Please comment on a report of the public engagement meeting on 16 Nov about RHSC redevelopment

update, 3 Jan 2017: MSCC have produced a draft 'summary of collective views')

The report of the public engagement meeting on 16 Nov about RHSC redevelopment is now available  [as Appx 3].

This is a report that contributes to the community views section of a 'pre-application position statement' that’s been prepared by NHS Lothian's planning advisors (GVA) for NHS Lothian. 

We are interested in gathering your responses to the report, whether you were at the meeting or not: we are keen to know what you feel about the development of this site at the heart of our community.

Please add your comments on the report below or e-mail them to pagsk2017@gmail.com.  

Comments will be used, along with those already expressed, to shape a set of MSCC views.  These collective MSCC views will be added to the final ‘position statement’, being completed by GVA for NHS Lothian (and available to developers).  The MSCC views will also be sent with the final NHS/GVA 'position statement' to interested developers.  A final draft of the ‘position statement’ is now available.

The 'position statement' also contains details about i] formal planning constraints and ii] heritage considerations (listed buildings, conservation area etc). Developers will be asked to take full account of the facts and findings in the 'position statement' (including community views) when their formal offers to purchase the site are invited.  This will support NHS Lothian's identification of the scheme that represents 'best value' and lead to an agreement to sell by Easter 2017. 

As yet ‘best value’ has not been clearly defined but during the public engagement meeting there was an indication that this might mean something other than simply selling the site at the highest cost.

There is no guarantee that community values in the ‘position statement’ will be binding within a development agreement, but we really want to represent your views on the development of the site. And this is our opportunity to do precisely that: place your views within the development process.

NHS Lothian has confirmed that the closing date for interested developers’ offers will be 9 February 2017. Therefore MSCC have been asked to share a set of views from the community by mid-January.

Once a developer is selected there will be further community engagement. The normal pre-application consultation process will ensue, with a Proposal of Application Notice and at least 3 months, and at least one local event, to engage further with stakeholders.  MSCC will be working to promote as much on-going additional community involvement as possible.

If you'd like to stay informed please join our dedicated mailing list by e-mailing pagsk2017@gmail.com or keep an eye on the MSCC Infoblog or on the MSCC Facebook page, or follow @marchsciennesCC on Twitter.

 

Excellent turn-out to provide views on future development of current Royal Hospital for Sick Children Site.

About 75 local people braved the lashing rain to join a three hour Public Engagement Event to explore options for the current Royal Hospital for Sick Children site on Wed 16 November. 

This was the latest in a series of events co-hosted by Marchmont & Sciennes Community Council (MSCC) to allow local residents to contribute.  Daniel Johnson MSP and a couple of local City Councillors also attended. So did Sciennes Parent Council and a representative of James Gillespie's High School Pupil Voice.  The event was facilitated and managed by Grant Myles of People Assets, an experienced event facilitator who has worked with NHS Lothian before, on masterplanning.

The meeting opened with a quick update on the proposed timescales for the sale of the site by NHS Lothian, as they prepare to move children's healthcare facilities in 2018 to the Royal Infirmary site at Little France. The site will be advertised for sale within the next week and offers will be invited from prospective developers by February 2017.  These offers will be considered from a financial perspective, and proposals will also be independently assessed against a 'pre-application position statement' being prepared by NHS Lothian's planning advisors (GVA) for NHS Lothian.

The aim of the event was to generate community views and ideas for inclusion by GVA in that 'position statement'. Alongside components in the 'position statement' about i] formal planning constraints and ii] heritage considerations (listed buildings, conservation area etc) the collected community views will support NHS Lothian's identification of the scheme that represents 'best value' and lead to an agreement to sell by Easter 2017.

The event continued with an opportunity for each individual attendee to write down ideas and views on post-it notes.  These ideas were then arranged under five headings: Uses; Buildings; Movement; Spaces, and Next Steps.  Participants then moved around the room reviewing each others' ideas and adding to them.  The emerging commonalities under each theme were then summarised by groups of participants onto flipcharts and reported back in turn to everyone present. 

The meeting closed with a discussion of how all the information gathered will be used (by NHS Lothian in selecting a developer, and potentially by developers), and how participants at the workshop can continue to contribute to the consultation process and stay informed (about the sale, and proposed site designs).  All the flipcharts and post-its will be retained and all the contributions will be included in a full report of the meeting.  The report will be available by mid December and will be publicly available for review and comment, including at the MSCC Infoblog.  This is the report that will contribute to the community views section of the GVA 'position statement' for NHS Lothian.

Once a developer is selected there will be further community engagement, including through the statutory 'pre-application notice' process that must precede submission of a major planning application. MSCC will be working to promote as much on-going additional community involvement as possible.

Thanks to Grant Myles who facilitated and to GVA (planning advisors) and NHS Lothian who partnered with MSCC to organise the event.  

If you'd like to stay informed please join our dedicated mailing list by e-mailing pagsk2017@gmail.com or keep an eye on the MSCC Infoblog or on the MSCC Facebook page, or follow @marchsciennesCC on Twitter.

Plans for redevelopment of the Astley Ainslie Hospital site

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4666418

A group of local Community Councils (Morningside, Southside, Grange Prestonfield, Marchmont & Sciennes) met with representatives of NHS Lothian on Mo 31 October. Daniel Johnson MSP also attended.

With the redevelopment of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside, NHS Lothian plan to move clinical services from the Astley Ainslie site over the next five years. The Astley Ainslie hospital (AAH) site will then be sold for redevelopment.

NHS Lothian will be submitting a master-planning application for AAH to City of Edinburgh Council within the next year and a half.  Having a masterplan before sale of the site will help NHS Lothian make a 'best value' sale. This does not necessarily mean sale to the highest bidder. 

It has not yet been decided whether the site will be sold in one parcel or several. Following sale of the site, a full formal Pre-Application Notice (PAN) process will be followed by whichever developer is successful in purchasing the site.

Commercial discussions have begun to appoint planning consultants. NHS Lothian will also be taking advice from lawyers and other consultants.

Historic Environment Scotland reviewed the listed buildings status of structures on the site two years ago. NHS Lothian have no plans to ask for re-listing.

AAH is recognised as a significant site.  There are rights of way, tree preservation orders and archaeology to consider. Given all this, and the considerable current local community use of the site, NHS Lothian plan a three year programme of community engagement, starting in Spring 2017.

The local Community Councils therefore intend to meet with NHS Lothian in early 2017 to co-design a community engagement process. Daniel Johnson MSP wishes to be involved.   Successful methods from the currently-underway discussions on options for the Royal Hospital for Sick Children's site will be re-used.

NHS Lothian agreed to alert Community Councils when they put updates on the redevelopment on to the NHS Lothian corporate website.

South Centra£ Decides - VOICE YOUR CHOICE - Sat 30 April

The South Central Neighbourhood Partnership has over £200,000 worth of funding available for distribution in 2016/17 and residents of South Central are asked to Voice your Choice and decide which projects get what.   Anyone over the age of 12 is eligible to vote so long as they live in South Central.  Voting will take place at a marketstall event in the main Hall of the Methodist Church Hall, Nicolson Square on 30th April.

The money is split into three different "pots" – Community Grant Funding and two different sections of the Neighbourhood Improvement Programme.   

Check out the South Central Neighbourhood Partnership website where you can get information on all three funds and lots more about what’s happening.  

Community Grant applications are currently being sought from local groups – the closing date is Friday, 25^th March so if your group is interested, please get a move on.   We are keen to reach the wee groups that are working away quietly in a local hall and who could really do with some money to buy some new equipment etc.  Groups will be given a stall at the event and local people can come and chat about the applications before they score them.

We want loads of local people to turn out on the day when you will able to wander round the three Zones we will create and then score the projects.  It’s should all be very easy and good fun.

If you need any further information please contact Mags Campbell, Partnership Development Officer.