Marchmont and Sciennes Community
Council
Minutes of Meeting held on November
22nd, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall
Present: Brian
Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC
Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Cllr. Steve
Burgess, Cllr. Neil Ross, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association,
Patricia Paolozzi Cain - local resident, Geoff Parsons - local resident, Edward
Milligan - local resident
Apologies: Susan
Agnew - MSCC, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Calum Bell - JR Group
Attending: Nora
Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary
Draft Minutes of 26/04/23
Anne moves to pass, Douglas seconds. Passes.
Matters Arising
Membership change - Donald Henderson from the Grange
Association has resigned, we have not yet been told of the replacement. Douglas
notes that he will delay his presentation to the January meeting.
Police Report
None.
JR Group Reporting on Sylvan Place
Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project Manager)
Calum Bell sent a report for the meeting. They will be going
ahead with a full road closure (presumed to be Rillbank Crescent). Piling will begin next week. Douglas notes
that he recently met with people about extending parking around Sylvan Place,
but this has not been confirmed yet. Anne will circulate update from JR Group.
Cllr. Burgess notes an issue with parking on Fingal Place
and pressure has been placed on the JR Group. Signage has not been put up,
however, so Cllr Tim Pogson is planning a meeting to address this issue
hopefully next week.
Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl.
FOMBL
Alison circulated a report. Anne asks about the playgrounds
in the area, Alison notes that most playgrounds are getting some amount of
grant money. Anne asked what will happen with trees on the streets that are
dying, Cllr. Burgess asks for people to flag any tree issues to the council so
they can be looked at.
City Councillor report on local
issues
Councillors have met on the topic of the Greenbank quiet
route, there has been a generally high response rate to this consultation.
There were polarized views on the issue, particularly on the topic of
Whitehouse Loan. Residents are concerned about rat running and have proposed a
solution of a cycleway - this is not supported by parents in the area. Officers
are going to think over this and will come back to the transport committee in
the New Year with recommendations. One solution raised was to stop traffic
along
Clinton Rd.
There is a TRO to close Sciennes Rd to motor vehicles that
will be voted on in the New Year, if it goes through it could be in place by
the summer. Parents would like this to go further and want the road to be
closed to only have one lane available for pedestrians and cyclists - this is
not being taken forward with the current TRO, this would have to be a future
issue. Douglas asks about how this affects parking in front of the hospital
block, Cllr. Burgess notes that the road closure will exist only in front of
the school. The parents would like to create a sort of Community Park in the
area, but the Council does not have funds for this.
There is a pavement parking ban coming into effect in early
December and will be enforced from January. Geoff Parsons asks how the ban will
be drafted as this might cause issues for wardens, Cllr. Burgess is not sure of
the wording itself but imagines that being on the pavement at all will be an
issue. Cllr. Ross clarifies that this will also cover double parking.
Commercial deliveries of any sort are an exception to this. This will also
cover parking at dropped curves for accessibility.
Cllr. Ross explains that bin hubs continue to be an issue.
Team officers are being proactive and having street meetings with residents.
Brian Gilmore asked about any updates on Warrender Park Terrace from last week,
the matter is being enquired on.
There is an online consultation to the Workplace Parking
Levy, which is a charge on certain employers for parking. The consultation at
the moment is theoretical. The justification at the moment is that the space is
wasted. Cllr. Burgess explains that there are approximately 60,000 cars going
in and out of Edinburgh per day, which the Scottish gov’t wants to decrease.
Anthony Holmes asks if there is any official law preventing people from parking
on private property, but there is no change here.
Brian Gilmore asks if a business has a use permission to
have a fast food establishment, but another business takes over, does the
licence carry over - the councillors clarify that this has to do with the
building, not the business. Edward Milligan flags that the business in question
has input loud walk-in refrigerators, which is an issue for noise. Geoff
Parsons asks if the business has a proper extraction system for their deep
fryer, they do not seem to and this is in opposition to their licence. Patricia
Paolozzi Cain flags that environmental tests have been done, but the business
is not complying with abatement. Brian asks Cllr. Ross to look into the issue.
Patricia flags that this is a takeaway business that delivers online and it has
brought a culture of relying on online sales with it, and all of these require
the business to be open from 11am-12am, which causes more noise. She also flags
that the planning committee may not be picking up the pattern of the types of
businesses that are coming into the neighbourhood. Brian clarifies that it
seems like the business is in breach of their planning application, and that
this is the best way of addressing the problem. Geoff clarifies that they may
not actually be in opposition to the planning application but that the nature
of the business is an issue, he also flags that fire safety could come to do an
inspection as well. Cllr. Ross will look into this issue.
Publicity
The Edinburgh News published an article on Christmas tree
lightings, but they put the wrong date and time for the MSCC event. Kayleigh is
chasing this up. She will also flag this on social media. She also has the Just
Giving page set up.
Sick Kids site
Report was circulated. Anne notes that she thinks that
Downing could be finished by Christmas.
archmont
& Sciennes 