MSCC - Minutes for 22nd November 2023

 

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.