Edinburgh World Heritage

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NTBCC full agenda Monday 13 November 2023 and convenor reports received so far

This will be an online meeting on Monday 13 November 2023 via Zoom (link) at 7pm. We’ll open the meeting at 6:45 so we can start promptly.

To access the meeting, please use the Zoom link here.

  1. Admin and welcome
  2. Approval of the minutes of the ordinary NTBCC meeting held on 9 October 2023, and matters arising (To approve/discuss)
  3. Police report (if received) (To note/discuss)
  4. Chair’s update
  5. Licensing (convener’s report)
    • Short Term Let Licensing scheme – Home Letting vs Secondary Letting (To discuss)
    • Alcohol Licensing
      • New draft policy statement and consultation (To note)
      • Police annual report 2022-2023 (To note)
    • Street trading and market operators consultation (To note)
    • SEV licensing – CEC regulatory committee evidence session on 27 Oct (To note)
  6. Planning (convener’s report)
    • Concerns over planning (class use/enforcement) and licensing for cafés
    • Update on STL planning applications and licensing register
    • Proposed development in the Canon Court aparthotel car-park (23/06328/FUL)
    • Broughton Market (23/06502/FUL)  Change of use from office accommodation to serviced apartments
    • Edinburgh Council’s conservation and adaption initiative
  7. Transport (convener’s report)
    • George Street and the First New Town project (update on side streets)
    • Travelling Safely update (including Waverley Station masterplan/Waterloo Place bus trial)
    • Response to HES consultation regarding Holyrood Park
    • Report on outcome of Hardie Inquiry
    • Updates: Trams project, East London Street and LEZ
  8. Environment (convener’s report)
  9. Culture and Communities (convener’s report)
    • Presentation/discussion on Edinburgh Council’s community council review
      (There were no relevant items arising from this cycle of CEC committee meetings.)
  10. AOCB, including news from residents’ associations, and points raised by members of the public.

Please note: before or during the meeting, names and email addresses may be recorded. Email addresses are held and used for circulating information about NTBCC but may also be used to seek residents’ views on local issues.

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Deputation to Transport and Environment Committee meeting to be held on 18 May 2023 regarding item 7.3 Communal Bin Review Update

The New Town and Broughton Community Council welcomes the recommendation to extend the period of the trial to increase to recycling capacity in a limited number of streets within the World Heritage Site and the recommended changes in the next phase of the trial.

We acknowledge the support that has been provided by the Council’s Waste team over the last year and in particular wish to record our thanks for the work undertaken by Karen Reeves, Hema Herkes and Anne Christie as well as the various residents’ associations in making the trial a success. Over 900 new green gull proof sacks have been distributed to residents on the nine streets included in the trial along with a supply of recyclable plastic bags and a jointly prepared communication leaflet to explain the new arrangements and encourage greater recycling. Feedback from residents and operational staff has been very positive about the change to the use of green sacks for collection of dry mixed recycling.

Although the report refers to the limited impact of the trial on the tonnage of recycling collected, our own monitoring of individual streets has shown a 250% increase in the volume of dry mixed recycling that is being collected. As the trial only covers nine streets, the tonnage being measured across all streets in the area would not be expected to be greatly affected by the initial limited trial. We therefore believe that the volume of recycling collected is a better metric for this trial. If the increase in recycling observed during the trial on just nine streets was extended to all city centre streets this would clearly have a significant impact on the achievement of the Council’s overall recycling goals. We hope that given the success of the trial that the Council will consider extending it to other streets in the future.

We look forward to working with the Council staff to increase food waste collection rates and thus reduce the amount of this waste which is going to incineration from the trial streets. Lessons learned from the next phase of the trial should hopefully inform the roll out of further efforts to boost food waste recycling across the City.

Carol Nimmo
Chair, New Town and Broughton Community Council
16 May 2023

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Community Councils Together on Trams/Trams Team meeting, 9 February 2023

Minutes of the Community Councils Together on Trams/Trams Team meeting on Thursday 09 February 2023 at 5:15pm, at Trams project compound (165 Leith Walk)

Actions and decisions are red italic. ‘TT’ means ‘Trams Team’. Names are mostly abbreviated to initials.

[text in square brackets] is glosses, i.e. implications unspoken at this point but drawn from other spoken items.

CCTT’s minutes secretary apologies for the late publication of these minutes, due to waiting on clearance to publish.

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ONTE World Heritage Site: Communal Bin Review Heritage Impact Assessment

Adapted from media release on the recently issued Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) by Simpson & Brown (commissioned by the New Town and Broughton Community Council and New Town residents’ associations) which reviews the impact of the decision by Edinburgh Council to replace the existing gull-proof-bag waste collection system in use in parts of the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (ONTE) World Heritage Site with on-street bin hubs. 

A new report shows Edinburgh’s heritage is at risk from the Council’s decision to impose hundreds of permanent bin hubs across the World Heritage Site

The decision by Edinburgh Council to impose hundreds of communal bin hubs across the city centre will have a significant adverse impact on the outstanding universal value (OUV) of the World Heritage Site (WHS), according to a new and independent report.

The Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) by Simpson & Brown was commissioned by the NTBCC and residents’ associations in response to the Council’s decision to place several hundred communal bins in hubs every 100 metres along streets across Edinburgh. Each bin hub is set to be 7 metres long. The assessment examined the potential effects of the Council’s decision across the Old and New Town World Heritage Site.

The report was commissioned after the Council refused to conduct its own Impact Assessment and failed to consult any heritage organisations, resident groups or the public before taking its decision. The study’s key findings are:

  • The introduction of bin hubs would have a significant effect on the New Town and Old Town conservation areas, and on the Edinburgh World Heritage Site.
  • There would be a negative effect on Edinburgh Key Views, which are required to be protected under Council planning policy.
  • The mitigation currently proposed by the Council is not judged to be effective, as it focuses on superficial aspects of the hubs such as bin lid colour.
  • There is a risk both to the character and appearance of the conservation areas, and to the OUV of the World Heritage Site, if communal bin hubs were to be installed.

The report also states that its findings contradicted the decision taken by the Council that an impact assessment was not necessary. According to the guidance produced by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), wherever a significant effect is anticipated, an impact assessment should be carried out.

The review concluded:

“Overall, this report comes to the conclusion that since negative effects on heritage assets which are significant in EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] terms are anticipated, there should be a presumption against the installation of communal bin hubs within the Old Town Conservation Area, New Town Conservation Area, and Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site.”

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NTBCC meeting minutes 12 December 2022

Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s ordinary meeting, held via Zoom, on Monday 12 December 2022 at 7pm Continue reading →

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Community Councils Together on Trams/Trams Team meeting, 12 December 2022

Minutes of the Community Councils Together on Trams/Trams Team meeting on Thursday 12 December 2022 at 5pm, at Trams project compound (165 Leith Walk)

Actions and decisions are red italic. ‘TT’ means ‘Trams Team’. Names are mostly abbreviated to initials.

[text in square brackets] is glosses, i.e. implications unspoken at this point but drawn from other spoken items. Continue reading →

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NTBCC meeting minutes 14 November 2022

Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s ordinary meeting, held in Broughton’s St Mary’s Church, on Monday 14 November 2022 at 7pm Continue reading →