SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of meeting on Monday March 11th 2019, 6:45pm

The Gray Room, Nelson Hall, 5 Spittalfield Crescent, Edinburgh

Present: Joan Carter (JC), Liz Logie (LL), Tim Pogson (TP, Chair), Philip McDowell (PM), Nicholas Oddy (NO), Bob Hodgart (BH), Cllr Cameron Rose (CR)
Apologies received from Svetlana Repanova and David Wood

Also Present: one member of the public

  1. Welcome:
    A warm welcome note by TP

  2. Amendments to Previous MoM:

    • Correction made to the “Present” section of Feb MoM- Bob Hodgart name was missing
    • Point 7: Community planning consultation meeting (10th Jan)- Locality Committees have been scrapped. Neighbourhood Partnerships also to be done away with.
    • Point 8: Planning and Licensing Applications- Georgie Harris, Students association of UoE has no objection with food stalls in the campus
    • Point9: 20mph speed limit report summary submitted
    • Point 11: Summerhall Issue: TP contacted Summerhall via Email. The area to front of Summerhall was leased to a local artist for a project. Summerhall management will take the matter in hand now.


  3. Police Feedback Report (Paul Rich)

    • Anti-social behaviour near St. Nicolson Square
    • Graffiti- 3 people identified and charged
    • Road traffic- Road speed check up at school entry and exit times
    • Theft: Break in and theft near Blackwood Crescent
    • Drugs: Cannabis reported, and drug dealing observed near Chalmer’s street.
    • Other: Pedal cycles recovered


  4. Feedback Report (Cameron Rose)

    • Proposal for Neighbourhood Network meeting but only informal so far. Further consultation with local community must be done.
    • Next Neighbourhood meeting: 28th March
    • Locality wide structure yet to be decided in terms of governance.
    • Big issue: Trams extension down Leith walk is likely to go through
    • Food waste: Recycling is going better
    • Bin collection over 6 weeks is better
    • Spike in pest control and mice infestation control
    • Concern regarding White pellets (Poison?) near Pollock Halls raised by Joan
    • Issue of Adult education charges was raised by Joan and review of impact should be considered for further action i.e. where do we go with this? implications for people on benefits
    • Cameron will get back on the above issues.
    • Flat water leakage near Crosscauseway concern was raised by Liz. Cameron will have a look at the matter
    • Zebra crossing issue - timescales!!?
    • Bus stop shelter near Mosque Kitchen has been removed. A concern was raised about the size of new shelter and its style.
    • Idea of putting 2 bus stops was posited by Cameron
    • Suggestion by Philip- Create a fb page or put up poster nearby shop to get people feedback on bus shelter issue - agreed


  5. Report from Chair:
    None. Items covered elsewhere on agenda.

  6. Treasurer’s Report

    • Last Payment was for FOMBL in December 2018
    • Balance on 11th Feb- May 2019- £2087.84


  7. Council Transportation Planning Meeting attended by Joan

    • Meeting was focused on council getting people views on public transport and low emission zones
    • Projects were voted on by attendees
    • Subsequent meetings will be held with stakeholders on 11th March and 12th March, 2019.
    • Suggestions were considered from transport and air quality perspectives.
    • Next step: Analysis of the votes and how this is going to be implemented in terms of policy.
    • Results of online survey shows 51% want radical change


  8. Edinburgh Civic Forum Meeting (Bob)

    • Bob attended the meeting of 20 people with agenda being planning, policy directives and question answer session.
    • 1st Presentation: City Plan 2020 and Local development plan were discussed. Time horizons and how they fit together were discussed.
    • Needs to be accepted by City and government. Delay in response so far.
    • 2nd Presentation: City Centre Transformation project and degrees of radical change were discussed.
    • Planning Bill going to Scottish Parliament amendments stage, it was supposed to be finished by Jan but going till April now.
    • Changes introduced in Planning procedure: 20 written objections are required for householder applications to go to the Planning Committee - EACC should be taking this up (Tim)


  9. Living streets annual general Meeting-18th Feb attended by Liz

    • Meeting focused mainly on business matters, electing members
    • Presentation by Stuart Hay (Director of living streets of Scotland)
    • 2019 campaign suggestions and encouragement


  10. Citizen’s Network Meeting (Bob)

    • First meeting happened two weeks ago
    • Trying to create a vision for the city
    • Housing, rent, homelessness and planning were discussed
    • Bob will maintain a brief on this


  11. Public Issues:
    None raised

  12. Kids Cinema in Meadows

    • Kids cinema which is proposed in Meadows in first week of July, issue was taken up for discussion
    • Joan raised concerns regarding the sound and cost involved.
    • Tim will follow up with formal question


  13. Edinburgh Community Council New Scheme

    • New scheme for community councils
    • Not significant changes, no change in boundaries
    • More involvement of youth
    • Scottish Youth Parliament formal representation
    • Limit to nominated members to join CC but scheme suggests exceeding the limit with the approval of the council
    • To Provide “Main Council” with annual report and grant will be subject to engagement
    • Code of Conduct: clarity around Community Councillors “representation on behalf of community or individual”
    • Concern was raised about “Engagement officer” job description
    • Section 11.2 and 11.4 need more clarity in annual audit of community council accounts
    • Raised concern about how people will know about elections? Some information needs to be put out regarding election. Requires checking
    • Deadline for this response is: 25th April, 2019


Next Meeting: 8th April, 2019