LHNCC March 2024 minutes

Minutes of the Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council ordinary meeting, held at Heart of Newhaven, on Tuesday 26 March 2024 at 6:30pm

Actions and decisions are red italic. Nem con means that no-one spoke or voted against an item.

The meeting was preceded by a presentation by Cllr Cammy Day, Leader of Edinburgh Council, on the ‘Regeneration of North Edinburgh’.

1 Introductions and attendance

Elaine Dick	LHNCC	Arthur Young	LHNCC	Jim Scanlon	Leith Links CC
Frank Geoghegan-Quinn	LHNCC	Cllr Chas Booth	Leith ward	5 residents/visitors
Don Giles	LHNCC	Cllr Katrina Faccenda	Leith ward
Douglas Tharby	LHNCC	Bill Roger	Trinity CC

1.a Apologies for absence

Jim Preacher	LHNCC	Cllr Adam Nols-Mcvey	Leith ward
Jason Ran	LHNCC	Ben Macpherson MSP	Edinburgh Northern and Leith
Neil Tulloch	LHNCC	Deidre Brock MSP	Edinburgh North and Leith
Bruce Ryan	minutes secretary	Acting Sergeant Chris Casselden	Police Scotland

2 Declarations of interest

none

3 Minutes of February 2024 meeting

Approved as-is (proposed A Young, seconded D Tharby, nem con)

4 Matters arising

Row	February action	Actor	Action	Status
1	4.a row 1	J Scanlon	Forward to LHNCC the police report received by Leith Links CC	Complete
2	4.a rows 5 and 6	J Ran, D Tharby, LHNCC	‘Local place plan’ actions	Held over (J Ran not present). Leith Links CC is organising a joint event for nearby CCs
3	4.a row 8	E Dick	Give F G-Q access to the secretary email address, and the laptop
4	4.a row 10	E Dick	Arrange presentation on planning application by Ocean Terminal	See item 7.a.i below
5	4.a row 12	E Dick	Contact H Tobermann to follow up about CCTT	Complete
6	4.a row 14	E Dick, D Tharby	Collaborate on LHNCC’s work on Discovery Gardens	See item 7.a.i below
7	4.a row 16	E Dick	Arrange a business meeting for LHNCC	See item 11 below
8	7.a.i	Cllr Booth	Chase for updated planning training materials	In progress
9	7.a.iv	D Tharby	Keep LHNCC informed about Discovery Gardens project	See item 7.a.i below
10	7.c.ii	E Dick, N Tulloch	Represent LHNCC at any future CCTT meetings	See item 7.c.i below
11	7.f.ii	F Geoghegan-Quinn	Attend consultation event on CC boundaries and scheme	Complete
12	11	D Tharby	Circulate details of forthcoming EACC meeting

5 Residents’ issues

All covered below.

6 Police update/response to issues raised

See report on LHNCC website.

J Scanlon: food-delivery cycles are being used for drugs delivery.

7 Standing items and updates

7.a Planning

7.a.i Ocean Terminal

E Dick: I will soon meet with OT about Discovery Garden, trees and hedging.
- D Giles is happy to contribute to this work.
Action: D Tharby to chase for presentation on OT at LHNCC’s April meeting.

7.a.ii Seafield

See report on LHNCC website.

7.a.iii Western Harbour Ponds (PAN)

A resident: Save Western Harbour Ponds aims to protect this whole area (3 ponds and an adjacent piece of woodland. A tree preservation order for the whole area was made last summer. There is a PAN for development of the area – a consultation event will take place in May. The ponds would be hemmed in by tall buildings, and some woodland built on. Hence SWHP opposes all such development. There is a petition with 3000 signatories against such development.
- E Dick: LHNCC is a statutory consultee, and so needs decide its position.
- B Roger: as well as signing the petition, people need to respond to the planning application.
- J Scanlon: can SWHP prepare a template to help people respond?
- Cllr Booth: planning applications go to committee if they receive more than 20 objections, or a petition with 20 or more signatures. (Both need the reference number.) Objections are best made via the CEC planning portal. This matter will go to committee automatically because of clauses in National Planning Framework 4.

7.a.iv Local Place Plans

7.b Licensing

No matters raised

7.c Transport

7.c.i Trams

CCTT seems to have stalled, yet there are outstanding works, e.g. on landscaping.
Cllr Faccenda: There have been meetings about what the ‘lessons learned’ report should cover.
Action: E Dick to inform Cllr Faccenda about ongoing issues.

7.c.ii Buses

D Tharby: EBUG’s AGM will be on 6 June. CEC laid out its vision for integrated public transport to EACC on Saturday.
- Cllr Faccenda: Scottish Government will not cover costs associated with young people and integrated ticketing.
- J Scanlon: this will respond to roads infrastructure needs arising from major development near Edinburgh airport.
- B Roger: detail of how Lindsay Road and nearby roads can accommodate buses were not given.

7.d Environment

7.d.i Water of Leith Basins stakeholder group meeting

D Giles, E Dick: representation was very wide, including Forth Ports, Scottish Water, Water of Leith 2000, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, senior CEC officials. Matters discussed included siltation, sewage, rubbish, key walls, issues deriving from further upstream, buddleia, biodiversity. Notes of the meeting are anticipated. Future meetings will be quarterly. Private ownership of the basins is a significant issue. WoLCT will attempt to ascertain the biggest sources/types of litter.
- Cllr Faccenda: CEC is working on costs for dealing with litter.

7.d.ii Discovery Garden

See item 7.a.i above.

7.d.iii Edinburgh green spaces

D Tharby: Coallie park works are progressing well, with completion due in June.
- Action: D Tharby to supply information on green spaces project to E Dick.

7.e Heritage

7.e.i Scottish Heritage Buildings Trust

Action: D Tharby and J Scanlon to meet with SHBT head re architecture and timeline.

7.f Community

7.f.i £eith Chooses

D Giles: LC steering group is now planning for next year, having celebrated the success of the 2023-24 round. Funding from that round is now being disbursed. There was a successful feedback event on the 2023-24 round on 5 March.

8 Community Councils scheme review and boundaries

D Tharby, F Geoghegan-Quinn, and other CC representatives attended a meeting on this on Saturday. There are proposed minor changes to CC boundaries, and changes to maximum permitted members. Some boundary changes may be to align better with CEC wards. There is some concern about the proposed changes.

9 Councillor/MSP/MP responses and updates

9.a Cllr Booth

No Leith-related applications to the recent licensing board. There is a ‘minimalist’ consultation about alcohol overprovision. Leith is not currently seen as an area of overprovision, but the consultation enables requests that it becomes one. I have asked for relevant NHS data to be published with the consultation, but this was deemed to be ‘biased’.
A short-term let working group met recently, enabling the licensing and planning aspects to engage with each other. All licensing applications for STLs so far have been granted. Some STL planning applications have been refused.
I chaired the responsible construction working group. It appears the group can’t make rules but can encourage good practice.
I attended Saturday’s meeting on the pride bridge: there are very interesting practical proposals. LHNCC has been asked to be involved.
- D Tharby: LHNCC member J Ran is undertaking this.

9.b Cllr Faccenda

There are ongoing problems about parking at new developments, due to roads not being adopted by CEC. I will pursue this, e.g. ascertaining developers’ plans. While CEC can’t enforce about parking in general on unadopted roads, it can enforce about pavement parking on any road.
Increase spending for refurbishment of Cables Wynd and Linksview House was approved by CEC Finance and Resources. Procurement is now due to start The designs so far look very good.
I have asked many times for the fading box junction near Britannia Spice to be repainted. I will do so again.

10 Key diary dates ahead of next meeting

No matters raised

11 AOB

D Giles: SEPA consultation on flooding has been deferred to April. (It closes on 24 June.)
D Tharby: LHNCC’s current bank balance is £781·13. LHNCC’s financial year closes on 31 March.
Anna Khlibodarova was co-opted to LHNCC (proposed D Tharby, seconded A Young, nem con).
- Action: A Khlibodarova to complete relevant paperwork.
E Dick is arranging a business meeting (for LHNCC members only) in April.

12 Date of next meeting

Tuesday 23 April 2024 (Custom House)