Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council
Minutes of Meeting held on June 28th, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle
Church Hall
Present: Brian Gilmore - MSCC Chair, Alison Service - MSCC
Treasurer, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Graham Gemmell -
Home Group, Calum Bell - Home Group, Cllr. Steve Burgess, Cllr. Marie-Clair
Munro, Jane Bauham - local resident, Geoff Parsons - local resident, Norah
Rogers - local resident, Margot Alexander - local resident, Elizabeth Thompson
- local resident, Ken McKendrick - Sylvan Place, Donald Henderson - Grange
Association, Jim Orr - FOMBL, Katherine Dickie - local resident, Donald Dickie
- local resident, James Long - local resident
Apologies: Susie Agnew - MSCC, Ian
Murray - MP, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Lianne Phillips - MSCC
Publicity
Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes
Secretary
Meeting began at 7:31pm
Draft Minutes of 31/05/23
Two typo changes.
Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds.
Matters Arising
Thirlestane Lane parking for Warrender Baths staff – no update but staff
not allowed to park there. Anne asked about updates on parking dispensations in
our area and will contact Tim Pogson about the issue.
Defibrillator: no news on new management of Earl of Marchmont.
Anne took over doing local notice boards until Publicity is less busy.
Home Group Presentation regarding Sylvan Place
development
Home Group is the construction group for the nonprofit affordable
housing site at the corner of Sylvan Place. They were looking to receive a
funding proposal by July of 2023, commence works in October of 2023, and finish
work by July of 2025. Downing has taken a long time to demolish the substation,
but should have that done by the end August and commence works in October. All
dates are subject to change. They are awaiting the affordable housing contribution
from the Council - final figures yet to be confirmed. This could also affect
the projected timeline.
On traffic management: The build is logistically difficult to carry out
because of a lack of space. The road closure would be Sylvan Place and part of
Rillbank Tce (more than half of Rillbank will not be approved, due to
congestion issues). JR Group is trying to start the process as quickly as
possible, their goal is to minimise the amount of problems that residents face,
and their only way of doing this is a full closure of the northern part of Sylvan
Place up to the student accommodation. The construction company offered to come
to MSCC meetings monthly. Ken McKendrick expressed concerns of the lack of
approval for a closure of Rillbank, citing the reason of the Scottish Water
sewage project and Health & Safety as being ‘red herrings’ and proposed
someone reaching out to the approval body. Ken McKendrick also asked whether
the crane being parked on the street was necessary, as it had not been in the
original plans. Home Group responded that this has to do not only with the
crane, but also health and safety. Ken McKendrick stressed that it will be
difficult for residents on the street to be able to access their homes. The access
for the site will be on Rillbank, and the road cannot be fully closed. The JR
Group said that the goal is to have a full road closure for the least amount of
time, and that even a full closure of Rillbank would not stop the closure of Sylvan Place for several months.
Douglas Rogers stated that he also does not want this to happen, points
out that Downing is currently working outside of health and safety rules, and
respects Home Group and JR Group for the efforts that they have made. He also
asked that JR Group help if there is any heavy lifting/carrying for local
residents needed in the area and they said they would help certainly help where
possible.
Brian suggested that Cllr. Tim Pogson put pressure on the Roads
Committee to explain the connection between Rillbank and the Scottish Water
works, as no-one can see a link with this development.
Brian asked if the road could be opened on weekends, but this will not
be possible due to health and safety. Katherine Dickie asked if the barricade
could be opened if an emergency vehicle needed to get through, JR Group says
they do have a plan for this. Brian asked if any power cuts could be expected,
JR Group said that this is a Scottish Power issue. Geoff Parsons asked how many
parking spaces will be lost, and how this will be fixed. JR Group is paying for
the parking as a part of the contract, Sciennes Road parking is open to Zone 7
residents.
Meadows and Bruntsfield Links
AGM will be in September for FOMBL.
City Councillor report on local issues
Council is currently in recess for the summer.
Cllr Steve Burgess: Education Committee is proposing to remove voting
rights for religious representatives on committee, as parent representatives do
not have a vote. The idea behind this is that only those who are elected by
constituents should be able to vote. This issue has been postponed for
consultation, as the Catholic Church is concerned about this. The
representatives will still be able to sit on committee either way. One solution
proposed is to bring contentious issues to full committee.
Sciennes playground/road closure is continuing, there will likely be a
road closure for motor vehicles in front of the school. This school has one of
the smallest play areas per pupil in the city, they are currently handling
legal issues. Douglas Rogers asked for updates on this issue in order to
coordinate with the Sick Kids Site project who would like to see a full road
closure from top of Sylvan Place.
Alison asked if there has been any movement on permanent toilets for the
Meadows, Cllr. Burgess said that there is no update that he is aware of but he
will check the issue.
Margot Alexander asked about the bad state of the road on Fingal/Rillbank
etc, and Cllr. Burgess said that this is likely to be fixed after building
works are done.
Cllr. Marie-Clair Munro updated about the issue with location of bin
hubs, which has an ongoing consultation finishing on July 16th on this issue at
the moment. Many residents have not
heard about where the bin hubs will be placed. There will be a drop-in session
this Friday at Barclay Church 2-5pm. Residents can email waste@edinburgh.ac.uk. There will be
another drop-in session for Morningside residents on July 6th.
The Experimental Traffic Regulation Order reaching from Greenbank to the
Meadows is up for review. Residents tend to think that the layout of the ETRO
is not ideal, so there will be a new one for residents to comment on. This is
on the Council website.
There was graffiti on the phone boxes outside of James Gillespie High
School - should be fixed soon. There has been more graffiti in the area, but if
on a private building, the owner must take charge of cleaning.
AGM
Approve note of last year’s AGM
Alison moves to approve, Anne seconds.
Matters arising from AGM minutes
None.
Annual Report - Chair
Issues that have been raised: Christmas tree event was done well and
started well after Covid. The Sick Kids site issue has come up frequently. The
Astley Ainsley development has gone quiet for now but will likely come up more.
The number 41 bus issue has been discussed at two meetings. The Scottish Water send
regular updates and attended one meeting. The Meadows Toilets and local defibrillator
are still ongoing
Thanks to: Anne Laing, Alison Service, Kayleigh Gordon, Lianne Phillips,
Douglas Rogers, the Grange Association (Nigel Ayton and Donald Henderson).
Annual Report - Secretary
Ian Murray’s online petition about the 41 bus is still ongoing. The
Warrender Swim Centre has been reopened. Thanks to: Publicity team
Annual Report and presentation of audited accounts
- Treasurer
Income: EDC Grant, £737 Outgoing:
Minute Secretary, hall rental, memberships, insurance
Surplus of: £126, currently looking at local projects. We will discuss forward financial plan at next
meeting. Thanks were given to: Jim Orr, Convenor of FOMBL who independently
reviewed the MSCC accounts.
Election of Officers
Douglas Rogers proposes Brian Gilmore as Chair, Alison seconds. No other
nominations. Brian Gilmore is elected Chair.
Alison Service proposes Anne Laing, Norah Rogers seconds. No other
nominations. Anne Laing is elected as Secretary.
Anne Laing proposes Alison Service, Douglas Rogers seconds. No other
nominationsAlison Service is elected as Treasurer.
Date of Next AGM
The next AGM will be June 24th, 2024. The next Council elections will
likely be held in May, so the next AGM will be held under the next Council, and
may be subject to change.
Ordinary Meeting Dates for 2023-2024
Proposed: 4th Wednesday of each month, other than July, August,
December. This is agreed.
ACOB
No updates.
Sick Kids site
A report has been circulated.
Margot Alexander asked about the Mortuary Chapel, Douglas Rogers said
that the issue has come to an impasse, as Downing wants money for the chapel.
It is likely that the Mortuary Chapel will be put on the market, the hope is
that someone will buy the building who wants to give it back to the community.
There will not be a community buyout on this issue.
A planning application has been put in for changes to the hospital
block, Douglas Rogers wants to see if he can gain access to the site, as the
pictures look promising.
Scottish Water update
Report has been circulated, there will be road closures that divert onto
Argyle Place.
Bus route update
Cllr. Marie-Clair Munro reported that the Transport Committee had a
meeting that was ultimately fruitless, and Lothian Buses will not be
reinstating the bus route no matter what. Alison had written for the MSCC with
suggestions for route changes and inviting them to attend our meeting, but did
not receive a reply. Margot Alexander asked about the plans to close George
Street, this has been approved by the Transport Committee, but they are
currently looking at ways to open access to taxis. Businesses are concerned but
it is all part of the government’s goal to be net zero by 2030. Anne Laing
asked about plans to close George IV Bridge, as there is talk that they are
looking at putting in a quiet route.
Planning applications
A report has been circulated.
There have been three phone mast applications, two have been refused,
one is still accepting comments (Blackford and Grange Loan).
The student accommodation application for 140 Causewayside has had a
meeting on it, there are mock-ups available. There is a general consensus that
the plan looks good, but it is still a large undertaking. The only concern
brought up is that the buildings behind the building. The people involved in
this offered to come to the meeting, we may invite them again in September if
the issue is still hot.
There is an application on Sciennes Road to convert a garage into a
separate liveable space for tenants,but it is likely to be refused and the
Grange Association also objects..
Treasurer’s Report
Report has been circulated.
Meetings attended
No updates.
AOCB
Council has been planning on replacing the Jawbones, with several
different plans circulating, one being with a bronze replica costing £120k.
Alison felt the money had beeter uses for The Meadows and would prefer to will
support a historical notice board freeing the money to go towards permanent toilets
on The Meadows. The bones cannot be put back, so it is either replicas or
nothing. James Long said that many
people have fond memories of the Jawbones, and will look at possible ways of replacing them.
Ex-Cllr Cameron Rose had raised c.£20,000 for the Save the Jawbones
campaign and Alison said she would contact him to check what happened to the
funds, though may well have been used in the restoration attempts.
Date of next meeting
September 27th, 2023
Reports
