Minutes of Meeting Held on 25 February 2013, 6Pm

INVERLEITH NEIGHBOURHOOD PARTNERSHIP CLEAN, GREEN AND SAFE ACTION GROUP Minutes of Meeting held on 25 February 2013, 6pm

Item Actions 1. Attendance: Steven Cuthill, SfC Alex Dale, DTCC Craig Stephens, LBP Pam Barnes, Friends of Inverleith Park/ Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council Ruth Stanley, SfC Judy Conn, Friends of KGV Stephen Brennan, SICC Betty Dixon, Easter Drylaw Residents Association (EDRA)

2. Apologies: Elaine Lennon John Young, CBCC Ian Cunningham

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting:

Approved as true record.

Matters arising:

Following the flood prevention works, the pillars at the end of Bell Place were SC removed and couldn’t return due to the redesign of the new bridge. SC was to look into placing these at the entrance to the Snakey. This should be possible, but he still has to double check via an engineers report that they can be installed at that location.

Orchard Park North dog fouling – the Wardens have been giving attention to the location, and there are already two rubbish bins there. SC King George V Park – SC has discussed with the Taskforce the damage that has been done when vehicles drive on the grass. There should now be an improvement, but he’ll monitor the situation to make sure.

Orchard Park – Mats have been positioned to help with the muddy ground conditions. These are only temporary. Full reinstatement will be done when the weather’s better.

Inverleith Park – the black bin at the entrance from Fettes Avenue is being monitored to see if it continues to be filled to overflowing.

4. Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT):

Sergeant Stephens gave an update on local crime figures. Total reported crimes for the year to date (April 2012 to end January 2013) are 27% down on last year, with 412 crimes reported.

There is a slight increase in vandalism – 19 for January, which is the highest in a while. Information had been received about young people hanging about around Craigleith and Telford, Greig Stephens, the School Link Officer at Broughton High, has spoken to some youngsters about positive behaviour, to good effect.

Housebreakings – both domestic and to businesses- are up, but 2 males have been apprehended and are in custody for the domestic crimes. One male has been charged in relation to a 13 business break-ins., after some businesses were targeted a number of times. The situation is being monitored carefully.

Incidents reported in the media- people selling small expensive items on Gumtree had made arrangements to meet potential purchasers at McDonalds on Telford Road, where they were robbed of the goods at knifepoint. After the media reports, another victim came forward. Crime prevention advice has been given in the media – a dark car park is not the best place to meet strangers to sell valuable goods. One man has since been charged with three offences.

Community priorities:

Cycle thefts – 6 thefts were reported in January, one more than the low of 5 in the previous month. Cycle marking will be offered and publicised in the area, and crime prevention messages will continue.

Road Safety – Attention has been given to Kinnear Road off Arboretum Avenue, where parents doing the school drop off were parking inconsiderately. A few warnings have been given and seem to have resolved this. PC Niall Stark is responsible for road safety initiatives. He spent some time at the roundabout at Craigleith, and all drivers were behaving considerately. They will revisit this to make sure.

At the Stewarts Melville crossing on Queensferry Road, some drivers have been ignoring the school crossing patrol, and people have been parking on the zigzags. They have been warned about this by officers, and it’s pointed out that you can get points as well as a fine for this.

Cycle/Walkways – The SNT cycles are being readied for bike patrols. At the end of January, there were reports of motorbikes on the walkways, so the SNT will be looking at for this problem.

PC Dixon met with the staff at Dears Pharmacy to remind them of the need to prevent groups of customers gathering and being intimidating to other users of the shops.

New community priorities:

An email was received from Elaine Lennon with a concern that elderly people in the area are not familiar with the DNT or how to contact them. The SNT would like to do a community engagement exercise, meeting wardens and residents at Sheltered Housing, putting posters up about the team and carrying out drop ins at places where people can chat to the officers.

There is nothing additional that needs to be done in regard to cycle thefts other than continued the routine attention to this issue.

It was agreed to take forward the following priorities –

 Community Engagement with a particular focus on the elderly  Continue the road safety initiative, in particular dealing with the Craigleith roundabout, Queensferry Road and problems which have been reported at Belford Road  Continue with a focus on the walkways, in particular around McDonalds for community reassurance and the Telford area to tackle motorcycle nuisance.

AD mentioned possible speeding issues at Groathil Road North where there is a 20mph limit. The SNT will keep an eye on whether action is needed.

Sergeant Craig Stephens advised the group this will be his last meeting, as he is being moved to a full promoted post at Bathgate. There is no new Sergeant identified as yet, as Sgt Stephens was covering for Gill Geany who is acting Inspector in the city centre. Sgts Happs and McLaughlin of the Forth ward team will help with any issues, and PC Darren Cavarolli has acted as Sergeant when Craig was away, so he can also assist.

Craig has been working in the Drylaw area for 8 years. The group would like to give their thanks to Craig for all his help over the years. Congratulations Craig, and very good luck in Bathgate!

5. Community Safety update: Performance and Activity Reporting (October 2012)

Community Safety Officers

Number of complaints per 10,000 population

Neighbourhood Nov 2012 Dec 2012 Jan 2013 Current Target Status

Value Value Value

Citywide 3.74 2.57 3.52

City Centre/Leith 4.23 2.3 4.84 4.72

East 6.43 5.23 5.23 10

North 2.49 1.56 3.89 5.58

South 3.01 1.79 2.26 4.12

South West 4.78 3.72 3.98 5.05

West 1.85 1.28 1.57 2.12

New cases in Inverleith 2012

January February March April May June July August September

7 2 2 7 2 2 3 3 4

October November December January 7 2 1 3

All the cases received in January involve domestic noise. One concerned children being noisy, and was resolved when the private landlord had a word with his tenant. The other two cases involve adults and are ongoing.

Cases resolved ie action taken to prevent the antisocial behaviour and complainant agrees the problem is resolved

Value Value Value

Citywide 69% 68% 79% 80%

City Centre/Leith 78% 70% 81% 80%

East 59% 53% 63% 80%

North 55% 54% 70% 80%

South 72% 79% 86% 80%

South West 87% 86% 89% 80%

West 69% 78% 83% 80%

Although the January results were still below target, there has been a significant improvement in the number of cases resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

Number of repeat complaints

Value Value Value

Citywide 1.6% 1.4% 1.3% 2.5%

City Centre/Leith 2.5% 0.9% 1.8% 2.5%

East 2.9% 2% 1.9% 2.5%

North 2% 2.1% 2.1% 2.5%

South 1.4% 0.5% 0% 2.5%

South West 0.6% 0.9% 1.2% 2.5%

West 1.1% 4.6% 0% 2.5% The number of repeat complaints for the team is continuing on target.

Environmental Wardens

Official figures for the Wardens have not been provided this month, as some of the figures appeared to have been calculated incorrectly.

However, I am able to report that 85% of the North team cases were resolved to customer satisfaction. There were 0.34% repeat complainers, and 27 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued, 8 of which were in Inverleith. 82% of FPNs were paid.

The Wardens dealt with 18 complaints from residents in Inverleith. The majority of complaints concerned dog fouling, but flytipping and improper disposal of rubbish also featured.

SB asked whether the Wardens will be involved in dealing with “top hatting and side waste” issues. Top hatting is where a domestic green wheelie bin has been overfilled with rubbish, and even if you push the lid down it’s not possible to push it closed. Side waste is the depositing of bags of rubbish next to bins. Wardens will be involved, and have always dealt with black bags and rubbish being left on the pavement or elsewhere rather than properly in a bin. There was a pause in enforcement to allow residents to become used to the new managed waste collections and to get up to speed with recycling. This period of leeway will be coming to an end shortly and enforcement will start again on domestic waste. There will be an enforcement process set out for dealing with top hatting, but it’s not yet clear what this will be.

Recycling advice is always available and can be arranged for any groups or residents needing assistance with increasing the amount they recycle.

RS acknowledged that there appears subjectively to be increasing amounts of dog fouling to be seen in the city. The group agreed, and discussed possible reasons for this. Increases in dog ownership could be a reason. There was a time when it looked like failing to pick up dog mess was becoming more socially unacceptable, but this may be becoming less true. There are no social barriers to this – people of all walks of life are responsible for leaving the dog mess. Community Safety are actively looking for new ways to tackle this.

6. Parks updates

a) Inverleith Park – The impact of events on the park was discussed. Events are managed centrally, but Ritchie Fraser would be involved in assessment after an event, and the Neighbourhood team are involved in meetings before and after. The local team do not have the veto on whether or not an event goes ahead, but do have an input. We have to look ever more closely at the impact on parks because of the changing climate, and clear feedback has to be given afterwards about any aftermath. Bonds are taken in advance from organisers, and these are probably increasing because of increasing damage. Any reinstatement comes out of that bond, and if the cost is higher, then we would seek to recover this or the organiser might not get any further use of the park. Last year, some events were cancelled at the eleventh hour due to the weather or site conditions. There is also a consideration to be given to whether access to the parks by the public should be restricted by events – there have been challenges under the Land Reform Act.

The wall at Arboretum Avenue had bulged due to wet ground behind it and needs remedial work. A section will be taken down, and one or two trees. There will be reinstatement of planting, which has to be removed.

There is ongoing discussion with Parks and Greenspace about investment in drainage improvements – looking at what can be done and how much it will cost. Some initial work has been identified.

b) Rocheid Path – Some vegetation management has been taking place including thinning.

c) KGV – Biffa have come up trumps and provided money for equipment. Tenders are closing and work will be carried out after the Easter holidays.

d) Drylaw Open Spaces – The main drainage is in place and working at Drylaw Field. The new pavement NMcF was damaged by diggers and there is some scarring – the Roads team will have a look to see whether any remedial work is needed.

A lot of dumping has been reported and is being looked at by Wardens and the Task Force. This isn’t commercial dumping, but is being done by local residents.

SC/RF The berry hedges are growing large. SC will ask Ritchie to have a look to see whether any work is needed.

The borehole was done for the skate park and initial findings show the ground seems to be ok.

8 A.O.C.B.

New Park Management rules were circulated to the group. These are updated RS about once every ten years to take into account of changes in the law and other factors. Discussions are taking place with Community Safety on how these might be enforced, and Ruth will update the group at a future meeting. 7 Dates of next meetings : Tues 2nd April 2.30pm Mon 27th May 6pm

Elaine Lennon – [email protected] North Neighbourhood Team, 8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP Tel: 0131 529 5270, [email protected]