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Wednesday 27 March 2024

MSCC - Draft Agenda for 27th March 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 27th March, 2024

at .7.30 pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall


A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 28th February, 2024

Matters arising not included on this agenda

3 Police Report

4 Report from JR Builders, Calum Bell

5 City Councillor report on topical local issues

6 Sciennes PTA Caroline Mckellar



Items for discussion

7 Publicity

9 Planning (Applications & consultation) (Grange report circulated)

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

11 Treasurer's report (circulated)

12 Meetings attended

13 Bin hub situation

14 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 24th April, 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

MSCC - Minutes for January 2024

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on January 24th, 2024 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall


Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Cllr. Pauline Flannery, Cllr. Marie-Clare Munro, PC Johnny Wong, PC Brandon McKendrick, Edward Milligan - local resident, Patricia Cain - local resident, Bob Gates - local resident, Ruth Dolan - local resident


Apologies: Susan Agnew - MSCC, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Anthony Holmes Thirlestane Lane Assoc.


Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary


Meeting began at 19.32


Draft Minutes of 22/11/23

Alison moves to pass, Anne seconds. Minutes are passed.


Matters Arising

Item five on the agenda is moved to below item fourteen.


Police Report

PC Wong noted that there has been a change in the managing team and the new community sergeants are Jennifer McGregor and Michael Dixon, who are more likely to come to these meetings.

There have been some break-ins recently and people have been knocking on doors to find out who is at the house.

There were some youth issues at a cemetery pre-Covid and though this has died down mostly, there is a bit of an upswing now.

Patrols are happening to try and stop any house-breakers.

Alison asked if there are still police on bikes, which PC Wong confirms, though it was impossible over the last few days due to the weather. Police need to be trained on bikes, hence why there aren’t as many.

Edward Milligan noted that he received a complaint about a Ring camera that he had on his property, requiring that there should be some signage. PC McKendrick notes that one could have a sign of any size anywhere on the property. Cllr. Flannery noted that this can be an issue relatively consistently about the consent to be filmed without your knowledge and that someone could claim to be targeted.

Patricia Cain asked about not receiving a response from the community police email, PC Wong noted that this email is not always monitored, especially during August and December. Cllr. Munro noted that management does not have the resources to monitor this email consistently. Alison questioned whether it is useful to have the email at all if it cannot be monitored, PC McKendrick said that this might be something that the higher-ups would consider. PC Wong noted that in more urgent situations, the Contact Us form is consistently monitored and one should get a response within a day. Alison also suggested having an automatic response clarifying that the email is not consistently monitored.




Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl. FOMBL

No meeting has occurred. Anne asked why the public toilets have been removed now when they are coming back in probably April. Cllr. Munro notes that the removal happens on the contractor’s timeline, not the Council’s.


City Councillor report on local issues

Cllr. Flannery:

There is cross-party agreement to challenge school cuts within the budget, this will go to full council.

Cllr. Flannery and Burgess attended a parent-Councillor meeting at Sciennes Primary recently, the big items of discussion were a TRO for motor vehicles that will go into place hopefully early in the year and the roadways on either side. This ties into the Sick Kids development and Sylvan Place. The parents also noted inadequate road signage near the school. The head of school has turned away 37 vehicles just in the last week or so, there have been at least six near misses. This is a mix of all sorts of motor vehicles. Douglas Rogers notes that the signs are being moved relatively consistently. Any complaint about this issue is being dealt with and logged. Cllrs. Flannery and Burgess are going to do a school patrol to see what is going on for themselves. Patricia Cain notes that this might be difficult to adjust for GPS devices. Anne notes that the top end of Sylvan Place is used by many vehicles for parking. Downing claim it is not their staff. Douglas Rogers notes that it seems odd that the parking attendants don’t seem to be enforcing restrictions on company cars.

There will be phase 2 of a review of Council boundaries, the liaison for this is Gavin King.

Southside-Newington is oversubscribed for community grants but Morningside isn’t, there are £40,000 to be used. Cllr. Flannery notes that FOMBL could use some of this. The grants are open to the end of January.

There are amber and red streets designated for pavement parking on the 29th. Cllr. Flannery notes that there will be zero tolerance for parking on pavements.

There was a briefing on emergency Council repairs for mixed tenure social housing, the Council is trialing an app to track these emergency repairs. There will be someone nominated to make sure that any elderly residents are taken care of with this app. There is also a Missing Share Scheme where the Council will pay upfront costs but will charge a 10% fee in order to incentivize people to pay upfront.

In the month of December, 19 out of 42 defects were monitored, which was put down to a failure of stonework. There is a concern that some stone is degrading. There is also a Tenant Hardship fund as a use of maximizing income offices. Officers are going to help parents onsite.

Edinburgh has declared a housing emergency, the costs are going to be considered at a council in February.

Cllr. Munro:

There has been RAAC in schools across the city but none so far in the area.

Bin hub locations are a huge problem throughout the entire area. Residents have not been getting letters and there has not been adequate signage. Officers have been onsite to see if bin hubs can be moved to other locations, where they can be moved, they will be moved. If they can’t be moved initially, it can be changed to a Stage 2 Complaint. The rubbish outside of ScotMid has been very bad, let Cllr. Munro know if you see issues. Area outside of Eddie’s Fish Shop and other local shops are experiencing problems for loading due to vehicles being double parked.

Potholes are also quite bad, there is not enough money to fix them all. The cause is heavy-load vehicles and buses.

Whitehouse Loan quiet route discussion is coming up in March, this is a controversial issue and there is likely to be a good deal of pushback.

Low emissions zones are being put into place, Cllr. Munro is concerned that people are going to drive in as far as they can and dump their cars around the Marchmont/Sciennes area.

There are still claims that the holes on footpaths are not tripping hazards despite them being tripping hazards, this area is a low priority.

Anti-social behavior has been quite bad in Morningside, there have been arrests and over 40 charges against people ages 13-18. There is a criminal group under the name of Panda Delivery who are very aggressive and violent as they rob different shops. There is a lack of CCTV in the area.

Cycling hubs on Warrender Park Terrace were in the wrong place, these have now been moved.

Anne noted that Sylvan Place seems to have been forgotten in the collecting of Christmas trees, Cllr. Flannery said she will chase this up.

Douglas Rogers notes that the bin hubs on Marchmont Crescent are surrounded by steel bars and asked if these are likely to be put around other bins, as Sylvan Lane was blocked by bins when the wind moved them.

Douglas Rogers also asks what the requirement is for people to put in ramps/dropped kerbs on pavement corners when they are no longer accessible, there is a requirement for this but it has not been done.

Historic Scotland and the Council are looking to close Holyrood Park to through-traffic 24/7, which would make getting through the city quite difficult. Cllr. Munro is against the park being shut. If you have strong feelings on this, please make your feelings known to the Council, this should be accessible on the Council website. The next transport committee meeting is on February 1st. There is also the potential possibility of objecting as the community council, but Brian would be reluctant to do this in case it isn’t something that the community agrees on. Cllr. Munro suggested putting out a survey to the area if MSCC would want to weigh in. Cllr. Munro also suggested getting organizations based in Bruntsfield and the Meadows involved. Ruth Dolan notes that it is possibly a good idea to set up an information table somewhere in the area but this requires manpower.


Publicity

MSCC is steering away from Instagram in favour of Facebook and Twitter/X as these are reaching a wider audience.


Sick Kids site

Reports were circulated prior to the meeting. Anne notes that the JR Group is doing a good job keeping to schedule and they have been helpful overall. The road closure seems to be making life easier for them. Downing says they will hopefully be finished by March.


Planning applications

Report from the Grange Association has been circulated. The short-term let on St Catherine’s Place was turned down, but the Scottish government has overturned this.


Update on Sewer Flooding project

None.


Treasurer’s Report

£1800 in the account.


Meetings attended

None.


Xmas tree event

Brian expresses his thanks to all the people who helped on the day, special thanks to Alison and Anne for the amount of work that they put in. The event raised £202 for Children First Scotland.


AOCB

The Royal Mail delivery office in the area is possibly to close and be moved to Roseburn. Kayleigh suggested that MSCC object to this, as people would be unable to access the new location easily.

Cllr. Flannery notes that Grange is trying to find someone to fill the planning position, if anyone is interested then please contact them.

There might be some benefit to different community councils getting together and chatting about issues.

Edward Milligan notes that Rajah on Marchmont Road has put in a vent without putting in a planning application and has now retrospectively put in an application. Cllr. Flannery is going to monitor the issue. Alison will object on behalf of MSCC to the two planning applications


Douglas Rogers’ Presentation on home heating

Slides will be circulated with the minutes.


Date of next meeting

Wednesday 28th February 2024

MSCC - Agenda for February 2024

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 28th February, 2024

at .7.30 pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall












A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 24th January 2024

Matters arising not included on this agenda

3 Police Report

4 Report from JR Builders, Calum Bell

5 Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

6 City Councillor report on topical local issues



Items for discussion

7 Publicity

8 Downing updates (circulated)

9 Planning (Applications & consultation)

10 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

11 Meadows Festival: collaboration with other CC’s

Items for information

12 Treasurer's report (circulated)

13 Meetings attended

14 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 27th March, 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Thursday 25 January 2024

MSCC - Minutes for 22nd November 2023

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on November 22nd, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Kayleigh Gordon - MSCC Publicity, Cllr. Steve Burgess, Cllr. Neil Ross, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association, Patricia Paolozzi Cain - local resident, Geoff Parsons - local resident, Edward Milligan - local resident

 

Apologies: Susan Agnew - MSCC, Lianne Phillips - MSCC Publicity, Calum Bell - JR Group

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Draft Minutes of 26/04/23

Anne moves to pass, Douglas seconds. Passes.

 

Matters Arising

Membership change - Donald Henderson from the Grange Association has resigned, we have not yet been told of the replacement. Douglas notes that he will delay his presentation to the January meeting.

 

Police Report

None.

 

JR Group Reporting on Sylvan Place Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project Manager)

Calum Bell sent a report for the meeting. They will be going ahead with a full road closure (presumed to be Rillbank Crescent).  Piling will begin next week. Douglas notes that he recently met with people about extending parking around Sylvan Place, but this has not been confirmed yet. Anne will circulate update from JR Group.

Cllr. Burgess notes an issue with parking on Fingal Place and pressure has been placed on the JR Group. Signage has not been put up, however, so Cllr Tim Pogson is planning a meeting to address this issue hopefully next week.

 

Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl. FOMBL

Alison circulated a report. Anne asks about the playgrounds in the area, Alison notes that most playgrounds are getting some amount of grant money. Anne asked what will happen with trees on the streets that are dying, Cllr. Burgess asks for people to flag any tree issues to the council so they can be looked at.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

Councillors have met on the topic of the Greenbank quiet route, there has been a generally high response rate to this consultation. There were polarized views on the issue, particularly on the topic of Whitehouse Loan. Residents are concerned about rat running and have proposed a solution of a cycleway - this is not supported by parents in the area. Officers are going to think over this and will come back to the transport committee in the New Year with recommendations. One solution raised was to stop traffic along

Clinton Rd.

There is a TRO to close Sciennes Rd to motor vehicles that will be voted on in the New Year, if it goes through it could be in place by the summer. Parents would like this to go further and want the road to be closed to only have one lane available for pedestrians and cyclists - this is not being taken forward with the current TRO, this would have to be a future issue. Douglas asks about how this affects parking in front of the hospital block, Cllr. Burgess notes that the road closure will exist only in front of the school. The parents would like to create a sort of Community Park in the area, but the Council does not have funds for this.

There is a pavement parking ban coming into effect in early December and will be enforced from January. Geoff Parsons asks how the ban will be drafted as this might cause issues for wardens, Cllr. Burgess is not sure of the wording itself but imagines that being on the pavement at all will be an issue. Cllr. Ross clarifies that this will also cover double parking. Commercial deliveries of any sort are an exception to this. This will also cover parking at dropped curves for accessibility.

Cllr. Ross explains that bin hubs continue to be an issue. Team officers are being proactive and having street meetings with residents. Brian Gilmore asked about any updates on Warrender Park Terrace from last week, the matter is being enquired on.

There is an online consultation to the Workplace Parking Levy, which is a charge on certain employers for parking. The consultation at the moment is theoretical. The justification at the moment is that the space is wasted. Cllr. Burgess explains that there are approximately 60,000 cars going in and out of Edinburgh per day, which the Scottish gov’t wants to decrease. Anthony Holmes asks if there is any official law preventing people from parking on private property, but there is no change here.

Brian Gilmore asks if a business has a use permission to have a fast food establishment, but another business takes over, does the licence carry over - the councillors clarify that this has to do with the building, not the business. Edward Milligan flags that the business in question has input loud walk-in refrigerators, which is an issue for noise. Geoff Parsons asks if the business has a proper extraction system for their deep fryer, they do not seem to and this is in opposition to their licence. Patricia Paolozzi Cain flags that environmental tests have been done, but the business is not complying with abatement. Brian asks Cllr. Ross to look into the issue. Patricia flags that this is a takeaway business that delivers online and it has brought a culture of relying on online sales with it, and all of these require the business to be open from 11am-12am, which causes more noise. She also flags that the planning committee may not be picking up the pattern of the types of businesses that are coming into the neighbourhood. Brian clarifies that it seems like the business is in breach of their planning application, and that this is the best way of addressing the problem. Geoff clarifies that they may not actually be in opposition to the planning application but that the nature of the business is an issue, he also flags that fire safety could come to do an inspection as well. Cllr. Ross will look into this issue.

 

Publicity

The Edinburgh News published an article on Christmas tree lightings, but they put the wrong date and time for the MSCC event. Kayleigh is chasing this up. She will also flag this on social media. She also has the Just Giving page set up.

 

Sick Kids site

Report was circulated. Anne notes that she thinks that Downing could be finished by Christmas.

Monday 15 January 2024

MSCC Draft Agenda for Wednesday 24th January 2004

 

M archmont & Sciennes

Community Council



Meeting on Wednesday 24th January, 2024

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall






A G E N D A



1 Sederunt and apologies

2 Draft Minutes of last meeting 22nd November 2023

Matters arising not included on this agenda

3 Police Report (if available)

4. JR group reporting about Sylvan Place Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project

Manager)

5. Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

6. City Councillor report on topical local issues

7. Douglas Rogers presentation: "What I have learnt in the last year and how this could help us

insulate and heat our homes"

Items for discussion

8 Publicity

9 Downing and Square and Crescent Sick Kids developments update

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

11 Update on Sewer Flooding project (if available)

Items for information

12 Treasurer's report (circulated)

13 Meetings attended

14 Xmas tree event



15 AOB

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 28th February 2024



All who live or work locally are welcome to attend

Friday 24 November 2023

MSCC Minutes for October 2023

 

Marchmont and Sciennes Community Council

Minutes of Meeting held on October 25th, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

Present: Brian Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Douglas Rogers - MSCC, Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association, Cllr. Neil Ross, Donald Henderson - Grange Association, Cllr. Marie-Clair Munro

 

Apologies: Susan Agnew - MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Cllr. Steve Burgess

 

Attending: Nora Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary

 

Meeting began at 7:33pm

 

Draft Minutes of 27/09/23

Moved to delete the sentence about Meadows toilets being kept up during the winter, as this is incorrect.

Moved to correct spelling of Anthony Holmes’ name and add TLA.

Anne moves to approve, Douglas seconds, passes unanimously.

 

Matters Arising

a)      Actions taken by Cllr. Kumar on behalf of MSCC

                                i)            Cllr. Kumar has asked for an impact report on bin hub placement, has been in touch with the relevant department regarding signage on Sylvan Place, and has clarified the plans for the Meadows toilets.

 

 

Police Report

It may be more difficult for the police to attend without a specific reason, but are happy to come if they need to report on a specific issue.

 

JR Group Reporting on Sylvan Place Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project Manager)

No report, as it was decided that there was very little to report at this meeting.

 

Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl. FOMBL

No report.

 

City Councillor report on local issues

There have been questions on placement of bin hubs in S2, S3 - many residents have been in touch wanting to review the way things are being done. The Council previously agreed on revised criteria for assessing impact of bin hub placement, the criteria is now less strict than it was. Many residents don’t know whether bin hubs are being placed in their area. Councillors are responding by attempting to explain and possibly find alternative areas, as well as bringing along bin officers to meetings. Phase 4 has been better advertised, and people have engaged on the subject well. People are now more willing to work with the Council because they are being listened to. As long as a bin hub is within 50 metres of most people who would be using it, they can be across the street, but can be up to 100 metres away if it is on the same side of the street.

There is particular discussion on Warrender Park Terrace because people want the bins to stay where they are, but this is not allowed under the new criteria. Cllr. Ross and others are attempting to discuss this with people higher up in order to resolve this.

 

Publicity

Astley Ainsley Group has requested that MSCC advertise events that are happening on this coming Sunday, this has been passed on to Kayleigh to put on Facebook.

 

Sick Kids site

A report has been circulated. Home Group has removed the substation, they are now drilling in the area and have hit the foundations, but it should be a while until they dig them out. When this happens, they expect several lorries per day to remove the soil and rocks.

Square and Crescent are moving their main access site to Rillbank Terrace and are going to stop using the top access because of the impact on Sciennes School. They are going to open a sales office in the building next to the Sciennes Primary School playground. They hope to have this open within the next year. They lost their planning application for work on the windows and balconies, and will have to put original-looking frames there. They have requested additional parking at the front of the hospital area, Douglas Rogers has emailed them saying that the community would support an underground carpark in that area rather than overground.

Downing: the pavement in front of the student block seems too narrow, Douglas Rogers plans on measuring this to confirm.

Douglas is meeting Derek Roddin and  Cllr Tim Pogson to discuss the about road closures.

 

Planning applications

Three refusals to note: two proposals for 5G masts, one has already been refused, another is pending but is likely to be rejected. There are two short-term let applications that have been rejected. Brian Gilmore notes that many short-term lets have not been approved but still exist. Cllr. Ross notes that they get a lot of short term let licence applications, about half are full houses, hundreds of planning applications are put in, but many are trying to play the system in different ways in order to make the process last longer.

 

Update on Sewer Flooding project

A report was circulated today from Catherine Henderson. Junction on Marchmont Road will remain closed until the end of the year, traffic control is working well. Next major phase is in March, they will get in touch with affected residents.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Current balance £1920.09

 

Meetings attended

None.

 

 

 

Xmas tree event

Report has been circulated. The hall has been booked for 3:30 on Saturday, 25th November. A cappella Kids choir have been booked. Sciennes School has offered portable PA. Awaiting confirmation of James Gillespies of senior choir. Tree is confirmed to come in a block. Forms for the Edinburgh Council have been submitted. Charity to be supported will be Children 1st Scotland. Need helpers for the day. Suggestions for a speaker: Brian suggests asking our constituency MSP, Cllr. Munro suggests asking the Head Boy and Girl at James Gillespies to do it.

 

AOCB

Douglas Rogers is continuing to coordinate on the Conservation Adaptation programme, and he intends to give a presentation at the next meeting on this. He will create a set of slides and forward it for approval prior to the meeting.

Cllr. Munro notes that there has been a problem with about delivery drivers on bikes and bikers acting irresponsibly. She has met with police coordinators and noted the ways that bikers are behaving in the area, especially Deliveroo drivers. The police are going to do a day in the Meadows on the 13th of November to patrol and stop cyclists and delivery drivers, they will be engaging with the community on how to cycle responsibly. This is for Ward 10 specifically. Douglas notes that many people seem to have overridden the cycling system on electric bikes, which is illegal. The police have also noted that there are limited powers and resources in this area.

Cllr. Munro asked the Council on their views on Sciennes Road being closed permanently for a playground for Sciennes Primary, the Council has positive views on this. It is noted that there are difficulties with this road being closed, but generally the Council is in favour.  Anne asked if cyclists would still be able to go down the road, this is noted as another issue, but Douglas suggests having a cycling path on the other side of the road.

Cllr. Munro notes that there were people in a local playground causing issues and trying to break the playset, this is apparently a recurring issue, the police have attempted to catch them but have not been able to. The police are going to keep an eye on this issue. The people involved come from outside of the MSCC area.

 

Date of next meeting

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 at 7:30pm

Tuesday 14 November 2023

MSCC Draft Agenda for 22nd November 2023

 

Marchmont & Sciennes

Community Council

 

 

Meeting on Wednesday 22nd November 2023 at 7.30pm

To be held at St Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall

 

 

 

A G E N D A

 

 1             Sederunt and apologies

 2            Draft Minutes of last meeting, 26th 2023 and October 2023

              Matters arising and membership changes

 3             Police Report

 4.       JR group reporting about Sylvan Place Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project      

                                                                                                                                                    Manager)

 5.           Meadows & Bruntsfield Links

 6.           City Councillor report on topical local issues

 

 Items for discussion

 7           Publicity

 8             Sick Kids development update

 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 24th January 2024         

 

All who live or work locally are welcome to attend