MSCC Minutes for September 2025

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on September 24th, 2025 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present

Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC

Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer

Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary

Douglas Rogers - MSCC Inclusion Officer

Alastair Dickie - SMAG (South Meadows Action Group)

Evelyn Dickie - SMAG

Geoff Parsons - MSCC

Norah Rogers - Local resident

Katherine Dickie - Local resident

Peter Olech - MSCC

Margaret Coughtrie - Local resident

Cllr. Tim Pogson

Cllr. Pauline Flannery

Graham Gemmell - Homegroup

Donald Dickie - Local resident

 

Apologies

Anthony Holmes

Richard Shillock

Susie Agnew

Cllr Marie Claire Munro

 

 

Attending

Eli Ferrell - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 19:31pm

 

Sederunt and apologies

Brian welcomes everyone to the meeting. Sederunt and apologies as above.

 

Draft Minutes of last meeting June 2025

Alison moves to approve the minutes. Anne seconds.

 

Actions and matters arising (not otherwise on Agenda)

Email communication about Meadows toilets regarding unfriendliness to women: no liftable seats and no woman-only cubicles. Discussion confirms no liftable seats is standard for public toilets. The outside of the toilets will be painted with anti-graffiti paint to prevent continued damage.

 

Defibrillator is installed 24/7 outside the opticians in Marchmont. It has been tested and installed on the national network. Thanks to the Earl of Marchmont Pub and to the Council Community Grants Fund for both the defibrillator and the air for installation. Congratulations to Alison for successfully dealing with this extensive project!

 

Police Report

No police attending the meeting. MSCC received an email stating that  there is a new Community Policing Sargeant called Rachel Lumsden who started in September. She seems to be changing the way information is provided. Anne will follow up, but it seems they will not be attending any meetings, so Anne will request a quarterly report in place of attendance.

 

Cllr. Pauline Flannery notes that Rachel is proposing a quarterly forum with Community Council representatives and others. The attempt is to broaden local information. Potentially the Council can decide where the meetings are being held. General discussion questions what information and advice is actually being provided, noting that the MET provides monthly reports and advice on how to prevent crime locally. Brian notes that the Edinburgh police are suffering from a lack of funding towards community policing. Cllr. Flannery notes that you can prompt the kind of conversation you want to have at this forum and can reach out to Rachel to do so. If MSCC wants different information, they can request it at the forum.

 

Questions to Homegroup re development on Sylvan Place (Graham Gemmell)

Graham Gemmell took some council members around the site and showed them a few flats. They have delivered 31 flats in total. 20 for social rent, and 11 mid-market flats. Mid-market rents aren’t as high as private levels in the area, it’s for people who might not qualify for social rent in the area. Social rent is let under Scottish Sure tenancy, midmarket is just private tenure.

 

They have been clear when advertising property that there is no parking and that there will be no parking permits provided by the council. Some people have refused flats because there is no parking in the area. Some discussion is had about car club provision of spaces.

 

If there is any information the MSCC would like to provide, it can be included in welcoming packets. MSCC will provide Homegroup with some contacts and an MSCC info leaflet to provide to new residents.

 

There will be a housing manager there for each tenure type. Any concerns/queries should be raised directly to the customer service call centre and the issue will be handled by the respective housing manager. The numbers and names of the call centre will be sent to Douglas or Anne.

 

If there are any problems with antisocial behavior, they’ll issue former warnings. If there is any need to get the police involved, there is a prior relationship with the police.

 

There is a bit of remaining planting/landscaping to happen, but it will not cross the boundary and is only delayed due to the season. They want to enhance the areas their properties exist in, so they are happy to have further discussion on landscaping. They are happy to discuss adding trees and doing estate walkarounds to improve the immediate vicinity.

 

These flats will not be sold unless there is a change in legislation.

There is a bin store in the back, so the cleaning company provisioning services will present the bins on Sylvan Place on the appropriate day and return them to the store.

 

Meadows & Bruntsfield Links (report attached)

Report distributed. The AGM is on Friday at the German church hall at Chambers Crescent at 6pm. There will be a speaker.

 

Publicity

Information has been distributed via Facebook and the noticeboard. Anne would like to improve the two small noticeboards to make them easier to use. She will look into the best way of achieving this . Funds will be made available by the Treasurer.

 

Information about the defibrillator will be posted on social media as well.

 

City Councillor report on topical local issues

Cllr. Pauline Flannery reminds MSCC about the community grants fund, where the deadline is the 28th or the 30th. The only condition is that there must be a bank account attached to the application.

 

Spruce Up Our Streets and Pride in Our City: funded initiatives providing a makeover for the whole of Southside/Newington. The aim is to tackle graffitti, chewing gum and weeds. Southside/Newington is scheduled for December. There is a backlog in tackling weeds.

 

The Meadows toilets outside tap needs looking at and a report has been put in.

Up and coming Committee Reports: 2/10 Culture & Communities – Playparks and Investment Report; 21/10 Policy & Sustainability – Third Sector Review Recommendations Report

 

Photographs have been taken of Fingal Place road surface condition and the matter will be picked up as soon as the councillors can identify who is responsible for that site. Cllr. Flannery is working on that issue. Donald notes that the JR group is unwilling to take any responsibility. The road surface outside no 8 and 9 needs quite urgent inspection.  Douglas flags that he would like to add some greenery to that street and will liaise with Homegroup. Cllr. Flannery states the first step she will take will be to determine who is responsible for what.

 

Cllr. Tim Pogson flags that the student accommodation planning applications for Ratcliffe Terrace are coming to the relevant committee on Wednesday of this week;and the recommendation is that the application will be rejected.

 

The Astley AinslieCommunity Trust is holding a drop-in centre on Saturday from 10-4 at the Eric Liddel Centre. Future influence over any planning decisions made (information about that has circulated).

 

The trams consultation will be on until the middle of November. The next consultation drop-in will be on the 1st of October at Waverly Station. Peter has flagged that Roseburn Path is an important path, and if it were to be turned into a tramway, that would be the equivalent of losing a very long park. Peter would like MSCC to issue a statement that Roseburn Path should be maintained. Anne does not think MSCC should issue a group statement because there will be strong disagreement on the issue. Brian agrees that it is too far outside of the area to give a strong comment on and that everyone can send their comments personally if they so wish.

 

Brian flags that the council opinion is that the project will not go forward unless the money comes from outside of Edinburgh (ie Scottish government). Cllr. Tim Pogson flags that planning will be happening for the next seven years at least, so it is uncertain what the end result of consultations will be.

 

Inclusion Officer’s report

Douglas has agreed a license with IQ students for a community space in their propertyThe Mont and the council has demanded an impact assessment. Douglas has commissioned someone to carry that out in the next couple of weeks. That will hopefully result in a license for that space, which can be used as an open space at least one day a week for the community. At this point, it would open in late October or early November. Alexa Hare will use the space during the daytime for teaching primary aged children, and hopefully in the evening it will be used for music teaching/be rented out to the community. Douglas would like other people to become involved in  the private not for profit company he began to run the space. IQ students are leasing the space at running costs and insurance, which will be at about 6k a year. He also hopes to do some improvements to flooring  etc. As his bank account is not yet up and running, it was agreed that he could use the MSCC account on a temporary basis when applying for a Community grant, and will be  liasing with the Treasurer. It is decided that no information will be sent out until the space is confirmed and ready for groups.

 

Douglas is also setting up another group to look at community ownership of the heat network. So far there is another Douglas Rogers, Callum Duncan, and Anika Snares. Those three live in Marchmont. Douglas will be making a presentation to Edinburgh Civic Forum at  the end of the month regarding that, and he is hoping to get Cllrs. not just from Lothian but also from outside Edinburgh contributing to the idea.

 

Planning (report attached)

The planning application for  Meadows Place AirBnB of several flats has been withdrawn due to the many objections (including from MSCC)

 

Treasurer’s report (attached)

A report has been circulated. MSCC received EDC grant and defibrillator grant. Bank balance is £1400 at the end of August. MSCC also will receive an EDC grant that was withheld last year so an additional £886 coming in. Alison wants to put aside some each year for the defibrillator battery and pads upkeep.

 

SMAG report: (newsletter circulated)

Alastair Dickie notes that the latest SMAG newsletter has been circulated. They’re looking at the priority groupings of bin hubs to be discussed at the January tech meeting. Issues should be aired before that meeting, but won’t know what potential results could be until afterwards. SMAG is aiming for a publicity campaign about bin hubs in November/December. Additionally, he encourages members to put forward ideas to spruce up areas. 3-4 dozen people made proposals to change bin hubs.

 

Peter Olech raises a specific bin hub and asks if that is on the priority list for SMAG. Alastair notes that they are coordinating that activity but not managing it. Peter is recommended to check if that bin is on the priority list.

 

Meetings attended

No meetings attended.

 

Plans for Xmas (circulated)

Report circulated. Saturday 6th of December booked at the German speaking Church, Chalmers Cres,with A capella kids and James Gillespies school agreeing to participate.

 

Need a decision on which charity to support. Peter Olech suggests Medical Aid for Palestinians. Some concerns about politicization;  a list of charities will be put to a vote at the next meeting.

 

AOCB

Peter raises new VOI cycles being introduced in Edinburgh and the uncertainty as to where they should be parked/left. Margaret flags that there was a bike rental system in Edinburgh some years ago that was dropped due to vandalism, so she is glad they have returned. Uncertainty as to  how VOI is policed. Cllr. Tim Pogson will look into the issue and report back.

 

The date of the next meeting is 22nd of October.