2. Minutes of the meeting of 6th October
2007
The minutes were approved
2a. Matters arising
There were no matters arising
3. Public Realm presentation
BS welcomed guest speaker David MacDonald Project Manager and
Landscape Planner, Edinburgh World Heritage; EWH was created
in 1999 and is funded by CEC and Historic Scotland. To
cconserve and enhance the historic fabric and historic environment
of the World Heritage Site through a programme of financial assistance.
The first monument to be refurbished is The
Black Watch monument on the Mound,
The George Street statues scheduled for 2009, for a full list
of monuments and dates of refurbishment see www.ewht.org.uk.
BS – queried
selection process DMacD replied 12 monuments have been selected
with assistance from Dorothy Marsh, Senior Conservation Officer
and Paul MacAuley, CEC; the monuments were selected due to their
state of disrepair.
BS – queried if 3rd statue in George
Street could be included
– DMacD replied that all the statues were raised by public
subscription, if donations from local businesses could be found
then it could possibly be included, the cost of refurbishing
a statue currently is £15,000.
IB – queried funds
for current monuments, DMacD funds already in place.
BS – queried lighting, BH, EWH replied that architectural
lighting is included in the City Dressing Strategy; this is
the initiative for decorating the city for big events. GSA
will investigate this further.
EL, Trotters, asked if more publicity
could be given about the monuments, this could generate interest
and donations from the public. DH replied that this was one of
the initiatives EWH were
developing; April 18th is World Heritage Day with events being
planned for then.
BS thanked DMacD and went on to welcome Stuart
Brown, Royal Society of Edinburgh; who outlined details of the
monument to James Clark Maxwell being erected at the east end
of George Street, James Clerk Maxwell founded electro magnetism
and is the basis of modern technology.
There is no other monument
in Edinburgh; the statue costing £300,000 will be unveiled
in November 2008.
For further information see www.royalsoced.org.uk.
4. BIDs
Helen O’Hanlon, ECCM; final business plan is going to
CEC for approval shortly, this is a formality.
The plan will
be published February 2008; ballot April 11th closing May 23rd
results will be published 2 weeks later. There is a BIDs advisory
board meeting Dec 6th, IB will receive feedback to the plan
and will discuss at next meeting.
BS queried that projects were
not specific enough – HO’H,
and IB requested that businesses gave specific requests –
this is vital for ongoing BIDs.
BS – Projects should
be measurable and with an end date. IB will mention this at
Advisory Board meeting 6th December.
5. TIE
Lothian Buses and TIE to be invited to next GSA meeting to discuss
knock on effect to George Street due to tram installation. Point
to raise that businesses in the area have reasonable consultation
for work required.
HO’H - a marketing sub group to promote ‘Open
for Business’ has been set up to promote this message
whilst the work is ongoing.
6. ECCM
Two additional areas of Edinburgh have expressed an interest
in BIDs, Exchange/Festival Square and Grassmarket area.
St Andrew Square refurbishment is progressing well; the culture
minister MSP Linda Fabiani visited the square on November 30th
planting an oak tree in commemoration.
The garden is due to open between February 14th and March 20th
next year.
7. George Street Christmas Decorations
The committee thanked Ian MacFadyen and his team for erecting
the street decorations, the committee thought they looked excellent,
the material round the smaller trees looks very good and the
new lighting on the large trees is an improvement on previous
years. BS had spoken to IMacF who thought that the street decorations
may be used for a subsequent year. It was suggested IMacF be
invited to a future GSA committee meeting.
8. Treasurers report
The accounts were circulated; the balance still remains healthy
despite monthly outlay for upkeep of the website. There were
no comments from the committee.
9. Police Update
- 12% reduction overall
year to date on previous year. Insp BJ re-iterated that Edinburgh
city centre is one of the safest city centres in the country,
the vast majority of people coming into the city centre on weekends
behave well and do not cause problems. The police strategy of
more visible officers on the beat appears to be proving effective
with 60 officers available.
- Winter Wonderland operation has 4 police officers and
undercover officers monitoring the huge amount of extra visitors,
preventing under age drinking and offences in young teenagers.
- Central Edinburgh Licensing Team is liaising with clubs and
bars in the city centre there are 700 licensed premises, 360
bars and 71 clubs, the clubs are uniting in a central banning
policy for individuals causing trouble or drug offences the
individual will be banned from all premises in the city centre.
- A
further CCTV position is being sought for George Street to
cover the West End of the street. Further to this 2500 people
were searched entering clubs, no knives were found.
- Beggars – begging
is not a criminal offence the police can only deal with beggars
if they cause an obstruction or are aggressive, a voucher scheme
is being proposed - people can give homeless people vouchers
instead of money. If this is successful it may reduce professional
beggars. A new initiative of offering assistance through various
charitable agencies is ongoing at the moment, if any members
see a beggar who looks vulnerable and in need of assistance
please contact Sgt Dane Harrison who will alert the appropriate
agency.
- As part of the City Centre Safety Initiative street
lighting is being examined, businesses are encouraged to ensure
exteriors to premises are well lit.
10. Planning Applications
Please see attached list of planning applications, point of
note being applications for change of use offices to accommodation.
11.
Correspondence
There was no major correspondence.
The GSA had been contacted by RBS to film an advert in George
Street after a slight change to timing of filming this went
ahead and should be shown on our screens in 2008.
12. Meeting Dates
2008
A list of meeting dates was circulated, thank you to those
companies volunteering their premises; if your company can
accommodate a meeting on August 27th or October 8th please
contact the secretary. The date of the AGM will be discussed
further.
13. AOB
There was no other business, the meeting closed with BS thanking
Graeme Herbert and The Royal Society of Edinburgh for hosting
the meeting.
14. Date & Place of next meeting
January 24th 2008 10am RBS 36 St Andrew
Square
