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MERCHISTON COMMUNITY COUNCIL Draft Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday, 18 May 2004 at 7.00pm at the Eric Liddell Centre. (The meeting followed a presentation on The European Parliament by Margaret Hilton of the European Movement (Scottish Council)). 1.0 Chairperson's Welcome Bridget Stevens (Chair) welcomed those present: Atholl Stewart (Vice Chair), Edith McLean, James Geekie, Desmond Hodges, John Lennie, Cllrs. George Hunter, Sue Tritton and Liz O'Malley, William Mykura, Chris Sharman, Derek Ainsley (Treasurer), Robin Morris (Secretary) and Janice Laxton (Minutes Secretary). Bridget Stevens welcomed Derek Bryant, Manager of Merchiston Environmental Task Force, to the meeting. She has heard with great sadness of Diana Dunthorne's illness. She has sent a card to her on behalf of everyone at MCC. 2.0 Apologies for Absence Cllr Wilson, Cllr Hunter, Bob Rendall. 3.0 Minutes of AGM held on 20 May 2003 Adoption of these minutes was moved by John Lennie, and seconded by Derek Ainsley. 4.0 Matters Arising 4.1 Minutes of AGM 2003 4. Ann Klepper was not to be co-opted onto MCC as the Greenhill and Churchill Amenity Association is represented by John Lennie. 5. The benches have just recently been installed along the canal. There are no litter bins as yet. Grateful thanks were extended to Derek Ainsley for all his work on this project. 6. All agreements have been carried out, except 6.2. Sue Tritton explained that no request was received from residents of Merchiston Gardens to include it in the Controlled Parking Zone, yet those present insisted that a letter was sent. A resident will contact Bridget Stevens, who will then get in touch with Cllr Hunter. 7. 10,000 bookmarks, for distribution in the local area, have been produced. Bridget Stevens pointed out a mistake in the wording, which, however, can be easily amended by hand. The possibility of distributing the bookmarks to every house in the area through the Post Office was discussed, but no decision made. Meetings will be better publicised through the new notice board now installed at the Eric Liddell Centre. Chris Sharman suggested that notices be posted on the notice board at Harrison Park. Publicity and Communication will be included on the agenda for the June meeting. 4.2 Chairperson's Report on Activities since June 2003 (copy attached) Bridget Stevens circulated a paper. Janice Laxton was appointed as Minutes Secretary not Membership Secretary. Bridget Stevens noted that since its inception the Scottish Executive has issued approx. 800 consultation documents, many too late to allow time for a response. A box file containing the most relevant will be circulated at MCC meetings from now on. 4.3 Summary of Meetings attended by the Chairperson since February 2004 Bridget Stevens circulated a paper. Papers of all Council meetings are now available online. 5.0 Treasurer's Report Derek Ainsley distributed copies of the annual accounts, which Jennifer Gibb will again be asked to audit. Derek Ainsley was thanked for his invaluable work as Treasurer over the past year. 6.0 Other Reports 6.1 Police Report Inspector Brian Nisbet handed out copies of the Merchiston Police newsletter. Approx. half of all house break-ins in Merchiston are solved. There is no particular time or other pattern to this type of crime. Car crime: mainly damage to wing mirrors, aerials, etc. Damage to business premises: several smashed windows, some thought to be acts of revenge by a dismissed member of staff. Bicycle crime: bicycles continue to be stolen, even from common stairs. The only safe storage place is indoors. Inspector Nisbet recommended high-tensile steel d-locks, as well as other security measures such as passports and postcoding (some of which can be carried out by local Police). The Police crime prevention website has useful information. He will look into the question of bicycle alarms. The Police now put up notices to alert neighbours when an illegally parked car has been towed. The Police should be notified if a car is dangerously parked. Three new 'Tardis' Police boxes will be reopened in Ward 27. There is still a problem with rough sleepers in Bruntsfield Place particularly, who sometimes force entry into common stairs. The Police cannot arrest beggars or vagrants unless they cause a breach of the peace, eg. through aggressive behaviour. There have been allegations of drug pushers approaching children in Bruntsfield and Polwarth. Inspector Nisbet confirmed that 'boy racers' are in breach of the law. Residents affected by the noise should report it to the Police. Operation Capital: Cllr Maryline McLaren, who is a member of the local Police Board, asked people to write in with any comments, positive or negative, on this new community policing scheme which was introduced last year. 6.2 South Edinburgh Local Development Committee Bridget Stevens distributed a report of the last meeting which she attended. The next meeting of the Committee, the topic for which is the Controlled Parking Zone, will take place on 24 May at James Gillespies Primary School. Robin Morris and John Lennie will attend. John Lennie and Bridget Stevens will attend the following meeting on 28 June at which the 20mph Zone will be discussed. 6.3 Local Environmental Forum Derek Bryant thanked MCC for inviting him to speak at the meeting, and everyone in the community who had expressed their appreciation of his team's work. One of his main achievements has been to reduce the length of time streets need to be closed for cleaning - from one day to three hours, including moving and replacing cars where necessary. He plans to improve notices before his contract expires at the end of May. He confirmed that paper recycling has already started in the area, and it is hoped that a grass collection pilot scheme will start soon. He is also keen to introduce recycling in schools. Bridget Stevens thanked him and his team for all they have done over the past year. She will write to Mike Drewry, Director of Environmental and Consumer Services, asking if Derek and his team could stay on. The next meeting of the Forum will take place on 27 May 2004. 6.4 City Development Transport Neighbourhood Meeting Report distributed. 6.5 Security Panel Meeting 9 June 2004. 6.6 Community Councils Joint Meeting Chris Sharman hopes to attend the next meeting on 21 June 2004 at the City Chambers. 7.0 Planning Applications MCC has received a consultation paper on Rights of Appeal in Planning from the Scottish Executive. Bridget Stevens will respond. Paper from Desmond Hodges. Gilmore Place Tollcross CC has invited MCC to join them in this planning project. Desmond Hodges and Chris Sharman will attend their next meeting. New Detached Property, St Margaret's Road John Lennie and Chris Sharman decided that this was not an issue to pursue. 11 Ettrick Road Extension to an extension of a residential property. The Planning Department is on the case. 5 Ettrick Road The Planning Department have no objection to this residential property being run as a business from just one room, provided that there are no regular visitors to the property. Bridget Stevens will distribute a letter from the MCC asking neighbours to monitor the situation. Royal Ettrick Hotel The hotel has now introduced noise reducing measures. Robin Morris and Bridget Stevens will keep an eye on the situation. Garden Centre, Holy Corner Bridget Stevens has talked with the developers, who are keen to hold a public meeting. She will invite them to talk at the next MCC meeting. 8.0 AOCB 8.1 Invitation to a Strategy Day on Income Maximisation 29 June 2004. 8.2 Circular on Complaints Procedure Sent by an individual who has a grouse with another community council. Bridget Stevens will refer him to the Community Council Officer at Edinburgh City Council. 8.3 Consultation Paper on Reducing Re-Offending Bridget Stevens will write to say that insufficient notice was given to enable MCC to respond. 8.4 Meadows Festival Association Invitation to send a representative of MCC to sit on the Association by 5 June 2004. Bridget Stevens will reply saying that it is unlikely that a representative will come forward in the time allowed. 8.5 Youth Café Project in Bruntsfield A representative of MCC will attend the opening/planning meeting on 14 June 2004. Cllr McLaren noted that a non-church based youth club already runs successfully at Warrender Baths. She also said that a Community Education Officer for youth work has now been appointed by the Council. 8.6 New Minister, Polwarth Chuch Bridget Stevens will write to Polwarth Church inviting their new minister to contact MCC. 8.7 Committee Resignations Wies Robertson and Oliver Shipp have moved out of the area and therefore resigned from MCC. John Lennie has resigned as a full member but will continue to attend as representative of Greenhill and Churchill Amenity Association. Bridget Stevens thanked them all for their hard work. 9.0 Date and Information of Next Meeting Tuesday, 15 June at the Eric Liddell Centre. It is hoped that the developers will be able to talk about the Garden Centre issue, otherwise the topic will the Extension to the Controlled Parking Zone. It is hoped that there will also be a short talk/demonstration on composting at home. Suggestions for future meetings include the Parliament Building and Homelessness and Begging. -------------Chairperson's Report (see 4.2)------------- For Merchiston Community Council Annual General Meeting 18 May 2004 Chairperson's Report on activities since June 2003 Regular MCC meetings (7) with speaker presentations Special Public Meeting re Garden Centre proposal Responses to numerous consultation documents on a wide range of topics incl. CPZ extension; Urban Design & Edinburgh City Local Plan (Desmond Hodges) Contacts/correspondence with huge number of organisations and individuals, including MSP's, other Community Councils, the City of Edinburgh Council (various departments), NHS Lothian, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Civic Forum, Scottish Water, Association of Scottish Community Councils, the Scottish Office, Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, Meadows Festival Association, Lothian & Borders Police Attendance at meetings (a) regular, formal - eg Local Development Committees (Edinburgh South, Central, Pentlands); Merchiston Environmental Forum; City Development Department Neighbourhood Group; Edinburgh Association of Community Councils and (b) occasional eg Harrison Park (Desmond Hodges); Scottish Water (Robin Morris); plus miscellaneous conferences, workshops Scrutiny of and response to Planning and Licence Applications incl. appearance before Licensing Court (Chris Sharman, Robin Morris, Bridget Stevens) Design & launch of MCC website and email facility Sponsorship of Environmental Arts Competition for schools (£525) Appointment of Minutes Secretary Janice Laxton Contribution to ELC's bid for Entrust funding Commissioning of MCC Bookmark Successful bid to Community Grants Fund for noticeboard outside ELC (£4232) (Robin Morris) Co-ordination of funding for and installation of canalside benches with British Waterways Board (£6400) (Derek Ainsley) Many thanks to local Councillors, especially Sue Tritton and George Hunter, to Secretary Robin Morris, Treasurer Derek Ainsley and to those other MCC colleagues who have been willing to share in the tasks of meeting attendance, report-writing etc. Bridget M. Stevens |
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