LCCC August 2024 minutes

Minutes of Leith Central Community Council AGM, at Nelson Hall, McDonald Road Library, on Monday 08 August 2024 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

2023

2024

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May (AGM)

Jun

Jul

Aug

Voting members

Zoe Curry

No meeting

Alan Dudley

Avril Ewing

Charlotte Encombe

Pierre Forissier

Nick Gardner

Luci Holland

Sheila Kennedy

Jed Milroy

Alex Ortiz

Simon Preston

Harald Tobermann

John Wilkinson

Bruce Ryan

Non-voting members

Cllr Jack Caldwell

Cllr James Dalgleish

Cllr Amy McNeese-Mechan

Cllr Susan Rae

Ben Macpherson MSP

Deidre Brock MP

Tracey Gilbert MP

Number of others attending

P = present, P* = present but did not become a member until late into the meeting, A = apology, X = neither present nor sent apology, NA = not applicable

Police Scotland also sent apologies.

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 17 June 2024

Approved as-is (proposed H Tobermann, seconded J Caldwell, nem con)

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

Item	Actor	Action	Progress
3 row 4	Cllrs Caldwell, Rae	Keep pushing for fixes to tram-route issues	In progress
3 row 5	H Toberman, P Forissier	Check whether Albert St bin-hub changes will be OK	postponed to October
3 row 10	S Kennedy	Write a proposal for action by CEC on traffic problems in Abbeyhill colonies	See below
4.a	P Forissier	Contact relevant police team to ask for return of CCTV to Dalmeny St.	Held over
5.a	H Tobermann	Express LCCC’s disappointment about the lack of progress on the Powderhall path to CEC	Done
6.a	H Tobermann	Thank CEC for undertaking the discussion with the Manderson St developers, and ask that it is done in other cases	Done
6.b	P Forissier	If time permits, submit LCCC’s objection on Ashley Place	Held over
6.c	P Forissier	If time permits, submit LCCC’s objection on Murano Place	Held over
6.c	B Ryan	Try to find contact details for NHS Lothian official who predicts population changes	Done
6.d	P Forissier	Submit LCCC’s objection to the 8 Middlefield PBSA, based on residents’ input	Held over
6.f	B Ryan	Enable P Forissier to automatically count and report summary numbers each meeting	done
7.b.iii	H Tobermann	Submit a deputation decrying the lack of detail in the report to TEC about Brunswick St	done

4 Policing matters

4.a to note: local (ward) Police Report July/August 2024

no report supplied, no police present
- Action: C Encombe to contact police about their lack of engagement with LCCC

4.b to note: Police Scotland – Edinburgh City Division Scrutiny Report 4/23 to 3/24

It was noted that the report covers 2022 to 2023.
- H Tobermann: considering the lack of report, absence of police from this meeting, the drugs issues mentioned below and abstraction of police to the city centre for the festival, LCCC should insist that policing is not allowed to be defective outwith the city centre.

4.c to note: reports of continued drug dealing in Pilrig Park and Police Scotland’s ongoing and future response

C Encombe: there have been observations of drug-dealing at the park. It is regrettable that no police are at this meeting.
- Friends of Pilrig Park rep: FoPP has had no contact with the police since an assault took place in the park this summer. Also, many active group members have been away recently. FoPP obtained 170 responses to a June-July survey of park users. Around 1 in 6 reported open drug dealing. The problem appears to mostly occur in the woods on the boundary with Pilrig St. FoPP will share a report when it is ready. The report will reflect park users’ views on a range of issues – positive and negative – and is not specific to drugs / antisocial behaviour.
- H Toberman: when accompanying a police patrol, I observed suspicious behaviour in this boundary area.
- C Encombe, in response to a resident: LCCC doesn’t have an opinion on CCTV for this area. The main problem is the high wall, making it easy for perpetrators to hide.
- Cllr Caldwell: this has been an ongoing issue. I will ask CEC to cut back bushes by the relevant entrance, and seek a public safety grant. CEC is working on a grant to improve lighting, but this needs to be consultation. I will also chase the community policing team.
- J Milroy: I have picked up discarded needles in a playground in the park, but GPs would not dispose of them.
- There was discussion of needle-exchange schemes and other ways to dispose of needles. Action: FoPP to engage with CEC over disposing of needles.
- Cllr Caldwell: I submitted a motion in February about needles on stairwells, and will follow this up.
- C Encombe: some of the trees in the problematic area are old and may need to be removed.
- FoPP rep: FoPP has been pressing CEC about this, and is engaging with the Greenspace Trust for training and tools to maintain the area, if it can be cut back professionally first.

5 Parks and green spaces

5.a to note: update from Friends of Pilrig Park

FoPP rep: Fopp held a ‘lovely’ community picnic in June, and is exploring further such events. However, CEC requires costly insurance, so FoPP will engage with CEC over this. Some potholes have been filled, and waste bins have been painted. FoPP has also found that there are no parks rangers in this part of Edinburgh. A review is due, and FoPP asks people to advocate for park rangers to be allocated to this area.
LCCC commended FoPP on the picnic.

5.b to note: any other Parks and green spaces matters relevant to LCCC area

Friends of Montgomery St psrk rep: FoMSP also supports having a park ranger in this area. There are drug issues in MSP also, but not as bad as in PP. FoPP’s children’s committee has now been launched. It has renamed itself, created a logo and created its own list of priorities It will meet again in October.
- MSP now has a large, active management committee, and is launching a ‘place-making’. This has a team of professional writers and illustrators magazine also drug-issues but apparently not so bad
- Action: LCCC to give FoMSP a regular agenda item.

6 Planning

6.a to note: Vestas Offshore Wind Blades UK Ltd – Proposal of Application Notice, Land to the East of Imperial Dock, Port of Leith; Luci Holland report on drop-in event

H Tobermann: this is outwith LCCC’s area but may impact it due to the desire to recruit labour, which might cause extra traffic through LCCC’s area.
- Action: H Tobermann to submit LCCC’s request that the company organises shuttle-buses to pick up workers from outwith Edinburgh from park-and-rides.

6.b to note: workshops about the University of Edinburgh’s 2025 – 2030 Community Plan (28/8 or 3/9/24)

it was noted that any applications need to include UofE students.
- Action: B Ryan to attend one of the events.

6.c to note: plans to turn 8/2 Smith’s Place into six holiday flats (24/03019/FULSTL and 24/03020/LBC)

H Toberman: planning permission was granted to create residential accommodation here, but the owners now wish to run them as short-term lets.
- Action: H Tobermann to submit objection.

6.d to note: any other Planning matters relevant to LCCC area

6.d.i 165 Leith Walk (former tram depot)

A resident/H Tobermann: there is planning permission here for a pottery studio, and the building is managed by Out of The Blue. CEC now wishes to move kilns here from the South Side resource centre, because that has been taken over by the Fringe. There are fire-risk concerns here because there is a pile of wood left in place by the Smith’s Place developers, who also caused other damage. OOTB has asked CEC to take action, and escalated this appeal, to no avail.

7 Transport and clean streets

7.a to note: application to refurbish office building ‘Calton Square’ (59 Leith Street, 24/03604/FUL) and potential impact on public transport to/from South Side from road closure during construction

H Tobermann: closures of Leith St traffic lanes, pavements and cycle lanes are likely, almost certainly leading to disruption. LCCC should insist on avoidance of such disruption.

7.b to note: Tram Project post-construction: (upcoming) personnel changes; reasons behind upcoming tram driver strike

H Tobermann: Hannah Ross (former project lead) is leaving CEC. Cllr Arthur will soon resign as CEC Transport convenor and then from CEC because he has been elected to the UK parliament. Paul Lawrence (former CEC director of place) has become CEC’s chief executive. Robert Armstrong remains but is now very hard to contact and seems even more overworked. All of this is a dilution of attention and a loss of knowledge, responsibility and public engagement.
Tram drivers are planning to strike because of lack of toilet breaks. This is due to end-to-end journeys taking longer than the planned 50 minutes, toilets only being available at either end of the journey (and some trams being ordered not to go to the termini) and trams being held at traffic signals (contrary to promises, and due to lack of resources for signalling).

7.c to agree: to campaign for a comprehensive (rather than piecemeal) post-Tram construction strategy which

– addresses the resources required to monitor contractor defects (and compliance)

– reviews (and amends/fixes) big and small issues where design (agreed by CEC in the Final Business Case) is not working as expected (or simply wrong), noting that not of all these will be immediately affordable, but that they should at least be catalogued, so that they can be appropriately prioritised

– reviews ad hoc measures introduced during the construction phase

– and reverses planned, but temporary measures introduced during the construction phase

H Tobermann: CEC transport has a rolling action plan with ~80 items: Hannah Ross (see item 7.b) is responsible for ~36 of these. However, there is no joined-up plan to complete the trams project. Also, the defects period ends on 7 June 2025, adding to the urgency.
- A resident: after the ‘close-out’ report, a further report is due in ~6 months. CEC should be held to this.
Decision and action: LCCC agreed to campaign as above; Cllr Caldwell to help with this.

7.d to note: update on Councillor Caldwell’s proposed schemes for the Local Traffic Improvement Programme

Cllr Caldwell: I submitted 5 proposals in June, but none were funded. There was no obvious pattern to the funded proposals. There may be other ways to obtain funding for these. I will work with LCCC on future opportunities.

7.e to note: any other Transport and clean streets matters relevant to LCCC area

S Kennedy: there are concerns about rat-runs, often used by large trucks, in the Abbeyhill colonies. A sign stating that roads are unsuitable for HGVs has helped but the problems remain. We have engaged with councillors but would also like LCCC’s input and support to help find creative solutions.
- There was discussion of traffic flows, and possible changes to traffic controls.
- Decision: LCCC supports work towards a solution.

8 Licensing

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

All points made by S Kennedy unless otherwise noted.

8.a.i 294 Leith Walk (fast food outlet)

An application for a late catering licensing was granted despite LCCC’s objection LCCC believes that this decision is does not CEC guidance because such premises should cease trading at or before 1am.
- Action: S Kennedy to raise this concern with CEC.

8.a.ii 180 Leith Walk (formerly The Mousetrap, now The Doghouse)

This business has applied to extend its license to trade until 1am every day, and to play recorded music until that time each day. However, this business is underneath a tenement, so the music may well disturb residents.
- Cllr Caldwell: amplified music needs neighbours to consent.
- Action: S Kennedy to submit an objection.

8.a.iii 126 Easter Road (pizza restaurant)

This business has outside seating, and there are barriers either end that stick out and hence impinge on the pavement.
- Cllr Caldwell: tables and chairs need a permit, which is separate from any license. Tables and chairs must be removed from pavements by 9pm; CEC can enforce breaches of this rule
- Action: S Kennedy to ascertain if the barriers are contrary to regulations, and submit objection if they are.

9 LCCC Governance

9.a Co-options

Following discussion of the relevant rules, the following were co-opted onto LCCC:

Simon Preston (proposed C Encombe, seconded H Tobermann, nem con)
Avril Ewing (proposed C Encombe, seconded S Kennedy, nem con)
- Actions: B Ryan to add them to mailing list, website etc, and forward relevant guidance. S Kennedy to notify CEC.

9.b to note: the election of Tracy Gilbert as local MP and ex-officio member of LCCC

noted

9.c to note: vacancy of Vice chair to be filled (advice and support available)

noted

9.d to note: Phase 3 Statutory Consultation of the Scheme for Community Councils and their Boundaries closes 21 August 2024

noted

9.e to note: community metrics: Edinburgh is the UK city with the strongest sense of community spirit according to new study (EN, 29-7-24), but: The European countries with the strongest sense of community (Preply, 11-07-24)

noted

9.f to note: any other LCCC governance issues

S Kennedy: I need details of LCCC’s treasurer, to forward to CEC.

10 Open forum (local residents)^[1]

No points raised

11 AOCB (LCCC members)^[2]

C Encombe: LCCC’s meeting venue would benefit from better tables.

12 Future meetings and planned meeting topics/presentations

2024: 16 September, 21 October, 18 November
2025: 20 January, 17 February, 17 March, 21 April, 19 May (AGM), 16 June

^[1] This agenda point allows members of the public to raise issues of public interest.

^[2] This agenda point allows LCCC members to raise issues not covered by the agenda.