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Southside Community Council





Minutes of 89th meeting, held on Wednesday 14 October 2009, from 7.00pm until 8.00pm, in the Nelson Hall, 5 Spittalfield Crescent, Edinburgh.

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: Robert Beaton {RB};
Elected Members: Colin Christison (Secretary) {CC}, Linda Hendry (Vice-Chairperson) {LH}, Bob Hodgart {BH}, Hilary McDowell (Environmental Spokesperson) {HM}, Jo Scott (Planning and Licensing Convenor) {JS}, and Justine Stansfield (Treasurer) {JSt};
Local Interest Groups’ Nominated Members: Margaret Bagan {MB}, Liz Mulligan {LM}, and Kathleen Newis {KN};
City of Edinburgh Council: Councillor Ian Perry {IP};
Members of the new (third) SSC in attendance: John Largue, May Linton, Sandra McCormick, Glenys Millar, and Michael Strain (with apologies from Caroline Barr, and Nikki Thomson); and
Members of the Public: Two.

1. Welcome and apologies for absence

Robert welcomed those present to the meeting. Apologies for absence were received from Mary Devine, Cllr Gordon Mackenzie, Carol McHugh, George Pitcher, Keith Smith, Liz Walker, PC Ben Merrick, and Sarah Boyack MSP.

2. Minutes of meeting held on 9 September 2009 and matters arising

Approved; proposed by JS, and seconded by LH. Item 5.1 – the query about the annual grant was resolved (see Treasurer’s report at Item 4, below).

3. Secretary’s Report

3.1 Community Councils

3.1.1 There were ten nominations for the new (third) Southside Community Council, and since the list did not exceed 12, there was no need to hold an election. The new members are Caroline Barr, Robert Beaton, Susan Brown, Robert Hodgart, John Largue, Hilary McDowell, Glenys Millar, Elizabeth Mulligan, Justine Stansfield, and Nikki Thomson.

Five local interest groups were registered with the City Council, and these are (with their representatives in brackets): Edinburgh Methodist Church (Michael Strain), New Pleasance Residents’ Association (May Linton), Southside Association (Sandra McCormick), Southside and Old Town Crime Prevention Panel (Mary Devine), and the West Crosscauseway Association (Amy Williamson).

Keith Smith and Colin Symes had asked to be considered for co-option by the new Community Council.

Ex-officio members continue as before. They are the four City of Edinburgh Councillors for the Southside/Newington ward, Sarah Boyack MSP, the six Lothian list MSPs, and Gavin Strang MP.

3.1.2 CC and JS had made preparations for the handover of administrative material to the new office bearers.

3.2 A firm called Pastdue Credit Solutions, from Clydebank, had sent a peculiar letter asking ‘Southside Council’ to ring them ‘regarding an important matter’. They claimed that the SCC owed Scottish Power in South Shields the sum of £50. This is clearly some kind of attempted confidence trick.

3.3 A reminder that the ASCC conference will take place on Saturday 14 November at the SP.

3.4 The Southside Christmas event will be held on Tuesday 1 December 2009, at St Patrick Square, and afterwards in the Community Centre. The festive lights will be switched on by the River City actor Billy McElhaney, the MC will be Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, and the carol service will be conducted by the Rev Dr Fred Tomlinson from St Peter’s Church.

Colin Christison ended his final report as Secretary as follows:

“In July or August 2000, George Pitcher started the ball rolling to establish the Southside Community Council, and after an election in September 2000, the first one was formed. This lasted for five years and eight months, instead of the usual three years, because the following city-wide elections took place in May 2001, and the City Council didn’t consider it necessary to change the SCC so soon; and then they postponed the elections due to be held in 2004 twice. So the second SCC, in its present composition, was formed in May 2006, and has been active for three years and five months. The third SCC meets for the first time for introductions and election of new office bearers immediately after this meeting ends.

Over the past nine years and one month, the SCC has I hope established itself as a strong voice for the local community, particularly in handling planning, licensing, and environmental matters.

Community Councils are statutory bodies, and are defined thus:

''In addition to any other purpose which a community council may pursue, the general purpose of a community council shall be to ascertain, co-ordinate, and express to the local authorities for its area, and to public authorities, the views of the community which it represents, in relation to matters for which those authorities are responsible, and to take such action in the interests of that community as appears to it to be expedient and practicable''

Most areas of Edinburgh are now represented by Community Councils, and although there have been major efforts to publicise them and their work, it remains the case that a great many citizens still have no idea of their existence. Electronic mailing lists and websites help. The SCC has an extensive mailing list, with deliveries by e-mail, by post, and by hand, and I know that people forward the minutes to friends and colleagues. I believe that we have represented the views of local people to the best of our ability.

Being a member of a Community Council means that one can learn about the workings of the City Council, its Councillors, and its officers, as well as the Scottish Parliament and other bodies, but perhaps more importantly it can also mean that close working relationships and indeed friendships are formed between members, and with those whom we represent.

I have learnt a great deal during my eight years as Secretary of the SCC, and have enjoyed the experience. I would like to thank all members, past and present, for their work over the years, especially the other office bearers and those who have worked on various projects and sub-committees; Hilary McDowell for her indefatigable environmental work, Robert Beaton, the outgoing Chair, and Justine Stansfield, the outgoing Treasurer; to Linda Hendry who like me is stepping down, for her roles as Vice Chair for nine years, planning committee member, and the SCC’s representative on the Canongate Youth Project; and to Jo Scott, who chaired the group so well for the first period of the Community Council, as well as keeping a close eye on planning and licensing issues, and representing the SCC on the South Central Neighbourhood Partnership.

Finally, I would like to wish the new Community Council every success.”

4. Treasurer’s Report

JSt reported that the most recent balance was £1840.44. The annual grant amounted to £649.44. The SCNP grant of £500 had been forwarded to the Causey Project. It was agreed that the new community council would decide whether or not to make a donation towards the Southside Christmas Event.

5. Correspondence

The following items had been received: September minutes from Tollcross CC, NHS Lothian’s Health Link Edinburgh Autumn edition, and the October edition of the MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville’s parliamentary newsletter.

6. Planning and Licensing Committee Report

Planning

6.1 09/02380/FUL - Change of use and conversion of retail unit to cafe at 36-37 West Preston Street: objection lodged.

6.2 The new SCC would have to consider planning applications for (i) change of use to form café with hot food takeaway at 77 Nicolson Street (09/02523/FUL), and (ii) change of use to form café with hot food permission at 52 West Richmond Street (09/02536/FUL).

Licensing

6.3 HMO applications received since September meeting – five.

6.4 List of recent new liquor licence applications – no local matters of concern.

7. Environmental Report

HM made the following report:

1. “Tobies – I have resurveyed the 3 main streets which run north/south and several of the cross streets and resubmitted a list of missing and broken tobies to Scottish Water, copied to the Councillors. In response I have had several emails, raising the urgency of this issue. Some covers have been fixed recently. Others, it seems, are Scottish Gas’s problem. I will investigate who should be contacted about these.
2. The repair on Newington Road at the bus stop was done very soon after I reported it as urgent. Unfortunately the repair has been at a slightly higher level and has affected the camber and drainage, so water now pools to the south of the repair. This will need rectifying.
3. Gulley cleaning - Gulleys are due to be emptied on Salisbury Road, West Newington Place and Blackwood Crescent on Tuesday, 13/10/09. No notices have been spotted for other streets in the area. On Monday I asked for Salisbury road to be swept of leaves at the same time but it could not be arranged. So the gulleys have been emptied but are likely to immediately fill with leaves. I spoke to an official who hopes to get things reorganised for next year, so that the streets with lots of trees have their gulleys emptied after the leaf fall has been dealt with. We should contact him if the gulleys become blocked this autumn.
4. Meadows - Work started on Monday to strip the turf off the worst affected area of East Meadows. The area of diesel spill was being excavated today, Wednesday. The preparation appears to be much more thorough this year. Turf is to be laid on Friday. I have started negotiations with Community reps from other affected parks and we are going to work together to put combined pressure for commercial rents and proper controls on all our parks.
5. The corner of Nicolson Square is still a mess. A final warning has been sent by the City Council to the developers to reinstate the pavement.
6. The four local councillors are going to discuss the problem of ‘A’ boards at their next group meeting.”

8. Reports from meetings attended

8.1 Canongate Youth Project Management Committee (28 Sep)

LH gave a brief resume of the tremendous work carried out by the CYP, and said that, as she was leaving the SCC, the organisation was very keen to have another representative; and that at their most recent meeting draft financial statements were discussed, and funding remains a problem.

8.2 South Central Neighbourhood Partnership (12 October)

IP said that the first part of the meeting had been a presentation about trams, and he said that there were three misconceptions about the project (the line is going to the airport, Lothian Region buses will not be bankrupted, and the fare structure will be the same as that on the buses). He suggested that the new SCC might wish to consider having a presentation from TIE. Other matters discussed were the Fairer Scotland Fund [The SCNP has £90,000 for this year, and the same amount for next year to help disadvantaged people in Dumbiedykes (young unemployed, and those reputed to misuse drugs) and Prestonfield (older people)]. The report from HMO licences short-life working group will be on the agenda of the next SCNP’s meeting. JS offered to continue attending this group on behalf of the new SCC if it so desired.

8.3 South Side Community Centre Management Committee (13 Oct)

Attended by CC and JS, who said that general business items were discussed, including the café, the upkeep and decoration of the premises, Christmas arrangements, and finance.

8.4 Southside Association (6 Oct)

Attended by MB, CC, and JS. Police report, environmental and general matters.

8.5 Braidwood Centre Management Committee (1 October)

LM reported that the arrangements with the CYP had been discussed, as well as finance.

8.6 Planning Aid Scotland AGM

LH said that this organisation is an excellent source of information and help for planning matters, and she hoped that the SCC would continue to support Planning Aid by renewing its subscription.

8.7 Student City Forum (7 October)

LH reported that all the city’s universities and colleges were represented at the meeting, together with many members of community councils, MSPs, and MPs. The eternal question of how to get young people engaged in community affairs was aired. It was clear that the smaller organisations had limited college council budgets, compared to the UoE.

9. Public Question Time

9.1 Michael Strain asked about the best way for individuals to contact council officers.

9.2 Glenys Millar mentioned that emptied recycling bins were sometimes replaced with their openings on the roadway; she had reported such an instance recently and was pleased to find that the bin was placed in its correct place promptly. HM said that Margaret Williamson from the cleansing dept was the person to contact about such matters.

10. Any other business

10.1 JSt said that the AGM of the Meadows Festival will be on 12 November, at 7.30pm, in the Tollcross Community Centre. All welcome.

10.2 HM said that room temperature monitoring devices would be fitted into the main hall and the Gray room of the Nelson Hall.

10.3 BH reminded members of the Causey workshop to be held on 17 October.

10.4 CC read a letter from George Pitcher complimenting the outgoing CC, and welcoming the new one.

11. Date of regular next meeting

Wednesday 11 November, in the Gray Room, from 7pm until 9pm.

This meeting was followed by a private meeting of the newly elected Southside Community Council for introductions and election of new office bearers.

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