MSCC - Minutes May 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council 

Minutes of Meeting held on May 28th 2025 at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall 

 

Present 

Brian Gilmore - Chair, MDCC 

Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer 

Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary 

Kate McNairney - MSCC 

Geoffrey Parson - MSCC

Peter Olech - MSCC

Richard Shillcock - MSCC

Susie Agnew - MSCC

Cllr. Pauline Flannery

Jamie Skinner - MSCC

 

Apologies 

Cllr. Ben Parker 

Douglas Rogers - MSCC 

 

Attending 

Zainab Sardar - Minutes Secretary 

 

Meeting began at 7:31pm 

 

1. Sederunt and Apologies 

Chair Brain Gilmore welcomes all to the meeting. Apologies are noted above. 

 

2.  Draft Minutes of last meeting in April 2025 

• It was suggested that minutes should be recorded in a more collective manner, referring to the meeting as a whole, rather than specific individuals. For example, “the council heard a report on x, the council voted on y”. Minutes should be in the third person. 

• This is agreed upon by the committee. Alison will inform the new minutes secretary, Eli Ferrel.

 

Matters arising not covered by the agenda 

A.       Election of community engagement officer 

• Douglas Rodger nominates himself and is unanimously appointed 

• As he is absent from the meeting, Anne reads a message from him. He is happy to explain thoughts on how he would carry the role out at the next meeting.

2. New boundaries for MSCC 

              There are no changes to the CC boundary

• Currently all those in the MSCC area are in Edinburgh Southern constituency for Scottish Government elections.
• Constituency boundaries will change for the upcoming Scottish Government elections in May 2026. MSCC will then be part of Edinburgh Central constituency. 
• Clarification that this new boundary will not affect any bi-elections within the upcoming year, or UK Government elections.

 

 

3.      Police report

 

      An email received from Mark Barry apologising for not attending; hopes to be at June meeting

 

4.    Update on Defibrillator 

Grant application now in and the judging committee has all the necessary information. Judging on the application is in June. 

 

5.   Meadows and Bruntsfield Links 

• FOMBL meeting on Monday 2nd June. Alison will attend. 
• Meadows Festival is on the weekend of 7-8th June.  An email was received inviting the MSCC to participate in a community council stall. The email will be circulated to MSCC councillors.

• Meadows Toilets :

Due to be open for the summer, and expected date is in early June. Email from Cllr. Marie-Claire Munro confirms that the toilets are compatible with the recent Supreme Court judgement. All cubicles are separate. There was discussion about potential issues with the toilets with concern being raised that the toilets may be shared between genders, which may be an issue for some religions due to hygiene concerns. This is however outside the legal requirements, and less of an issue as the cubicles are individual bathrooms. A further point was raised suggesting that urinals should have been implemented to reduce queuing times.

       It was further noted that the trench dug for piping has now been covered with earth and sharp

        stones, which could impact games played and caused injuries to kids falling.  Alison will mention this

       at the upcoming FOMBL meeting.  Marco Galli is the officer in charge of the project so should be

       followed up about this concern. 

 

  6.  City Councillor Report 

• June is the final month of community council meetings as EDC is in recess in July
• Officers have discussed experimental and permanent traffic measures for Sciennes School congestion. Work will not be done before summer 2026 as the process of consultancy and reworking of plans takes around 18 months. Emergency plans will continue for now. 
• Cultures and Community meeting will take place in June 
• Community inspectors are keen to have a community presence but are very busy. They work out of St Leonards and are happy to be contacted.  Scott Casey: Scott.casey@scotland.police.uk and Johnny Wong

• Bin hubs are up for consultation. Proposals can be looked at and changes suggested from May 23rd until June 13^th. Grounds for objections and amendments must be on the basis of public amenity eg. noise or privacy issues 

• New parking restrictions. Daytime waiting restrictions are to be introduced on Sylvan Place. Daytime waiting restrictions are to be replaced with 24/7 waiting restrictions on Argyle Place, Fingal Place and Argyle Park Terrace. The reference is TRO/24/01. Consultation is from May 23rd until June 13th 

• Cllr. Flannery stresses that all objections should highlight the effect on the community for example, the harms caused to disabled and blue badge holders, and families. Notes that Marchmont has a high 60+ age population so mobility may be of greater concern. Manoeuvrability within the policy is minimal so acceptable objections must align with the guidelines outlined on the proposal. She suggests looking at past transport committee meetings minutes to understand the policy and potential objections. Further information and consultation can be found on the website streets.appyway.com/edinburgh-city
• Discussion about policy issues 

a.                   Lack of clarity about what 24/7 waiting restrictions are. After discussion, consensus is that

              visitors will now have to pay to park at all times, including weekends and overnight. 

b.                   Lack of clarity about why the policies are being implemented

• Cllr. Flannery notes that reducing traffic is in line with Edinburgh’s goal to get rid of 30% of cars in the city centre by 2030. 
• Susie says the aspiration of the policy was made prior to the consultation and so the public should get a say. Brian says the policy did go through consultation but a long time ago 

• The Community Council agrees that Marchmont is outside the boundaries of the city centre and therefore greater clarity is needed to show why a reduction in accessible parking reduces traffic in the city. 

3. Impact on visitors. It was suggested that this is just about charging people and harms people who are seeing friends and family. 

• It was suggested that an objection letter be written on behalf of MSCC - Agreed this should be a MSCC officer and Susie volunteers to write the letter. This will be sent through the consultation process and Anne will forward the objection to the eight councillors of Morningside and Southside. 

• Community led improvement framework : Aims to do community wealth building, provide funding for community projects. Scheme runs across 2 years. Each locality will receive 30K in the first lot of funding for community development and 125K in the second lot of funding for project maintenance and improvement. MSCC’s engagement officer should look into this. Community gardens at the meadows may be eligible for funding 

• Details will be finalised on May 30th. Papers for the meeting will be available one week prior. Meeting can be watched live on the webcard. Recording will also be available afterwards 

• Libraries : Futures Library Strategy aims to widen access and potentially change opening times. This will be discussed at the Cultures and Community Committee on June 5th 

7.   Publicity 

 

            Kayleigh and Leanne are happy to be coopted on the MSCC in the Publicity role and working with  

           the Community Engagements Officer. Anne will continue servicing the notice boards when the

          weather allows

 

8.   Planning  

• Two objections have been submitted on the proposal for 1 Meadow Place refurbishments & STL

1. Objection to the frontage as it is planned to be a glass box-type front which would not fit with the aesthetic of the area 
2. Objection to short term rent in these new flats as it drives up prices and harms the local housing market 

• General discussion followed about Airbnb’s in the area and the effect this is having on driving people away from living in Marchmont. Committee agrees that while Airbnb’s can bring benefits and let people visit, they must be licensed in moderation. Alison says very few planning applications in the MSCC area are for short term rent so this isn’t a big problem. It was noted generally that more council housing and long-term rents are needed. The Community Council should have a consistent position this subject. It was suggested to hold a separate meeting with a community council who takes a stronger stance on this to discuss ways to change Edinburgh council’s renting policy and regulation. 

• Concern was raised on the former RHSC housing parking plans. 95 new parking permits are to be handed out however it is unclear where these parking spaces will be. Zone 7 parking has an area which creates a cul de sac and blockage, to the west is Hatton Place which has no space. The CC will look into this and report at next meeting. This could be a justification to argue to postpone the TRO parking updates as the parking situation in the area will change with the new permits  

 

10.   Bin Situation 

          Kate reports that SMAG had a successful meeting. Bins will be moved to better places, taking into

         account residential amenities. Around 30 applications have gone into the council. Applications

         should be submitted by June 2nd to be prioritised. SMAG was in the Sunday Post so publicity is

         going well.  They now can be officially affiliated with the MSCC as they have been in existence for     over  one year 

 

11.   Treasurer's Report 

 

       £420 in the bank account. This will increase as grant money will come in over the summer. 

 

12.   Meetings Attended

        None

 

13.   Any Other Business

1. Richard and Peter highlighted a Newington CC initiative. Aims to inspire creativity and proactive community outreach. It was suggested that the Engagement officer could look into a competition for naming the new path at the refurbished sewer building site. However, Chair flags this does not fall within the area boundaries. Alison will mention this at the FOMBL meeting instead.

2. Concern was raised saying the reopening of roads after the sewer works has led to an increase in speeding. Lothian Road and Melville Drive are becoming a ring road and Argyle Place and Roseneath Crescent have had more rat runs. Strathearn Road residents have also complained to him about speeding. It was asked if the CC could investigate the possibility of restrictions eg. speedbumps, low traffic areas, neighbourhood spot checks.  Alison points out that there is a 20mph speed limit already and that restrictions on small roads could lead to more traffic on Marchmont Road. 

Chair said that a concrete plan and proposal would have to be written so that a councillor could bring it to committee. Advised to check the city mobility plan as it may already cover the issue.

3.                   Anne asks Cllr Flannery to investigate the removal of the small bins at the meadows adjacent to Fingal Place. Also wondering who is in charge of the trees outside Scotmid and Warrender Park Road as some of them are dying. Alison will ask at FOMBL. 

4.                   Richard says the state of the roads surface on Strathearn Road and Strathfillan Road is bad. High winds have meant that bins move and knock into cars. He said he emailed the MSCC about this but Anne says this was not received so he’ll resend it to Anne.

 

Date of next meeting 

Wednesday 25th June at 7.30pm

MSCC - Agenda for Wednesday 26th June 2025

 

Marchmont & Sciennes

Community Council

 

 

Meeting on Wednesday 26^th June 2025 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 May2025

              Matters arising not covered by this agenda

a.       Welcome to Kate McNairney , now nominated representative for SMAG 

b.       Inclusion Officer plan for new role (Douglas Rogers)           

 3             Police Report                                                                                                                            

 4             Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

 6             City Councilor report on topical local issues

              a. update on parking situation in area around former RHSC             

 

 Items for discussion

 7           Publicity

 9             Planning (Applications & consultation)) (report attached)

 

               

Items for information

11           Treasurer's report (circulated)

12         Meetings attended

 

13        AOB

           

             

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 24^th September 2025       

 

 

 

 

All who live in the area are welcome to attend

MSCC - Minutes for the 23rd April 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on 23rd April 2025 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Cllr. Neil Ross, Cllr. Marie-Claire Munro, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Peter Olech - MSCC, Richard Shillcock - MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC, Geoffrey Parsons - MSCC, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association & MSCC, Susie Agnew - MSCC, Brian Gilmore - MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC, Margaret Coughtrie - local resident, Sara Kundrachi - local resident

 

Apologies: None

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:30pm

 

Welcome and Apologies

Cllr. Ross welcomed everyone to the meeting. There were no apologies.

 

Declaration of Interests

No interests were declared.

 

Announcing Community Council Members as duly elected

All new community council members are as follows: Alison Service, Anthony Holmes, Anne Laing, Geoffrey Parsons, Brian Gilmore, Susan Agnew, Douglas Rogers, Richard Stillcock, Peter Olech.

 

The names of the members of the MSCC will be posted on the community council website/blog page with no personal contact information. The names of office bearers and official email will be posted publicly as well.

 

Confirmation of Community Council Name

Douglas Rogers moves to keep the name as Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council, Alison Service seconds. Susie Agnew notes that some of Grange falls within this council’s boundaries, and would be in favor of including Grange if there is no problem with this. Alison is concerned about the possibility of getting mixed up with the Grange Association, Susie mentions that the Grange Association does not have the same powers as a community council, but that they seem to actually have more power than the community council in some ways.

Ultimately, the name Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council is confirmed.

 

Appointment of Office Bearers:

 

a)      Appointment of Chair

                                i)            Brian Gilmore nominates himself and is unanimously appointed.

b)     Appointment of Secretary

                                i)            Anne Laing nominates herself and is unanimously appointed.

c)      Appointment of Treasurer

                                i)            Alison Service nominates herself and is unanimously appointed.

d)     Appointment of Engagement and Inclusion Officer

                                i)            No nominations are offered, this will be addressed at a future meeting.

 

 

Community Council Representative to attend induction events on 26 April and Monday 28 2025

This has been cancelled and will be held at an unknown future date. Brian suggests that the new members of the council would likely benefit most from this and that they might attend when the new date is announced. Peter Olech self-nominates to attend subject to availability.

 

AOCB

Brian Gilmore takes over the chair. Cllr. Ross notes that decision-making is discouraged at this meeting due to the new council members. Brian thanks Cllr. Ross for chairing the previous part of the meeting.

 

Brian asks for agreement that the previous minutes are correct. Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. The minutes pass.

 

Councillor’s Report

Cllr. Ross: Council has been on Easter recess for two weeks, Cllr. Ross attended two meetings. There is progress currently being made with the toilets on Middle Meadow Walk and the timeline has it being operational by the end of May. Comments from the public will be accepted. Peter Olech asks whether or not the toilets will be single-sex, Cllr. Munro has been approached about this. She can confirm that there will be no male/female toilets, they will be gender neutral - however, the toilets do have to be cubicles, floor-to-ceiling with a sink and is waiting for clarification on this and is expecting this on Monday due to the recent Supreme Court ruling. Peter notes that these toilets may not be compliant with the Supreme Court decision, Douglas questions whether this is true. Geoffrey Parsons notes that it may be problematic that there are no urinals because men have to queue to get into the toilets. Cllr. Munro has asked for a list of organizations that were spoken to about the toilets. Brian notes that until there is a definitive statement on whether the toilets are compliant, it may not be worth discussing further. Peter registers the concerns of the community council.  Geoffrey notes that community councils should register their concerns about cost effectiveness of these projects, though we do not have particular information about the cost and whether it was reasonable. Brian clarifies that we can ask for the cost and we will also find out more information about whether or not the toilets are conforming with the Supreme Court ruling.

 

Cllr. Munro: Notes anti-social behavior that has been happening in the area, such as at the Marchmont Hardware Store. The head of James Gillespies is aware of the issue and of the individuals, some of whom are from other schools. There is also concern about damages from dirt bikes and e-bikes. Cllr. Munro is also still getting emails about bin hubs and some of these are under review. There is a meeting at Marchmont St Giles tomorrow evening, and SMAG is working to make it easier for people to get their bins moved. Cllr. Ross noted that the James Gillespies playing fields at Whitehouse Loan are owned by the Council and that there should be no use of these facilities during evenings or weekends unless approved by the school, but there have been issues of anti-social behavior at night in these areas. Cllr. Ross has discussed further security measures to prevent people from sliding underneath the fencing and this will likely come to the Education Committee as a proposal after getting a quote from a contractor. Peter asked what the issue is with people using the field at night, and the issue is that it violates the terms of the lease, but this is a legal issue and there is some difficulty around this. Peter notes that it is unfortunate to have to spend money on preventing people from playing, but Cllr. Ross notes that the problem is largely with people disturbing neighbors and being there at anti-social hours.

Geoffrey is concerned that some of the ways in which the police are currently being used may not be cost effective, but Brian noted that it is probably not up to the community council to question this.

 

Other Notes

Sara Kunorachi notes that the building that used to house Boroughloch Medical Practice may be turned into seven short-term lets and wonders if this could be looked into, Alison volunteers to look into this. Margaret Coughtrie notes that this may not be approved because there is only one front door.

 

Date of next meeting

It is decided that the meetings will continue to be on the 4th Wednesday of every month apart from July, August, and December.

 

The next meeting will be on May 28th, 2025.

 

 

 

MSCC - Agenda for Wed 28th May 2025

 

Marchmont & Sciennes

Community Council

 

 

Meeting on Wednesday 28^th May 2025 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 April 2025

              Matters arising not covered by this agenda

              a.- election of Community Engagement Officer

              b. new boundaries for MSCC

 3             Police Report

 4           Update on defibrillator                                                                                                                           

 5             Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

 6             City Councilor report on topical local issues

              a. parking situation in area around former RHSC

              b . new public toilets: compliance with recent Supreme Court judgement

 

 Items for discussion

 7           Publicity

 9             Planning (Applications & consultation)) (report attached)

10.         Bin situation (rep from SMAG) 

               

Items for information

11           Treasurer's report (circulated)

12         Meetings attended

 

13        AOB

a.       Naming of footpath at refurbished sewer building site

           

             

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 25^th June       

 

 

 

 

All who live in the area are welcome to attend

 

MSCC - Minutes for the 26th February 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

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

 

Present: Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Susie Agnew - MSCC (interim Chair for the meeting), Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Cllr. Neil Ross, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Alastair Dickie - local resident, Margaret Coughtrie - local resident

 

Apologies: Brian Gilmore - MSCC Chair, Liane Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Cllr. Steve Burgess

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:30pm

 

Draft Minutes of 22/01/25

Douglas moves to pass, Alison seconds. The minutes pass.

 

Matters Arising

Earl of Marchmont defibrillator: we are currently waiting for the grant application to go in, and this opens on Monday the 3rd. The machine will now go to the optician’s shop.

 

Sunday parking on Melville Drive: this issue is unlikely to progress. Susie reports that there are signs on the east end of the Meadows until the end of the crossing, but nothing going west. People probably assume that there are no issues with parking when there are no signs. Susie explained that you can only park on the Meadows and Melville Drive until 12:30pm on a Sunday, but most people don’t know this. Susie took this up and Cllr. Ross is looking into it and will flag this at a Transport Committee meeting in May. There is just enough signage that one probably could not dispute the ticket, though the signage is difficult to find and is inconsistent.

 

Police Report

A newsletter gets circulated from time to time by the police and Anne will continue to circulate.

 

Susie noted that a garage on Palmerston Road was broken into on the 13th of February and that this happened again last night (25th of February), bicycles have been stolen to the cost of about £2000. Both break-ins have been reported to the police. Bicycle theft is an ongoing issue.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links/FOMBL Report

The next FOMBL meeting is at the beginning of April. Yesterday, work began on the public toilets.

 

Susie suggested that Alison bring up the issue of the dangerous modified e-bikes in the Meadows. Douglas suggested the idea of street bumps for bicycles.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

Cllr. Ross: there has been a 3% council tax rise since last April because of a lack of funding from the Scottish government. This goes towards social care and homelessness provision. There is a high level of homelessness in Edinburgh. The budget did not end up cutting education funds. They also added to the Special Schools budget and added to the road safety budget. There is also record spending on road repair and Cllr. Ross notes that this is likely to need to be a long-term project.

The toilets on the Meadows and other parks in Edinburgh have begun building and the council is looking to see where other new toilets could go or be refurbished. Douglas asked if there would be improved signage for the toilets and Cllr. Ross clarified that it will be made obvious how to get to the public toilets from Middle Meadow Walk.

 

Anne raised the issue of the plan for parking on Sylvan Place after the RHSC work is done, Cllr. Ross will send this along to Cllr. Burgess, who represents that area. Douglas asked if there was a chance of meeting with people to look at changing the roads in the area and plan a strategy over time. Anne also noted the necessity for resurfacing of Fingal Place. The school has been somewhat insular in talking about planning, Douglas has gotten in touch with some people, but no response. Douglas suggested that the MSCC look at creating a Local Place plan for the area with a possible one-way system for Argyle Place (though it was noted that this would likely be difficult to achieve), Cllr. Ross noted that the more direct route would be to discuss with road planning and transport. Douglas may reach out to Cllr. Munro on this.

 

Publicity

Kayleigh proposes broadcasting monthly meetings on Zoom as well as in-person, as this could appeal to a younger audience as well. Anne noted that Brian was wary about this because there may be some dependency on having a laptop and a microphone, this likely needs discussion of some sort once the new council comes in. Alison also noted that there probably is not money for a Zoom Premium account, but this could be solved with a two-part meeting. Susie also mentioned that we could look at hybrid meetings. Douglas pointed out that this probably won’t work amazingly in the current space, but the community space could be a good place for this. Nora suggested that there be a specifically designated person to watch the online chat and represent questions for them, Cllr. Ross backed this proposal up. He also mentioned that some community councils have fully online meetings. Nora pointed out that if a student remains attached to MSCC in any capacity, the University of Edinburgh provides students with free Zoom Premium accounts.

 

Upcoming CC elections

There are 7 people signed up for the community council, which is the required number. Many community councils have ceased to exist. SMAG also tried to join as a representative, but it was refused for a few reasons, including the fact that they have not been in existence for more than 12 months. They have to wait until April to sort out details, but SMAG representatives will continue to attend the meetings. Anne suggested co-opting SMAG, though they may not get a vote. This will all be sorted out in April and they will come back to report on the process then.

 

Update on bin hubs

SMAG is going to supply their membership with a form for them to fill out to get bin hubs moved. This form helps people to conform to Council regulations when they submit a form. This would ideally be more than one applicant at a time so that the Council has a solid idea of the whole area. The Council is being strict about adhering to the new rules, so the residents have to ensure that they design a bin hub that deals with what the Council wants.

 

Things have stalled with the noise review on the glass bins. SMAG aims to have more of the glass bins moved so that they are not in every hub, but Council is reviewing this later. They formally reviewed the noise and came to the conclusion that the noise levels were deemed to be unacceptable, though they are now reviewing what to do about this. Cllr. Ross noted that it is at least a step forward that it has been deemed unacceptable and that some action is being taken to figure out how to manage the noise. Cllr. Ross added that the Council welcomes a more standardized approach to identify the issues and acceptable alternatives. He mentioned that 133 bin hubs have already been selected to be moved and are currently in the TRO process, but the Council workers are not providing the list of the approved bin hubs as of yet. SMAG is hoping to have harder information about the effects of the bin hubs on residents in about 6 months. Douglas suggested a Local Place plan for the bin hubs.

 

Planning applications

The report has been circulated. Douglas noted the Grange Association planning report mentions a rejection of uPVC windows, though these are on many different buildings, and it is unclear if planning was ever sought out for that. He also noted the new electricity cables, which goes through a very small part of the MSCC area. This will likely be an upheaval but nothing too major.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding Project

A report has been circulated. They are closing the entrance to Spottiswoode Street as of Monday.

 

Treasurer’s Report

£790.24 in the bank

 

Meetings attended

Anne, Douglas, and Brian attended the 50 years of the Community Council celebration at the City Chambers at the invitation of the Lord Provost Cllr. Aldridge.

 

AOCB

Douglas suggested a discussion at the next meeting about the purpose of the community council with the new council - Susie noted that there are always issues that bring in a lot of people but that these people very rarely stick around, and that any discussion on this might be of little consequence.

 

Date of next meeting

There will be no meeting in March.

The next meeting will be on April 23rd, 2025 with Cllr. Neil Ross chairing as Returning Officer.