Marchmont
and Sciennes Community Council
Minutes
of Meeting held on March 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
David
Somervell - Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action
Margaret
Coughtrie - Local resident
Sara
Kondracki - Local resident
Bethan
Morgan - Local resident
Geoff
Parsons - MSCC
Anthony
Holmes - MSCC
Richard
Shillcock - MSCC
Apologies
Peter
Olech - MSCC
Kayleigh
Gordon & Liane Phillips - MSCC Publicity
Susie
Agnew - MSCC
Cllr
Ben Parker
Attending
Eli
Ferrell - Minutes Secretary
Meeting
began at 19:34pm.
Sederunt
and apologies
Brian
welcomes everyone to the meeting. Sederunt and apologies as above.
Draft
Minutes of last meeting February 2026
Susie
Agnew was added to the minutes as having attended the February
meeting. Alison moves to approve the minutes. Anne seconds.
Actions
and matters arising (not otherwise on Agenda)
A
letter has been circulated from the post office about the depot (by
way of Cllr Marie-Clair Murro). No further action to be taken.
There
is now access to the defibrillator outside the optician’s at
Marchmont, corrected after a few days of prevented access, despite
the large hole in the pavement. The optician’s basement roof was
punctured and he was flooded out, but minimal action has been taken.
Anne will write to the four councillors in Morningside ward
(Marie-Clair Murro, Ben Parker, Neil Ross, and Mandy Watt) to
complain about the way these works have been handled.
Anne
contacted Sgt Lumsden expressing the MSCC dismay at the recent
graffiti incident at the Mosque.
Meadows
& Bruntsfield Links
FOMBL
report has been circulated. FOMBL has agreed that the walkway will be
named Hamish Henderson Way, in accordance with the MSCC vote. The
nameplate will cost upwards of £400 pounds. Alison suggests a £100
donation. It is noted that Peter Olech suggested an application for
EC Community Grants Fund in that matter. Alison will apply for that
grant.
There
are apple trees all along North Meadow Walk, and cherry trees down
the diagonal path. It is unclear if there will be sufficient water if
there is a hard summer. MSCC could go back to FOMBL and note their
concern about whether there will be enough water.
Publicity
No
publicity report.
City
Councillor report on topical local issues
No
councillors attending.
Danger to pedestrians and
cyclists crossing Argyle Place near Melville Drive:A local resident
Bethan Morgan presented a draft that was circulated to members
earlier about the dangers of the crossing at foot of Argyle Pl and
Melville Drive. There was general agreement at the meeting that this
area needs to be revisited by road planners before there is a serious
accident and Anne and Bethan will compose a suitable document to be
sent to the local Councillors
Margaret
Coughtrie expressed concern about the work being carried out at
Summerhall/Melville Terrace and is not aware of the plans being
circulated before work started and Melville Terrace was closed. It is
noted that the plans had been circulated on a TTRO. These are for
improvements for pedestrians and cycle path in that area; the work
will be carried out in phases and is likely to take quite a long
time.
The
order to close Whitehouse Loan outside James Gillespie’s might
expire the 15th of June. It is noted that the road closures made
during COVID are being reviewed, but it was also believed that the
Whitehouse Loan closure was permanent. Individual members of the
community are encouraged to write in about it in advance of the
review on April 2nd if they are concerned about the lapse.
It
is raised that there should be a commitment from the Council to
resurface Fingal Place; it is currently dangerous to cyclists and
motorists, as well as potential causing damage to cars. Rat-running
has recommenced at high speed. Geoff will draft a complaint.
Inclusion
Officer’s report (attached)
Community
Space
There
is finally a final version of the license that will be accepted,
despite some flaws, that will be signed in the next week or so.
Invites will be distributed for that signing. Once the community
space becomes available, there is discussion about doing a pop-up for
people to come in and make comments on the Banzai local place plan
(see below).
Local
Place Plan
On
Saturday 28th there will be a free lunch and a world music concert at
the Pianodrome intending to take soundings from members of the
community on how to pitch City Plan 2040. Please come along, and
continue to fill out the survey asking for comments on the local
place plan. This locale’s survey can be found here:
https://banzaiedinburgh.org.uk/oni2040/
There
will be advocacy in this plan to reduce the restrictions on solar
panels in the future. There is hope that MSCC will endorse or sign
the local place plan once it has been drafted.
Southside
Community Council have also initiated a local place plan. Community
members who live in that area are welcome to make comments on that
plan until the end of May, which can be found here:
https://www.sccedinburgh.org.uk/lpp
Morningside
Community Council has done a draft, but does not have the funds to
publish and circulate a final copy.
Items
for discussion
Planning:
nothing to note
Treasurer’s
report (attached)
One
bank account with Virgin successfully remaining (the Bank of Scotland
account has been closed) £1632 in the account.
SMAG
report
SMAG
has been preparing for a meeting with Stephen Jenkinson which took
place today about some bins to be closed or moved. There was a good
response from SMAG members. The meeting was helpful and presented the
five categories listed below:
Five
categories raised as concerns about bin hubs
Homes
without a buffer space (invasive noise or smell)
Adjacent
to bedrooms; sleep disturbance and family impact
Chronic
fly tipping
Clustered
within short distances
Loss
of use of residential gardens
Only
four or five bin hubs will be changed. Stephen Jenkinson has asked
for places where there are alternative locations and no one will
complain, but that has already been submitted. There is time to get
some requests back to him before the next round of TROs. It could
still be 18 months to two years before the hubs get moved.
The
request is that if anyone has a bin hub that is bothering them and
they can think of an alternative location that is not just dumping
the bin hub on a neighbour, then notify SMAG ASAP so it can be
brought to the next meeting before the next round of TROs.
In
the meeting, it was noted that there are more bins required in areas
with a lot of HMO living spaces.
Property price drop indicates
that people do not want to live around bins.
The
issue of bins did come up in one of the place plan meetings—long-term
solutions should be proposed to the place plan.
Meetings
attended
No
meetings attended.
AOCB
Reminder
of new City electoral boundaries
When
the election comes, this area will be part of Edinburgh Central
instead of Edinburgh South. This change is in order to keep the
population numbers roughly similar across seats.
Hustings
There
will be a husting tomorrow at 7pm on Thursday, March 26th, at the
Quaker meeting house.
It
is noted that it is very late for MSCC to organize a hustings at this
point. Richard and Margaret Coughtrie have volunteered to organize an
online husting.
Edinburgh
Community Solar Co-operative
There
will be a share offer for the next phase of solar panel installation,
if you wish to invest or register your interests, go to
www.edinburghsolar.coop
The
date of the next meeting is Wednesday 22nd of April.
All
who live or work locally are welcome to attend.
archmont
& Sciennes
archmont
& Sciennes
archmont
& Sciennes
