Minutes 19th November 2020

Other Business

Other time commitments saw Councillor Lang being invited to provide his update before moving back to the scheduled agenda.  On Cammo Walk he advised that the road was to be opened up again as far as the south car park to facilitate access (vehicular access through to Craigs Road would remain closed. Some additional on street parking restrictions would be added to reduce the risk of inconsiderate parking. 

The Active Travel proposals situation was that approval of the creation of the bus prioritisation lanes on the section of the Queensferry Road from Cramond Brig to approaching the Barnton Junction remained to be finalised.  (This reflected a realisation of impact on households on the affected section of road being at risk of being trapped and/or being faced with dangerous vehicular access onto the road). The issue of looking to re-instate the queuing system that operated several years previously on the rural section of the A90 approach (near the Burnshot flyover) had been raised and officials had undertaken to look into this.    

The EANAB (Edinburgh Airport Noise Advisory Board) was pursuing concerns about its continuing effectiveness. As Joint Chair of the Board Kevin was well placed to ensure that matter was afforded genuine consideration.  Separately, growing concerns nationally at the impact of noise on the sleep patterns of those living under flightpaths had been referred to the Transport Secretary. From communities around several airports, asking for the CAA night-time flying review to consider applying statutory control beyond Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead Airports. Finally, Councillor Lang referred to his recent meeting with a Ewen Glen (AMA Representative) about the Brighouse application.  Ewen Glen had promised to share with him the plan for delivering the sport facilities.

The minute of the October meeting was approved subject to the removal of a section about the proposed handling of the planned engagement with the City of Edinburgh Council on the matter of access to Cramond Village.

The Police Report was awaited and would be circulated.

Planning Report

John Howison reported on the considerations of the Noise Committee of the EACC and highlighted the disparity in numbers of complaints about aircraft noise as between Dalgety Bay and the Aberdour coastal areas of Fife and areas such as Cramond and Barnton. Residents.  That so many complaints were emanating from the southern shores of Fife risked fuelling a perception that noise was not an issue for Cramond and Barnton.  Although EAL had curtailed its capital investment proposals, it still intended to submit a planning application for the EA eastern access in December. John also talked about the more recent changes to the charges being levied on vehicular drop-off and pick-up at the Airport. 

Much of the detail of the Planning Report issues are set down in the draft Newsletter which had issued to those attending the meeting on 24 November.  This covered an update on Community Participation Request;

       Brighouse Application.

       public toilets.

       parking at Cammo Estate and Cammo Road.

       West Craigs pre-application notice – see www.westcraigsnorth.co.uk  ; and

       Lauriston Farm Agroecology Project – see   https://www.lauristonfarm.scot/  

The issue that provoked intense debate was that of the more recent Brighouse planning application which had been submitted by AMA in pursuance of a further 5-year extension to the current application to enable the company to secure a sports provider to help deliver the commitment to have sports facilities within the development area. The Community Council had made its submission following a targeted consultation exercise that saw leaflets posted into every household within the estate and including those impacted upon on Cramond Road North looking on to the estate.

That resulted in a submission which sought to adopt a pragmatic approach that recognised that the likelihood of such a partner being secured was no greater than it had been in the past – and in a Covid and post-Covid era was inevitably less than ever before.  That pragmatism therefore sought to anticipate AMA wishing to further extend the residential footprint on the site, avoid several more years dereliction, and agree a revised planning for the remaining parts of the site, following various actions to clear up the site being discharged by AMA in advance.

The planning brief should set on how much could be used for further residential development, as may be required to provide funding for the provision and management of public greenspace over a prescribed period. 

However there remained a contrary view that no further concessions to build should be conceded and that AMA should be granted the further 5 years to try to find a sports partner.  As was recorded earlier in this minute AMA representatives had been conducting meetings with the Ward Councillors (see earlier ref to Kevin Lang’s meeting) to set out the company’s continuing “declaration of intent” for the site. 

Some members of the community who had followed this saga from the outset agreed to prepare a factual briefing note covering the history of the Brighouse development.  This would be offered by the Community Council to Ward Councillors – none of whom had been involved throughout the time period. 

Secretary’s Report

Here again the detail was covered in the Newsletter. A letter was in preparation to take the concerns about the failure of Samuel Smiths to provide a cashless or contactless alternative for customers at the Cramond Inn to the attention of the Scottish Government.  

The continuing lack of any progress within the CEC to address the problems of access to Cramond Village and the shore would be escalated and a draft was in preparation. 

On a more positive note, contact had been established with an officer who had undertaken to pursue the issue of the commitment given to provide white “access protection markings” across a number of driveways on Whitehouse Road between Cramond Vale and Fair-a-Far.   

Councillor’s Report

Both Councillors Work and Hutchison confirmed that they had had preliminary discussions with AMA representatives about plans for the Brighouse Estate. Councillor Work re-iterated his thoughts on a community buy-out.  The commitment to work to secure a sports partner remained – but flesh around proposals was somewhat ethereal.  Both were sighted on the fresh considerations about reintroducing the queuing system on the rural section of the A90 approaches to West Edinburgh. Graham had participated the recent Remembrance Day proceedings in Davidson’s Mains at the Green.   

Any Other Business

Michael Dick provided an update on the renovations taking place at the Cramond Surgery.  Coinciding with the Covid challenges the long planned internal renovations were progressing well.   But it did mean that for some patients for whom the initial telephone consultation was not enough then the first face to face consultation may be in the car in the car park.  For those without a car there could be a wait in the car park.   The practice was sorry for the disruption and was doing its best to provide a responsive service to patients at this time.  The current expectations are for the building works to be completed by the end of January 2021.  It was noted that the CC had received representations from residents about this matter and about the wider issue of access to services at the practice.  These remained to be considered.