Minutes of Leith Central Community Council AGM, at Nelson Hall, McDonald Road Library, on Monday 20 June 2022 at 7:00pm

Actions and decisions are red italic. nem con means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision.

Items 1 to 4 and item 6 were chaired by Harald Tobermann. Item 5 was chaired by Bruce Ryan.

1 Welcome, introductions, attendance, apologies

1.a Present

• LCCC voting members: Pierre Forissier, Nick Gardner, Sheila Kennedy, Ian Mowat, Harald Tobermann, Lucy Watters, John Wilkinson
• LCCC ex-officio and non-voting members: Bruce Ryan (minutes secretary), Cllrs Jack Caldwell, James Dalgleish (both Leith Walk ward)
• Others: David Robertson (CEC), John Lancaster (Smith Scott Mullan architects), Deba Awogbemi (Cruden), Neil Johnstone (Edinburgh Evening News), Richard Price (NTBCC), 4 residents/visitors

1.b Apologies

• LCCC voting members: Alan Dudley, Charlotte Encombe
• LCCC ex-officio and non-voting members: Amy McNeese-Mechan (Leith Walk ward), Deidre Brock MP (Edinburgh North and Leith)

2 Approval of the minutes of the 2021 Annual General Meeting

Approved as-in (proposed I Mowat, seconded S Kennedy, nem con)

3 Annual report: brief review of year

H Tobermann (LCCC vice chair) reported:

• LCCC thanks its members, regular attendees (e.g. CEC councillors) and the public for their contributions over 2021-22.
• LCCC continued to work through the lockdown via online meetings.
• The tram-works were a major focus of LCCC’s work, and will continue to be for the next 9 months.
• LCCC has engaged with the trams project, focussing on topics such as issues for businesses, and maintenance of the area’s zeitgeist: a distinct mix with low car ownership and high population density. This needs support/infrastructure, including the library.
• LCCC has engaged with at least 40 spatial planning items. Many of these are on brownfield sites.
• There has been poor service from CEC’s planning department.
• Short-term lets are likely to be a focus in 2022-23. The lack of development of the Powderhall network is a concern.
• LCCC has received inconsistent engagement from Police Scotland (both attendance and reports).
• The communal bin review is ongoing. This is also linked with the controlled parking zone work.
• LCCC has also worked on reopening of the Water of Leith walkway.
• LCCC has 1361 twitter followers

4 Treasurer’s report: accounts for 2021-22 financial year

See full report in appendix 1. I Mowat reported

• There was a cash surplus at the end of March 2022, but some bills had not been paid at that time.
• The cost of LCCC’s Microsoft/Teams set-up for 2021-22 is included in the current liabilities. LCCC needs to consider whether it can continue with this. LCCC anticipates a higher grant (£150 more due to its website costs.

The accounts were adopted as-is (proposed N Gardner, seconded J Wilkinson). H Tobermann thanked I Mowat for his work.

5 Demit of current office bearers and election of office bearers

There were no other candidates apart from those noted below.

Role	Nominee(s)	Proposer	Seconder	Outcome
Treasurer	I Mowat	H Tobermann	S Kennedy	Mowat elected
Secretary	S Kennedy	I Mowat	N Gardner	Kennedy elected
Engagement officer	L Watters	H Tobermann	I Mowat	Watters elected
Vicechair	H Tobermann	I Mowat	P Forissier	Tobermann elected
Chair	C Encombe	N Gardner	I Mowat	Encombe elected

6 Dates, times and venue of future ordinary meetings and the next annual general meeting

The following were agreed nem con:

• Meetings will continue to be at 7pm on the 3rd Monday of each month (apart from December and July) , at McDonald Rd library’s Nelson Hall
• Ideally, the AGM will be in May 2023

7 Appendix 1: accounts for 2021-22 financial year

Year End 31st March	2022	2021
Income and Expenditure Accounts	£	£
income
Grants	1049.06	1049.06
Other income	0.00	0.00
Total income	1049.06	1049.06
Expenditure
Affiliation fees	0.00	[1]40.00
Adverts	[2]490.00	432.00
Minutes Secretary fees for 2021 meetings	480.00	540.00
Minutes Secretary fees carried over from 2019-2020	0.00	343.01
Minutes Secretary taxi expense carried over from 2019-2020	0.00	8.65
Website maintenance	[3]42.35	67.35
Data Protection Registration	35.00	35.00
Online hosting costs	0.00	[4]328.36
Printing & Stationary and postage	0.00	7.80
Total Expenditure	1047.35	1802.13
Surplus/ deficit	1.71	(753.07)
Balance Sheet
Opening bank balance	1795.84	2548.91
Surplus/deficit	1.71	(753.07)
Cash at bank at end of financial year	1797.55	1795.84
Current Assets at end of the financial year	1797.55	1795.84
Current liabilities at end of financial year	[5](508.32)	(0.00)
Reserves
Net current assets (general unrestricted funds)	1289.23	1795.84
Closing bank balance	1797.55	1795.84

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Leith Central Community Council

I report on the accounting statements of the organisation for the period ended 31 March 2022 which are set out [above] and the accompanying notes thereto.

Respective Responsibilities of Council Members and Examiner

The Council members are responsible for the preparation of the accounts and consider that the Community Council is entitled not to have an audit. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Statement

An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Community Council and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the Council members concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required by an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

In my opinion:

To the best of my knowledge and belief the Receipts and Payments Accounts and Statement of Balances have been properly prepared from the records and are in agreement with them.

The accounting statements comply with the constitution of the Community Council.

{signed]

David Cavaye, independent Examiner, Dundas Street, Edinburgh

22 May 2022