MSCC - Minutes for January 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on 22nd January 2025 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Cllr. Mandy Watt, Cllr. Pauline Flannery, Kate McNairney - SMAG, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association, Richard Shillcock - local resident

 

Apologies: Susie Agnew - MSCC, Liane Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, MP Ian Murray

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:34

 

Draft Minutes of 27/11/24

Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. The minutes pass unanimously.

 

Matters Arising

Earl of Marchmont defibrillator: the planning application has gone in with the help of Ben Parker, the planning department was helpful, but we did not actually need planning permission. Alison is currently waiting for information regarding the grant application, but they don’t get the money until June. As such, the defibrillator will likely not be installed until June.

 

Sunday parking on Melville Drive: Susie Agnew passed a note that she had talked to Cllr. Neil Ross who has said that he will discuss this with colleagues in the Transport Committee to see if this can be addressed.

 

Police Report

None.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links/FOMBL Report incl. public toilets

FOMBL has received the biodiversity report, which has been circulated. The public toilet situation is ongoing, but FOMBL is still liaising on certain aspects. Work should be starting this spring and there are just a few more things to figure out. There have been no changes regarding the placement of the toilets. The temporary toilets have also been removed.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

Cllr. Flannery: On the toilets in the Meadows, Marco Gali is working with Healthmatic to figure out construction, and plans to have a timeline soon. He has assured council that the project is on time. Information should be put on the council website.

A local resident wants to make the front gardens on Livingston Place look more presentable and Cllr. Flannery is happy to liaise on this. The local resident also wants to cooperate with neighbors and Sciennes School. Cllr. Flannery recommends that MSCC work with her on this.

The Culture and Community Committee has sent out emails to councillors for ongoing training, this process is on a committee report.

The visitor levy is being voted on this Friday, there are sticking points about timeline. Cllr. Flannery’s understanding of this is that it comes into effect in July 2026, and you will be charged for bookings from August 1st of 2025.

Alison asked about gaining access to the constitution for MSCC, Cllr. Flannery will follow this up because the current document may be a draft.

On environmental visits, there appears to be some confusion on what level of care the Council should be providing, and Cllr. Flannery is looking into this. This currently is only done for Council-owned buildings.

 

Cllr. Watt: the bin hub issue continues to be an issue. The quiet route is also still an issue.

On the visitor levy, the draft agreement is that the levy is 5% for the first five days of a visitor’s stay. This should start from August 2025, and the issues that Cllr. Flannery spoke about are still in negotiation. The levy can only be used to promote visitor experience or to mitigate effects of visitors. The most controversial part of this is to put the money into housing. The tourism mitigation aspect may look for insight from community councils about the use of the money, this creates an opportunity for locals to give insight on what may be needed. This could be related to public toilets and these could be improved with this levy. The estimates of how much will be raised vary between £14,000 and £40,000 per year, so the total amount estimated is unclear. Cllr. Flannery notes that the website Leith Chooses may be a good template for this sort of community project and participatory budgeting. Douglas Rogers asked if the EACC had been contacted, Cllr. Watts recommended that community councils can reach out for this. He also noted that graffiti removal has declined and suggested that some of the money be used for this. Cllr. Watts noted that the Council can only remove graffiti on public property. Douglas also mentioned that a graffiti reporting system could be upgraded.

 

Publicity

Kayleigh is happy to advertise for future councillors.

 

Upcoming CC elections

The community council is reconstituted with a set of elections coming up. MSCC can have up to 12 community councillors, if there are more than 12 nominated then there would be an election, but this is unlikely. The notice of election will be published on the 5th of February and nominations will open for candidates on the 6th of February. Nominations will close on the 27th of February. The form is relatively easy and you need two people from the local area to nominate you. If elections are required, they will take place on the 27th of March, and the new session will begin on the 28th of March. The returning officer from Council must call and chair the meeting, and then set up the new office bearers. Brian noted that it would be nice if the meeting could be on the normal date, but this may not necessarily happen. This is being advertised via leaflets and the website, also possibly The Meadow’s Share. Cllr. Flannery offered that there is a website for the University of Edinburgh run by Stuart Tooley that advertises community group work and that this could help to get more students involved.

 

Update on bin hubs

Kate McNairney talked about the South Meadows Action Group. They have monthly meetings and their monthly newsletter will advertise the changes that the Council made in December. They are also trying to create a framework to ensure that people who want their bin hubs moved can have their voices heard. Cllr. Flannery noted that there is also a review on the 6th of March about this. Brian mentioned that SMAG could propose being an associate member of MSCC from the action group and have an official person representing the group on the community council.

 

Planning applications

Report has been circulated by the Grange Association.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding Project

Anne reports that they hope to be finished by May.

 

Treasurer’s Report

£843 in the bank. Next month there will be £21 outgoing for the location map for the defibrillator.

 

Meetings attended

None.

 

Christmas Tree event

The event was successful, it raised approximately £120 for The Breakfast Bothy. After the event, ScotMid gave vouchers, but only £20 so the remainder came out of the MSCC budget. Brian thanked Alison for her work on the project, as well as everybody else who put in work for the event.

 

AOCB

Douglas met with IQ Students in London and has gotten an assurance from them that they will start preparing a lease or license for the community space in the student accommodation, and that Alexa will work with Douglas to prepare the space for use as an arts centre once they have access to the building.

 

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, February 26th, 2025

 

 

 

MSCC - Agenda for 26th February 2025

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council

Meeting on Wednesday 26^th February 2025 at 7.30pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

A G E N D A (draft)

1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 22^nd January 2025

Matters arising not included in this agenda

a) defibrillator Earl of Marchmont

b) Sunday parking Melville Drive

3 Police Report including antisocial behaviour in Marchmont

4 Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

5 City Councillor report on topical local issues

Items for discussion

6 Publicity

7 Upcoming CC elections

8 Update on Bin Hubs

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

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

11 Treasurer's report (circulated)

12 Meetings attended

13 AOB

This will be the final meeting of the current Council.

The next meeting date will be announced after the CC elections in March 2025

All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

MSCC - Draft Agenda for January 2025

 

Marchmont & Sciennes

Community Council

Meeting on Wednesday 22^nd January 2025 at 7.30pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

A G E N D A (draft)

1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 27^th November 2024

Matters arising not included in this agenda

a) defibrillator Earl of Marchmont

b) Sunday parking Melville Drive

3 Police Report

4 Meadows & Bruntsfield Links including public toilets

5 City Councillor report on topical local issues

Items for discussion

6 Publicity

7 Upcoming CC elections

8 Update on Bin Hubs

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

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

11 Treasurer's report (circulated)

12 Meetings attended

13 Xmas tree event

14 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 26^th February 2025

All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

MSCC - Minutes for November 2024

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on 27th November 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Susie Agnew - MSCC, Cllr. Tim Pogson, Cllr. Marie-Clair Munro, Kate McNairney - SMAG, A. Dickie - SMAG, Cuillin Scott - local resident

 

Apologies: Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:35pm

 

Draft Minutes of 23/10/24

Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. Minutes pass.

 

Matters Arising

Defibrillator: the owner of the Earl of Marchmont pub is happy for the MSCC to put one in. However, it will cost £1000 to install. It is too late to go for a December grant, but Alison will look at a grant in the spring.

Sunday parking on Melville Drive: Susie asked for permission to pursue information again via Neil Ross. The issue is that there aren’t enough small notices on lampposts, etc. Susie was granted permission to look into this.

 

Police Report including antisocial behavior in Marchmont

Sgt. Barry said he would hope to be here, but was not able to make it.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links/FOMBL Report

Report has been circulated. The main issue is the placement of the toilets as well as the changing room. Cllr. Munro has been dealing with this issue directly for months and brought the issue of wanting the toilets near the playground, as well as the issue of gender-neutral toilets. Many people, including many women, have expressed concerns. Cllr. Munro disagrees with the reasoning behind the gender-neutral toilets and is still pushing the argument to have a female-only toilet, though she does not think that the officers will change their minds. She understands the reasoning behind it but also understands people feeling uncomfortable. Different political parties disagree on this issue but the council will follow what the majority ends up deciding. Cllr. Pogson noted that the placement issue has to go through planning and also noted that he has not been fielding any emails with concerns about the gender-neutral toilets. This means that people can express their concerns through the planning process. Cllr. Munro flagged that there is a safety issue regarding children at the playground using the toilets across the Meadows. Brian expressed the concern that pushing back too much may cause the issue to be pushed down the road too far. Cllr. Pogson noted that this is meant to be about additional capacity, but Cllr. Munro predicts that the existing toilets on the east end of the Meadows will be shut down due to budget cuts. Susie expressed concerns that leaving the issue alone will mean that it won’t be dealt with. Alison noted that she does not oppose the location of the toilets because of its central location. MSCC did not have unanimity so Susie proposed a vote on who agrees on or opposes the issues. Alison noted that she has concerns about whether or not the MSCC should state a position on this issue. No vote was called.

 

On the community space: Alexa has had personal issues that have caused a delay on the issue, Douglas has reached out to IQ Students but has not heard back. He will reach out again to push the issue further.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

Cllr. Pogson: The main thing to note is to watch the Scottish Government budget on December 4th to see what allocations of funding will be coming to different things. On December 19th, there will be information on actual allocations to Edinburgh. There is some hope that more money will be allocated in particular areas, like health. This budget has been routinely cut for the past few years, but health has been selected as a key funding area. Another place where there is hope for more funding is in affordable housing. Cllr. Pogson also noted that there is a consultation open until December 15th on the tourist tax for 2026, which is estimated to raise an additional £50 million which could be spent in service to the tourist economy, which can include things like affordable housing.

 

Cllr. Munro: With regards to the budget, Cllr. Munro notes that there is reason to be quite nervous about the budget. It is not looking good for councils, so all political parties will likely to be pushing for the Scottish Government to give more to councils. She also notes that the tourist tax will not solve every problem, despite it being a good idea. Draft Princes’ Street and Waverly Valley investment consultation is open on the Edinburgh City website, lots of money is going here, Cllr. Munro encouraged anyone who has perspectives on this to fill in the consultation. There are concerns that there will be more buildings and shops in Princes’ Street Gardens and that the Gardens will be closed for an event in May. Susie asked whether this is in addition to the plans for The Mound. Cllr. Munro clarified that they want to close Forrest Road, The Mound, the bridges, etc, and traffic will be rerouted through the Grange. Douglas noted that he thinks that the plans seem like a good idea, but Cllr. Munro explained that there will be issues for elderly people and people with disabilities. The Bank of Scotland in Bruntsfield is closed and the cash machines have been taken away, which might be of interest to local residents. The playground at the end of the Meadows is in a rundown state, Cllr. Munro has taken people to look at it, this will be dealt with in time. Antisocial behavior is still a problem, not just children from James Gillespies. Cllr. Munro asked that the head of the school to reach out to local businesses. She is also hoping that the Scottish Government to be convinced to halt free bus passes for those who are engaging in antisocial behavior.

 

Publicity

No report.

 

Upcoming CC elections

There will be elections at the end of February, there will be more information at the next meeting. There are events in Edinburgh, one in the central library at the beginning of February is applicable to MSCC. Some publicity will need to be done to get more local people interested.

 

Update on bin hubs

Kate McNairney gave a deputation at the Traffic and Environment Committee meeting. Local resident issues are being noticed. Permission has been granted to move some of the bins. The report came from officers, various groups were invited to a workshop, but resident groups were not invited. The report after this workshop came out, but Cllr. Munro did not agree with this report. A composite amendment was created - the bin hubs can be split, they can be put across the road, there can be smaller bins, and they can be put on grassy areas. Cllr. Munro noted that this will take a while to change, but it can now happen at all. An announcement of the achievement will be put on the notice board.

 

Planning applications

Grange Association report has been circulated. Nothing particular to report. 140 Causewayside is not in the MSCC area. Anne noted that the MSCC acknowledges the hard work of the Grange Association doing new planting and removal of weeds.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding Project

They are hoping to open Marchmont Crescent for the Christmas holidays.

 

Treasurer’s Report

£883 in the bank.

 

Meetings attended

Douglas Rogers had an online meeting with Nester about the net zero street-by-street project. He asked whether he could broaden this and put up a notice on the community notice board with a QR code on it, as well as putting up links on the website. Douglas will go through Kayleigh to get this done.

 

Christmas Tree event

Event planning is going well. Five people are donating prizes, The Breakfast Bothy is happy as the nominated charity and Keith Taylor will give a short promo on it. Alison has not heard whether ScotMid will donate, so she is given permission to pick up snacks and drinks if we don’t have a second donation. She also has to pick up the PA system from the Council, Cllr. Munro volunteered to pick it up on Friday and will drop it back off on Monday. Kayleigh will promote the event on public Facebook groups. Brian suggested that Keith Taylor of The Breakfast Bothy co-compete with him and Alison will put it to him.

 

AOCB

Anne noted that she got an update from JR Builders about Sylvan Place, they are hoping to take scaffolding down in February and March. They will also clean things up before Christmas.

 

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025

 

 

MSCC - Minutes for October 2024

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council Minutes of Meeting held on 23rd October 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Susie Agnew - MSCC, Alastair Dickie - SMAG, Richard Robinson - Local Resident, Cllr Neil Ross, Cllr Steve Burgess, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane

Lane Association

Apologies: Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity

Attending: Eli Ferrell - Replacement Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:33pm

 

Draft Minutes of 25/09/24

Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. No corrections.

 

Matters Arising

Defibrilator update: Earl of Marchmont is happy to move the defibrilator outside, but has asked the MSCC to obtain planning permission and quote. Alison is working on that now.

 

Police Report

None.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

October report already circulated. There has been no meeting since the last MSCC meeting, but the tags on the trees will be brought up when that occurs.

 

City Councillor report on topical local issues

Cllr Neil Ross (Morningside): lots of contributions to the Bin Hub report. Intention to debate findings of autumn regulation review, will now likely see it in Febuary of next year due to volume of responses. Recommendations will be considered based on feedback.

Cllr Steve Burgess (Southside Newington) was at another bin hub workshop today.

There is an experimental traffic regulation order in place that closes the area around Sciennes school to motor vehicles. During break times children have to cross the pavement to what is the current extended playground so there is consideration about moving the pavement to the other side, however anyone in wheelchairs coming down the road on the school side needs to be able to get across the road. The school is quite keen to do that during the school day so that they don’t have to make allowances for pedestrians and cyclists coming past the school. There is consideration about closing the pavement during the school day for a six month test with feedback. Douglas Rogers believes that the MSCC should object to that. The MSCC generally agrees but wishes to wait to see what the wording of the final order stipulates.

Community Councils: At full council, there was a special meeting about the community council scheme. This does not affect Marchmont Sciennes. There is a proposal to have advertising to try and raise awareness for the next period of council nominations that ends on the 27th of February. If any elections are necessary, that would be in March of next year. The full timeline will come shortly. There should be more information provided to CC’s regarding the procedure for the elections.

There was also discussion about potentially providing equipment to community councils to make their meetings hybrid, which would then be up to council discretion to participate or not. There are mixed opinions on the value of hybrid or online meetings.

 

Publicity

Nothing.

 

Update on Community Space in IQ student accommodation block (The Mont) (Douglas Rogers)

The community space is progressing, and there has been an update on the document circulated last time. IQ students said about ten days ago they would have a lease in ten days for Douglas to look at. With regards to the Mortuary Chapel the restorations of the fabric of the building still rests with Downing and the conservators are concerned that it has not been maintained properly because maitenance has been done at bare minimum. There are discussions between IQ students and the historic Church of Scotland but nothing will be finalized until about Christmas. The murals are being restored currently but they are very fragile due to movement.

 

Bin hub Issue

Cllr Neil Ross attended the recent meeting. The bin hubs feedback report will come back to the Transport and Environment Committee meeting on the 18th of November. There were many contributions made about how this could be improved, and officers are responding to that. Changes are likely to be made to the location policy. Physical presence at the meeting would be good so that councilers can ask questions about true SMAG/MSCC concerns. SMAG is happy to send someone along to the meeting in person. Normally they would not have the right of entry unless they had a deposition of something specific, but MSCC is happy to deputize SMAG to represent them at this meeting. There must be an email authorizing this to committee services by two days before the meeting.

SMAG was hoping to raise awareness of the November meeting. Alastair Dickie brought along a note of where they stand on bin hubs currently, which will be circulated later. The goal is about minimizing the impact on the community, but they would like the rules to be clearly stated so if residents object to where the bins are located, they have a clear process to appeal. They would ideally like to put the glass bins in a more discrete location from the other bins. Cllr Neil Ross says that lining the glass bins to prevent noise is also under consideration.

The report presented at the November meeting will discuss noise mitigation as one of its crucial facets, as that was a primary complaint.

 

Planning (Applications & consultation)) (report attached)

No applications seem likely to affect local residents.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

They’ve moved up the road at Marchmont Crescent and are planning to stop working for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. They are hoping to finish the work entirely in February.

 

 

Treasurer's report

Treasurer’s report has been circulated. £1500 in the bank.

 

Meetings attended

None.

 

Progress and provision to the public toilets

Due to the complications of the desired complex, it is likely to be very expensive. There are three sets of toilets, so the 1 million pounds covers all three areas (Leith Links, Inverleith Park, and Middle Meadow walk).

Update: a cafe kiosk does not align with current regulation. This has caused challenges. The design is in the process of being modified to adhere to legal requirements. They expect to have the new facilities installed by the first quarter of 2025. This information can be found on the website regarding the toilets, which will be circulated.

Anthony Holmes questions about the East Meadows and Links toilets that have been closed and need to be refurbished. Cllr Neil Ross points out that there has been a shortage of capitol.

 

 

Xmas tree event

Everyone is on board and organizing is happening. Breakfast Bothy is delighted that they will be the charity. The council asked for their last annual report, but as they are a new charity Alison is hopeful that they will make allowances. The event will take place on the first Saturday of December, which is December 7th.

 

AOB

Sunday parking at Melville drive: Susie Agnew has noted that parking there is no longer free on a Sunday because Melville drive on both sides is the boundary of Zone 4 and therefore is restricted from 12:30-6:30 on Sunday. There are no notices to say where the parking restrictions are in the Meadows. There are notices as you drive into Edinburgh on Queensferry road. You can park for free up until 12:30, but people need to be notified of the afternoon restriction.

Cllr. Neil Ross will check into why there aren’t notices.

 

 

Antisocial behaviour at local shops: police have to request the CCTV footage in order for the issue to progress. Cllr. Neil Ross says that the request goes through the Locality Community Planning Partnership committee. Anne will write specifically to the police flagging the issue and asking them to have CCTV in the relevant areas. Cllr. Flannery is the representative on that committee, so she will be copied in on the letter to the police.

 

 

Anthony Holmes wonders why the police no longer send written reports or attend the MSCC meetings. Cllr Neil Ross says that the community police budget was removed unfortunately.

 

Next meeting will be Wednesday, 27th of November (NOT 20th as intimated in draft agenda).