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NTBCC AGM minutes – Monday 12 October 2020

Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s AGM, held via Zoom, on Monday 12 October 2020 at 7pm

Actions and decisions are red italic. ND (‘no dissent’) means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision.

Edinburgh Council has clearly stated that online AGMs are acceptable under the current coronavirus restrictions.

Technology check

The meeting opened online at 6:45 pm to enable all attendees to connect before the start of business.

1 Attendance/apologies for absence

1.a Attendance

Mike Birch NTBCC, RRCTMA Carol Nimmo NTBCC
David Clarke NTBCC Richard Price NTBCC
Jonathan Finn NTBCC Nicholas Reid NTBCC, India St Association
Laura Graham NTBCC Sheila Warnock NTBCC, Great King St RA
Stephen Hajducki NTBCC Peter Williamson NTBCC, Picardy Residents
Deirdre Henderson NTBCC Bruce Ryan Minutes secretary
Simon Holledge NTBCC Alan McIntosh Broughton Spurtle
Jack Hugh NTBCC, Cllr Jo Mowat City centre ward
Susan MacInnes NTBCC Cllr Hal Osler Inverleith ward
Stuart McAllister NTBCC 9 residents/visitors

1.b Apologies for absence

Susanna Beaumont NTBCC James Kilner NTBCC
Susan Duff NTBCC Deidre Brock MP Edinburgh North and Leith

2 Approval of 2019 AGM Minutes

Approved subject to correction of very minor typos (proposed D Clarke, seconded P Williamson, ND)

3 Chair’s report summary

See full report in the Annual Accounts as distributed previously. The chair noted

  • In May, NTBCC met virtually for the first time using Zoom. This is now NTBCC’s 5th virtual meeting. Given current guidance, there are likely to be more.
  • Monthly meetings are arguably the smallest part of NTBCC’s work – there is much else, including much engagement with consultations, including those on City Mobility Plan and the Local Development Plan (‘Choices for City Plan 2030’). There were many such consultations.
  • A ‘new’ NTBCC was formed in October, following ‘pretty shambolic’ running of CC elections by CEC, with a full complement of members, including 4 new members and 4 new representatives from local interest groups.
  • Work immediately began on issues around Princes St gardens, e.g. tree-cutting, Xmas market, Quaich Project etc NTBCC is now collaborating with 4 other city-centre CCs and the Cockburn Association
  • The chair welcomed N Reid as the new representative of India St Association, and thanked A Jack for his previous work.
  • The chair thanked all NTBCC members for their work leading to consensus on submissions. She looks forward to continuing to improve engagement with residents, and thanked S Holledge for his work on this. She thanked B Ryan for minutes and technical support, and R Price for his work as secretary and support of her as chair.

The report was approved (proposed R Price, seconded L Graham).

4 Treasurer’s Report

See full report in the Annual Accounts as distributed previously. The treasurer noted

  • NTBCC runs on a budget of ~£1000 per year, thanks to members’ voluntary work and not charging NTBCC for expenses.
  • Significant costs include minutes secretary (£450 in 2019/20), venue-hire (£360, but £300 extra grant covered most of this); advertising costs were lower than previous years. Venue-hire in 2020/21 should be reduced due to online meetings, but may well increase when in-person meetings resume. NTBCC has sufficient reserves for a couple of years.

The report was approved (proposed D Henderson, seconded L Graham).

The full set of accounts was approved (proposed M Birch, seconded D Henderson).

5 Engagement report

The chair noted that S Holledge is now secretary of Edinburgh Association of Community Councils, and looked forward to EACC hence becoming more dynamic. She commended SH’s work on NTBCC’s Engagement Report.

6 Election of Office Bearers

There were no other candidates. All candidates accepted their nominations and were thus duly elected.

Role Candidate Nominator Seconder
Chair C Nimmo R Price S Holledge
Secretary L Graham S Holledge J Finn
Treasurer R Price C Nimmo D Henderson
Engagement officer S Holledge C Nimmo R Price

Action: NTBCC to appoint vice-chair, convenors, tweeter(s) etc at the subsequent NTBCC business meeting on 19 October.

NB some changes were made at the business meeting:

  • R Price became Vicechair
  • M Birch became Treasurer.

7 Any other business

None