LCCC April 2023 minutes

Minutes of Leith Central Community Council meeting, at Nelson Hall, McDonald Road Library, on Monday 17 April 2023 at 7:00pm

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

1 Welcome, introductions, attendance, apologies

1.a Present, apologies

Jun
(AGM)

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Voting members

Zoe Curry

No meeting

Alan Dudley

Charlotte Encombe

Pierre Forissier

Nick Gardner

Sheila Kennedy

Ian Mowat

Alex Ortiz

Harald Tobermann

Lucy Watters

John Wilkinson

Non-voting members

Bruce Ryan

Cllr Jack Caldwell

Cllr James Dalgleish

Cllr Amy McNeese-Mechan

Cllr Susan Rae

Ben Macpherson MSP

Deidre Brock MP

Number of residents/visitors attending

P = present, A = apology, X = neither present nor sent apology, NA = not applicable

Apologies were also received from Foysol Choudhury MSP

1.b to note: declarations of interest in any items on the agenda

none

1.c to agree: order of business below

agreed

2 Approval of minutes of the ordinary LCCC meeting on 20 March 2023

Approved subject to removal of errant notes in item 5.b (proposed I Mowat, seconded J Wilkinson)

3 Matters arising from previous minutes (and not included on agenda below)

Row number	March minutes item number	Action	Status
1	3 (row 1)	CCTT and Cllr Caldwell to take up resident’s questions about noise and vibration with trams team.	Ongoing
2	3 (row 2)	C Encombe to chase N Gardner for a reply about his non-attendance of LCCC meetings	Closed
3	3 (row 3	C Encombe to engage with A Ortiz about him potentially becoming LCCC’s engagement officer	Closed: CE remains EO
4	3 (row 5)	LCCC to maintain a watching brief on Brunswick St, Montgomery St and Windsor St, and observe if there are difficulties with deliveries following completion of tram works	Ongoing
5	5.h	A resident to email councillors if he sees demolition at 139 Leith Walk starting [without a proper plan in place].	Presumably ongoing
6	5.h	Cllr Caldwell to follow up enforcement at 11 Pilrig St	Ongoing
7	6.e	L Watters to obtain a concrete case of the permit problems in the CPZ	Held over – LW absent
8	9.a	B Ryan to help office bearers access their LCCC emails on their own devices	Ongoing – further help is requested
9	9.a	H Tobermann, B Ryan, Cllr Caldwell to review LCCC’s new email setup’s performance within the free period.	Held over
10	10	H Tobermann to raise Brunswick St, Windsor St, Montgomery St issues with trams team	Not discussed, so presumably ongoing

4 Policing matters

4.a to note: local (ward) Police Report April 2023.

H Tobermann: the relevant senior officer has stated that community officers are often called to substitute for absent officers, so they cannot guarantee to attend CC meetings. I will continue to pursue this gently.
A resident raised an inaudible issue – please advise
H Tobermann: there are questions about enforcement at the London Road/Leith Walk junction. I will write to police.

5 Planning

5.a to note: arrangements for hearing (Development Management Sub-Committee 26 April 2023) on Land To East of 139 Leith Walk 22/01563/FUL

P Forrisier: Cllr Caldwell, LCCC and others will make representations at the forthcoming hearing. LCCC (represented by J Wilkinson) has 12 points to make. A key point is that the place brief is being ignored.
- A resident: I will make representations about effects on the conservation area.
- Action: LCCC/J Wilkinson to share a précis of LCCC’s points with LCCC members, and to brief Cllr Rae

5.b to note: arrangements for examination of Edinburgh Local Development Plan Proposed City Plan 2030 by Ms Claire Milne, lead reporter (for reference: LCCC 2021 representation)

P Forissier: many points have been made, and now need to be assessed for validity. LCCC has objected to some vague policy wording. One policy would prevent conversion of residential properties to commercial properties (e.g. short-term lets). AirBnB has objected to this on grounds of loss of many jobs and revenue to the city, based on an verified report.
- Action: PF to circulate relevant documents to LCCC members

5.c to note: any other Planning matters relevant to LCCC area

5.c.i Arthur St

H Tobermann: this matter is currently being deliberated by CEC case officers, but following LCCC’s submissions the developers have submitted further documents, adding to officers’ work and hence CEC’s costs. CEC planning department needs to be properly financed to undertake its work on behalf of Edinburgh citizens.
- P Forissier: the late-submitted documents include a faulty in-house daylight study, not work by qualified consultants.

5.c.ii Ashley Place

J Wilkinson: demolition work has started here, without relevant permissions
- P Forissier: the developers are using the existing planning permission. The new application has shrunk the site boundary to less than 0·25 ha (by omitting parking spaces). LCCC has highlighted this.
- PF: while demolition has started, the developers cannot build to the new plans until these have been approved.

5.c.iii 139 Leith Walk

A resident: work is imminent – the diggers are present and poised to work in unsafe manners – even though there is an asbestos roof which requires proper handling, and relevant plans to do this should be freely available.
- Cllr Rae: I suggest contacting the Health and Safety Executive about this ‘hazardous materials’ matter.
- Cllr Caldwell: the developers have a warrant to demolish but not permission to demolish.

6 Transport and clean streets

6.a to note: issues (if any) arising from phase 1 CPZ roll-out (for reference: briefing and letter from CEC to residents)

J WIlkinson: there is confusion about the yellow lines that have now been painted in Pilrig St and Spey St. When do they ‘go live’?
- C Encombe: see CEC letter to residents – permits, parking bays and needs to pay to park will go live in the future. However, yellow lines are always live.
- JW: in that case, parking wardens are needed to enforce this.
- CE: this is happening.
- Cllr Rae: parking incidents can be reported online

6.b to note: CCTT comments on Tram Team report on walk-throughs with Community Councils

H Tobermann: TT has responded to issues raised by CCs from the walkthroughs, stating whether the issues arise from defects or not. (A defect is where construction is not according to plan/standards, and thus will be rectified by the contractor. A non-defect is where construction is to plan/standards.) CCTT’s responses to the TT initial responses were raised at the April CCTT/TT meeting, and forwarded to relevant CEC councillors. The intention is to point out where work is unfinished, and the scale of issues and forthcoming costs.
- Responsibility will be passed to CEC at the end of June, around a month after ‘revenue service’ when the contractor vacates all of the site. While there is a 2-year defect-fixing period, it may take some time for the contractor to gather the necessary resources. CEC may have to undertake emergency repairs of defects, then bill the contractor, but I fear CEC is poor at reclaiming such costs
- The many public factors (e.g. bins, parking enforcement) will be handed over to CEC. However this process lacks transparency, and CEC officers are already overworked. Tram infrastructure will be maintained by the existing tram operating company, which will also be responsible for authorising work along the route, to ensure safe working.
- C Encombe: TT comments include ‘nothing [about tactile paving] has been picked up on site’. LCCC has reported several deviations from approved practice, so LCCC fears lack of outcome.
- CE: the closure of the left turn from Leith Walk onto London Rd is due to forecasts of ‘high saturation’, but LCCC fears this will increase traffic volumes at other left turns resulting in more traffic in residential areas. LCCC has yet to see the modelling justifying the closure.
- HT: TT has promised to share modelling with CCTT, but this modelling will not include changes to Brunswick St subsequent to approval of the final business case. It will assume driver the highway code. I will report as appropriate.
- P Forissier: what is the strategy for enabling pedestrians crossing LW side-streets, given the current large amount of traffic in the morning?
- J Wilkinson: the behaviour of drivers at the LW/LR junction is potentially fatal.
- Cllr Rae, Cllr Caldwell: over 900 drivers per week are undertaking this banned turn. (The camera that records this does not get number-plates.) Such ‘mass criminality’ is not included in the modelling, nor is the closure of North Bridge and other factors. Installation of a camera that can capture number-plates is being investigated. We will pursue TT about the many issues.

6.c to note: tram works issues for local residents

A resident: I have been waiting for 6 months to be connected to the water main.
J Wilkinson: there are issues for cyclists from the traffic lights at Brunswick Rd.
A resident: forcing people to use streets other than London Rd increases traffic in residential areas, yet London Rd is a wide arterial street.
H Tobermann/C Encombe: pedestrians are at the top of LCCC’s transport priority.
- I Mowat: there is precedent for reversing traffic policies that do not work. I do not support criminality but traffic policies need to make sense.
Decision: LCCC to await modelling and what actually happens after trams are running before deciding on further action.

6.d to note: tram works issues for local businesses

no discussion

6.e to note: any other Transport & Clean Streets matters relevant to LCCC area

P Forissier: Resurfacing work at Dalmeny St is taking a very long time. How are such contracts assigned?
- H Tobermann: this work is awaiting supply of tactile paving and bollards. A long time ago, I suggested to CEC’s director of place that if Leith Walk is closed for tram-works, the east-west roads need to be renovated. This work is now finally happening.

7 Parks and green spaces

7.a to note: upcoming re-constituting AGM of the Friends of Pilrig Park on 24 April 2023 (membership/attendance form; online meeting link)

H Tobermann: people should use the above links to join FoPP, and be prepared to take on relevant work.

7.b to note: any Parks & Green Spaces matters relevant to LCCC area

C Encombe: there is funding for parks in Leith, but not Pilrig Park
- Action: CE to find why PP is excluded
S Kennedy: a resident has emailed about dog-fouling in parks.
- C Encombe to respond
J Wilkinson: work has started in Coallie Park

8 Licensing

8.a to note: any Licensing matters relevant to LCCC area

no matters raised

9 LCCC Governance

9.a to note: arrangements for LCCC AGM in May

Decision: AGM to be held over to 19 June.
- I Mowat: at this point, I will stand down as treasurer. Volunteers to take over will be welcome.

9.b to note: update on LCCC IT migration

held over

9.c to note: any other LCCC governance issues