NTBCC has submitted a deputation to Edinburgh Council’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting on 19 February 2021. This deputation responds to the City Mobility Plan. NTBCC also submitted, as an attachment, its response to the consultation in 2020. Click the following links to see
For both of these, the text of the documents precedes a link to the original PDF.
We are still stuck in Zoom for our Community Council meetings and it looks like we will exist in this ‘virtual reality world’ for some time. This is a shame as I miss the camaraderie of our meetings. It also makes it harder to gauge guests and to question them properly.
This month’s meeting was a case in point. Ross McNulty from Ediston and Colin Smith from Turley joined our meeting to talk about their development of the former RBS site on the corner of Fettes Row and Dundas Street. It is a massive development which is now passing through the planning application process. Covid-19, the lockdown and social distancing and rules about meeting in groups have made it far harder to get a handle on the project and what it all means.
For 15 or 20 minutes or so, Ross McNulty and Colin Smith had the floor, or at least the Zoom screen, and told us about their project. They didn’t say anything new. A handful of questions came their way but these were also easily dealt with.
Mostly, the dry formality of this discussion had, I thought, been down to the online format but Ross McNulty, a tough ex-pro rugby player, had also seemed grumpy. He had joined the meeting looking weary, (rattled even), pushing back on how the owners of the RBS site, a London-based property fund, had been depicted in a community newsletter. An hour before the meeting he had been sent, along with all the members of the Community Council, the newsletter of the Fettes Row and Royal Crescent Residents’ Association. Its front page had highlighted developers’ intention to chop down more than half of the trees on the site. It seems that they want to turn the site from semi-rural to urban.
This segment on the development dominated the meeting and it took the tact and skill of Our Great Leader, Community Council Chair Carol Nimmo, to pull us back on schedule.
There was then some input from the Edinburgh City Councillors who are regular attendees of the meeting including Cllr Jo Mowat on the important ‘Charter for Edinburgh’ issue and some discussion about the ‘Spaces for People’ (SfP) programme. SfP is about creating extra space for people concerned about the spread of Covid-19, to reassure them that it is safe enough to use the pavements once again. Of all the ill-thought out Covid response programmes this is one of the stand-outs. You may have seen it in action. Red and white bollards block off parking spaces and bus lanes, congesting roads and irritating businesses. These spaces should now provide extra pavement space for people to walk along; improving social distancing…..except that I’m not sure that anybody uses them.
Anyhow, I digress.
Towards the end of the meeting, a question was raised about how to deal with graffiti that had started to appear around the area. There is, apparently, a council anti-graffiti team that is meant to deal with the worst of this but this questioner wasn’t having much luck so far.
I’d had had a quiet meeting but now sensed my opportunity to make a difference and, frankly, to impress, and so I explained to the graffiti-concerned person that growing up in London I’d defeated these louts by painting over their graffiti on a white wall opposite my home within a day of it appearing. She should do the same, I suggested, content that my steer would improve her life.
And now Our Great Leader, who had Zoomed in from a hotel in the Highlands to keep us in line, was able to display her poise and timing once again. The technique that I’d suggested was, she said gently, less effective on the bare stone walls of the New Town. Always happy to defer to those wiser than me, I did so immediately.
Roll-on our next meeting on 12 October.
Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s public meeting, held via Zoom, on Monday 10 August 2020 at 7pm
Actions and decisions are red italic. ND (‘no dissent’) means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision. Continue reading
Appendix 1. 2011 Census data
Appendix 2. List of Neighbourhood Support Groups in the New Town and Broughton
The Engagement Plan, and the appointment of an Engagement Officer (EO), were first required at the time of the community council elections in October 2019.
As this is our first Plan, the following section includes some general information about the area we represent, and with which we ‘engage’. It may be un-necessary to repeat this section in future plans.
NTBCC is the fourth largest of 46 Edinburgh community councils, by population. At the time of the last census in 2011, there were 18,136 residents. (The only community councils that were larger were Leith Central with 25,099, Corstorphine 23,387, and Gilmerton & Inch 20,319.)
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the current population figure for the NTBCC area, was refused by the CEC Information Governance Unit on 16 January 2019, “because it is not held by the Council” (EDIR:21884).
Population density in 2011 was 65 per hectare (ha), the ninth highest in Edinburgh (after Leith Central, Southside, Gorgie/Dalry, Marchmont and Sciennes, West Pilton/West Granton, Tollcross, Merchiston, and Leith Harbour and Newhaven). In terms of area, NTBCC is of average size, with 279 ha, the 25th largest community council.
NTBCC boundaries relate to former single-councillor wards, not the present 17 multi-councillor ones (see Map 1, NTBCC and the City of Edinburgh ward boundaries).
Most of NTBCC is within the Edinburgh World Heritage Site (see Map 2, NTBCC and the New Town World Heritage Site boundary) and within the New Town Conservation Area (see Map 3, NTBCC and the New Town Conservation Area boundary).
Currently NTBCC community councillors live throughout the community council area (see Map 4, Distribution of community councillors by street).
For the information provided in the 2011 Census, see Appendix 1.
Click the images to see them full-size in new windows.
Map 1. NTBCC City of Edinburgh Council ward boundaries
Map 2. NTBCC New Town World Heritage Site boundary
Map 3. NTBCC and New Town Conservation Area boundary
Map 4. Distribution of community councillors by street
The Communications/Engagement Team produced a laminated notice of NTBCC meetings.
33 notices were displayed in locations throughout the NTBCC area.
See Map 5, Distribution of NTBCC meeting notices.
NTBCC have a ‘mother board’ at the north end of Broughton Street, and also use six small Essential Edinburgh-maintained noticeboards in Rose Street. Other noticeboards we have used belong to the City of Edinburgh Parks and Greenspaces Department and communal garden organizations etc. Noticeboards of shops and supermarkets, also GP practices etc. have also been used.
Map 5 Distribution of NTBCC meeting notices Click the image to see it full-size in a new window.
The NTBCC website (http://www.ntbcc.org.uk) is used to advertise meetings, agendas, publish minutes and consultation documents and to communicate government, council and other information to residents. It serves as the community council archive, with records dating back to late 2013. The website also has a ‘Contact Us’ page allowing residents to raise concerns online.
The website typically has over 1000 views per month. It is managed by the NTBCC Minutes Secretary.
Although the NTBCC twitter account (@NTBCC) was registered in 2014, initial use was limited to tweeting notifications of new posts from the NTBCC website. There had been several discussions within the community council about extending the use through some members (e.g. sub-committee conveners) to be more pro-active and timely in communicating NTBCC activities but concerns remained as to control and governance and how to ensure that the views expressed represented the views of the community council.
However, in March 2019, it was agreed that we would trial extending the use of twitter as an additional communication channel with the wider community, initially by the NTBCC Secretary only, with the focus primarily on relaying information. We had also noticed that during 2018-2019, the twitter micro-blog had become the main daily news platform for Edinburgh council and councillors, as well as other interest groups, lobbyists and activists, and as such, through increased use, NTBCC has become more fully engaged in discussions on topical issues. In addition, it provides a further route for residents to raise concerns with the community council, which can then be followed up via other routes.
This has been successful, as during the period March 2019 to April 2020, NTBCC more than doubled its number of followers (now at 1100), with typically over 100 ‘tweets’ each month coupled with a measurable boost in awareness of the community council.
Increased use of twitter provides another route to ascertain wider community views but we still recognise that social media only reaches some residents, and it is important not to exclude sections of the community who are less likely to use it.
Residents’ associations (RAs) are vital for community outreach, as they act as the eyes and ears of the community, reporting and bringing local issues to the notice of the community council.
One third of the seats on NTBCC are reserved for representatives of RAs, registered as Local Interest Groups (LIGs).
RAs are active in the Second (Northern) and Third (Eastern) New Towns of the NTBCC area, but not in the First New Town or the northeast, which is outside the New Town World Heritage Site. Many RAs which existed in the 20th century are no longer active.
The following are current members of NTBCC: Drummond Civic Association (https://www.drummondplace.org), Great King Street Association, India Street Association, Picardy Residents Association, and Regent, Royal and Carlton Terraces and Mews Association (https://www.rrctma.com).
Lord Moray’s Feuars (https://www.morayfeu.com) have indicated that they are also considering applying for LIG status in order to join NTBCC.
Others RAs which are not members of NTBCC (or LIGs), but which are still active, and may be informally represented on NTBCC, include: CENTA Central New Town Association of Edinburgh, Fettes Row & Royal Crescent Residents Association (https://www.facebook.com/FettesRowAndRoyalCrescentAssociation), Heriot Row Association (for Heriot Row East), Northumberland and Nelson Street Association, and Powderhall Village Owners Association (http://www.powderhallvillage.org.uk).
The following RAs listed in 2005, are now believed to be inactive: Bellevue and Claremont Residents Association, Broughton Village Association, Eyre Crescent Residents Association, Gayfield Association, and Silvermills Residents Association.
Former street trader organizations such as the Princes Street Association, Rose Street Traders Association and the Thistle Street Traders Association, are apparently no longer active but the George Street Association — with which NTBCC have been in touch — continue to look after the interests of shop holders and commercial offices in George Street and adjoining roads.
See Map 6, Residents’ associations and other street organizations, for the extents of local organizations in the NTBCC area.
Map 6 Residents’ associations and other street organizations. Click the image to see it full-size in a new window.
In the early stages of the lockdown, the Engagement Officer contacted all the existing RAs, together with a number of informal street organizations, to learn about the organization of neighbourhood support groups for vulnerable people during the epidemic.
We published a list of groups on the NTBCC website (and in the local Spurtle website and newsletter), to circulate the information as widely as possible, and to encourage those RAs that hadn’t made arrangements to follow those that had. We hope that renewing RA contacts and encouraging new groups will lead to a revival of the RAs and better grass-roots engagement in the future.
See Appendix 2. List of Neighbourhood Support Groups in the New Town and Broughton.
NTBCC respond as a group to important consultations and publish the documents on the website. Notable responses to consultations during 2019-2020 have been:
Edinburgh Low Emission Zones consultation – Response from New Town & Broughton Community Council, July 2019
NTBCC Objection to FLY Open Air Music Festival, 20th to 22nd September 2019, August 2019
Joint Statement: ‘The Quaich Project and West Princes Street Gardens’ (Agreed by The Cockburn Association, New Town & Broughton Community Council, Old Town Community Council, West End Community Council and Tollcross Community Council), 11 December 2019
NTBCC response to ‘draft Edinburgh Tourism Strategy 2030’, 17 December 2019
NTBCC’s response to proposal for ‘Summer Sessions August 2020’ in West Princes Street Gardens, 9 March 2020
Response to City Mobility Plan Consultation April 2020
New Town & Broughton Community Council Response ’Choices for City Plan 2030’, May 2020
NTBCC have shared interests on many issues with neighbouring community councils. We have taken, and continue to take, joint action with Leith Central, Leith Links, and Leith Harbour & Newhaven (“a coalition of the Community Councils“) over the trams (Community Councils Together on Trams CCTT).
Located in a World Heritage Site, we also work closely with heritage organizations. NTBCC is affiliated to the Cockburn Association, and two of our members currently serve on the Cockburn Council. We have worked with the Cockburn and Edinburgh World Heritage on the Old Royal High School public inquiry.
NTBCC is one of four community councils that border West Princes Street Gardens. In 2019, the NTBCC Engagement Officer made a series of visits to the other community councils — Old Town, West End, and Tollcross — and in December, they came together, with the Cockburn Association, to produce a ‘Joint Statement’ on the proposals of Quaich Project (which is a partnership of the Ross Development Trust and the City of Edinburgh) to refurbish the gardens.
In January 2020, the Chair of NTBCC led a joint deputation of the Four Community Councils to the CEC Culture and Communities Committee which successfully argued for a change in council policy based on the ‘Joint Statement’.
More recently discussions have included the fifth city centre community council, Southside, on a broad range of common issues including East Princes Street Gardens and other parks and greenspaces, the development of Waverley Station, short-term lets, ‘over tourism’ and ‘festivalization’.
We wish to encourage the larger residents’ associations to fill the remaining RA-designated seats on NTBCC, also the formation of RAs in areas which don’t currently have them, particularly the First New Town (Rose and Thistle Street etc), the old Gayfield Association area, Bellevue and the northeast section outside the World Heritage Site.
We will continue and develop our collaboration with other city centre and neighbouring community councils to maximize our influence over decisions that affect the whole city centre and our transport system.
We hope to develop and popularise the NTBCC website with a new distinctive design using the NTBCC logo and a more intuitive structure.
We will look at the feasibility of involving more members in using twitter, as monitors and contributors.
We plan to collect and replace printed NTBCC meeting notices in December 2020.
Simon Holledge
NTBCC Engagement Officer
18 May 2020
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Fleur Merriman for her help in making Map 6 (Residents’ associations and other street organizations).
Click the images to see them full-size in new windows.
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Initial notification: paper registration form
Type: WhatsApp group
Contact and email: Nicholas Hotham, <nicholashotham@hotmail.com>
Type: email/phone network
Contact and email: Chrissie Ross <chrissieross@hotmail.co.uk>
Tel: 0131 556 5397
Area: Heriot Row (west section) in the south, to Circus Lane in the north
Type: email network
Contact and email: Alistair Stein <alistairstein@btopenworld.com>
Type: email network
Contact: Jane Gauld <janevzon@googlemail.com>
Initial notification: email
Type: coordinator linking those in need with volunteers
Contact and email: <drummondcivic@gmail.com>
Website: https://www.drummondplace.org
Type: Facebook group
Contact email: eeclaremont@gmail.com
Type: email/phone & text/WhatsApp network
Contact email: nigelcotter1+help@gmail.com
Type: Facebook Group
Website: https://www.facebook.com/FettesRowAndRoyalCrescentAssociation
Initial notification: paper leaflet
Type: email/phone network
Noticeboard: Gayfield Square Garden
Contact: Laura, email <grahamlaura@icloud.com>, tel 07821474590
Initial notification: paper registration form
Type: WhatsApp group of 15 volunteer helpers
Coordinator email: <comm.gks@gmail.com>
Type: six households volunteering to help those in need
Initial notification: email to ‘patch’ representatives
Initial notification: paper leaflet
Type: coordinator linking those in need with volunteers
Coordinator email and tel. no. restricted
Additional support: Facebook Group
Website: https://www.morayfeu.com
Type: WhatsApp group
Contact and email: <streetnorthumberland@gmail.com>
Initial notification: email
Type: coordinator linking those in need with volunteers
Contact email: <picardyhelpline@btinternet.com>
Type: private group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/Powderhall
Website: http://www.powderhallvillage.org.uk
Initial notification: paper leaflet
Type: coordinator (Alice Samtoy) linking those in need with volunteers
Coordinator tel. no. restricted
Coordinator email: <rrcta@live.co.uk>
Additional support: Facebook Group
Website: https://www.rrctma.com
Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s business meeting, held in Drummond Room, Broughton St Mary’s church, Bellevue Crescent on Monday 10 February 2020 at 7pm
Actions and decisions are red italic. ND (‘no dissent’) means that no-one spoke or voted against a decision. Continue reading
New Town & Broughton Community Council has responded to the draft Edinburgh Tourism Strategy 2030.
NTBCC’s full response is here: NTBCC Response to draft Edinburgh Tourism 2030 Strategy.
The executive summary of NTBCC’s response is:
Minutes of New Town & Broughton Community Council’s ordinary meeting, held in the Garden Room, Broughton St Mary’s church, Bellevue Crescent on Monday 16 December 2019 at 7.30pm Continue reading
