Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council
Minutes of Meeting held on March 22nd, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle
Church Hall
Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC
Treasurer, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Cllr. Neil Ross, Cllr. Pauline
Flannery, Jocelyn Cunliffe -Mansfield Traquair Trust, Douglas Rogers -
MSCC
Apologies: Donald Henderson - Grange
Association, Susan Agnew - MSCC, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Liane
Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Ian Murray MP, Cllr. Ben Parker
Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes
Secretary
Meeting began at 7:30pm
Draft Minutes of 22/02/23 : Accepted
unanimously.
Matters Arising
Warrender Baths issue: Email received from Steve Burgess, hoping to
reopen pool as soon as possible this year. Cllr Ross confirmed this.
Follow up on Emma Willson’s proposal for Marchmont Crescent
post-Scottish Water works. Cllr. Parker is in contact with Council offices to
see what might be possible
Notes from Douglas Rogers’ talk at last meeting on home insulation will
be circulated
Publicity: Kayleigh and
Lianne asked for suggestions for how to revamp small notice
boards. Suggested affixing cork board as backing.
Meadows and Bruntsfield Links
FOMBL has had a walkaround with David Kyle. Anne was asked to officially
invite David Kyle to future meetings of MSCC. More updates will come
after next FOMBL meeting. However, the technical problem regarding planting the
new trees has been resolved.
City Councillor report on local issues
Cllr Pauline Flannery said the problems with
community recycling bins were debated in Chamber and there was a push to
re-address these issues
There had been issues brought to them about Sylvan Place. The sink hole
has been fixed.
Anne Laing said that at the top of Sylvan Place, someone has reported a
bulging wall. Unstable barriers have been erected. Cllr Flannery will make
enquiries.
Cllr Flannery spoke of the development on corner of Upper Grey and
Duncan Street.
She also spoke of the Community
art project at the Causey Development saying that the Council would like to
promote this type of outdoor community art in the future around the city
Application to put up a new 5G mast on Whitehouse Loan has been refused.
New application for the same thing being processed at 51 Whitehouse Loan
Council has increased road occupation charges to encourage developers to
progress more quickly
Cllr Neil Ross said that the LibDem budget was passed increasing the
budget for roads repairs by £11 million. It has prevented cuts to the schools
budget, and the Kings Theatre got an extra £3 million for refurb (now has £18m
out of £36 needed).
Flood prevention measures around the city need to be addressed and the
budget has set funds aside for it.
Proposed cuts to taxi card were denied.
The road surface between the Earl of Marchmont and Scotmid on Marchmont
Crescent is getting worse and Cllr Ross said he will check on this. The road
will have to be dug up by Scottish Water, but not imminently,
Brian asked to have Scottish Water as a standing agenda item from here
on out
Sick Kids site
An update from Downing has been circulated. Student accommodation will
be completed in time for the next academic year. A local resident wanted to
know when the scaffolding will be down, and Downing confirmed that it will
be down at the south end soon, and all down by August
Home Group are working on a plan for road closures while developing the
affordable housing at the foot of Sylvan Place.. They have applied to make the
building 600mm taller to incorporate sprinklers. They are not required to
have the sprinklers but difficult to object to. Home Group is funded by the
Council. Councillor Flannery has been asked to look in to this. Discussions are
ongoing about proposals to close the road. Original plan was to close Sylvan
Place for 1.5 years; this would not be acceptable to the residents.
Square and Crescent who are developing the rest of the site expect to be
on-site for four years. Hope to finish Millerfield Place houses in two years.
The Hospital block will have 40 flats in it. Time frames are unclear at this
point.
Landscaping will be done last, ie in four years or so
Douglas is suggesting to S & C that they use one of the Millerfield
Place houses as a show house for Door Open day, exhibiting how it can be
refurbished with proper insulation.
Adoption of roads through the development: Have not succeeded in getting
the roads adopted yet, but Douglas is looking into this.
Communal space in South block: Proposed by Downing as a solution
to requirement for addition to student accommodation. Proposed space of
125 square metres, Marchmont and Sciennes Development Trust (MSDT) has said it
is too small and wants twice the size. It would come as a bare space,
anything additional would have to be paid for and would need planning - plus
Downing would likely want rental.
Mortuary Chapel:
Jocelyn
Cunliffe who is a trustee of both the Mansfield Traquair Trust and Historic
Churches Scotland, then spoke about the Mortuary Chapel summarising her
and the Trusts’ role and the situation as it was and now presently
stands.
Preferred
option is to use the Mortuary Chapel building as education/interpretation on
the ground floor, with internal access to the Chapel, and the first floor would
be office space with storage (of light items only) above the Chapel.
Would like to get a Friends group, similar to the Friends of Mansfield Traquair
Centre, up and running to help develop the project and eventually guide
visitors to the Chapel.
Need to
figure out how to get Downing to support this. Downing currently waiting for a
business proposal but building needs to be valued first.
The original
plan was for the Mortuary Chapel itself being retained but putting two houses
in the rest of the building. This was rejected by the Council in 2019 so,
it is assumed, Downing wants to sell the building in order to recoup costs.
Douglas Rogers suggested best leverage is to suggest that Class 10 usage of
communal space be transferred to the Mortuary Chapel. The communal space in the
South block could then be used as part of the student accommodation
Douglas
Rogers would prefer to see the space used as more than an exhibit space for
just the murals, ie. a display space or community space of some sort. Jocelyn
Cunliffe pointed out that the education/interpretation potentially could
encompass the history of the site, commemoration of children who have died etc
but that ancillary space adjacent to the murals is essential. The office use
would provide an income to offset running costs and would help with monitoring
the environmental conditions of the murals in the mortuary chapel.
Cllr.
Pauline Flannery suggested going to other community centres to see what
solutions they have come up with to offset their running costs. It was
suggested to discuss this community space plan with Julie Ross of CEC.
However, there was general support from the MSCC on the proposal to exchange
the South block community space for taking over the Mortuary Chapel space.
Douglas to see what Downing Group thoughts would be on this.
Cllr. Pauline Flannery suggested going to other community centres to see
what solutions they have come up with to offset their running costs. It was
suggested to discuss this community space plan with Julie Ross of CEC.
However, there was general support from the MSCC on the proposal to exchange
the South block community space for taking over the Mortuary Chapel space.
Douglas to see what Downing Group thoughts would be on this.
Astley Ainslie Hospital redevelopment: No update
Pavement outside Marchmont Hardware: No update
Planning applications: Information
circulated previously.
Grange Cemetery: No update
Treasurer’s Report: £1702 in the
account. Still looking for ideas to support local projects.
Meetings attended: None
AOCB: None
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 26th April 2023
For a copy of the full report circulated prior to the meeting,
please contact the Secretary Anne Laing, annelaing@yahoo.com
