Meeting of the Community Council is this Wed evening

The next meeting of the Community Council is this Wed night at 19:30 at St Catherine Argyle, Grange Road.

What do you think of the Play Area Action Plan?

Comments are invited on the City of Edinburgh Council Play Area Action Plan until 18th November 2011.  


The plan aims to guide the improvement of existing play areas and to identify new opportunities for facilities across the city. 


If you prefer you can fill in an online questionnaire on the Play Area Action Plan.

NHS Lothian: Health link newsletter - Autumn 2011 edition

updated 26 Sep 2011 @ 21:05

The Autumn 2011 edition of NHS Lothian's Health Link newspaper has now been published (update 26 Sep 2011: now online (PDF)).

It contains features on (among other things) better eating, consultation on addiction services, the new Sick Kids, Flu, World heart day, changes to buses serving hospitals, new website, cancer awareness, a new birthing centre and transplant donors.

Paper copies will be available at the Community Council meeting on 28 Sep.

Draft action plan for the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site

The Management Plan for the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site was approved by the Planning Committee of te City of Edinburgh Council on 19 May 2011. 


The draft Action Plan for the Site has now been prepared by Edinburgh World Heritage, Historic Scotland and the Council. It was approved by the Planning Committee of the Council on 11 August 2011 as a draft for consultation and the Council are now seeking our help to further develop and finalise the Plan.  The Action Plan translates the objectives included in the Management Plan into actions with corresponding indicators to measure progress towards achieving the objectives.


Please forward any comments that you may have on the Plan to: Jack Gillon, City Development by the end of October 2011.

NHS Lothian South Edinburgh Public Partnership Forum meetings in Sep & Dec

Do you want to find out more more about health services in Edinburgh?  If you become a member of the South Edinburgh Public Partnership Forum you could get more involved in developing local services.


The next meetings of the Forum are from 11am to 1pm at Waverley Gate, 2-4 Waterloo Place on:


+ Th 29 Sep 
+ Th 1 Dec

George IV Bridge to Kings Buildings Proposed Quality Bike Corridor

The City of Edinburgh Council have advertised a  Traffic Regulation Order (see TRO/11/35) that will introduce:


*       Bus lanes operating 7:30 am to 9:30 am and 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm,
Mondays to Fridays and extensions to cycle lane network
*       Waiting restrictions operating Mon - Fri 7:30am to 6:30pm and
Sat 8:00am to 6:30pm
*       Loading Restrictions operating Mon - Fri 7:30am to 9:30am and
4:00pm to 6:30pm
*       A number of new parking bays.


Comments are requested by 7 October 2011.

Edinburgh Engage and Edinburgh4Community

The Information and Digital Team at Central Library, have been in touch in order to promote a couple of  local services which they believe could be useful. They ask:


"Do you know someone with a brilliant idea, but no money with which to execute it?  Edinburgh4community (or accessed via Your Library) is one of our excellent e-resources, which enables users to search for funding opportunities, whether it is for the purposes of a charitable or voluntary organisation, community groups, social enterprises, or for an individual.


Your Edinburgh is a rich database of information about Edinburgh organisations.  It has been carefully indexed, ensuring ease of use when searching.  We hope that users will find the directory helpful for all of their Edinburgh needs.


Both of these resources are available courtesy of your library!  If you would like some promotional material regarding these services, please do contact us."

A report on the review of the City of Edinburgh Council's arrangements for dealing with severe winter weather was approved at the Policy and Strategy Committee on 6 September. 


The report (Item No 9 - Winter Weather - Working Together (Reports, PDF, 1.37 MB) sets out the results of the public consultation and community engagement exercise which community councils took part in.

Macmillan Cancer Support Biggest Coffee Morning

We have been asked to publicise the Macmillan Cancer Support Biggest Coffee Morning. Last year's coffee morning hosts raised over £65 000 for people living with cancer. Thanks to their support macmillan can provide nurses, benefit advice support centres, cancer information and much more.


The official date is 30 Sep 2011 but you can hold an associated event any time around then. 


For further details contact Kim Kilgour.

Economic Review findings published

The City of Edinburgh Council has recently completed a review of the economy of the City and the surrounding area, and the findings are now available.  They would welcome your thoughts on the findings and proposals for how the council should respond to the issues raised. 

The August 2011 edition of the Edinburgh Economy Watch is also now available, compiled by the City of Edinburgh Council's Economic Development Unit.  This presents and analyses a range of economic indicators to:

• assess the impact that current economic conditions are having on the capital
• benchmark Edinburgh's economic performance against similar-sized UK cities

Putting good fruit to use: Abundance Edinburgh

Abundance Edinburgh is a group of people interested in putting to good use fruit that would otherwise go to waste and organise associated events around this.They harvest fruit from gardens, do some foraging and have also picked apples at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital's orchard. Some of the fruit is given away (for example, last year some went to the Grassmarket Project) and some is used to promote seasonal and local food (for example preserving workshops and a public apple pressing event). They have some equipment including several apple presses (thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council).

They're looking to spread the word about their activities both to get more people who are interested in picking fruit and using it but also to reach out to people with fruit trees that aren't able to harvest them themselves or who have too much fruit than they know what to do with. For more information why not get in touch with Valla Moodie or subscribe to their announcements or discussion groups.

Agenda for next Community Council meeting - Wed 28 Sep 2011

amended 26 Aug: no meeting in August

The next meeting of the Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council will be held on Wed 28 Sep 2011 at 7:30pm in St Catherine’s Argyle Church Halls.


Please note that from now on meetings will be the fourth Wednesday of the month (no meeting in December, July or August).




A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and welcome


2 Apologies


3 Minutes of last meeting


4 Matters Arising from the minutes not listed elsewhere in the Agenda

• Autumn Speakers
• Change in meeting dates
• Civic Forum, canal path
• New Council Portal

5 Police Report


6 Treasurer’s report

• Financial situation
• Spending plans for next year
• Meetings and secretariat
• Environment
• Donations

7 Subgroups

• Planning (Melanie Main)
• Gillespies’ plans and progress
• Roads and traffic (Susie Agnew)
• Retail parking changes
• 20 MPH changes
• Disabled parking
• HMOs (Anne Laird)
• Update on legislation and progress

8 External Groups (Alastair Philp)

• Neighbourhood Partnership
• ‘The Big Drink debate’ - Alcohol use special meeting 

9 Garden Competition (Tina Cumming)


10 Christmas Tree Lighting


11 Jawbone (Cllr Rose)


12 Correspondence received


13 CC membership

• Licensing responsibility

14 Walkable Communities


15 AOCB

Planning application submitted for new James Gillespie's High School and Primary extension

As an update to the James Gillespie's Schools Campus website relates:

"The Planning applications for the new High School and Primary extensions have been submitted.

You can view the documents, drawings and other papers online by visiting the Council's planning portal  with the following reference numbers:

• 11/02586/FUL for the new James Gillespie's High School
• 11/02585/FUL for  the James Gillespie's Primary School extension

You can submit comments online through the planning portal or in writing to  the Head of Planning, the City of Edinburgh Council, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG, quoting the reference number.

Please remember that although you may have commented through the pre-Planning consultation, if you want  your comments to be considered formally by Planning, you need to lodge them during this Planning process."

The website also has a section entitled "What difference did the consultation make?" that lists some of the changes that were made to the original plans before the planning application went in.  


Although the planning decision is not expected till December preparation work continues, including for the decant, and design work on playground and outdoor learning spaces is expected soon.

The slides shown at the public meeting held in the high school on 21 June are also now available.

Your views are requested on Delivering Capital Growth

In August 2010 the Council published Delivering Capital Growth. The document sets the Council’s vision for Edinburgh in 2030 and presents the strategy to get there. The strategy sets out the next steps in Edinburgh's sustainable development. It identifies the challenges the city faces, presents a twenty year vision and identifies key actions for the Council and its partners to ensure the continued physical renewal and growth of Scotland's Capital.  The strategy focuses on the next stages of the city's transformation which are underway, including the tram, Princes Street, BioQuarter, the wider city centre and the waterfront.

In October 2011, the Council will report its first annual Delivering Capital Growth Monitoring report to Planning Committee.

Council officers have compiled a questionnaire in order to monitor how and where Delivering Capital Growth has been used and to what extent it has been useful. It would be greatly appreciated if you could take the time to complete this short and simple questionnaire.

Please submit your questionnaire response by Friday 19 August 2011

Changes to proposed 20 mph speed restrictions

update (20:25 on 2 Aug): as Cameron Rose's blog reports the revised 20mph area plan recommended (with Marchmont Rd-Kilgraston Rd and Strathearn Rd-Grange Rd remaining at 30mph) was passed earlier by councillors.

Following objections received from Lothian and Borders Police and Lothian Buses council officials are now recommending to the 2 Aug meeting of the Transport Committee (public meeting, 10am, City Chambers) that the proposed 20mph speed limit would no longer be extended to:- 

a) The north-south Marchmont Road – Kilgraston Road – Blackford Avenue 

– West Mains Road – Esslemont Road route; and  

b)  The east-west Church Hill – Strathearn Road – Grange Road route.  


[Cameron Rose's blog also covers this story]

Scottish Health Council Summer 2011 Newsletter

The Scottish Health Council have published their Summer 2011 newsletter and sent a paper copy to the secretary of the Community Council.  


An electronic version is also available.  


The paper newsletter is being discontinued but you can subscribe to the new electronic e-bulletin e-Connect via their website.

SESplan development plan scheme to guide development across SE Scotland

The Strategic Development Planning Authority for Edinburgh and South East Scotland (SESplan) have published their third Development Plan Scheme (pdf).


The Development Plan Scheme sets out a programme for preparing and reviewing the Strategic Development Plan for South East Scotland.  The plan is intended to facilitate and provide the steer for future development and growth across the Edinburgh city region from 2012 to 2032.

Crags Sports Centre to become a basketball centre

The Crags Sports Centre is set to become a basketball hub under new plans put forward by a consortium led by a local sports club.

Boroughmuir Blaze Basketball Club joined forces with national governing body basketballscotland to submit a bid for the Council-owned Bowmont Place facility.

Evaluation of A City for All Ages: Edinburgh’s Plan for Older People

A City for All Ages is about improving opportunities and services for older people in Edinburgh, removing discrimination and challenging attitudes about older people. A City for All Ages has been implemented through Edinburgh's Plan for Older People and the action plans covering the years from 2000 to 2010.


In 2010 the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations' Council (EVOC) was commissioned by the City of Edinburgh Council to produce an evaluation report of A City for All Ages. 


A report to the Council's Policy and Strategy Committee on the 17 May 2011 describes the findings from this evaluation. The Committee noted the evaluation and significant achievements from the programme and agreed proposals to continue its key assets and to integrate A City for All Ages into existing structures and action planning. A further progress report will be submitted to the Council in 2012.

Road Casualty Statistics 2010

Scotland's Chief Statistician published Key 2010 Reported Road Casualty Statistics on 20 June. 


This bulletin presents provisional statistics of road injury accidents and casualties reported to the police.  


More details and context are available in the Scottish Government press release.