ANNUAL REPORT 2014-2015 BY THE CHAIR AND SECRETARY
Meetings and members
Morningside Community Council (MCC) held 12 business meetings, including one Special
Meeting, and hosted a public meeting. The Special Meeting and the public meeting were both
concerned with the planning application to re-develop the former Napier University campus at
Craighouse. Attendance by Members has stayed at much the same level as in 2013-2014 with
between 9 and 15 (average 12) at every meeting. Disappointingly, attendance by ex-officio
Members (City Councillors, MPs and MSPs) has been lower this last year than previously; none
has been present at a majority of meetings. We nevertheless appreciate the support they have
given despite the immense demands on their time by the many other groups vying for their
attention. Attendance by members of the public has also been disappointing. It has been in single
figures for the majority of ordinary meetings. The Special Meeting attracted about 50 members of
the public compared to about 150 for the same topic in the previous year. We have concluded that
although feeling in the community had not diminished, people felt that there were fewer fresh
points to make at the third iteration of the re-development proposals.
There have been some changes to membership during the year. Unfortunately the year started
with a former Member being disqualified for non-attendance; the place was filled by co-option of an
existing Associate Member. We said good-bye to Linda Thomson in October. Linda was our
Treasurer and a Nominated Member representing the Parent Council of St Peter’s RC Primary
School. As she lived outside Morningside, she had to stand-down when her children left St Peter’s
and she was no longer eligible to remain on the Parent Council. In addition to being Treasurer
(and having a young family), Linda took on several other responsibilities for MCC and left a big gap
to fill. However, Betty Barber took over seamlessly as Treasurer and we’re pleased to say that
Linda has continued to attend meetings and to help Betty. Although St Peter’s has yet to nominate
a replacement Member, we are glad to report that the Parent Council of our other school, South
Morningside Primary, appointed a Nominated Member, Noelle O’Doherty, in June. We place a
very high value on continuing representation of our two local schools on the CC. Their Nominated
Members have consistently given us fresh perspectives from a crucial part of the community –
parents of young children – as well as helping to maintain a diverse age-range in our Membership.
Issues covered
Until September, business was again dominated by the Craighouse re-development. The MCC
planning team put in an immense amount of work studying the third set of proposals, meeting the
developer and planning officials, liaising with other organisations and individuals who opposed the
scheme, preparing a letter of objection and making a presentation at the hearing. The granting of
the application in September, despite the weight and validity of objections, was a bitter
disappointment. Nevertheless, thanks to our Planning Officer, Goff Cantley and his assistants,
Rosy Barnes and Graham Cameron, we believe that MCC can take some pride in playing a part in
causing a significant scaling down from the original proposals. Several other important planning
matters were dealt with by Goff, Rosy and Graham, including individual applications, engagement
with the evolution of the Local Development Plan, the review of the Morningside Conservation Area
Character Appraisal and consideration of threats of re-development at Midmar Paddock and
Hermitage Golf Course. MCC has continued to attend the Edinburgh Civic Forum to keep up to
date with local planning issues and initiatives.
MCC has also dealt with a number of licensing applications as well as attending meetings to
discuss aspects of licensing policy with other CCs, the City Council and Alcohol Focus Scotland.
As Chair and Secretary we share the frustration of many Members, and indeed many Edinburgh
CCs, that the voice of the community is overlooked in both licensing and planning – the two areas
for which CCs are statutory consultees, which involve an immense amount of work, and from which
we rarely achieve a satisfactory outcome.
During the year Members considered the usual wide range of other problems brought forward by
residents – such as dogs in parks, parking, traffic, waste management and CCTV installation.
Many were taken up with the City Council and some were resolved satisfactorily, others remain
bones of contention or fell by the wayside due to financial constraints. One long-running topic has
been pavement clutter from A-boards and trade-waste bins on our high street. A delegation from
MCC had a walkabout in November with local Councillors and Council officials in order to point out
the problems. The City Council proved very willing to accommodate MCC and matters are
progressing, albeit rather more slowly than we would have wished.
Perhaps the most significant ongoing complaint, raised at virtually every meeting, is about policing,
particularly the re-organisation of community policing. The absorption of dedicated beat officers
into area response teams has meant that police officers are rarely seen in Morningside except
when attending an incident. MCC concerns were submitted in February to a review of policing in
Edinburgh conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Liaison with the City Council and other CCs
On behalf of Morningside residents, MCC has played a full role in South Central Neighbourhood
Partnership with representatives on the Partnership Board and its Action Groups helping to deliver
the Local Community Plan and raising matters of concern across our part of the City. MCC
representatives have been invited to City-wide conferences under the aegis of the Edinburgh
Partnership. These have proved valuable in learning how the big issues in Edinburgh are likely to
impact at local level.
As Chair and Secretary, we greatly value the good relationship we have built up with the local
Neighbourhood Team of the City Council. We appreciate the pressures they are under and we
thank them for the generally excellent service they have provided during the year. We will
nevertheless continue to badger them where Members feel they have fallen short. Particular
thanks are due to Kevin Hawes, Community Safety Officer and Mike Shields, Parks Officer. Kevin
has attended several meetings, listened patiently to our complaints and done his utmost to resolve
problems for us. Mike and his staff have been congratulated at several meetings for their work in
Morningside Park, including the installation at MCC’s request of a small area planted with poppies
and cornflowers to commemorate the outbreak of the Great War.
MCC has continued to connect nationally with other CCs – the recently created National Website
for Community Councils chose a logo designed by the MCC publicity team with the help of a local
artist. Members have attended a number of national conferences and workshops, including ones
on planning policy and “digital engagement”. Locally, Members have taken part in meetings and
workshops organised by the Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC). At writing,
EACC is a body in transition and may develop in new directions. MCC is committed to support its
continuation as a forum where CCs can exchange experience and speak collectively on the
difficulties and frustrations CCs sometimes experience in their dealings with the City Council.
Engagement with residents
The most successful engagement exercise was, as in previous years, the ceremony to switch on
the Christmas lights at Morningside Clock. It is possible that the City Council will stop supporting
these events in future but for Christmas 2014 they did their usual superb job of setting up the tree
and lights – and the all-important switch. We were delighted to have PC Kevin Duffy to switch on.
Kevin was our local bobby before the re-organisation of community policing. The ceremony drew
over 250 revellers who were entertained by the Morningside Pipe Band, the Salvation Army Band
and the choirs from the two local primary schools. Thanks are due to all the Members and
volunteers who helped organise and run things. MCC experimented with another event - a
Saturday coffee morning at The Open Door community café. Several Members and volunteers
enticed some 60 members of the public to drop in and hear about the work of the CC over coffee
and cakes.
CCs are duty-bound to engage with residents in order to discharge their prime function of
representing the views of the community. We both feel that many CCs, composed as they are of
volunteers and with limited resources, struggle to engage with their communities. This certainly
applies to MCC. Nevertheless, Members and supporters have worked very hard to communicate
with residents during the past year. The effort has been led by the Communications Officer, Shona
Johnstone, and IT officer Jo Young. The promotional leaflets developed in 2013-2014 have been
handed out at every possible opportunity but chiefly at local events such as Tea in the Park at
Braidburn Valley Park, the monthly Farmers’ Market and the annual “Spring Fling” at the Eric
Liddell Centre, where MCC shared a stall with neighbouring CCs. Two volunteers also attended
the “South Neighbourhood Volunteering and Gap Year Event” for local secondary schools held at
Gracemount High School in August. This provided a rare opportunity to speak directly to 5th and
6th year pupils, most of whom had no previous idea of what a CC is. One of our Members,
Jennifer Scarce, attended the annual “Students in the Community” event and has maintained
liaison with the Edinburgh University Students Association in order to foster our links with younger
members of the community.
MCC remains prepared to canvass views directly by letter. One such case occurred during the
year when some 80 letters were delivered by hand to residents affected by a licence application.
MCC continues to publicise meetings through 6 noticeboards across Morningside and the
community noticeboard in the Library. Meeting papers and minutes are distributed by e-mail to
about 50 residents. A one-page report of meetings has been produced for noticeboards and the
MCC Facebook site. We noted in last year’s Annual Report that this one-page report serves to
some extent as a monthly newsletter. A proposal to adapt it to become an e-newsletter has been
agreed by Members. Shona and her publicity group will take this forward next year and start to
build up a subscription list.
It is difficult to know how successful these efforts have been in truly engaging residents. There
have certainly been contacts with MCC engendered through leaflets and notices but they have
been few. As noted above, there has been a disappointing fall-off in numbers attending meetings,
possibly reflecting a lack of big issues after the high profile Craighouse campaign. A more
encouraging story is the steady increase in visits to our Facebook site, which serves as both
noticeboard and discussion forum. “Likes” have grown during the year from 111 to a high of 193.
Views of posts regularly go into the hundreds and reached a high of close to a thousand for the
Chair’s press statement following the consent to the Craighouse application. Total “post reach” in
a week can exceed a thousand. We conclude that while people may not attend meetings, a
significant number knows of MCC’s existence and can approach us at need.
As Chair and Secretary, we accept the widespread view among CCs, public officials and
academics that “digital engagement” offers the greatest opportunity for improving engagement.
However we are of the generation that preceded, by many years, the digital revolution. As of
course are many members of the community. Last year MCC’s long-standing and widely
promulgated support for a bridge over the railway to link Balcarres Street to the grounds of the
Royal Edinburgh Hospital was withdrawn after a Member made the CC aware of strong opposition
from a large number of her neighbours in the vicinity of the proposed bridge. This was
communicated solely by word-of-mouth to a Community Councillor well known and respected in
her neighbourhood. We will continue to support any new methods that might help MCC engage
better with its community. However we have learned this year not to forget the views of those who
are unable to, or choose not to, use social media.
Conclusion
After another very active year, we believe that MCC remains a strong body that despite some
failures in achieving the desired outcomes, has continued to seek out and represent the views of
the community. As Chair and Secretary we thank all our fellow Members for their support and
contributions.
Arne Strid, Chair
Steve Gregory, Secretary
9 May 2015