Marchmont
and Sciennes Community Council
Minutes of
Meeting held on 23rd April 2025 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall
Present: Cllr.
Neil Ross, Cllr. Marie-Claire Munro, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Peter Olech - MSCC,
Richard Shillcock - MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC, Geoffrey Parsons - MSCC,
Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association & MSCC, Susie Agnew - MSCC,
Brian Gilmore - MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC, Margaret Coughtrie - local resident,
Sara Kundrachi - local resident
Apologies: None
Attending: Nora
Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary
Meeting began at 7:30pm
Welcome and Apologies
Cllr. Ross welcomed everyone to the
meeting. There were no apologies.
Declaration of Interests
No interests were declared.
Announcing Community Council Members
as duly elected
All new community council members
are as follows: Alison Service, Anthony Holmes, Anne Laing, Geoffrey Parsons,
Brian Gilmore, Susan Agnew, Douglas Rogers, Richard Stillcock, Peter Olech.
The names of the members of the MSCC
will be posted on the community council website/blog page with no personal
contact information. The names of office bearers and official email will be
posted publicly as well.
Confirmation of Community Council
Name
Douglas Rogers moves to keep the
name as Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council, Alison Service seconds. Susie
Agnew notes that some of Grange falls within this council’s boundaries, and
would be in favor of including Grange if there is no problem with this. Alison
is concerned about the possibility of getting mixed up with the Grange
Association, Susie mentions that the Grange Association does not have the same
powers as a community council, but that they seem to actually have more power
than the community council in some ways.
Ultimately, the name Marchmont and
Sciennes Community Council is confirmed.
Appointment of Office Bearers:
a)
Appointment of Chair
i)
Brian Gilmore nominates himself and
is unanimously appointed.
b)
Appointment of Secretary
i)
Anne Laing nominates herself and is
unanimously appointed.
c)
Appointment of Treasurer
i)
Alison Service nominates herself and
is unanimously appointed.
d)
Appointment of Engagement and
Inclusion Officer
i)
No nominations are offered, this
will be addressed at a future meeting.
Community Council Representative to
attend induction events on 26 April and Monday 28 2025
This has been cancelled and will be
held at an unknown future date. Brian suggests that the new members of the
council would likely benefit most from this and that they might attend when the
new date is announced. Peter Olech self-nominates to attend subject to
availability.
AOCB
Brian Gilmore takes over the chair.
Cllr. Ross notes that decision-making is discouraged at this meeting due to the
new council members. Brian thanks Cllr. Ross for chairing the previous part of
the meeting.
Brian asks for agreement that the
previous minutes are correct. Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. The minutes
pass.
Councillor’s Report
Cllr. Ross: Council has been on
Easter recess for two weeks, Cllr. Ross attended two meetings. There is
progress currently being made with the toilets on Middle Meadow Walk and the
timeline has it being operational by the end of May. Comments from the public
will be accepted. Peter Olech asks whether or not the toilets will be
single-sex, Cllr. Munro has been approached about this. She can confirm that
there will be no male/female toilets, they will be gender neutral - however,
the toilets do have to be cubicles, floor-to-ceiling with a sink and is waiting
for clarification on this and is expecting this on Monday due to the recent
Supreme Court ruling. Peter notes that these toilets may not be compliant with
the Supreme Court decision, Douglas questions whether this is true. Geoffrey
Parsons notes that it may be problematic that there are no urinals because men
have to queue to get into the toilets. Cllr. Munro has asked for a list of
organizations that were spoken to about the toilets. Brian notes that until
there is a definitive statement on whether the toilets are compliant, it may
not be worth discussing further. Peter registers the concerns of the community
council. Geoffrey notes that community
councils should register their concerns about cost effectiveness of these
projects, though we do not have particular information about the cost and
whether it was reasonable. Brian clarifies that we can ask for the cost and we
will also find out more information about whether or not the toilets are
conforming with the Supreme Court ruling.
Cllr. Munro: Notes anti-social
behavior that has been happening in the area, such as at the Marchmont Hardware
Store. The head of James Gillespies is aware of the issue and of the
individuals, some of whom are from other schools. There is also concern about
damages from dirt bikes and e-bikes. Cllr. Munro is also still getting emails
about bin hubs and some of these are under review. There is a meeting at
Marchmont St Giles tomorrow evening, and SMAG is working to make it easier for
people to get their bins moved. Cllr. Ross noted that the James Gillespies
playing fields at Whitehouse Loan are owned by the Council and that there
should be no use of these facilities during evenings or weekends unless
approved by the school, but there have been issues of anti-social behavior at
night in these areas. Cllr. Ross has discussed further security measures to
prevent people from sliding underneath the fencing and this will likely come to
the Education Committee as a proposal after getting a quote from a contractor.
Peter asked what the issue is with people using the field at night, and the
issue is that it violates the terms of the lease, but this is a legal issue and
there is some difficulty around this. Peter notes that it is unfortunate to
have to spend money on preventing people from playing, but Cllr. Ross notes
that the problem is largely with people disturbing neighbors and being there at
anti-social hours.
Geoffrey is concerned that some of
the ways in which the police are currently being used may not be cost
effective, but Brian noted that it is probably not up to the community council
to question this.
Other Notes
Sara Kunorachi notes that the
building that used to house Boroughloch Medical Practice may be turned into
seven short-term lets and wonders if this could be looked into, Alison
volunteers to look into this. Margaret Coughtrie notes that this may not be approved
because there is only one front door.
Date of next meeting
It is decided that the meetings will
continue to be on the 4th Wednesday of every month apart from July, August, and
December.
The next meeting will be on May
28th, 2025.
