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SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Minutes of Annual General Meeting, held on Wednesday 12th May 2010, in the Nelson Hall, 5 Spittalfield Crescent, Edinburgh.

PRESENT:
Chairperson: Hilary McDowell (HM)
Elected Members:Caroline Barr (CB), Susan Brown (SB), Bob Hodgart (BH), John Largue (JL), Liz Mulligan (LM), Nikki Thomson (NT)
Local Interest Groups’ Nominated Members:May Linton (ML), Michael Strain (MS), Colin Symes (CS)
City of Edinburgh Council: Councillor Ian Perry and
Members of the Public: Three.

Apologies were received from Sandra McCormick, Deborah Charlesworth, Amy Williamson, Cllr Steve Burgess, George Foulkes MSP and Sarah Boyack MSP.

HM welcomed everyone to the meeting.

NOTE that the minutes of the 2009 AGM were approved in June 2009.

1. Chair’s Report

HM presented her report:

There have been big changes in the Community Council since last year’s AGM. Most of the previous CC have stood down and new people joined. All the office bearers are new to their posts and most new to the CC, so we are all on a steep learning curve. I have personally found it difficult as the role of Secretary has been unoccupied for much of the time. Hopefully, once DC is fully up to speed then we will operate more efficiently.
I would like to focus my report on communications. The City Council and other organisations require us to read large quantities of material and report back, often in unrealistic timeframes. They then ignore what we have said, and don’t tell us why our suggestions have been discounted. When we ask for information we often find it very difficult to obtain it. Examples of this recently are that we only discovered that there was a big joint Policing and Council project to deal with antisocial behaviour in Nicolson Square, Bristo Square and St Patricks Square after it had commenced. A hot food kiosk has appeared on the Meadows but we were not consulted about the siting, or power supply, and no possibility of objecting to the provision of a street traders licence. The Freedom of Information Act has to be used to get answers to a variety of questions. Even one of the City Councillors cannot get a list of Pub opening hours on our behalf. We were not consulted over the purchase of the “Welcome to park” stones, and might have suggested other uses for the money so spent. We were not told when the barrow beat staff were going to be brought in to the area. The streets are so much cleaner with them working here. We certainly won’t be told when they are going to be removed. The departments all have our contact details, as well as opportunities to share this sort of information at groups such as the Environmental Forums.
The NPs are supposed to be partnerships, but who is in this partnership? If the City Council thinks they are partnering with us as community reps, it does not feel as if they think we are equals. The attitude is paternalistic. “We know best and will tell you only what you need to know.” It seems to be a box ticking exercise. It appears to us that the Council officials consider that they have a free hand. They are the professionals. How are we going to call them to account? Their idea is to set up groups for so-called consultation at dates and times to suit themselves, with agendas which are not of our choosing. They then expect us to find someone to attend, and they call this community engagement. This is top down thinking. What would work much better is bottom up. We say what concerns us and then we work together to get results. Our goal is to get things done, the things that concern the community, and I appreciate that there are some very good staff members lower down in the system who know how to do this.
I appreciate the support I have received from Community Council members and hope we can all work together to change the model of how community engagement is done in future.

The report was approved.

2. Secretary’s Report:

NT presented the report on DC’s behalf.

The Southside Community Council (SCC) has continued to meet on the second Wednesday of the month (from September until June) at the Nelson Hall, to discuss and act as a strong voice for the local community, particularly for planning, licensing, and environmental matters.
The Secretary for many years, Colin Christison, stepped down in October 2009. NT took up the role of Secretary for 3 months, and the new Secretary (DC) was co-opted onto the council at the March meeting, but was unable to be present in April and May. It was therefore not possible to render a full Secretary’s Report for the past year, but a partial report was prepared.
The new (third) Southside Community Council was constituted in October 2009. There were 10 nominations, and thus no need to hold an election. The new members were Caroline Barr, Robert Beaton, Susan Brown, Robert Hodgart, John Largue, Hilary McDowell, Glenys Millar, Elizabeth Mulligan, Justine Stansfield, and Nikki Thomson. Robert Beaton has since resigned, and Glenys Millar and Justine Stansfield have moved out of the area.

Five local interest groups were registered with the City Council:
• Edinburgh Methodist Church (Michael Strain)
• New Pleasance Residents’ Association (May Linton)
• Southside Association (Sandra McCormick)
• West Crosscauseway Association (Amy Williamson).
• Community Church (Colin Symes)
Keith Smith (Southside Community Education Centre) was co-opted by the new Community Council.

The 4 City of Edinburgh Councillors for the Southside/Newington ward, Sarah Boyack MSP, the six Lothian list MSPs, and Gavin Strang MP (now replaced by Sheila Gilmore), continued as ex-officio members. One City Councillor has been present at each meeting. Ten meetings have been held since the 2009 AGM, several with guest speakers on subjects including the proposed changes to policing (March), and licensing (April). Lothian & Borders Police presented several reports. The Community Council has referred to or commented on numerous planning and licensing applications (exact numbers cannot be given this year, for the reasons explained above). A current issue that is being monitored is the Festival Theatre Planning application. Members attended many other meetings of local relevance and interest during the course of the year.

I particularly thank Colin Christison for his help in training me to take over as secretary, and Philip McDowell who continues to keep the website up-to-date with our activities and welcomes items of local interest to post on the site. Hilary McDowell has also been very helpful in helping me understand the tasks I need to do as secretary. I hope that I shall be able to provide a complete report in future years. The report was approved.

SB asked whether Kenny McAskill MSP had become her MSP as mentioned in SNP election literature. HM reported that the literature had been wrong and that Sarah Boyack is the main MSP for this area.

3. Treasurer’s Report:

I refer you to the Summary of Accounts as certified by the Auditor.
There have been no significant outlays this year we did however allow the use of the Community Council as a vehicle for a Grant Application by the West Cross Causeway Association.
Our main expenditure has been membership fees to The Cockburn Association and the Planning Aid Scotland.
There have also been donations made to the Meadows Festival Association and the Community Christmas Event.
At the end of this Financial Year our Bank Balance is £1228.94 and the Petty Cash holding was £29.34 giving the Community Council total funds of £1258.28. This has been due to the frugal approach by members of the Community Council past and present and also because the planned leaflet print did not take place. This does however still remain on the agenda for the near future and will involve a substantial investment by the Council.
The annual grant received from the City of Edinburgh Council was £649.44 and we also received gross interest of £2.39. To summarise - while our funds are extremely healthy we should continue with a policy of keeping a tight reign on our outgoings as it is impossible to forecast what finances may be available to the Community Council given the current political/financial circumstances.

John Largue, Treasurer

4. Planning and Licensing Committee Report:

JL reported that we have made a number of objections, including to the latest application by Evans Fairground to hold a fair in the West Meadows, on the grounds that the city does not benefit financially. Moreover, children are attracted to the fairground, not always accompanied by adults, and there is a risk of them running out into Melville Drive. A better site should be found.
We are angered that we are generally ignored when we put in our concerns, both by council officers and elected councillors. The licensing group cannot get a list of opening hours of pubs in the area. Cllr Perry said that the licensing section has had a shortage of staff, and that we should get the list by next week.

5. Appointment of Auditor

HM proposed the re-appointment of William R. Scott as auditor. This was agreed and the AGM was closed.

6. Date of next Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 11 May 2011.

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