MSCC - Minutes for January 2026

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting of January 28th, 2026 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore, Chair, Susie Agnew – MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Douglas Rogers - MSCC Inclusion Officer, Anthony Holmes – MSCC, Kate McNairney – SMAG, Richard Shillcock – MSCC, Peter Olech – MSCC, Geoff Parsons – MSCC, Cllr. Steve Burgess, Cllr. Mandy Watt

Margaret Coughtrie, Francis and Paul Hamilton, Joanna Storrar, Sara Kondricki, Jim Sorrell, Sally Swann – Local residents,

Meeting began at 19:30pm

 

Apologies

Lianne and Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

 

Draft Minutes of last meeting Nov 26th 2025: Suzie wanted it noted that she had asked Cllr Pogson to check into the problem of bins with no tops but she’s not yet heard back from him.

The minutes were approved by Anne and seconded by Alison.

 

Matters arising: Lianne had asked Anne Laing to raise the subject of shoplifting which is a growing problem. This was discussed generally. CCTV needed in the area and shops.  Cllr Watt said she attended a Police local meeting about this and they advise traders to inform them asap and make their CCTV available for tracking the suspects and catching them. Also said a Traders Phone Chain was helpful with traders letting others know in advance of thieves around.

Anne said that the Defibrillator signage would soon be up on the noticeboards.

Suzie said that they’d not heard from Cllr Munro about parcels going to Falcon Rd depot instead of Russell Rd – Anne to check with her. It was noted that there’s an automated post box for small parcels at the top of |Marchmont Road.

 

Sciennes School Space Plan:  Caroline McKellar of the Sciennes School Parents Group  spoke to the meeting on the subject of the full road closure during school hours giving background on why it is needed and how and when this will be put into operation. All funding is provided by the parents to ensure a secure and pleasant looking area with foldable gates and bollards operating, clearer signage, and attractive planting/fencing. The ETRO (Experimental for 18 months) will hopefully be approved soon and work to start in Easter holidays to be in operation by mid to end April.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links:  The naming of the new path was discussed with a vote taken on the two most popular path names.  5 votes for Kinghorn Way against 8 votes for Hamish Henderson Walk.  Alison to inform FOMBL of the MSCC choice.

The next Fombl meeting is on 3^rd March.

 

Publicity:  No report

 

Councillors Report:  Cllr Burgess:  reported that he’d been told by a local resident about speeding in Chalmers Crescent and that he’d raised this with Road Safety who’d carry out a speed check to catch culprits.  It was agreed generally that speed bumps in the area would be helpful.

He also reported that the Roseneath St rough tarmac pavement saying it is due soon to be replaced by paving slabs.  The Grange Rd gas work diversions were affecting much of the area but would be finished by mid-end Feb. 

He met with Police Sergeant Rachel Lumsden now the new local community officer who intends to hold quarterly meetings with residents and urges CCs to send a representative or two to raise their concerns. Main concerns seem to be anti-social behaviour, e-bikes, shoplifting. Invites to be sent to locals and Ccs. Cllr Burgess urged to suggest that the meetings be in various Southside areas and not always in the same venue.

 

Cllr Watt:  reported on the above Police meeting last held in Morningside Library. Q: Tony had contact Sgt Lumsden re going to the Police meeting but never heard from her. A: If anyone wishes to attend or be represented, they should let their CC or local Cllr know.

Also reported on the application for c.46 short term lets to be approved in Rillbank Tce and Cres which is being massively objected to by local residents. Notification period to be extended to at least mid-Feb.

Reported that the Transport & Environmental meeting is tomorrow with bin hubs on the agenda and SMAG deputation to speak on this.  Also reported on this being the Budget period with the visitor levy starting soon. Q: how much expected to be raised by this? A: C. £50m pa with c. 6m to go to improving local services like street cleaning, graffiti cleaning.

Q: Why can’t at least half of the tourist levy go to Edinburgh services? A: Scottish Parliament has ruled that most is to go to improving the “tourist experience”.

Bike Storage: Joanna Storrar, a local bike owner, raised this problem.  Eight people in her block have bikes and no room within the stairwell and not enough bike storage in the area. When requesting more bike stores has been told this can take around 2 years to be implemented what with Planning etc. Cllr Watt asked that she contact herself or Cllr Burgess to help speed up her request for more bike storage.

 

Inclusion Officer’s report:  Douglas spoke on the paper he’d circulated. The Grange Home Energy Group holding a meeting on Tues 3^rd Feb at St Catherine’s Church Hall 7pm with Changeworks giving a talk on the new EcoCosi scheme that is being trialled in Edinburgh, and urges people to attend.

Community Space:  Plans are stalled at the moment as they need a revenue stream as present needed, is costly and without plans are extremely restrictive on permitted uses. Sound deadening the space, which is it you can’t use it.

Astley Ainslie Plan: now published and is much as was hoped for, clearly proposing that this central green space is as far as possible preserved.

Banzai organised Local place plan: three People’s Assemblies to be held at St Oswalds by the Pianodrome:

1.Saturday 31st January – Discover, explore – free lunch from 1pm discussion 2pm-4pm

2. Saturday 28th February – Discover, explore – free lunch from 1pm discussion 2pm-4pm

3. Saturday 28th March – Refine, Validate – free lunch from 1pm discussion 2pm-4pm

Douglas urges everyone to go to learn about this exciting place plan.

 

Planning:  New Planning Application to convert the properties in Rillbank Tce and Crescent to services apartments/short-term lets.  After discussion it was unanimously agreed that the MSCC lodge a strongly worded objection to this proposal.  Douglas and Alison to liaise on it.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  £1666 total in both banks (BoS and Virgin) at end Dec-25. BoS account due to be closed (at last!) quite soon.  £183 raised for Children 1st Scotland from the Christmas Event (thanks due to Crispin Agnew his collecting skills!).

 

SMAG Report (South Meadows Action Group): Have received a lot of comments on the Bin Hub situation and deputation attending tomorrow’s Transport & enviro meeting. Urges locals and MSCC members to attend and support.

 

AOCB:  Anne raised the problem of speeding in Chalmers Cres. As per letter received from a local resident. This had been previously discussed and speed survey to be done. She will contact the lady in question to indicate that her concern is being dealt with by Cllr Burgess. Also noted that she receives quite a few notices about events on the Meadows and asks if she should circulate them around. Alison said she gets them as does FOMBL who would challenge any that were of concern. Agreed that Anne doesn’t need to circulate them.

 

Date of next meeting:  Wednesday 25^th February 2026 7.30pm

 

Meeting closed at 9pm.

 

MSCC - Agenda for Feb 2026

 

Marchmont & Sciennes

Community Council

 

Meeting on Wed 25^th February 2026 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 January 2026

               actions and matters arising (not otherwise on Agenda)

 3             Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

 4          Publicity

 5             City Councillor report on topical local issues

 6           Inclusion Officer’s report

 

 

Items for discussion

 7       Planning (report attached)

A)      Rillbank development

 

For info:

8              Treasurer's report (attached)

9            SMAG report

10           Meetings attended

11           AOCB

                               

 

12         Date of next meeting: Wednesday 25^th March 2026

 

All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

 

MSCC - Minutes for November 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on November 26th, 2025 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present

Susie Agnew - MSCC interim chair

Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer

Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary 

Douglas Rogers - MSCC Inclusion Officer

Alastair Dickie - SMAG (South Meadows Action Group)

Kate McNerney - SMAG

Richard Shillcock - MSCC

Peter Olech - MSCC

Geoff Parsons - MSCC

Margaret Coughtrie - Local resident

Calum Duncan - Local resident

Cllr. Tim Pogson

Cllr. Marie Claire Munro

 

Apologies

Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC

Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

 

Attending

Eli Ferrell - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 19:33pm

 

Sederunt and apologies

Susie welcomes everyone to the meeting. Sederunt and apologies as above.

 

Draft Minutes of last meeting October 2025

The previous minutes reflected a discussion about the Royal Mail delivery office that is closing (entirely in the private sector now). It’s not just that the privatization of utilities leads to worse service. Everyone local was against this happening, but there was no accountability.

 

Correction on who nominated Childrens 1st Scotland.

 

General note to avoid he said/she said minutes - more of an objective voice. 

 

Alison moves to approve the minutes. Geoff seconds.

 

Actions and matters arising (not otherwise on Agenda)

Defibrillators

Anne has been looking at posters for the defibrillators, as previously suggested. Each poster costs £8, so it was agreed to spend £24 for the 3 noticeboards. A photo of the defibrillator has been given to Kayleigh for publicity.

 

Alison will double-check that the defibrillator is registered.

 

Police Report

No police report.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

The next big meeting is in January, due to the winter month slowdown. There was a recent effort to pick up dead leaves in the links.

 

Alison will also get an update on the competition to name the new path at the sewage site on BL.

 

Publicity

Christmas publicity

MSCC has ordered posters for the noticeboards and businesses to display, which Kayleigh is collecting next Tuesday. She will get an invoice for the treasurer. The base post for the event has been done, but more will be published in the run-up to the event. 

 

The noticeboards will get Christmas-ified next week, weather permitting.

 

Publicity recommended that the defibrillator be mentioned at the Christmas event as well.

 

City Councillor report on topical local issues

Recabling

Cllr Tim Pogson reports there is a Scottish power recabling project in the area. It was due to start in August. Roughly, it will begin at the electric substation at Whitehouse Loan and coming through the Grange before going towards Shawfair. It will be a rolling set of traffic lights that continues along. It is still in the works and is coming soon.

 

Traffic Regulation Order on Sciennes Road

The experimental traffic regulation order on Sciennes Road outside the school was published a while ago. The intention is to implement that plan from the end of January. It would be in place for a period to determine if it is helpful or not. The potential delay is that they may have to go to planning for that, in which case it will be delayed. Cllr Tim Pogson assures MSCC that the plan is experimental only and will be able to be changed. 

 

After the last meeting, MSCC proposed that they close everything except the pavement at the south end for pedestrian passage. However, we did not hear back. The feeling is very strong that pedestrians should be allowed to traverse the area. There is a clear recognition of the problem at both sides of the closed area in order to improve safety in regards to cars. 

 

MSCC objects strongly to the way that Sciennes Primary School has failed to involve the community in planning and discussion.

 

There is a discussion about the 24 car spaces that have been created in front of the Sick Kids development. That means that you cannot close the entirety of Sciennes Road. Cllr Marie Claire Munro notes this will all get ironed out in the consultation.

 

Bin Hubs/Flytipping

Cllr Marie Claire Munro reports that there are continuing problems with bin hubs across the area. It is very frustrating that some bins cannot be moved as quickly as they’d like, but the Cllr is working with residents to maximize. If anyone has any problems with bin hubs, they should email Cllr Marie Claire.

 

There is an issue with the way that bins are being managed operatively. If you have an issue with the way your bins are being put back, email Cllr Marie Claire directly. She is working on some of these issues already. In Strathern Road, some bins have been suffering badly from extreme wind. Cllr Marie Claire notes that if the operatives fail to put down the clips on the wheels or put the bins away in the correct direction, the bins can shift or the lids can fly open/off. Residents must inform the council if there are any bin problems.

 

MSCC had a general discussion about the increased problem of flytipping/recycling. There is a suggestion for having a specific area to leave large objects for recycling, since this would be more climate aware. Some people strongly appreciate the culture of recycling items. Cllr Marie Claire has noted a difference made by flytipping posters and community reports (including photos and evidence) of flytipping. Some claim the reason there is flytipping is because there are bin hubs. Signs about the illegality of flytipping will be requested to be placed near the bin hubs on Spottiswoode Road.

 

Mobile Phone Ban

Earlier this year, there was a motion to ban mobile phones in primary and secondary schools. Phones are now completely banned in primary schools. There are two pilot programs in high schools that lock students’ phones in pouches. The results of the experiment are not yet complete, but it seems to be going well. James Gillispie’s has asked that those pouches be implemented quicker in that school. Due to procurement reasons, they couldn’t implement the pouch system straight away, but the education board has approved an immediate mobile phone ban. Six phones have been confiscated in the first week, and all members of James Gillispie’s seem pleased with the initial results. Once procurement issues can be solved, they will fully implement the program.

 

Play space funding

Cllr Marie Claire reported that the council has managed to secure funding for the small playground next to the croquet club. They are working in tandem with FOMBL to source new climbing frames, swings, potentially a slide, and gates that automatically close. There is also a plan to update the gates to be wheelchair/double stroller accessible.

 

Funding was also given to put in a ping pong table across from the Black Ivy.

 

Inclusion Officer’s report (attached)

Proposed Marchmont Community Heat Initiative

Douglas attended the Heat Network Funding and Finance Workshop in the council offices which was attended by several councillors. One way to approach the hugely expensive project of a heat network in a more reasonable way is to connect small units via local heat networks, that can later be connected into a primary Edinburgh-wide heat network. There is a 2045 deadline to remove gas heating from all houses. The heat network is the only viable way to approach this. There is a proposal to form a Marchmont Heat Network. In a heat network, you can use gas to top up your heating during peak periods. 

 

We propose an options appraisal to examine which non-gas options are best, and which options might be linked to potential funding. Heat sources tend to be in East Lothian (ie the private wire using a heat pump from seawater and the East Lothian heat network), but there are some heat sources here. This approach would also make sure the heat network remains locally managed. There is also a proposal to investigate putting boreholes in Bruntsfield Links and bringing heat out from there. This specific idea needs to be tested against other options. 

 

If anyone is interested in helping with developing a  heat network proposal for Marchmont, please contact Douglas.

 

Mortuary Chapel

There are suggestions for alternative uses for the Mortuary Chapel building. The murals within that chapel are extraordinary. It could be used as a quiet reflective space. 

 

Request by BANZAI (Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative)for inclusion of MSCC in their Local Place Plan

BANZAI wants to include this area in their plan, which could be valuable as Marchmont is not interested in making their own plan. This will feed into the 2040 council plan. BANZAI will send out  questionnaires to  Marchmont residents and community councillors and will compile the results to inform the place plan. There can also be local nuance. MSCC is happy with this proposal.

 

Roseburn Path

MSCC both cannot (due to closed submissions) and won’t comment on the consultation. Some members of the council believe this was a missed opportunity. The secretary will refer any dissenters to the previous minutes, which reflected extremely strong and controversial opinions and recommended individuals submit their own opinions.

 

Items for discussion

Planning (report attached)

Application for renewing the mobile masts externally on spire of Marchmont St Giles Church - MSCC will not object.

 

Treasurer’s report (attached)

MSCC looks healthy. The treasurer is in the process of closing the Bank of Scotland account and transitioning to Virgin. Bank balance totals £1764 at end October.

 

SMAG report (attached)

Text of Note for MSCC & SMAG Members (attached) is read. 

 

“Following recent public notices by the CEC, and requests from SMAG members, the SMAG Committee has now obtained (from the Bin hub Review Team Manager) information about progress being made by the Bin hub review team. 

 

The current TRI/25/03 being consulted on (until December 5th) is apparently being put in place to enact propose to changes to Bin Hub locations, and other road signage issues, that were agreed in 2023. They do not relate to any requests for change in bin hub locations made by resident submissions in June 2025, following the November 2024 criteria changes. The review of these submissions is still ongoing. In June, it was indicated to us that the decisions would be addressed in the January 2026 TEC meeting of the CEC, but now, the CEC is unable, as yet, to advise of any new proposals for change in bin hub locations. 

 

The Bin Hub Review that started in mid-2023 has taken 18 months of labythian processes to reach a decision. Following the TRO's approval in January 26th, we can therefore expect the work to be carried out in Jan-June 2026. This means that the work will have taken fully 24 months (2 years) to complete, and we still don't know which relocation requests have been approved or rejected. 

 

It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that the submissions made for Bin Hub location change will follow a similar process, taking from June 2025 to the summer of 2027 to complete! This is an unacceptably long wait for a correction to the imposition of intrusive bin hubs in the areas contested. SMAG intends to challenge this.”

 

SMAG intends to challenge an overly-long time for bin hub location review. Cllr Marie Claire is going to request an earlier update on bin hubs locations that will be moved.

 

In some places, the top of the bin has been removed and only the base has been left behind. 

 

Meetings attended

Report on presentation to EACC (Douglas)

Plans for Xmas

Butterfly’s Cafe is not supplying mince pies this year. However, there is a potential alternative that is in the process of being contacted. There are currently two registered volunteers, so Alison continues to look for willing volunteers to help traffic control/handing out mince pies & songsheets/manning microphone/etc.   She needs 6-8 volunteers. volunteers to meet at  3:30 at the German Church hall on Saturday, 6th of December to get hi-viz vests and allocated tasks. it is not sure if the JG Senior Choir will participate - Alison will hear this week. MSCC members are asked to request additional volunteers.

 

AOCB

Calum is interested in giving a half-hour talk on heating networks at a future council meeting. That could be put into the February meeting. The talk could also be recorded for Youtube.

 

ROYAL MAIL Delivery Office (Susie Agnew)

Cllr Marie Claire Munro to ask Lynne Murray, the Head of Royal Mail,  to get help in getting parcels delivered to Falcon Road instead of Murrayfield. Cllrs note that for these issues, there’s more sway with the local Cllrs. 

 

A suggestion to get in contact with the CWU branch as well.

 

Marchmont St Giles Church merger and new parish name: Blackford and Grange Parish

Marchmont St Giles Church will be merging with Reid Memorial. No one knows what will happen to that building, although the congregation will continue holding events in the interim. It’s owned by the Church of Scotland.

 

Invitation to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Cockburn Association

City Chambers, High Street, 6:30-8pm on Tuesday, 9th December.

 

Council request for community council comment on play spaces

MSCC has approved that Susie answer that questionnaire for the Play Sufficiency Assessment.

 

The date of the next meeting is 28th of January.