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What We Do and When We Meet

We’re here to listen, represent and take action on the things that matter most to the people who live and work in Leith – from planning applications and housing to street cleaning, public transport, green spaces & more.

 

Our meetings are on Every Third Monday, 7pm – 9pm, at the Nelson Hall in McDonald Rd Library. All welcome! There is no meeting in July and December.

The monthly meeting agenda includes updates on policing, planning, local parks, clean streets, and more, with an open forum for residents and businesses to raise questions or concerns.

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If you have any questions about LCCC, please contact:

OPEN LETTER to City of Edinburgh Council regarding the ongoing St Mark’s Footbridge Closure

To: Gareth Barwell (Corporate Director of Place), Margaret Graham (Convener Culture and Communities Committee), Stephen Jenkinson (Convener, Transport and Environment Committee)
From: New Town & Broughton Community Council (NTBCC) & Leith Central Community Council (LCCC)
CC: Leith Walk ward Councillors Jack Caldwell, James Dalgleish, Amy McNeese-Mechan, Susan Rae
Date: 26 October 2026

Subject: Urgent Demand for Accelerated Solutions and Engineering Feasibility on St Mark’s Footbridge Closure

Dear Gareth, Margaret and Stephen,

Mandated by our well-attended October meetings, New Town & Broughton Community Council (NTBCC) and Leith Central Community Council (LCCC) are writing jointly to convey our profound dismay and deep frustration regarding the ongoing closure of the St Mark’s Footbridge.

This vital active travel link normally connects some of the most densely populated communities  in Scotland to the North Edinburgh path network. It serves as an essential, high-volume artery for daily commuters, families, school children and visitors to Warriston Crematorium.

1. Demand for Accelerated, Solution-Focussed Progress
We are seeking immediate, accelerated, and solution-focussed progress from the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). Specifically, we urge CEC to commission and publish an independent engineering report by early December. This report should assess the technical feasibility of potential interim measures while long-term permanent solutions are explored, specifically:

(a) In-situ repairs, using tie-plates and gussets to restore functionality
and
(b) deploying a prefabricated, off-the-shelf “drop-in” bridge mounted on the existing piers – with or without prior demolition of the existing bridge

2. Unacceptable Timelines and Lack of Urgency
This vital travel corridor has now been shut for 123 days since 24 June 2026 and yet there is still no properly signposted diversion route in place. Furthermore, it took nearly four months for CEC to produce a briefing note for Councillors, Community Councils.
Despite this leisurely time scale, the briefing note raises as many questions as it answers. Notably: why was the Principal Inspection recommended in July 2022 never conducted?Our communities are completely dismayed by the apparent absence of genuine urgency from CEC. A vague timeline pointing towards a distant re-opening in 2028 is entirely unacceptable for an active travel route of this importance. Allowing a primary pedestrian and cycling artery to remain severed for years without exhausting every interim engineering intervention fundamentally flies in the face of CEC’s stated commitments for net-zero, active travel, and community wellbeing. This is in stark contrast to the immediate urgency with which the Council responds to motor vehicle road closures.

We urge you to intervene and reject the passive 2028 timeline, and drive forward a pragmatic, expedited engineering solution for the St Mark’s Footbridge. In addition, CEC must immediately establish a fully signed, accessible diversion route for the duration of the closure.

Finally, for accountability and expedited progress, this project requires a designated point of ownership within CEC responsible for driving these actions to completion.

We look forward to your urgent response.

Best wishes

Mike Birch & Harald Tobermann
For New Town & Broughton Community Council & Leith Central Community Council

Background to the Open Letter above.

Updated PBSA Policy – now includes seasonal conversions to short-term lets

Leith Central Community Council has agreed an updated position on Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), following discussion at its meeting on 20 April 2026.

The update strengthens our existing position by explicitly addressing the issue of seasonal conversion of PBSA to short-term let (STL) use.

Seasonal PBSA-to-STL conversions

We are increasingly seeing PBSA developments being used as short-term visitor accommodation outside of term time.

While presented as a temporary or secondary use, in practice these arrangements can operate in a very similar way to hotels or short-term lets.

Our view is that this raises a number of concerns:

  • it represents a shift away from the original “purpose-built” justification for these developments
  • it contributes to the loss of residential housing in the area
  • it adds to the wider concentration of visitor accommodation in Leith
  • it risks creating a two-tier system, where large operators are not subject to the same licensing controls as individual short-term let hosts

As set out in the paper, this type of use also appears to be in tension with City Plan 2030 and wider housing policy objectives.

Wider context

LCCC’s broader position remains that further PBSA development in Leith should be resisted, given:

  • the absence of a local university presence
  • the scale of PBSA already proposed or in development
  • the need to prioritise housing for long-term residents

Full paper

You can read the full updated paper here: https://leithcentralcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lccc-pbsa-paper.pdf

Ongoing work

This forms part of our wider work on housing, including short-term lets and other forms of visitor accommodation.

We will continue to review and update our position as policy and planning guidance evolves.

LCCC Policy on Short-Term Lets and Aparthotels (April 2026)

Leith Central Community Council has agreed an updated policy on Short-Term Let (STL) planning applications at its meeting on 20 April 2026.

The policy sets out the circumstances in which LCCC will normally object to STL applications, based on issues regularly raised by residents in the area — including impacts on housing availability, safety, and residential amenity.

Key update: aparthotels

The policy has been updated to explicitly include aparthotels.

While often presented as a distinct type of accommodation, aparthotels can in practice function as short-stay visitor accommodation. As such, they can raise similar concerns to hotels and STLs, particularly in predominantly residential areas.

Under the updated policy, LCCC will object to aparthotel developments where they would:

  • contribute to the loss of residential accommodation
  • intensify visitor accommodation in residential areas
  • have a cumulative impact on housing availability or neighbourhood character

Purpose of the policy

The policy provides a consistent framework for how LCCC responds to planning applications. It is grounded in:

  • concerns raised by local residents
  • national planning policy (NPF4)
  • the City of Edinburgh Council’s City Plan

Full policy

You can read the full policy here: https://leithcentralcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/lccc-stl-applications-policy.pdf

Ongoing review

The policy will be reviewed annually at LCCC’s AGM, alongside other Community Council policies.

Understanding Leith Central: Community Data Insights

We’ve started developing a set of data to help us better understand Leith Central and the wider area around us.

This is very much a work in progress, but the aim is simple: to build a clearer picture of who lives here, how the area is changing, and how that should inform the work of the Community Council.

The charts bring together publicly available data on things like:

  • housing tenure (owner-occupied, private rented, social rented)
  • income levels and indicators such as Universal Credit
  • the balance between flats and houses
  • comparisons with neighbouring community council areas

Taken together, they begin to show how Leith Central sits within a wider and very diverse part of the city.

Why this matters

As a Community Council, we are regularly asked to comment on planning applications, licensing matters and wider policy issues.

Having a better understanding of the make-up of our community helps us to:

  • reflect a broader range of local experiences
  • identify where there may be gaps in representation
  • think more clearly about priorities

This is particularly relevant in areas like housing, where questions around tenure, affordability and use (including short-term lets and student accommodation) are ongoing.

A work in progress

This is an early draft and will continue to evolve. We expect to refine the data, improve how it is presented, and explore additional sources over time.

We’re sharing it now because it’s already proving useful in shaping our discussions — and we’re keen to be open about how we approach this.

Have your say

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts:

  • Does this reflect your experience of living in the area?
  • Is there anything here that surprises you?
  • Are there other aspects of the community you think we should be looking at?

You can get in touch via our website or come along to one of our meetings.

Click to access edinburgh_community_councils.pdf