1. Edinburgh Partnership Community Engagement Co-ordinator Pamela Roccio asked that it be recorded that the EACC provides an important and valued link between the Edinburgh Partnership and community councils in the city.
2. The Association is an umbrella body and provides a point of contact for CCs from across the city.
3. It also enhances contact with City of Edinburgh Council officials.
4. The EACC is not a court of appeal or a governing body.
5. The Question & Answer events provide access to senior managers and officials from a wide range of areas of responsibility, both within and outwith the council..
6. The Association provides a networking forum for Ccllrs.
7. It is agreed that the Cc system will be enhanced by members being elected, rather than being appointed or simply making up numbers before an election is necessary.
8. All members agreed that more, and a diverse range, of people standing would benefit Ccs and the work that they do in the community.
9. The Association does provide an opportunity to record and celebrate the good work that Ccs achieve.
10. The EACC can help to provide a link between Ccs and the council, but many residents are unaware of this. More needs to be done to publicise this.
11. The EACC encourages Ccs to make efforts to inform their communities of proposals, policy, plans for the area and to consult as widely as possible.
12. Sharing ideas and good practice is possible because of EACC meetings and events.
13. Training opportunities do occur because of EACC work and events.
14. It is noted that not many people make use of the opportunities that Ccs offer to local communities. Numbers fall away at times because members sometimes find a three year term of service to be tiring by the third year.
15. It would be useful to approach Ccs once again to ask them what role they envisage for the EACC in the future.
16. It is suggested that Ccs need to lobby the Scottish Government for greater support and recognition and more money for Ccs.

TEN years on from the birth of EACC, we asked a founding member of the association for his views about its value and usefulness. We hoped for the best and were prepared for the worst. This community councillor is not one to mince matters.

Does Dawson Currie, former secretary of Portobello CC and current representative to the EACC, see any value in the four meetings a year, the Q&A events and the blog that posts stories about what’s going on amongst Edinburgh Ccs?  He was quick to respond.

“Before the EACC was formed, there was no opportunity to exchange ideas about CC activity and interests apart from events run by the City of Edinburgh Council,” he said.   “Several ideas for better liaison were put forward at a survey event held at Napier University.  It was suggested that an association could generate both increased interest in Ccs, and more participation in community activity.  The association was formed and Professor Norman Bonney was its first Chair. From small beginnings, gradually the EACC has partly fulfilled both of those early goals, but it could do more. The website is gradually helping to realise those goals too, but we do need more participation from a wider range of members.

“Some had concerns that an organised body might result in an hierarchical structure with tiers of influence, so we were conscious that this needed to be avoided. It was emphasized that it should be a consultative body, and continue to retain that role.

“Meetings do keep the channels of communication open and working well, but if members have a bone to pick, or become too fixated about an issue, meetings can lose their lustre and appeal.

“It can and does happen that members bring contentions and disputes to meetings and have unrealistic expectations about what unpaid members can do.  Big organisations have paid staff but Ccllrs are volunteers working to do their best in an unpaid role.  That needs reminding sometimes.

“Chairing also needs a balance to be struck.  If it’s too dominant, there’s no discussion and healthy debate, but if it’s not strong enough, the same issues keep recurring repeatedly.

“The future of  Ccs and bodies like the EACC depend on the decisions of Local Authorities in my view.   I believe that while Neighbourhood Partnerships are in operation, their influence and effectiveness is lessened.   Ccs could be strengthened in the future, but that depends on the approach taken by local authorities.   We probably need to understand and relate to their similar organisation, COSLA more effectively to find out the answer to that question.”

Do you agree with Dawson’s views?  Let us hear from you.

SOME people would rather run a mile than join a committee.  They imagine Vicar-of-Dibley eccentricity that could only  get bogged down in silly spats.  It’s certainly one factor that keeps more than a few local activists away from community councils.

But there’s a champion of the challenge to dreary or divisive meetings.  Jean Cuthbert of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh is a passionate advocate of good communication and successful team working.  She runs Good to Great, a tailor-made training programme for all committees, including community councils in Edinburgh.  The initiative is supported by City of Edinburgh Council.  Jean knows how important it is for groups to learn how to manage differences before they develop into full-blown dramas.

“Every committee is made up of a variety of people with different experiences, backgrounds and skills,” she says.  “To get the best from this diversity, it’s important that committees use everyone’s skills well. Voluntary committees or boards can develop the confidence and competence for good governance.

“Our programme can be tailored to what individual committees need.  It can be designed to include leadership, effective decision-making and team management.  Other topics can include succession planning and committee health checks.

“We can explore ideas around how to keep the meetings running well, valuing members and maintaining common principles and values in the committees, for example working to the Nolan Principles.”

The successful community councils that hold sparky and fruitful debates show a strong team spirit and they implement a firm code of conduct.  They are also presided over by a skilled and competent Chair.  If your CC hasn’t got all of these essential qualities, then as you see, it doesn’t have to go very far to get them.

Attracting and keeping new members will hang on how you conduct your meetings.  If you think that your community council could benefit from some support to move it from being good, to great,  then contact Jean Cuthbert on 0131 225 0630 or  jean.cuthbert@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk

Jean adds: “If you are interested in working together with our support, it‘s best if we  have a discussion to identify your main focus for the sessions and dates and times that would work best for the committee.  We are very happy to talk with you to see how we can help and support your development as a committee.”

Chair of Merchiston Community Council Dr Mairianna Clyde writes about her experience of working with other Ccs in one area of Edinburgh.

At the last meeting of the Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC), we were asked ‘What value is the EACC?’  I write to offer a positive response: for us it is networking.

In South Edinburgh a number of community council representatives have met together recently to discuss issues pertaining to the probable closure of Astley Ainslie (AA)  Hospital in 2013. This get-together of some informed and active members from different CCs has proved extremely productive on a range of wider issues that has linked our concerns  in this part of the city.

One issue that has come up is the status of any Right of Way across the AA Hospital  site. Recently NHS Lothian has begun locking gates at South Oswald Road, which is a concern, as many local people like to cycle or walk through the grounds for access and recreation.   One member of this group did some fact-finding, which highlighted that due to the cutbacks, CEC no longer employs an Access Officer, a planning official, whose job it is to determine Rights of Way.

As a result, even if residents go through the Rights of Way process, there is no-one who can progress such claims. This, we feel, is a breach of our democratic rights. This information was networked by me to other campaigners I knew of, and as a result, MP Ian Murray was contacted by one resident, and he has expressed his concern in support of residents.

This has relevance to a number of other developments in south Edinburgh, namely, the recent sell off of the Craighouse former hospital site by Napier University to private developers for housing; and as a corollary of that, the de-canting of Napier’s Contemporary Music Department to the Merchiston campus and refurbishment of that campus in order to accommodate this Department, which again, involves the setting up of gates at Colinton Road and Mardale Crescent with potential of locking and preventing an existing right of way.

Here are three campaigns of wider concern, helped by this CC networking.  I do feel there is much benefit therefore in this sharing of expertise. In a dynamic city like Edinburgh, no CC can be ‘an island, entire of itself’. Each ‘is a part of the main’. We have to link together to support community interests and defend community rights.  This is something EACC can help us do.

 Dr. Mairianna Clyde, Chair: Merchiston Community Council 

Image: Rob Davies

A Granton community councillor (CCllr) is worried  about Edinburgh’s waterfront.

(Disclaimer)  The EACC welcomes discussion and debate by committed community councillors, but assumes no position, either for or against, any of the views expressed.  

Never mind the trams! How many CCllrs have ventured north of Ferry Road. and noted just how desolate the “new communities” of the Edinburgh Waterfront really are?  Have we created the “sink” estates of the future?

Why should the EACC bother about an area which will only ever be a building site for the next 20-30 years?  The simple answer is that the Waterfront is the only solution to where to put any major City expansion needs.  The choice of this area would rule out the possibility of the major “Garden suburb” development of David Murray ruining vital Greenbelt land, and seeing more gated communities on the edge of the City.  (Such development takes population out of the City, making the survival of services and retail more difficult).

The density of the City does need to increase, but sensitively and not by sprawl. CC’s as statutory consultants to planning should be at the forefront of the respondents to the City Plan major issues consultation which is currently in progress. http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/178/local_and_strategic_development_plans/1019/local_and_strategic_development_plans/2 – 34k

In Glasgow last week, the City of Edinburgh Council presented its Waterfront regeneration to an International conference WaterfrontExpo 2011.

Three Scottish cities presented — Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh — and three international cities — Marseille, Yokohama and Chigago. All but one (ours) presented some computer generated images of what had already taken place, or what could be the vision for the next 20 years.

Edinburgh with its tired old images of the Castle, Royal Mile and non tram Princes Street just looked like some poor ragged figure from the past.  What is wrong?

First, we need to accept that European cities differ from American cities.  Our own in particular is not a place of skyscrapers, or even16 storeys.   We are a place of maximum 6-8 storeys and front doors where people meet each other and converse. The Scotsman has just run an article on this very subject, but worryingly Graham Birse of the Chamber of Commerce would have us believe that the solution lies in handing all power over to the business community, and they will get it right, but for who!

In Glasgow, David Mackay of MBM Architectos Barcelona, and Irish by birth, has talked about building being in our culture.  He describes the culture of European cities being from the pavement to about 6-8 storeys maximum, being places with humanity of scale and relationships at ground level. He also talked about his own work in nearly 60 cities around the world.  He said that the best ones have strong city plans, with development built in, where the City leads, not developers.

Aristotle said:  “If everybody was exactly the same, then cities would have no reason to exist.”  It is the complication of the City which gives it life, and that life creates democracy. Building has informed religious, political and cultural life for centuries.  It is an essential part of our culture. So, what does this mean to our Waterfront?

What we have so far is the negation of that complexity and the reduction of the City to a series of blocks and numbers on paper plans, Edinburgh both the Old Town and New Town are highly complex but for different reasons the Old Town its intricacy, and the New Town its own also.

How do we get the Waterfront Development and regeneration the Capital City deserves? My suggestions are that we:

1. Discard all the current master plans across the Waterfront from Leith in the east to Granton in the west – and start again. .
2. Regeneration; “It’s about an integrated solution that goes beyond rebuild; that renews and restores the entire area including the social fabric underneath it.”  Peter Rogers, London regeneration advisor.
3. Commission a series of International “open” competitions for frameworks for the various area which have always historically existed.
4. At the next elections in May see that The Waterfront is a major policy agenda for anyone that is considered for election.

What do you think? Lets open the debate.

Ross McEwan.  Community Councillor (Granton)

Consultations are continuing about a revamp of three of Edinburgh’s best known streets.  Princes Street with its castle views, trendy Rose Street and George Streetof the posh shops could well be changed in dramatic ways that put people first, with cars and buses a slower second.

At one of a number of presentations that have taken place this year, the council’s City Design Leader Riccardo Marini (pictured left) and his colleague Karen Stevenson talked to local people recently at an event hosted by Cramond & Barnton Community Council (C&BCC) at Cramond Kirk hall. They presented Gehl Architects Urban Quality Consultants study called ‘Edinburgh Revisited – Public Space Public Life’. (Also pictured are C&CC Chair Andrew Mather (centre) and resident Yvonne McEwan, pictured right). Using a slick electronic voting system, the audience registered their views on questions that challenged them about making the three city centre streets more people friendly.  “We want to shake the tree of public opinion” said Riccardo, “And find out what people think about ideas for Edinburgh’s premier street for example, which has historically been an elegant vibrant promenade.  Is it fulfilling it’s potential these days?

“The fact is that while we attract many tourists toScotland, who take in the capital city as part of their visit, they are coming back to other parts of the country, but the figures for return visits to the city are low. We need to consider how we can make the city more people friendly, more welcoming to pedestrians, more like Paris, Florence and Venice, cities described as ‘reconquered’ which attract people back again and again.”

Danish architect Jan Gehl, who has a track record in working on numerous international public space projects, produced the study which focused on the city’s potential.  He tested Princes Street against his 12 quality criteria and presented them to the Council in December 2010. They highlight how things could improve.  Parts of the city have high pollution levels, with 400 buses an hour moving through Princes Street. Street furniture clutters already narrow and congested pavements, there are no wind shelters, traffic noise levels prevent relaxed speaking and listening, with Gehl noting that “pedestrians are invisible in the planning process”.  Since 1988 there has been a 50 per cent fall in footfall which has an impact on retail sales, while reconquered cities record increased spend in their most popular streets.

Gehl recommends pilot projects similar to those tried inNew York within the last five years. These have trialled café and pedestrian areas inTimes Squareand other streets at very little cost ($1.5m). Using new street markings that created bus and cycle lanes and pedestrianised areas, Herald Squareand Columbus Circle, once congested with traffic, have also been transformed into public spaces that allow the public to engage with and socialise in the spaces. Accident rates are down, stationary activities and footfall are up. Gehl asks: “Could temporary projects be a way forward inEdinburgh?”

Karen Stevenson told Cramond & Barnton Community Council it is planned that during December Princes Streetwill have no traffic or road works being carried out either. “This will allow us to perhaps trial some of the simpler recommendations and engage face to face with the public,” she said.   To learn more about the project and the short-term and longer-term recommendations forPrinces Street,Rose Streetand George Street, go to Edinburgh City Council at

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/4009/edinburgh_revisited-public_space_public_life