Marchmont and Sciennes Community
Council
Minutes of Meeting held on
February 25th, 2026 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall
Present
Brian Gilmore - MSCC chair
Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer
Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary
Douglas Rogers - MSCC Inclusion Officer
Kate McNairney - SMAG
Richard Shillcock - MSCC
Peter Olech - MSCC
Margaret Coughtrie - Local resident
Sara Kondracki - Local resident
Anthony Holmes – MSCC
Susan Agnew - MSCC
Cllr. Neil Ross
Cllr. Pauline Flannery
Apologies
Kayleigh Gordon & Liane Phillips - MSCC
Publicity
Cllr Munro
Attending
Eli Ferrell - Minutes Secretary
Meeting began at 19:30pm
Sederunt and apologies
Brian welcomes everyone to the meeting. Sederunt
and apologies as above.
Draft Minutes of last meeting June 2025
Anne moves to approve the minutes. Douglas seconds.
Actions and matters arising (not otherwise on
Agenda)
Anne contacted Sgt Rachel Lumsden regarding the
community meetings but has not had a reply
Meadows & Bruntsfield Links
None.
Police Report
No police report. Wednesday 18th February, two
policemen were observed patrolling the Meadows on foot.
Publicity
No publicity report.
City Councillor report on topical local issues
Licensing conditions for pubs for FIFA World Cup: a
general extension was agreed by the Board in line with other Scottish Cities.
There would be a difficulty in complying with timescales to administer without
this general extension. Only pubs/establishments that have televised sports
within existing operating plans will be able to show FIFA games. It was agreed
that the general extension covers all featured football matches and not just
Scottish/UK games. Outdoor facilities may be granted to alcohol licences if
they get a public entertainment licence. The Council is anticipating
applications from pop up venues to show FIFA World Cup.
HMO license fees will be reviewed at the next
regulatory meeting. The fees have been potentially too high for some period.
Many HMOs were unable to move to three year licenses due to certification
practicalities. Therefore, potentially HMO fees will be reduced and there are
very unlikely to be increases at this time.
There is a problem with deceased residents
maintaining cycle hanger spaces. This will continue as long as the payments
continue, because the cycle hanger spaces have been contracted to an outside
company.
Cllrs to ask collectors to be more careful with the
bins during collection in order to avoid replacements being needed at cost to
the council. The replacement service is easy to use and quick.
A resident in Warrender Park Crescent has
reported the very poor the state of the road. He has emailed the local
councillors, but nothing has been done. Brian has verified this report for
himself and notes the road is difficult to pass due to this damage to the central
strip of road. The pavement is also in poor condition and difficult for some
wheelchair users. Complaint noted by the Councillors present.
Tomorrow is council budget day.
Inclusion Officer’s report (attached)
Community Space
Progress has been made with IQ students to allow
the use of the community space thanks to input from Cllr Tim Pogson. It is
hoped that the space will be used for money generating activities in order to
fund the work required to bring it up to standard.
It is hoped that the MSCC meetings will be able to
take place there soon.
Banzai Local (Bruntsfield Area net Zero Action
Initiative) Place Plan Work
Banzai got a 5k grant to fund the project. Next
Saturday they will be hosting a Peoples assembly at the Pianodrome building (St
Oswalds Centre, Montpelier Park) Free lunch will be offered from 13:00, and
discussions will take place from 14:00.
Items for discussion
Planning (report attached)
The objection has been lodged regarding the
Rillbank development, but has not yet been heard. There were over 100
objections. It is likely to go before planning soon.
Treasurer’s report (attached)
The report has been circulated. The old bank
account is now closed, so the council will no longer be paying monthly charges
to that account.
The defibrillator notice is going up on the
publicity boards. The notice will include the other defibrillators in the area.
The defibrillator has now been used.
SMAG report
The TEC meeting has now taken place. Some aspects
of the presentation were altered upon advice from MSCC. At the end of the
presentation, Steven
Jenkinson has offered to meet to
discuss some of the most upsetting locations for the bin hubs. SMAG was
uncomfortable with choosing more important locations because they represent the
community as a whole, and so they have determined they will not note specific locations.
They might highlight some locations upon Steven Jenkinson’s request to
illustrate problems, but those will be examples.
A meeting is now scheduled with him.
266 bin hubs have been complained about. 22 will
have their locations reassessed. Cllr Neil Ross notes that there will be a
published reason why the 244 remaining bin hubs are not being reassessed.
In terms of practical solutions, some people at the
Local Place Plan event noted other countries sometimes have bins underground.
Meetings attended
No meetings attended.
AOCB
The Together Alliance is holding a big event in
London on March 28th noting public favour for community cohesion and unity
against division and certain members request that MSCC note its support for
this event in the light of the graffiti on the Edinburgh Mosque. Other
members have concerns about noting support for this event given its political
ties. It was agreed not to publicly support this event and that the MSCC would
contact Rachel Lumsden, the local community police liaison officer, noting our
concerns at this graffitti.
Marchmont St Giles church has merged with Reid
Memorial Church; worship is now held at the Kilgraston Road building and the
parish is now called Blackford and Grange Parish and Church. Some activities
are continuing to be held at the Reid Hub.
The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 25th of
March.
All who live or work locally are welcome to attend.
