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LHNCC May 2024 minutes

Please note these are draft minutes – the minutes secretary has not yet received confirmation of their acceptance.

Minutes of the Leith Harbour and Newhaven Community Council ordinary meeting, held at Custom House, on Tuesday 28 May 2024 at 6:30pm

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

1 Introductions and attendance

Frank Geoghégán-Quinn LHNCC Jason Ran LHNCC Bruce Ryan minutes secretary
Anna Khlibodarova LHNCC Douglas Tharby LHNCC Cllr Chas Booth Leith ward
Jim Preacher LHNCC Neil Tulloch LHNCC 3 residents/visitors

1.a Apologies for absence

Elaine Dick LHNCC Don Giles LHNCC Arthur Young LHNCC Cllr Katrina Faccenda Leith ward

2 Declarations of interest

none

3 Minutes of 23 April meeting

  • Accepted as-is (proposed D Tharby, seconded J Ran)

4 Matters arising

4.a Actions from April meeting

Row Item Actor Action Status
1 4 E Dick Set up an LHNCC email account for A Khlibodarova – and enable her to access it incomplete – held over
2 4 D Tharby Monitor LHNCC secretary email account while F Geoghegan-Quinn is unwell Complete – FGQ now can access this account via LHNCC’s laptop
3 7.a.ii D Tharby Ask for public exhibition on plans for Harbour 31 Complete – there is no obligation for such an exhibition, so it won’t happen
4 7.a.ii LHNCC Publicise any such application far and wide Not done – materials not supplied to web-weaver
5 7.a.iv E Dick Supply submitted objection about Albert Dock railings for LHNCC website Complete: LHNCC’s objection is on CEC’s planning portal. The application was granted on 27 May*
6 7.a.v LHNCC Look into what is being proposed for Tower Place Not done – held over
7 7.c.ii E Dick and LHNCC Brief Cllr Arthur on trams greenspace/Discovery Gardens, and pressure via CCTT E Dick not present – held over
8 7.d.ii J Ran Ask a representative of Dreadnaught pub to present to LHNCC in May on the Pride bridge In progress: J Ran has emailed with Dreadnought pub representative and will re-engage with when she is back from holiday
9 8 Cllr Faccenda Ask a CEC planner to present on implications of CityPlan 2030 to LHNCC Cllr Faccenda not present – held over
10 9.a Cllr Faccenda Raise the Shore’s poor state at TEC Cllr Faccenda not present – held over

* Drawings of the railings (and objections) are online on CEC’s planning portal.

5 Residents’ issues advised prior to the meeting

5.a Traffic on Henderson Street

  • A resident reports that the road surface here is in very poor condition, with traffic causing noise and vibration problems all night.
    • Action: B Ryan to obtain contact details for East London St residents, who have had some success in engaging with Edinburgh Council and Lothian buses over very similar problems.
    • Action: D Tharby to then pass on such contact details

5.b Trees and planters along tram-route

  • D Tharby: residents are concerned about the state of Discovery Gardens, and about the planters along the tram route.

6 Police report, including responses to items raised

See report on LHNCC website.

  • J Preacher: there have been break-ins at Britannia Quay, but police have not yet acknowledged these.

7 Standing items and updates

7.a Planning and licensing

7.a.i Harbour 31

  • See item 4.a (row 3) above.

7.a.ii Albert Dock railings

  • See item 4.a (row 5) above.

7.a.iii Seafield update

  • N Tulloch: the sounding board met at the end of April. There was discussion of the coastal change adaptation plan and the wave action study. These are required to produce the masterplan. However, sounding board opinions are not being taken onboard, and a second-stage public consultation is being mooted. There is unease among the CC group because consultation without adequate information is ‘asking for trouble’. It is unclear why matters are now proceeding apace when they have been delayed until now. The steering group will meet tomorrow afternoon.
    • Action: Cllr Booth to bring this to CEC planning ctte.

7.a.iv Council-led training session (30 May, 2pm, via Teams)

  • D Tharby: this session will cover the role of CCs in the planning process.
    • There was concern that the meeting was during the day, restricting attendance.
    • Action: J Ran, J Preacher, N Tulloch to attend

7.b Transport

7.b.i Trams

  • No points raised

7.b.ii Buses

  • The EBUG AGM will be on 6 June (6pm, at St Augustine United Church)
    • Action: F Geoghégán-Quinn to attend, if possible.

7.c Environment and green space

7.c.i Water of Leith Basins Stakeholder Group

  • This meeting will be on Friday 21 June (3pm to 5pm).
    • Action: F Geoghégán-Quinn to circulate Teams link

7.c.ii Discovery Gardens

  • See item 5.b above.

7.c.iii Reopening of Coalie Park on 22 May

  • D Tharby: I attended this; it followed completion of phase 1. Improvements to the park are welcome, as is better access.
    • Phase 2 work has just started.

7.d Heritage

7.d.i Murals on walls of South Leith Parish Church

  • D Tharby: there are proposals to add murals to the walls, but I think the designs are disappointing. The walls belong to CEC. The closing date for comments on the proposals has passed.

7.e Community

7.e.i Update on Leith Community Centre

  • D Tharby: the community centre was on the CEC Culture & Communities agenda on 16th I am a trustee. Some work is needed, but details cannot yet be shared. The AGM will be on 12 June.

7.e.ii Gala Days

  • D Tharby: Leith Gala Day will be on Sat 8 June, on Leith Links. LHNCC will share a gazebo with the other Leith CCs. Volunteers are very welcome. The theme will be 20-minute neighbourhood.
    • It coincides with the Leith jazz and blues festival.
  • D Tharby: Newhaven Gala Day will be on Sat 1 June, at Heart of Newhaven. I have offered to help with Trinity CC’s stall.

7.e.iii Living Rent

  • A resident: Living Rent held a ‘town hall’ meeting on 10 May about the former Dalton scrapyard, attended by ~150 people, including some councillors. CEC has agreed to requests for community involvement.

8 Edinburgh’s proposed local development plan – City Plan 2030 – report of examination

  • Action: F Geoghegan-Quinn to circulate ‘receipt of report’ email to LHNCC members.
  • There was discussion of the large number of languages spoken in Leith, and of the numbers of Edinburgh population born overseas.

9 Councillors’, MSP’s and MP’s reports and updates

9.a Cllr Booth

  • The Licensing board met on Monday. It covers alcohol and gambling licenses. Leith Arches has been using occasional licences, so is being pressed to move to a permanent license, but needs to sort some planning issues.
  • There was a consultation on areas of overprovision. All areas so far are in the city centre, but the NHS is advising extending to all of Leith. (Hence there may be a second consultation.) Outlet densities, alcohol-related crimes and hospitalisations are all high in Leith and Muirhouse. Removal of two other areas has also been suggested. Submissions are not in the public domain, hence Cllr Booth is pushing for publication.
  • The developer of John’s Place Lane purpose-built student accommodation has appealed to the Scottish Government due to non-determination by CEC. Hence there will be no hearing at CEC level. This reinforces a question about CEC’s lack of resources.
  • Permission for 94 Ocean Drive (112 flats, 404 study-bedrooms) near Ocean Point 1 was granted 5:6. I strongly opposed this due to various compliance issues and lack of landscaping.
  • The bus station is under threat because the owners want to sell the site. There was a motion to consider compulsory purchase.
  • I am pushing for more details of when temporary toilets will be installed on Leith Links.
  • There is a consultation on council housing strategy.
  • There is a consultation on revamping the Victoria park bowling green.

10 Key diary dates ahead of next meeting

  • D Tharby: the low emission zone starts on Saturday 1 June.

11 AOCB

11.a SOSLeith report (via email)

  • On our front, this spring SOSLeith has participated in two separate community outreach segments. The first was being interviewed on our part in being a Community Action Group and our work with The Shore on the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Community Stories podcast. This was entitled SOSLeith: How one community is raising its voice to clean up their river. It can be found online here.
  • SOSLeith was also interviewed for Forth Radio, providing their take on how Sewage Related Debris can affect water quality here and what that means for our environment. These segments aired at the top of the hourly newscast on April 12th.
  • An interview has taken place with STV News, and we will advise when this gets aired.
  • On the most recent matters, we wish to ask for the community council’s voice and support in the continued pressure on our city council from their promise from earlier in February on the motion and amendments for water testing in the WoL basins. We have not received any responses from Cllrs McVey and Caldwell on this matter on May 10th, and have not yet received responses. This week Jim Jarvie of our group has asked Cllr Faccenda for advice on how we can find out what, if any, support is being made for testing for sewage pathogens and the reporting from this testing. We would ask the community council for any assistance in keeping the voices high and helping to make sure these promises are met.

11.b Other matters

  • Cllr McVey (via Twitter): the Scottish Government has just passed the transient visitor levy bill.
  • D Tharby: the boom at the Water of Leith basins has broken.
  • A member: there are 9 cygnets at the WoL basins this year.
  • D Tharby: the Victoria bridge is to reopen soon.
  • I laid a wreath on behalf of LHNCC for the victims of the Quintinshill rail disaster.

11.c Treasurer’s report

  • Current balance: £607·99

12 Date of next meeting

Tuesday 25 June 2024, at Heart of Newhaven. This meeting will include LHNCC’s AGM.

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