SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting on Tuesday, 12th October 2021, 7:00pm
(by Zoom)

Present:
Tim Pogson (TP, Chair), Bob Hodgart (BH), Sakshika (minute), Philip McDowell, Ian Perry (Councillor), Joan Carter, Nicholas Oddy, Ellie Roger (University Representative)

Members of the Public:
Alison Neathey and Joe Goldblatt

Agenda item	Discussion	Action
1. Welcome	Chair welcomed all to the meeting of the Community Council.
2. Apologies	Liz Logie and Stephen Rodger Benson
3. Ascertain issues brought by members of the public (Alison)	Distillery in the St Leonard's neighbourhood is creating problems due to the smell and noise, hours of operation, deliveries and licensing. In particular, there are concerns that the community has appropriate opportunity to comment on licensing applications for activities in the courtyard. Joan raised the point of occasional licenses provided by the council to the distillery, which appear not to provide the opportunity for consultation and comment. Tim mentioned he had communicated previously with the distillery and he had received a positive response. Ian suggested to raise the matter with all ward councillors, as well as writing directly, formally to the Distillery from the Community Council. This was agreed.	Tim
4. Previous Minutes	Adoption of the minutes of the meeting held on 14th September 2021
5. Matters Arising	5.1 Bernard Terrace zebra crossing work has been delayed for couple of weeks due to materials issues. 5.2 Steve Burgess has identified the company that is responsible for the Scottish Widows site. He is going to have a discussion with this company on 18 October. Philip suggested writing to a common Director of the companies involved with the site directly, but Tim asked to wait till Steve had been in touch with the site managers. 5.3 Joe introduced himself and briefly outlined his vision for the Innocent Tunnel and its potential development, primarily through it being a site for a mural. Working with Bob, Joe volunteered to explore taking these proposals forward. Dr Gilmour's letter was noted and it was agreed that any proposals would begin with a consultation with the proprietors. Tim asked that the Community Council be kept informed.	Joe / Bob
6. Councillor's report (Ian)	Zebra crossing at Bernard Terrace, and other construction work, has been delayed badly due to the non-availability of materials. Preston Street School is at the proposed boundary of the Low Emission Zone. There are concerns that high-emitting vehicles could therefore be concentrated at this junction. A purpose of the LEZ is to persuade vehicle owners to swap to lower emission vehicles, so this should be a benefit to Preston Street School. The boundaries of the LEZ will be determined following the consultation. With reduced traffic, there are ambitions to extend the playground of the School into what is currently the roadspaces. Bob asked how the council is going to detect the vehicle has exceeded its emission limit. Ian told him they are determined according to the age of the vehicle for emission limits and this would be managed through the vehicle registration process..
7. Chair's report (Tim)	The treasurer position is still vacant. Svetlana is still offering help till a replacement is found. Tim is still pursuing possible options.	Tim
8. Reports from Committees and meetings attended	Philip had attended the Planning Forum meeting that afternoon. He would forward any resources received.	Philip
9. Short-Term Let Control Area Consultation	Tim talked about the consultation how it is significant for housing and tourism in Edinburgh. The Community Council has always opposed short-term lets among its community. In keeping with this position, it was agreed to support the proposal of a city-wide control zone, to avoid concentrations of STLs in communities immediately adjacent to control zone boundaries. Tim will respond appropriately to the consultation.	Tim
10. Planning and Licensing Applications	Philip had come across evidence of a commercial art studio that appeared to be being operated from a residential address in South Clerk Street.Philip agreed to raise this possible change of use as a potential planning enforcement matter.	Philip
11. Public Question Time	Residents at Parkside Terrace had raised an issue of noise and disturbance from the neighbouring Unite Student accommodation, Salisbury Court. Ellie (University representative) offered to investigate whether any pressure could be brought to bear by the University on the site managers to resolve the problems. Failing that, the Community Council would itself write to the site managers.	Ellie
12. AOB	12.1 Philip raised the issue of a limited number of GPs in the Southside area, and particularly the challenges of students new to the area being able to register with a practice. Ellie will investigate whether this is a difficulty recognised by the University. Tim also mentioned about the proposed medical centre at Saisbury Court. He had not had a reply to an enquiry whether this was still on course but there was currently a lot of building work at the site. He would enquire again. 12.2 Philip mentions that Preston Street primary school is an important stakeholder in the community council area, so we should have a representative from the school. This was agreed; Tim will approach. 12.3 Philip suggested asking about the absence of people from the community council meetings. Tim thought this may be down to meetings being held online, so suggested waiting until in person meetings had resumed before chasing attendance.	Ellie Tim Tim
13. Date of Next Meeting	Next meeting is on 9th November 2021, possibly a blended meeting with the opportunity to meet in person in a large enough space and the opportunity to join online.