Minutes of the New Town and Broughton Community Council business meeting held on Monday 13 January 2014 in Cathedral House, 63 York Place, Edinburgh.
Present: Ian Mowat,(chair) Judy Conn, Jonathan Finn, Richard Price, Christine Ross, Susanna Beaumont, Carol Nimmo, James Igoe, Alan Welsh, Stuart Cowie, Richard Corral, Iain McGill, Pippa Lockhart, Rebecca Bridgland, Lynn Henni, James Igoe, Allan Jack
1. Apologies for Absence
Gaby Holden, Ben MacPherson, Audrey Cavaye
2. Banking arrangements
Jonathan Finn argued that CC should move its account to Triados Bank. He had already set this in motion by giving them details of the NTBCC and office bearers, and signatories had been written to, but the account has not yet been opened- as that awaited a CC decision and minute recording the decision.
They were a small ethical bank founded in the Netherlands in the 1980s and had am office in Hanover St. They made a very small transaction charges (20p was mentioned) but it also paid low interest. JF thought that the charges and interest would largely balance out. By contrast the current banks Lloyds TSB paid no interest and made no charges,. The inefficiency of Lloyds TSB in continually losing new signatory information contrasted with Triados’ efficient approach in writing to proposed signatories already.
AW raised concerns re the connection of the bank with the Steiner schools- it often provided banking facilities for them. Others saw no difficulty with this and pointed out that non ethical banks would have all sorts of clients which individual members would not necessary approve of. The CC funds would be covered by the banks depositors guarantee.
IM raised a concern that the Hanover St office did not have branch facilities. JF agreed, but we never needed to deposit or withdraw cash. A cheque book would be provided. IM asked if no one thought it necessary to have a branch and no-one did.
IM said that the decision to move would be taken formally at the 3 Feb CC meeting but asked who supported the move and all present did save AW.
3. Community Council Website
James Igoe reported that he had met with RB and JF in December to discuss options for the website, and as a result of that JI had setup a word press dummy website for the NTBCC to give members an idea of what was possible. He also had suggested people look at 4 website from other Edinburgh CCs.
Members said they liked the layout of the Leith links website best. Its topical home message and links to “minutes” “events “ etc. was praised. JI said Leith links was a wordpress website and it would be possible to develop his dummy site into something similar.
Members discussed what the website was for and the overwhelming priority was communication with resident of CC activities including future meeting and minutes- but links to other local websites and the use of it to cut down emails among members was also noted.
It was agreed that the home page should be kept dynamic – but should have some static elements so it always mentioned the next meeting etc – this could be achieved by making it “sticky”.
Also each committee- planning, licensing, transport and environment should have its individual tab which it would be the responsibility of that committee to update.
JI would convene the Communications committee comprising of Rebecca Bridgland, Jonathan Finn and Carol Nimmo which would consider how best to develop the website and what organizational structure would be needed to run it , who would edit , who would blog ( if anyone) etc.
It was agreed that the Communications group would meet ideally before the 3 February meeting and report back at it.
4. Committees
IM reviewed the state of the Committees and following a discussion in which some members expressed preferences to join certain committees the constitution of committees was noted as follows.
Planning
Convener Richard Price, Stuart Cowie, Ian Mowat, Judy Conn, Richard Corral
Environment
Convener Judy Conn, Christine Ross, James Igoe, Lyn Henni
Transport
Convener Lynn Henni, Ian Mowat, Alan Welsh, Allan Jack, Carol Nimmo
Licensing
Convener Jonathan Finn, Alan Welsh, Ben McPherson, Susanna Beaumont
Communications
Convener James Igoe, Rebecca Bridgland, Carol Nimmo, Jonathan Finn
5. Future meetings
All meeting till 7 April were to be in Cathedral House, but IM thought it to small and too difficult to access to be suitable venue for the AGM or a long term venue IM said that the Minister of Broughton St Mary had told him he would like to see the CC back in the Drummond room if
possible and was looking into what could be offered. IM said that Drummond Room has the size to seat members of public at one end to ensure a proper divide between CC members and the public, and make it easier to moderate interventions from the public. Also the presence of a caretaker to let in latecomers was welcome. However others thought the Drummond Room too narrow and it was agreed members would explore alternatives and report in February.
Members expressed a desire to hold more business meetings. IM indicated that under the scheme for community Councils we were required to hold 6 ordinary meetings and one AGM in May/June. Currently we held 10 ordinary meetings so there was scope to change some to business meetings. It was agreed to change the April meeting to a business meeting.
6. AOCB
Next Ordinary meeting Monday 3 February 2014 730pm Cathedral House 63 York Place