NTBCC ordinary meeting minutes 8 June 2026 |

Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s ordinary meeting, held at Broughton St Mary’s church on Monday 8 June 2026, immediately after AGM

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

URLs have been added by the minutes secretary.

1 Welcome and apologies

Michael Birch	NTBCC	Masudun Nessa Mitu	NTBCC	Cllr jack Caldwell	Leith walk ward
Chris Fletcher	NTBCC	Doug Neville	NTBCC	Cllr Finlay McFarlane	City Centre ward
Annick Gaillard	NTBCC	Andrew Naughtie	NTBCC	Cllr Jo Mowat	City Centre ward
Laura Graham	NTBCC	Richard Price	NTBCC	PC Victor Carton	Police Scotland
Stephen Hajducki	NTBCC	Nicholas Reid	NTBCC	Alan Macintosh	Broughton Spurtle
Joe McAdam	NTBCC	Gerald Wells	NTBCC	4 residents/visitors
Martin McDonnell	NTBCC	Peter Williamson	NTBCC
Susan MacInness	NTBCC	Bruce Ryan	Minutes secretary

1.a Apologies

Fiona Banatvala	NTBCC	Simon Holledge	NTBCC	Cllr Hal Osler	Inverleith ward
Pierre Forissier	NTBCC	David Renton	NTBCC
Shaun Hodge	NTBCC	Cllr Claire Miller	City Centre ward

1.b Membership

Doug Neville was co-opted onto NTBCC
Chris Fletcher replaces Vanessa Roeves as Gt King St Association representative.

1.c Loss

It was noted that former NTBCC member Jack Hugh died recently. Action: P Williamson to send condolence note

2 Declarations of interest

none

3 Approval of minutes of May 2025 meeting and matters arising

Approved as-is (proposed R Price, seconded M Birch, ND)

3.a Actions from previous meetings

date added	Actor	Action	status
May-26	M Birch	follow up with Cllrs Mowat and Mitchel about EWH issues raised in February meeting	Outstanding
May-26	L Graham	Chase up police reports	Complete
May-26	R Price	chase for AGM reports	Complete
May-26	Cllr Miller	step in if there is no action on dead trees at Picardy Place	Complete
May-26	S Hodge/Fiona Banatvala	follow up on engagement methods with community grants fund officers
May-26	F Banatvala/S Hodge	engage with LeithChooses steering group, and report in June
May-26	R Price	submit NTBCC’s submission on Dundas St proposed hotel	Complete
May-26	R Price/P Forissier	submit NTBCC’s objection to The Place hotel on York Place	Complete
May-26	R Price	submit NTBCC’s objection to 57 Henderson Row/Royal London Building	Complete
May-26	M Birch	Highlight issues with plans for TVL PB to Cllr Graham	Complete
May-26	M Birch/Cllr Miller	try to engage with Old Town CC about Meadows to George St TROs	Complete
May-26	M Birch/S MacInnes	ascertain which NTBCC members will take part in the hearing on 17 June.	Complete
May-26	M Birch	Post next Powderhall newsletter	Outstanding
May-26	K Lochrie/M Birch	Act on 13 bus service issues
Apr-26	Cllr Mowat	look into cumulative impact assessments for planning
Apr-26	NTBCC	decide its position and inputs for Waveley valley workshop in mid-June	Complete
Apr-26	NTBCC office-bearers and convenors	create annual report, including engagement report	Complete
Apr-26	Cllr Caldwell	liaise with S Hodge about broken glass epidemic
Mar-26	NTBCC	consider its position on use of TVL revenues – find out how CCs views can be communicated (as well as via Cllrs)
Mar-26	S Hodge	Supply to cllrs details of a significant occurrence of fly-posting
Nov-25	S Hodge	Draft paper on concerns re e-bikes etc, then push for a public campaign
Nov-25	F Banatvala	Revisit public drop-ins in spring 2026, and liaise with EACC
Nov-25	M Birch, P Williamson, S Holledge	Raise lack of anti-graffiti action in time for the next street-cleansing report	Complete
Nov-25	S Hodge, F Banatvala	Develop action plan to implement finalised engagement strategy

Action: B Ryan and P Williamson to discuss how to minimize the action-list

Cllr Miller on dead trees at Picardy Place (via email)

I have been chasing up council officers regarding this. The last update is the one I shared on social media, which was

“We have a contractor now in place and works agreed, and they will be starting here in the next couple of weeks. This will include the removal of dead trees and replacement with appropriate species and re-doing the entire area to bring it up to a suitable standard, similar to what we have recently completed down at Newhaven/Ocean Drive. As part of this we will maintain the area during the summer periods before a formal handover to our parks and greenspaces colleagues to maintain as part of CEC business as usual.”

I have raised concerns about planting trees at this time of year, when usually trees would be planted at the opposite end of the year, but I have not yet had a response. I will continue to chase this issue and provide you with updates.

Also on social media there was the question about the Scottish Water bottle refill tap, and I have raised this as well, but as yet I don’t have any update to provide. Again, I’ll let NTBCC know when I have further information.

Cllr Miller on engagement with Old Town CC about Meadows to George St TROs (via email)

I attended OTCC the following day and outlined the issues that we discussed, and provided the Secretary with M Birch’s email address so that they could liaise.

4 Police report

4.a Q&A

A resident: a tent has been pitched on the corner of Frederick St and Rose St. What can police about this?
- Police can engage with occupants, especially if fire-exits are blocked or drug-taking is taking place. Police are working with relevant charities.
L Graham: a massive gang has been causing trouble in the St James Centre.
- The Centre is well staffed for security, and police are liaising with them, and undertaking walkthroughs. Most of the time the people involved are boisterous, not criminal. Police are concerned that the problem would just be moved on.
L Graham: please can police reports be regular and better informed.
- It is very likely that this will happen. The reports are being produced by a different team.
Please can police take action on Regent Rd boy racers?

5 Chair’s report

All points made by P Williamson unless otherwise noted.

5.a Proposal for NTBCC ‘Open House Event’

NTBCC could apply to CEC’s community grants fund to fund this activity.
Action: P Williamson to engage with NTBCC engagement officers on the practicalities of this event

5.b City Centre management plan/night-time economy engagement plan

A report from CEC’s policy and sustainability committee has benefitted from Cllr Mowat’s work.
This tries to get better co-ordination of a range of services, including cleanliness, public realm, safety, night-time economy,, heritage management.
There are attempts to schedule and co-ordinate contractors already.
- Cllr McFarlane: CEC does try to hold back problematic service works, but cannot prevent emergency works.
- Cllr Mowat: there should be information about the city centre management tema forthcoming.

5.c Princes Street and Waverley Valley strategy – City of Edinburgh Council workshop

P Williamson: M Birch, R Price and I attended this workshop today. It was too short, and there was a range of opinions. A report will go to CEC committee in September. It wasn’t clear what would be decided by stakeholders and what by CEC. It did nothing to bring people together.
M Birch, R Price: there was some interesting information, but NTBCC needs time to study it. The meeting was well organised, with recognition of issues. It’s not possible please all stakeholders.
Hoping it’s the first of several such meetings
Action: P Williamson to write asking for follow-up of this discussion, and circulate papers to NTBCC members

6 Planning matters

All points made by R Price unless otherwise noted.

6.a City Plan 2040 – ‘Call for Ideas’

EACC and the Edinburgh Civic Forum had presentations on City Plan 2040. CEC officers have produced a good evidence report with place briefs for city centre wards. This has been approved at committee but needs to go to full council.
Other CCs are creating local place plans, so CEC now has a call for ideas which enables CCs to submit ideas for their areas. This will be on CEC’s consultation hub soon, and stay open to September. This is maybe the last opportunity for NTBCC to influence city plan 20240. NTBCC will hold a dedicated meeting in July.

6.b 26/01515/FUL Class 7 hotel proposal at 9 St Colme Street (19 June)

This is a townhouse that was used as offices. It is proposed that this becomes an aparthotel. Of itself, this is not problematic, but would increase the loss of office space. The application itself is reasonably sympathetic.
- C Fletcher: there is some concern about taxis visiting the hotel blocking access.

6.c Wheatley Homes East – public event for homes on former RBS site

Wheatley has the development rights for affordable housing on this site, as a registered social landlord, so this part should be developed. Wheatley wishes to talk with residents via a public information session. I suggest this is done before the next NTBCC meeting.

7 Licencing matters

No discussion

8 Culture and communities matters

All points made by P Williamson unless otherwise noted.

8.a Edinburgh Visitor Levy

See AGM item 3.e.

8.b Heritage and culture strategy

This strategy is being created. (Action: P Williamson to circulate a note on it.)

8.c Other C&C matters

The Calton Hill trust is pleased with the C&C committee’s decisions on firework control zones.
A motion about creating a scheme for opening private gardens was defeated.

9 Transport and environment matters

See also convenor’s report. All points made by M Birch unless otherwise noted.

9.a Meadows to George Street TRO

It is amazing the problems with the TRO process are not yet in the media. The project has been put back by 2 years, impacting subsidiary projects.

9.b Communal Bin Phase 6 Update

See report
Cllrs McFarlane and Mowat: Cllrs are risking becoming too involved with operation matters here. NTBCC might need to submit a stage 1 complaint to find who to speak with.

9.c Charlotte Square update

See report

9.d Princes Street and Waverley Valley workshop

See item 5.c above

9.e East London Street

See report. ELS may not be getting the attention from CEC it needs.
Cllr McFarlane: TVL money for setted streets does not lead to two ‘tracks’ (one of CEC money, one of TVL money for streets with high visitor levels). I will chase on this, working with Cllr Mowat.

9.f Graffiti

See report. A TVL-funded graffiti squad is planned.

9.g Other matters

Action: NTBCC members to forward views/comments on number 13 bus service to M Birch, for forwarding to CEC.
Very often items are left behind after roadworks are finished. Who should be checking that sites are cleared?
- Action: Cllrs Caldwell and Mowat to follow up and supply useful phone number

10 Engagement and communication matters

Held over to next meeting (neither convenor could attend)

11 Any other business

NTBCC will not have a public meeting in July.
NTBCC’s next public meeting will be in August, online.
A resident: when will weeds on streets be tackled?
- P Williamson: CEC has very recently stated that it will do what it can. There has been spraying in my street very recently.
- Cllr McFarlane: it seems that streets with double kerbs may not be receiving sufficient attention. I have asked for action on Great King St.
- R Price: East Claremont Street has been done three times this year.
- M Birch: it is possible to report problems via the CEC website: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/weedcontrol.
- Action: B Ryan to add this link to NTBCC’s website.

New Town and Broughton Community Council

New Town and Broughton Community Council aims to ascertain, coordinate and express the views of the community to public authorities and developers and promote community well-being.

NTBCC ordinary meeting minutes 8 June 2026