Welcome to Edinburgh's
Southside Community Council
SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Minutes of 92nd meeting, held on Wednesday 9 December 2009, from 7.00pm until 9.00pm, in the Nelson Hall, 5 Spittalfield Crescent, Edinburgh.
Meetings are held from 7pm until 9pm on the second Wednesday of the month,
from September until June, in the Nelson Hall, 5 Spittalfield Crescent, Edinburgh, EH8 9QZ
Telephone: 0131-667 8838
www.edinscc.org
Further information on any of the items below is available from the Secretary,
by using the above postal address or website
Abbreviations used as required:
ASCC = Association of Scottish Community Councils; CEC = The City of Edinburgh Council; CYP = Canongate Youth Project; DEG = Dumbiedykes Environmental Group; EACC = Edinburgh Association of Community Councils; EUSA = Edinburgh University Students’ Association; HMO = House(s) in Multiple Occupancy; LA = Licence Application; L&BP = Lothian & Borders Police; LHC = Late Hours Catering; NP = Neighbourhood Partnership; PA = Planning Application; SCC = Southside Community Council; SCNP = South Central Neighbourhood Partnership; SG = Scottish Government; SP = Scottish Parliament; TRO = Traffic Regulation Order; UoE = University of Edinburgh; and other initials = members of the SCC.
PRESENT:
Chairperson: Hilary McDowell (HM);
Elected Members: Nikki Thomson (Secretary) (NT), Bob Hodgart (BH), Justine Stansfield (JS), Glenys Millar (GM), Susan Brown (SB), Liz Mulligan (LM);
Local Interest Groups’ Nominated Members: Sandra McCormack (SM), Colin Symes (CS), Keith Smith (KS);
City of Edinburgh Council: Councillor Cameron Rose;
Members of the Public: Two.
1. Welcome and apologies for absence
Hilary welcomed those present to the meeting and everyone introduced themselves. Apologies for absence were received from Robert Beaton, John Largue, Amy Williamson, May Linton, Caroline Barr and Michael Strain.
2. Minutes of the meeting of the Community Council held on 11 November 2009 and matters arising
(a) These were approved; proposed by Glenys and seconded by Sandra.
(b) Matters Arising
3 (d) the pre-application notification for Sugarhouse Close; HM explained that the planning sub-committee considered this to be on Old Town CC’s patch rather than Southside’s, and that SCC should therefore take no action.
9 (g) LM is happy to represent Southside Community Council on the Housing Area Board.
11 JS is in correspondence with Edinburgh University Settlement regarding the Roxy Arts Centre.
3. Secretary’s Report
NT reported that there was an ongoing email discussion between the Edinburgh Association of Community Councils and the Association of Scottish Community Councils over what powers CCs have to remove troublesome CCllrs. It would appear that the only powers available are in the Code of Conduct but that generally a member can only be removed if they move, fail to attend meetings, or die. NT therefore asked all Southside CCllrs not to be troublesome!
4. Correspondence
The following items had been received: newsletter from Scottish Health Council; letter from Planning Aid for Scotland; newsletter from SES Plan; magazine from Edinburgh Tenants Federation; Edinburgh Community Council News; Social Inclusion newsletter from the Capital City Partnership; letter and Community Guide produced by Edinburgh University Students Association.
5. Treasurer’s Report
In the Treasurer’s absence HM reported that £70 was donated towards the Southside Christmas event and that the most recent balance was £1770.44.
6. Planning and Licensing Committee Report
(a) HM proposed the following remit for the Committee, which was accepted.
1. The committee is John Largue, Convener, Bob Hodgart, Justine Stansfield, and Hilary McDowell.
2. The planning committee will check planning and licensing applications and make decisions on what to object to, to support, or leave uncommented upon. The committee will report at each CC meeting. There is not time for all applications to come to full CC meetings as there is only 21 days between advertising and the closing date for objections. Most applications do not usually need comment.
3. Big applications such as that for the Odeon, Queens Hall and Archers Hall will come to the full CC. There is usually extra time for comment in these cases. It may be possible to get speakers to give us more information.
4. The main corridor from South Bridge to South Clerk St. Nicolson Square, St Patrick Square and West Preston St. have been listed by the Council as an area of “special sensitivity”, where there is concern that late night operations of pubs, clubs and food outlets will cause disturbance to residents. Both the previous CCs made a policy decision to object to all new applications of this nature, or extensions of hours in the CC area, as this reflects the opinions that have come from the Southside Association and other residents’ groups.
(b) HM reported that there were no planning applications in the pipeline at this time.
(c) The Committee has put in an objection to the late hours application by the Junction Bar.
McEwans Ale House has advertised for permission to open 10am – 10pm but is currently later than 10pm.
JS asked whether it would be possible to get a list of pub opening hours.
Jenny Dean’s looks to have closed down but there has been a licensing application notice up for over a year.
The Steamie is under new management.
(d) The Committee is minded not to object to the Unite Nightclubs’ request to advertise on the Odeon in order to stop flyposting elsewhere.
LM asked about the Bongo Club. This is outwith SCC’s area of operation; she was advised to report the noise and any anti-social behaviour.
7. Environmental Report
HM presented the following report, which was accepted.
1. Dalkeith Road – the broken manhole cover which a member of the public had been complaining about for months was fixed in 4 days after he copied me into the latest correspondence. I was able to bring the CC’s pressure on Scottish Water to effect a speedy repair, and the neighbour is delighted.
2. Lighting – That outside the Informatics Building on Potter Row has not been working for over a year. There has been a dispute with the developer. 2 weeks ago I raised this matter again, and the developer has restored power and the lighting department is to sort out the street lighting starting with the pedestrian refuge, which is due to be fixed on 7/12/09.
3. Toilets – The refurbishment of the toilets on Middle Meadow Walk is scheduled for the spring 2010. £20,000 has been allocated to this as part of funding from the Quartermile development.
4. 51 Nicolson St. – The advertising banners hanging at first floor level have been removed. A complaint was lodged in February, enforcement report in June, banners removed in December.
5. Nicolson Square / Nicolson St corner – The scaffolding is down at last, but the pavement has still not been reinstated. Festival Inns has gone into receivership. It is now up to the Council to reinstate this pavement and recover the costs from any assets remaining. I am asking as many people as possible to urge the roads department to make this a high priority.
6. Bus Stop – A survey is to be done on the ponding caused by the repair at Newington Road being slightly too high.
7. Fly Posting – The burger van at Homebase (Arthur’s Eat) is fly posting. I have removed 3. The environmental wardens have removed unofficial parking signs probably associated with the car park in Nicolson Square.
8. Street cleaning – The Task Force Manager can be contacted on 0131 664 8330 to deal with urgent street cleaning matters such as a build up of leaves, dumped items, misplaced bins etc. The department is working quite efficiently at the moment, so please use it.
9. Meadows – A Council worker has been disciplined for driving their work vehicle at excessive speed on North Meadow Walk and her attitude to the member of the public who challenged her behaviour. This was in association with servicing toilets on the Meadows. I am also raising with Council officials my concerns about vehicles driving on the grass especially at this time of year when the ground is so soft and easily rutted.
It was agreed that NT would write to the Head of the Roads department regarding the state of roads at bus stops, specifically at Surgeons Hall (both sides), South Clerk Street, East Preston Street and Newington Road, and the subsequent ponding, and to get photos.
LM complained about vans parking on pavements in Dumbiedykes whilst carrying out repairs work. Cllr Rose confirmed this is a police issue but that it won’t be seen as a priority. He will get a report from the Roads department and raise the matter with the police, but warned that there would be no easy solution.
HM advised all members to take numbers of all vehicles seen driving on the grass on the Meadows, and report them to the Council.
8. Edinburgh’s Parks Events Manifesto
HM spoke to her paper; she reported that the Council’s paper contains inaccuracies, e.g. golf is played on Bruntsfield Links rather than the Meadows.
SB and SM volunteered to join HM on a sub-group formulating a response to the consultation, as a response is needed by 11th January 2010, before the next meeting of SCC. Linda Hendry is to be invited to join the sub-group.
9. Reports from meetings attended
(a) RB and HM attended the Association of Scottish Community Councils conference at the Scottish Parliament. There were 200 attendees in a room that was too small. There were some interesting items but most were irrelevant. HM expressed some unease at the ASCC structure and how the board’s membership is elected.
(b) Four members of SCC attended induction training (CB, SB, SM, NT); there were a lot of participants. There were some technical problems, for instance with the microphones. In terms of training there was room for improvement but overall everyone was friendly and people had a chance to meet and chat with other CCllrs.
(c) RB attended the Council’s question time about the budget. There was little of substance announced. Following Cllr Rose’s questions about the cost of the NP conference held at Easter Road, RB asked for a breakdown of information about the costs of service delivery for running NPs to bring the Council closer to the community. The information was not available at the session but the organisers promised to put all questions and answers on the Council’s website. RB has not had a chance to check whether this has been done.
BH asked what could happen to replace NPs. Could surveys and focus groups and giving more responsibilities to community councils help improve engagement with local residents? Cllr Rose gave his personal opinion that the neighbourhood teams that deliver Council services are a good thing but that the NPs seem to get bogged down in reports.
(d) JS reported on the Meadows Festival Association’s AGM and that there are new officebearers. The new committee is currently writing a handbook on how to run the Meadows Festival and is planning for the next Festival to take place on the first weekend in June 2010.
(e) BH reported on the West Crosscauseway Association’s meeting of 7th December. Designs will be coming to community groups soon, with the next meeting scheduled for 1st February 2010.
(f) BH went to a conference on community engagement on 24 November in Raploch. He learned about different projects that are going on and can pass on information if required.
(g) LM has invited Paul Harrison to report to her on the Canongate Youth Project as he is now the representative as Chair of the Braidwood Centre.
(h) KS reported that the Southside Community Centre management committee met on 8th December. There were concerns about future funding as the Council is looking at redesigning the Community Learning and Development service. Consultation will happen very soon, but in the meantime it’s business as usual. There was an excellent turnout for the Christmas lights and the organisers were delighted with the donation from SCC.
10. Public Question Time
There were no questions.
11. Any other business
(a) SB asked whether it would be possible for Southside Community Centre to be opened earlier on Wednesday evenings so that constituents attending councillors’ surgeries did not have to wait outside until the doors opened at 6pm. KS explained why this would not be possible, and Cllr Rose suggested that it would possible to arrive shortly after 6pm and still be able to attend the surgeries as they are not normally very busy.
(b) CS invited everyone to a community Christmas party in Kings Hall from 3pm – 5pm on Sunday 20th December.
(c) HM explained that the SCC laptop cannot be connected to the internet at Nelson Hall because non-CEC staff may not access the internet. It was agreed that the laptop could be taken off the premises by office-bearers, and that a signing in and out system should be set up whereby a note is left in the filing cabinet if the laptop is being borrowed. NT and JS will investigate getting a contract-free ‘dongle’ which allows laptop users to access the internet anywhere.
12. Demonstration of the Southside Community Council website at www.edinscc.org
Philip McDowell, SCC’s webmaster, demonstrated the features of the website and asked for suggestions for the website and items for the news page. He advised everyone to look at other CC websites and see if there are any features we would like to include on ours.
BH suggested that there should be a summary of current problems and issues that SCC is dealing with – a form of words for this needs to be agreed.
JS suggested putting a link to the Meadows Festival Association website.
HM suggested everyone should read Cllr Rose’s website.
13. Date of next meeting
Wednesday 13th January 2010, in the Gray Room, from 7pm until 9pm.
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