MSCC - Minutes for February 2023

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on February 22nd, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present

Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC

Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer

Donald Henderson - Grange Association

Nigel Ayton - Grange Association

Douglas Rogers - MSCC

Alastair Philp - local resident

Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association

Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

Cllr. Steve Burgess - Green SN Ward

Susie Agnew - MSCC

Cllr. Mary Claire Munro

 

Apologies

Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary

Liane Phillips - MSCC Publicity

 

Attending

Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7.30pm:

 

The meeting was opened by Brian introducing Donald Henderson, who has taken over from Nigel Ayton as the new Grange Association representative.  He thanked Nigel for all the work he has put into the Grange Association and for his help in liaising with the MSCC.

 

Draft Minutes of 25/01/23 Meeting

• Alison moves to approve, Susie seconds

 

Publicity

• Notice board on Marchmont Crescent has been revamped
• Now has specific sections that will stay the same, but news and sheets will change
• Notice board gets general approval
• Need to update the other two notice boards, will be done shortly.

 

Meadows and Bruntsfield Links, FOMBL Report

• FOMBL report talked about bird boxes, which are attracting new birds
• Tree group is planting new trees - others awaiting planting once EDC scanner fissures fixed.
• Cllr Burgess said that this has been brought to the Council’s attention, but he has not yet heard back. He will try and call soon if he has not heard back in a timely manner
• Two new hardwood benches to be delivered.
• Got cycle bars for The Meadows received from EDC.
• Top up drinking fountain installed by Pavilion, Scottish Water opening event on March 9th 11am
• Have requested more but Scottish Water says this is unlikely
• Concerns raised about a digger and mess near the pavilion c.2 weeks ago.
• Most likely to do with water fountain which became operational a week ago
• Playground equipment received for each of the three Playgrounds on both Meadows & Links

Note: Most of FOMBL activities like planting, benches, playground equipment are the result of special grants.

• Replacement Parks Manager is David Kyle

 

City Council Report

• Cllr Burgess reported that the Budget meeting is 23/02/23
• Challenge of needing to make £150m cuts to services this year as not enough money
• Demand on council services is increasing and the flat amount being given to council has not changed
• Finance officers have managed to get the gap down to £13 million
• Council’s largest spend is on staff, this is generally where cuts will come from
• Very little excess to cut at this point
• Proposal is to cut from education department (£6.5 million)
• Cuts to individual school budgets (5.5 million)
• Cuts to education and welfare officers (400 thousand)
• Speech and language therapy (400 thousand)
• All parties are generally agreed to not accept this proposed cut
• Council currently has a complex political structure that requires support from multiple parties to have a Labour budget proposal passed, otherwise SNP budget passes
• Needed cuts are going up exponentially in future years
• Council is limited in what it can do via council tax and cannot vary across different bands
• Calling on Scottish gov’t to reform council tax for a fairer system and give councils more leeway
• Parking Permit and Parking Fines to increase 
• Question about how SNP budget differs from Labour budget
• Both were published tonight
• Each party has to make difficult choices about council tax, which services to cut, etc.
• Councils were allowed to raise council tax by 3%, many parties looking to raise this 1 or 2%
• Question about whether Council can afford Warrender Baths heating
• Within plan for refurbishment is a cost estimate, but it is over budget
• Cllr Burgess will ask about this 

 

Christmas Event

• Changed to Saturday, 25th November 2023

 

Sick Kids Site Update

• Douglas reported that he had met with Home Group
• Were planning on closing bottom of Sylvan Place for 16 months
• They will now look at closing Rillbank Terrace instead, which will affect fewer people
• Meeting with Square and Crescent soon
• Trying to ensure that disruption is as low as possible
• Will affect Millerfield Place
• Want to see what level of insulation they’re going for, and what level of restoration
• Mortuary Chapel is still owned by Downing but no news on this
• Question about a small space of the building being given over to community use
• Will still be a community space, but is very small and no toilet
• Looking for anyone to come up with a plan on how to use it
• Access from Sciennes Road

 

Pavement on Chalmers Crescent

• Kayleigh had previously asked Cllr Munro about this.  Cllr Munro reported that the response was that the pavement disrepair is not bad enough to fix but she’s still working on it.

 

Planning Applications

• 24 Mansionhouse Rd application for second floor balcony is still pending
• 10 Chalmers Crescent roof terrace on rear extension was refused
• Appealed planning application but has not appealed listed building refusal
• Cannot build the roof terrace without the listed building consent
• Phone mast application in Whitehouse Loan has been circulated

 

Grange Cemetery Update

• First two Sundays in March, volunteers will be working to plant bulbs

 

Treasurer’s Report

• £1742 in the bank at end Jan-23.
• Need ideas for projects in the area
• Will check in with Emma Willson about garden project on Marchmont Crescent
• Defibrillator project
• The Earl of Marchmont has now one defibrillator, waiting for planning approval to get it put up outside the pub rather than inside
• Are organising training sessions - Alison has asked to have training, though they are supposed to be self-explanatory

 

Meetings Attended

• No updates

 

Energy Efficiency Presentation - Douglas Rogers

• Douglas Rogers gave a presentation on home energy and how to warm your home and save energy - with particular emphasis on houses in the Marchmont & Sciennes area - most of which date from the Victorian era.

• Question about how to respond if lofts are used as rooms
• Knock out ceilings and put insulation in
• Big challenges will come up in the next few years, and radical action will need to be taken
• Question about whether you are allowed to have double glazing in listed buildings, because you need a specific type of glass and then draught-proofing this is quite expensive
• Council should put forward positive acceptable practice so that businesses can start producing lower-cost solutions to problems
• Group called Gecko who cuts pieces of acrylic to fit each window pane, but this costs a fair amount of money as well
• Not as much money as the other options
• Often need to replace wood when trying to draught-proof house
• Question about specialists overcharging for these services
• Need a set of rules set by Council that they must abide by
• Question about whether air-source heat pumps will work
• Will only work under specific circumstances, is not a simple issue
• Also don’t know whether Council would allow it
• Scotland will have to ban gas usage if they want to go carbon neutral
• Question about why many new buildings in the UK don’t have energy efficient regulations
• Some legislation has gone through Parliament but it is somewhat outdated
• Can get grants to improve new houses with solar panels
• New schools in Edinburgh are being built to Passivhaus Standards
• In mid-2030s, people will not be able to replace gas boilers
• Trying to heat Victorian houses right now means that people don’t want to buy the houses because it is too expensive
• Need to find a solution for walls leaking heat
• There are materials that can assure the right levels of ventilation as well
• Question about if the gov’t attempts to force the country towards carbon neutral, this could be quite difficult and inaccessible     
• Some definitions still need to happen on what the practicalities of this would be
• Gas prices are going to go down again, carbon neutrality only happens based on personal responsibility
• Question about whether you are actually able to just seal a chimney up, or is this dangerous
• Still need to have ventilation, as normal method of chimney drying out is hindered
• Should probably cap chimneys
• Unclear on whether this is good enough, could cause condensation
• Buildings are built for a lot of ventilation, could find other problems if things start getting closed up
• Need to put reflow ventilation systems in and close up the rest of the house, more air exchange
• Challenge is likely to be about radically transforming building standards
• Worry about gov’t insisting on people changing their own houses under their own volition

 

AOCB

• Flooding by old German church
• Old pipes are going around church
• Question about how long emergency gas works are likely to last
• Bus stops for 41 are suspended, no temporary stop has been added
• Cllr Munro will look into this
• Roads around Earl of Marchmont
• Can now see old cobblestones
• Cllr Munro is enquiring about this
• ScotMid stacking large produce crates on the pavement causing difficulties for some people. 
• Cllr Munro checked and ScotMid has permission to put these crates there, but manager will monitor situation
• Concern expressed about future of Kings Theatre
• Cllr Munro said that all parties, within both the Council and the Scottish Govt, are working to try and save the theatre. £3-3.6 million already committed to go towards this, but much more needed. 

 

Date of Next Meeting - March 22, 2023

 

Reports

 

FOMBL Report

 

Report on FOMBL Meeting of Monday 6 February 2023 – Alison Service

attending

FOMBL Bird Box Project: Of the 21 boxes, 14 were occupied, 6 unoccupied and one which

may have been abandoned. A decision was taken to reposition the 6 boxes that were

unsuccessful this year to nearby trees. All of the boxes have been taken down for cleaning and

are now back up.

Planting for Winter Bird Feeding and for Biodiversity Enhancement on the Meadows: It is

proposed to plant between 30-50 rowan, hawthorn, and hazel to support Winter bird feeding,

both of Winter-visiting birds and also of resident birds. As well as the many native berry-bearing

species (including rowan, hawthorn holly, whitebeam, spindle, dog rose, guelder rose, elder,

honeysuckle and ivy), attractive shrubs like cotoneaster, pyracantha, and berberis are especially

good for a wide range of birds.

Locations under Consideration: The North end of the fenced-in play area adjacent to the

Meadows Community Garden. Other possible locations can be examined and proposed in

addition to the playground one.

Bird Species Likely to Benefit: Winter visitors: Waxwings, Fieldfares, Redwings, among others,

including our residents: Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit,

Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, among others.

Funding: It is proposed to submit a grant application, through FOMBL, towards the costs.

Tree Group Report: The tree group have been active most Fridays and managed to plant 9

trees ordered through the million tree project. We have a delivery of three trees from our own

suppliers to be planted on Friday 10th Feb. These are to replace the trees which died during last

years drought.

The group have also maintained a large number of young trees by removing defective wire

cages, posts and clearing bases removing dead branches and re- strapping,

replacing posts and wire cages where necessary. Rotten posts have been renovated for re-use

by cutting off rotten ends, re-sharpening and dipping in preservative.

Overall we have dealt with around 50 trees.

Ideally, next autumn, we would like to plant hedgerow type trees such as hazel, hawthorn and

blackthorn to act as an understorey, below the mature trees somewhere on the Meadows. This

would be very good for birdlife on the Meadows and help absorb some of the air pollution from

Melville Drive. It would also provide food for insects.It wouldn't interfere with people's use of the

open spaces on the Meadows.

BENCHES: Two hardwood benches for Bruntsfield Links Gillespie’s school shared play area to

be ordered for delivery in max. 16 weeks. Total cost: £938.40 (grant of £874.18)

Old hardwood bench in new children’s play area is being renovated now with installation in

March/April. £1151. Yearly bench maintenance costs approx £100.

A new metal bench was recently installed at the West Links playground following FOMBL

request.

PLAYGROUNDS: SOUTH LINKS TODDLERS: All items (log house and train) for new South

Links toddlers playground have been delivered and location agreed. It is hoped that installation

will occur within 3 months.

EAST LINKS: Discussion ongoing on replacement of sand pit and play equipment at East

meadows playground (due to corrosion).

 

Archimedes screw and pump at water feature now ready to install for summer.

WEST LINKS: New swings installed due to corrosion. Safety surfacing to be replaced at

toddler’s play area.

 

CYCLE BARS: Joan Carter asked for cycle bars to be installed at the pavilion and ended up

with many more to be distributed throughout the park.

 

TOP-UP DRINKING FOUNTAIN by Scottish Water: The first fountain has been installed

adjacent to the pavilion cafe. Opening event on 9 th March at 11am. More requested but not

likely due to cost, according to Scottish Water.

 

VOLUNTEERS: Alison Carr continues to lead the small group of regular volunteers on the last

Saturday of every month and a big thanks to her for all her work.

 

Grange Cemetery Report

 

Cemetery Report to MSCC – 22 nd Feb 2023

1) Restoration of large Monuments: The Grange Association Committee deferred

the decision about whether to accept the quote from Jim Walker (Robertson

Memorials) for the re-erection of another 7 large monuments in the SE corner. As

there will be a new Chair (and some new committee members) elected at the

Grange Ass AGM on 21 st March it was felt that this expenditure needs to be

approved by the new committee.

2) Community Payback: We are still hoping that this scheme can be restarted –

maybe we should all approach local councillors about the value of this scheme.

3) Meeting with CEC: The “Friends” met Peter Gentleman (CEC) on 23 rd January. We

are expecting to get a key to the area of the Catacombs where there are

interments – we could then consider offering tours (under supervision) to

members of the public.

4) Wildflower bed(s). The bed by the east gate needs some attention (Graham Stone

is advising us). Preparing the ground, by CEC, for two new wildflower beds above

the catacombs should start soon.

5) New Notice Board: We have been promised a new board to be sited near the

west gate.

6) Gardening: The Council (because of staff shortages) has been unable to clear all

the leaves from last autumn. Volunteers have cleared some areas and the piles

should then be collected by CEC.

7) Planting (insect friendly planta): Volunteers have been asked to bring suitable

plants to the Cemetery on the two first Sundays in March – Graham Stone will be

there to help/advise suitable planting places. If anyone would like a list of suitable

plants please get in touch.

8) Bee Hotel (and possible bug/hedgehog homes) The bee hotel will be replaced in

March in time to attract “visitors” over the spring/summer. Graham Stone has

provided guidance about providing suitable homes (using fallen leaves) for a

variety of insects and possibly hedgehogs. We hope to do this over the next few

weeks.

Cemetery@grangeassociation.org

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

Marchmont & Sciennes Community Council

For meeting of 22nd February 2023

 

Balance in account as at end Dec-22 £1782.08

 

Paid OUT to end Jan-2023:

Minute Sec Jan23 £40.00

 

Paid IN to end Jan-2023: Nil

 

Balance in Bank as end Jan-2023 £1742.08

 

Payments pending to end Jan-23: Nil