CRAMOND & BARNTON COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Incorporating Cramond, Barnton, Cammo & Quality Street (West)

Minutes of Meeting held on Thurs 16th Sept 2021 via Microsoft Teams

Participating: John Loudon (Chair), John Howison (Vice-chair), Gena Wylie (Treasurer), Sally Chalmers (Engagement Officer), Peter Scott (Planning Lead), Hamish Barrie, Kit Campbell, , Percy Fekety, Tom Foggo, Jean Morley, Bert Scott, Robert Bruce,  and Tom Wylie. 

In attendance: Gary Cameron, Hannelore Gormely, John Skinner, Stuart Buchanan, Councillors Kevin Lang and Norman Work.

Introductory Remarks

John Loudon reported that he had met the Lord Provost at the Cinescapes presentation adjacent to the Cramond Inn and followed up the meeting with a letter to Samuel Smiths. 

Apologies

Apologies had been received from Ian Williamson and Michael Dick.

Approval of April 2021 Minutes

The minutes were approved subject to the following amendments

  • Item 5: fifth line should read “It was confirmed that the amount which had come by way …”
  • Item 11, first paragraph third sentence should read “Arguably Covid had brought with it an imperative to use …”

Matters Arising

None

Applications for Membership

John Loudon reported that while several individuals had expressed an interest in joining the Council, no-one had actually applied to do so.  Gary Cameron re-iterated his interest but would like more information on what being a member entailed.  John Loudon suggested that he and Gary meet to discuss this.

Secretary’s Report

In the absence of Ian Williamson, John Loudon reported that he and others had attended a “walkabout” site visit relating to the Lauriston Eco-farm project.  While the project was in principle a good one, and worth supporting, he had some concerns relating to the security of such a large site and ways of maximising the use of some of the fields.

Police Report

Nothing to report 

Edinburgh Airport

Proposed New Access Road to the Airport

John Howison reported that the City Council’s Development Management Sub-committee had refused planning permission for the proposed new access road from the Edinburgh Gateway Station roundabout to the airport.

Airport Action Group

John Howison reported that there was to be a meeting of the Group on 17 September 2021

Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee 

John Howison reported that the number of passengers passing through the airport had increased significantly in recent months and the airport management was expecting it to be up to around 75% of 2019 levels by the end of the year.  In addition, the airport was preparing proposals with the aim of minimising adverse impacts, especially noise, on the local area.

Airport Noise Review Panel

Tom Wylie reported that the Panel would be meeting on 17 September and after the meeting sent this summary of it for including inn this minute the information of CBCC members. 

The meeting was attended by Tom Wyle and John Howison from CBCC, Adam Cumming (Edinburgh Airport Amenity Group), Stefan Slater (Cramond Association).  As anticipated, it was largely a general discussion and a useful restart of CBCC’s relationship with the airport management. Gordon gave a slide presentation, highlighting the impact of Covid on the airport’s use and how passenger numbers were unlikely to recover to 2019 levels before 2024.

Air Space Change Programme

The programme – the aim of which is to make better use of the airport’s airspace and in particular to maximise the frequency with which aircraft can depart – stopped as a result of Covid in 2020 but restarted in May 2021.  The Civil Aviation Authority approved Stage 1 in July 2021 and the airport is now working on Stage 2 in partnership with Glasgow and Prestwick Airports and Air Navigation Services to introduce “Area Navigation” (“RNAV”) which allows aircraft to navigate on any desired flight path between any two points on earth.  Key points from the meeting included:

  • There are unlikely be any changes to incoming flights over Cramond
  • Edinburgh Airport Ltd (EAL) is determined to work for the best for Cramond on eastbound departures.  The proposed banking will be preserved and not affected by objections from Fife. 
  • Even if the present Ministry of Defence area disappears, there will be no departures directly over Cramond
  • EAL wants to consult widely and work with communities and will be happy to deal directly with Cramond
  • Night flights are currently being reconsidered, including charging levels for them (note: “night flights” are defined as taking off or landing between 11pm and 6 am
  • The current Edinburgh Airport Noise Advisory Board is not effective and a review of it is under way, with widespread changes anticipated.
  • EAL has very little control over noise from east bound departures (with Easyjet and Ryanair causing the worst problems), although the introduction of RNAV should help by narrowing the vector paths
  • The existing noise contours are to be reviewed.

Roads and Transport 

John Howison reported that:

  • His policy paper has been published on Facebook but no significant comments have been received.  It should now be sent to CEC.
  • He had visited the “highly saturated” Barnton Junction with Jacobs, CEC’s transport consultants, and highlighted the need to reduce traffic into and out of the city while acknowledging that this was one of the objectives of the City Mobility Plan.  He regarded the Jacobs approach as more encouraging than that of CEC and they should have a simulation model by December of this year.  They were giving priority to pedestrian and cyclist movements and reducing the environmental impacts of traffic queuing.  He had drawn their attention to the problems caused by traffic wanting to leave the city queuing in Whitehouse Road and backing up to Gamekeeper’s Road at peak times .

Percy Fekerty commented that in his view it was unlikely roads management staff at CEC knew much about future roadworks in the area, but minor alterations to improve pedestrian safety and the deplorable state of existing road surfaces should be a priority and would cost relatively little.  He also suggested that it could be years before the planning agreements required by the Council related to the significant housing developments along the Maybury Road would deliver any thing positive for the area.

Peter Scott raised the issue of traffic lights at Cammo Gardens and John Howison said that CEC appears to have growing awareness of the issues.  Hamish Barrie also raised the issue of air quality monitoring once again.

Planning Report

Peter Scott spoke briefly to his planning report, highlighting the importance of the soon to be published City Development Plan and the six week consultation period that will then follow, if approved by the Planning Committee on 29 September.  Kevin Lang indicated that it will be published on 23 September and that CBCC should receive a copy.  Peter Scott suggested a need to form a working group to study it and prepare a draft response for consideration at the October meeting.

Community Participation Request

Peter Scott spoke briefly to his Planning matters report, highlighting that there appeared to be some progress as CEC appeared to be taking CBCC’s concerns more seriously than before.

Proposed West Craigs Development

Stuart Buchanan, Asset Manager for the proposed 500-home West Craigs development from West Craigs Ltd/ Dunedin Canmore Housing Association, summarised the current position.  He subsequently provided a written summary which is given as Annex A to this minute and specifically gave CBCC permission to reproduce drawings submitted to CEC as part of the planning application for the site for consultation purposes.  The application, reference 21/04210/PPP, is available on the CEC Planning Portal.

Brighouse/Cramond Campus

Kit Campbell gave a fairly detailed summary of the current “state of play” in relation to Cramond Campus.  Annex B to this minute gives a copy of it. 

River Almond Pollution Problems, SEPA and Water Quality

Hamish Barrie had no progress to report.

2030 Climate Strategy and Net Zero Tolerance to Emissions

Hamish Barrie had no progress to report.

Regional Prosperity Framework

Tom Foggo summarised the aim of the Framework, which is to build the economy of Edinburgh and Fife, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, and the Scottish Borders and a future society that is resilient, flourishing, innovative and works for everyone.  It includes future projections on everything from housing and transport to education and digital inclusion; to economic development and climate change.  In terms of delivery, the Regional Deal will have a budget of £1.3 billion over a 15 year period, although the Framework covers a 20 year period from 2021 to 2041.

The Framework document contains 39 pages of statistical analysis on demographics in the six council areas, housing and schooling, business and industry and tourism. One of the ambitions is for Edinburgh to become the Digital Capital of Europe and the Framework Document suggests how the various ambitions might be fulfilled.  The closing date for submissions was 26th July and so Tom suggested that CBCC will have to wait to find out how the councils intend to proceed and how the available funding is to be applied.”

CBCC agreed that Tom should monitor the situation and report back as and when appropriate.

Councillors’ Reports

Norman Work expressed concerns relating to the construction work along the Maybury Road but Kevin Lang had nothing significant to bring to CBCC’s attention.

Future Meetings

It was agreed that the next meeting, at least, should be held online.

AOCB

John Loudon reported that he will now be attending the next meeting as his (previously advised) holiday plans had fallen through.

Sally Chalmers suggested a need to consider ways of raising the profile of the Community Council, possibly by starting a What’s App group for easier CBCC members .communication.  She was concerned that CBCC received little feedback on its activities and thought it important to promote more community engagement.

Date of Next Meeting

Thursday 21 October 2021 at 7 PM to be held online using Microsoft Teams.