Portobello Community Council

[lg1726]

I spent this morning in the Scottish Parliament with a client and have in the course of today and yesterday had face to face meetings with 7 MSPs, from all main parties as well as "lobby chats" with another half a dozen or so others; whatever anyone thinks of the parliament and its functions, in the entire time I have been engaged in public affairs (12 years) I have never encountered anything as undemocratic, indeed, counter democratic as our community council! Every MSP whom I have met, irrespective of party have always gone to great lengths to show their commitment to their constituents, and the meetings I had in the last couple of days jar with what I have now seen and have been made aware of in our local community over this time.

The MSPs are, at least, accountable and visible, this lot!!??

[Makaveli]

It's funny you mention that LG as you never see them on Facebook (apart from liking posts!!!) or on here where this is, in fact, exactly where they should be trying to engage!!!

[lg1726]

Spot on Makaveli - I was involved in a thing recently with a fair number of cross party MSPs and they were all on Twitter, tweeting what they were up to, telling their followers all about their activities etc. My client loved it as it was massive coverage for them as well (little charity) but it is clear that the locally "elected" representatives seem to go to great lengths not to be seen and not to engage!

Politic huh?!

[Porty]

Why do they choose to Twitter, when they could just leave a note in the library for their constituents to go out of their way to find.

[seashell]

On a related issue: the charity Planning Democracy were scheduled to speak to the PCC this month, only the person was unavailable. there is another thread on this issue, but it is worth while noting that a) they were firmly on the side of PPAG and b) DC is one of the trustees.
Sean made valiant and persistent attempts (which were finally met) to find out more about them. He noted that it is perhaps slightly rionic that a key concern of this charity was openess and transparency.

Given the previous track record of PCC, should we be concerned that this group is to address PCC? What is the purpose of their presentation? And will the consultation over PHS have concluded by the time the presentation is re-scheduled?

[Porty]

Rionic- you hit on a great word there Seashell. I like it.

[seashell]

Thank you!
It is, of course, from the French "rire" - to laugh, and cunningly amalgamated with "ironic".
Either that or a typo...

[lg1726]

Someone sent me this today - thought I would share. Being an incomer, this clearly passed me by originally, but no doubt some of you will have memories. Think that if we were to introduce surfing on our beach, there might be some who would object - maybe?!

[seashell]

The Valves included ECM's brother!

[seanie]

[fresian]

LG, surfing on the beach? Given that the surfers in a certain Aussie Soap are portrayed as a nasty bunch, we could see objections from the chairwoman of PANS and her poodle.

[lg1726]

We were looking at the plans for the new toddler hut - awesome (to coin a surfing phrase) and thought that we might even see an new objecting cabal for that - PATH!!?

[Porty]

[seanie]

Those on the Community Council interested in planning matters.

I think there is a missed opportunity in all this however. If you were genuinely interested in how people engage with and experience the planning system, then Portobello High School would actually be a very interesting issue to examine in detail, precisely because it doesn't fit into a simple, binary narrative of developer verses community. That the issue is contentious within the community throws up all sorts of interesting questions about the process, people's attitudes towards it, and how differing opinions are accommodated or not.

Unfortunately I can't see Planning Democracy being capable of such an evaluation given the obvious conflict of interest, with 4 of the 7 trustees writing personal letters of objection to the planning application.

[fresian]

Lg, The way things are going, the first kids to use the Toddler Hut, may also be the first ones to attend the new high school.

[seashell]

Given PCC's undemocratic approach towards planning matters, isn't it a little worrying to see who the high-heid yins of Planning Democracy are? it doesn't exactly fill one with confidence. Unless, of course, you use "democracy" to mean "I know better that the masses". Unwashed or otherwise.

[Porty]

Yep as soon as one sees. Planning Democracy- one can be fairly sure that democracy is the last desire of those behind the group.

[Doris]

Any news about how the special meeting went last night? Will there be minutes does anyone know?

[seanie]

It wasn't the easiest meeting to minute but something will be forthcoming.

[geofflynn]

City of Edinburgh Council is consulting the public on some proposed changes to the Scheme for Community Councils - the rules and guidelines which govern how CCs operate.

This is your chance to feed back to the council on those changes and how you feel community councils in general are operating.

Deadline 11th Feb!

[wangi]

[fresian]

Interesting that the CC apparently represents 11737 people, and when 12000 pepole make their voices known and 75% of these want the school built, surely the CC will have to listen.

[fresian]

Sorry, spelling error. I blame my old english teacher....Oh yes, that was our very own John Stewart.

[Mark Cameron]

The CoEC are extending the deadline until 12 April and are encouraging porty people to give their views on the proposal (outlined in Wangi's post above) to reduce the number of PCC nominated group representatives from 15 to 7 as well as reducing teh number of elected members from 15 to 14.

I personally believe this is a great move and willl bring about a fairer balance, more representative of the rest of the CCs in Edinburgh, and will remove the farcical situation we have where nominated groups that are supposed to be "representative of a significant number of the community" don't have a place at the table and will break up the current negative cabal.

The usual suspects and Clr D Walker are lobbying to keep the numbers as they are so the current cabal can keep control and act on behalf of the community without engaging or consulting. In fact suggestions are being made by Clr Walker that Portobello CC should be used as a model for other CCs in Edinburgh as they demonstrate good community action.

I wondered what other TP users views are on this particular issue.

[Makaveli]

That it's bullshit!!!

They must not be allowed to keep a stranglehold on the PCC as they have proven time and time again to not promote the will of the community. The current PHS issue highlighting just how out of touch they are!!!

[Mark Cameron]

Sit on the fence why don't you Makaveli

Might just be worth dropping our councilors an email to let them know you support the proposed changes (I'm sure Andrew Burns will also be interested in the community voice on this).

Here are the email addresses:

Maureen.child@edinburgh.gov.uk
michael.bridgman@edinburgh.gov.uk
david.walker1@edinburgh.gov.uk
andrew.burns@edinburgh.gov.uk

[Makaveli]

Already done it so they know my opinions on this issue!!!

But everyone else should do the same as the community needs to finally get a voice.

[geofflynn]

If you have a view on whether Portobello Community Council has done a good job of representing the views of the community, you may wish to write to:-

community.councils@edinburgh.gov.uk

The New Deadline for responses is: April 12

On the table is a proposal to reduce the number of Local Interest Groups on the PCC from 15 to 7, to bring it in line with other community councils across Edinburgh.

There are a total of 43 community councils in Edinburgh and, as the attached table shows, there are 92 local interest groups registered with Edinburgh City Council. Portobello has 12.

Edinburgh Local Interest Groups.pdf

(41.82 KiB) Downloaded 419 times

They are:-
Brightons and Rosefield Residents Association
Joppa Tennis Club
PEDAL
Portobello & District Council of Churches
Portobello Amenity Society
Portobello Campaign Against the Superstore
Portobello Community Centre
Portobello Older People's Project
Portobello Open Door
Portobello Park Action Group
The Portobello Reporter
Towerbank School Council


Criteria for Appointment of Local Interest Groups:-

1. The organisation must be a voluntary group which has been in operation for at least 12 months prior to the notice of election.

2. The organisation must be a properly constituted group with a publicly available constitution, the objects of which explain how it is reasonably representative of a significant section of that community.

3. The organisation must have a committee that (after the first year) is elected at an AGM and has a minimum of 3 members

4. The organisation will be asked to submit a registration form demonstrating the following:

* how the decision was reached to appoint a candidate for election as a nominated representative on the community council, eg an extract from a minute of a meeting

* that the organisation meets on a regular basis

* that the organisation operates within the community council area

* that the nominee is a voluntary, active member of the nominating group

* that the organisation is committed to gathering the views and representing the interests of its members.

[Franck]

[Mark Cameron]

I'd be interested to see each groups current membership as a percentage of the PCC population (11,737) and what consultation and engagement they've conducted in say the past year. Does anyone who lives in Brightons and Rosefield feel represented and engaged by this group?

Which of these groups can really claim to represent a significant section of the community? In fact it's difficult to know how CoEC determine what a significant section is.....is it greater than 10, 25 or 50% of that 11,737?

I'd argue if it was more than 15% the majority of the current groups would struggle to meet that particular criteria.

Don't get me wrong there is definately a place for some of the current groups but I think the process needs to be much more robust and transparent and the chair of individual CCs needs to be responsible as well as CoEC for ensuring these groups are current and representative as outlined in the criteria.

[Sceptic]

In the past, I have described the PCC as a bunch of self centred self interest groups, each with their own agenda, each trying to push their own views on others. For example, who represents those who DO want a superstore? Who represents those who want the PHS built on Portobello Park? The result is a one sided arguement, pushed by some, repudiated by others, which may, or may not, represent the views of the majority of Portobello residents. How many of the members of Joppa Tennis Club reside within the PCC boundaries? Are there Residents Associations for other areas? Argyle Crescent? Dalkeith Street?
Portobello High Street ? Who represent Portobello Traders? It would seem that the only course is the PCC to disband in it's present form and start again. Is that being too obvious, or would it disturb those who believe they represent Portobello from their ivory tower?

[Bob Jefferson]

The simple answer to this is that there will be an election later this year. We will all have the opportunity to elect the candidates that we feel will represent the community best. The local interest groups are another matter. The proposal is to reduce the number from 15 to 7 and I strongly recommend that people respond to the consultation to support this.

Lots of people are unhappy with the CC but they have to actually take the time to do something about it, either by standing as candidates or by supporting those candidates who are worthy of a place. Otherwise, it will be business as usual and nothing will change.

Right now, the most important thing is to respond to the consultation, backing the proposals.

[Bob Jefferson]

And if you are responding, remember to add that you support online voting for the election. That is going to make it a lot easier for people to participate and ensure that the successful candidates have a strong mandate.

[Maria]

The link for the consultation is

Consultation closes on 12 April 2013.

[Franck]