren’t allowed to be too close to road junctions. Brian believes that this answer is not overly satisfactory but the problem is that this seems to be strictly enforced council rule. Anne notes that there seems to be a protest being organized somewhere in response to the bin hub issue. Anne suggests that the community council write a letter to Michael Richardson about the community’s feelings on the issue and to press for more flexibility. Douglas notes that it is probably a good idea for those who have concerns to make a map with suggestions for where the bin hubs can go, it is mentioned that this can likely be shut down by not according to the framework, which prevents people from appealing the situation.

On whether the bins need to be in groups of 6: the design follows standard layout and involves all residents having access to all of the bins that they need. The layout is also in line with future changes for how recycling is collected.

Alison recommends that the next step is likely to reach out to councillors directly as the MSCC has little power over the issue at hand.

 

AOCB

Anne mentions the Meadows to George Street Active Plan - there are meetings about this on May 2nd and May 9th. Douglas notes that there will be a bus gate at the top of the Mound.

 

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

 

 

 

MSCC Draft Agenda for April 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 24th April, 2024

at .7.30 pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall












A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 27th March, 2024

Matters arising not included on this agenda

3 Police Report

4 Report from JR Builders, Calum Bell

5 City Councillor report on topical local issues



Items for discussion

6 Publicity

7 Planning (Applications & consultation) (Grange report circulated)

8 FOMBL and Meadows Festival

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

11 Treasurer's report (circulated)

12 Meetings attended

13 Bin hub situation

14 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 22nd May, 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Monday 6 May 2024

MSCC - Minutes for February 2024

 Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on February 28th, 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church

Hall

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC

Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association, Cllr. Ben Parker,

Cllr. Steve Burgess, Sarah Sandow - local resident, Natalie Fergie - local resident, Beverly Frison - local

resident, Patrick Frison - local resident, Mr. Gilmour - local resident, Mr. Mulholland - local resident,

Annette Carranthers - local resident, Kate McNeirney - local resident

Apologies: Susan Agnew - MSCC, Calum Bell - JR Builders, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity,

Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

Meeting began at 19.32

Draft Minutes of 24/01/23

Anne moves to pass, Alison seconds. Minutes pass.

Matters Arising

Ian Murray has sent out a letter about a petition to keep the local post office open, the petition is online on

his newsletter and are on paper at the Hardware shop. We will await future news on that issue.

Police Report

None this month.

JR Builders update

Apologies from Calum, but update that they are on top of their timeline. If people have questions, he is

happy to meet with them.

Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl. FOMBL

Report has been circulated. Playhouse on the Bruntsfield Links is complete. There will be permanent

toilets put in on the Meadows, hopefully will be completed by the summer, but if they are not, there will

still be temporary toilets for the summer. The toilets will be placed near Middle Meadow Walk and the

Pavilion. Annette Carranthers asked about whether there is a plan for the Jawbones to return, Alison

explained that it is unlikely that they will return to their original placement, Cllr. Parker said that there

will be a report coming out on the Jawbones and will send it around.

City Councillor report on local issues

Cllr. Parker:

The main issue to be discussed is the Council budget. It is noted that this was a particularly difficult

budget to set and there were a lot of cuts being faced, more focus on how to save money versus how to

spend it. There was some reevaluation of the pension fund for the Council that meant that there was

slightly more money to work with. There were no cuts to education services. There were agreements to

additional investment in roads and pavements that will be further discussed, there was investment in street

cleansing and forestry service. The Council has some budget to help with nature, climate conservation

and energy efficiency in the area. A council-tax freeze has been implemented. On the housing revenue

account budget, this has a rent rise of 7% to go into infrastructure for this housing. There were no

proposals with service reductions or cuts, some grant funding has ended but there are no massive cuts to

services. There was no public consultation, Cllr. Parker acknowledges that this should likely be rectified

in the future. Idea moving forward is having continuous budgeting discussions over the course of the

year. Cllr. Burgess notes that cuts are more likely next year.

Cllr. Burgess:

There was a meeting with the Sciennes Parent Council about the road closure outside of Sciennes Primary

School. The parents raised concerns that motor vehicles can approach the boundaries quite closely and

would like to seek further improvements like another TRO, but would like to speak to the Community

Council about the issue to see if there is any support that MSCC could offer. Douglas Rogers notes that

he has attempted to contact the school to no avail and would like to have some communication with the

groups involved. Brian notes that the representative from the Sciennes Parent Council is invited to any

meetings that they would like to come to, including on a regular basis.

Anne asked about the changes to the roads in Edinburgh and the suggested road closure in Holyrood Park,

Alison noted that she received an email from the involved parties clarifying that the points against the

road closure are well represented. Cllr. Burgess explained that whilst there is discussion from Historic

Environment Scotland, they are not talking about doing anything imminently. The Transport and

Environment committee is considering many different transport reports at the moment, which include

some proposals to close roads in the city centre and the future of the tram system, but no decisions have

been made. These reports are available on the Council website and Cllr. Burgess will send them to Anne

to circulate. On the trams, there is a proposal to put the tram from Granton to the Royal Infirmary, which

would use the Roaseburn cycle path which is a popular cycling and walking site. This was somewhat

favored because it is more simplistic, but Greens put an amendment to the report that both options be

presented equally, which was agreed upon. Anne notes that the current through Morningside and

Newington railway line could be reinstated instead of a tram. Cllr. Burgess said that it has been looked at

but there is not enough capacity at Haymarket Station. This has been raised again in light of the tram

proposal. Alison asked if the tram is definite, Cllr. Burgess clarifies that it is likely that the third line is

going to be put in as the next phase of the project, but people are welcome to state their views during the

consultation. The tram projects have been learning from past projects and it is cheaper at this point than it

was in the beginning. Cllr. Parker noted that this is not done in one consultation because of how large of a

project it is, there are a lot of steps to go through over time.

Kate McNairney and others bring up issues about bin hubs: there are too many, the placement makes it

too loud and the food bins being close to front doors is an inconvenience. There was little opportunity to

discuss issues with the Council despite reaching out several times. There is a group of people from across

Edinburgh who are challenging the decision on the bins. The main issue is that the bins are very noisy

especially when collecting glass, the majority of people who have the bin outside of their residence are

upset and are concerned that the property value has gone down. There are concerns that the Council has

taken transport into account but not the impact on people on lower floors with the bin hubs outside of

their doors. The noise can be detrimental to peoples’ health in the long-term. It is noted that the bins do

have to go somewhere. The bins are also difficult to open, especially for people with disabilities. Sarah

Sandow notes that collecting rubbish has seemed to take precedence over the people in the community.

There has also been a bad effect on behavior, as people have taken to fly tipping. Anne notes that a

consultation for the placement of the bins went out a year ago, but not everyone received infromation and

the consultation was somewhat erratic. Natalie Fergie notes that the Council is aware of where disabled

people live based on Blue Badges, and still put bins directly outside of disabled peoples’ doors. Mr.

Gilmour notes that it is unclear why the reasoning of needing to cross the street to reach the bin is

important. Mr. Mulholland notes that the consultation seemed to do very little. Some people have garbage

blowing into their gardens and bin doors causing damage. Some bins seem to be overfilled. Brian noted

that this has been an issue for a long time. Cllr. Burgess said that the consultation on this started about a

year ago and it is being rolled out now, the number of bins is a reflection on the amount of waste that

needs to be collected. Changes have been made to bin hub locations based on residents’ concerns, Cllr.

Burgess advises to get in touch with Ward Councillors if people are unhappy with the placement of the

bins. There is very little chance of the entire project being stopped because of the amount of planning that

is necessary and how large of a project this is. It is possible to get changes in a locality, Mr. Gilmour

notes that it seems as though the appeals tend to not have any success - Cllr. Burgess said that if residents

are coming up against Officers not wanting to move bins, they should contact Councillors. There have

been some examples of bin hubs being moved based on concerns. Kate McNairney notes that this is

divisive within the community because no one wants the bin hubs outside of their house and that she has a

petition to look specifically at the glass collection noise issue. Cllr. Parker notes that there is a motion

coming up about noise mitigation, which includes the glass collection issue. Beverly Frison notes that it is

unclear why there are as many bins as there are in the locations that they are in. Sarah Sandow asks if the

process of reviewing this decision on a regular basis should be a part of the system, Cllr. Parker notes that

sometimes bins can be reconfigured within the hub rather than relocating the entire thing, though the TRO

system complicates this issue and these are quite inflexible. Moving bin hubs requires a new TRO to be

written. Mr. Mulholland asked about TROs being used in a conservation area and wants to clarify why a

full planning process wasn’t done, Cllr. Burgess offers to find out the answer for this. Brian notes that it

would be reasonable to have a review after the bins have been in place for a while to see if everything is

in the correct place. Cllr. Burgess said that this is something that could be explored. Brian also notes that

the guidelines on where the bins must be are quite inflexible and there are places where bins are going

into unreasonable places. Cllr. Burgess notes that this criteria did likely go through a committee, Mr.

Gilmour notes that things probably got more complex over time.

Publicity

No updates.

Downing Updates

Report was circulated. Everything seems to be going well. Douglas mentioned that Downing should be

asked to remove their rubbish from the street and wash the street down, issues will be passed from Anne

to Downing. Annette Carranthers asked about the Mortuary Chapel, Douglas said that there have been no

updates on that front despite reaching out about it.

Planning applications

Report from the Grange Association on 10 Chalmers Crescent has been circulated. Other planning

application reports have been circulated.

Update on Sewer Flooding project

Report from Scottish Water has been circulated. The work on Marchmont Rd will hopefully come to an

end in April and then they will begin work on Marchmont Crescent for several months in May or June.

The buses will have to reroute, but it is unclear where - probably Marchmont Rd. Annette asked about the

restoration of the junction between Marchmont Rd and Marchmont Crescent, Anne will ask about this.

Meadows Festival: collaboration with other CCs

There is usually a tent in the middle of the festival for the CCs though there are not enough volunteers for

all of the CCs to be represented. Anne will talk to Kayleigh about having a map of the area.

Treasurer’s Report

£1500 in the bank, nothing outstanding.

Meetings attended

None.

AOCB

Alison asked about booking the German church for the Christmas event, the church has suggested

Saturday Nov 23rd or Dec 7th or a Sunday, Council agrees to book for Dec 7th.

Anthony Holmes asked the Councillors about people who block the opening of Thirlestane Lane selling

trees every year, they do not have permission from the Thirlestane Lane Association and Anthony wants

to know who can deal with this because it is a private lane. Cllr. Burgess notes that this is a Police matter,

because this is trespassing. Anthony notes that based on past experience the Police will not do anything.

Cllr. Parker asked that he be sent an email on the issue to try and figure out how to deal with this - there

may be a way to deal with this via licensing.

Beverly Frison notes that the litter on the bottom of Arden Street is quite bad, asks that Cllr. Parker raise

this issue.

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024