REPORTS 28 JANUARY 2008

                                                                                                                                BACK

                                                                 LOTHIAN AND BORDERS POLICE REPORT 

In the period 1^st – 27^th January 2008 there have been 28 crimes recorded as having been committed in the Queensferry & Dalmeny area.  Of that number 12 have been solved with reports being submitted to either the Procurator Fiscal or Children’s Reporter.

There have been no serious Road Traffic incidents in this period. 6 recorded crimes relate to Road Traffic offences including 1 male arrested for drink driving on A8000.

There have been no persons reported for drugs offences.

Crimes Against Property

Overnight 7^th/8^th January the garden fence, garden hut and plant pots at an address in South Scotstoun were damaged.
Around 22.30hrs on 16^th January Queensferry High School was broken into and a vending machine, within, forced open.  Cash of £6 was stolen.
On 24^th January 2008 2 local men were arrested having been found within the derelict house at 24 Kirkliston Road, SQ.

Vehicle Crime

Overnight 31^st December/1^st January a vehicle parked on The Loan had a wing mirror smashed.
Overnight 4^th/5^th January a vehicle parked in The Vennel was scratched along the nearside wing.
Overnight 4^th/5^th January 2 vehicles parked in Station Road were scratched along the offside wing.
Overnight 8^th/9^th January a vehicle parked in Stoneyflatts Crescent was scratched on the rear nearside door.
On 19^th January a motorcycle was stolen from a rear garden in Rosebery Avenue.  It was recovered later the same day in Scotstoun Avenue.
On 22^nd January a vehicle parked in Primrose gardens was scratched along the offside.

Miscellaneous Crimes

On 19^th January a shopper at Tesco had her rucksack stolen.  The bag, minus contents was recovered nearby on 22^nd January.  This follows on from a couple of similar incidents reported in December 2007.

There have been 5 instances of Breach of the Peace in January to date.  In 4 of them the persons responsible have been arrested and charged.

On 19^th January, around 21.45hrs, a group of youths stood on the roadway at Builyeon Road immediately in front of an in-service First Bus.  The behaviour of this group caused fear and alarm amongst the driver & passengers. The onboard CCTV has been seized and enquiries are continuing to identify & trace those responsible.

Anyone with information regarding any of the foregoing crimes is asked to contact Police either directly or by Crimestoppers 0800 555 111

Diane Brown
Community Police Officer
South Queensferry

                                               REPORT : CHAIRMAN                                                                        

1. On Thursday 6 December I attended a meeting on the Promenade to review parking and other matters post the recent works.
    

2. On Monday 10 December I attended a training session, arranged by CEC, on the use of Web Blogs.
    

3. On Thursday 13 December I attended the QHS Christmas concert.
    

4. On Saturday 12 January I attended the EACC meeting with Ewan Aitken, City Councillor
    

5. On Wednesday 16 January I met with representatives of Queensferry Ambition for talks on the proposed make-up of the Ambition Executive.
    

6. On Thursday 17 January I attended the SPYS meeting to progress the skateboard project and other matters
    

7. On Wednesday 23 January I represented QDCC at the Almond Partnership Business Meeting. The next public meeting is on 5 February, 7pm, Kirkliston Community Centre.
    

T Martin
Chairman

                                                                     REPORT : SECRETARY

SUMMARY :  10 ITEMS: 7 IN, 3 OUT

 Martin D. Gallagher
Secretary

                                                                    Councillor’s report

On Thursday 10^th January I attended a briefing organised by British Airport Authority (BAA) regarding the resurfacing work being carried out over the next few months on the main runway at Edinburgh Airport. (I have included the attachment with this report)

On Wednesday 23^rd January I attended the business meeting of the Almond Neighbourhood Partnership.

Due to the holidays, I didn’t hold a January surgery in Queensferry. My next surgery in Queensferry will be on Monday 4^th Feburary at 6.15pm in Echline Primary School.

On Friday 25^th January I’m due to attend a Burns Supper in the Rosebery Hall to help raise funds for a local cause.

Councillor Norman Work
Almond Ward
Tel: 0131 529 3272
Fax: 0131 529 4080
norman.work@edinburgh.gov.uk

Q                                                                          Planning Report

Applications

Over the last month seven applications have been lodged with the Planning Authority for extensions and alterations to properties. The bulletin issued on the 21^st January listed three applications for the QDCC area that had not been previously listed due to a “technical error”. They are for – Alterations to a house 14 Springfield Lea. Various internal alterations, demolition and reconstruction of former stair enclosure and removal of chimney stacks at Dalmeny House, replacement of chipped path with slabs at 22 Main St. Any responses had to be lodged by the 25^th January.

Property Number: 000906178314

Community Council: Queensferry & District (NEW)

Property Number: 000906178314

Application 07/04626/FUL Residential Single Dwelling at 13 Edinburgh Road SQ in the Queensferry Conservation Area. The case officer has acknowledged our letter of objection.

Application 07/04907/ADV Erect Entrance Structure Totem Poles and Light Boxes & Builyeon Road South Queensferry. This application was given approval.

Application 07/05014/FUL Install a 5KW Wind Turbine 6 Builyeon Road South Queensferry

Our letter of objection has been acknowledged as being material to the application.

Planning Decisions

The Planning Authority granted three applications by delegation and refused two.

Draft Trees and Development Supplementary Planning Guidance - Consultation

The Community Council has been invited to comment on the above draft documentation. I have made the planning sub committee aware of the document and asked for comment.

Echline Development PfP and CCG

Work continues with the access roads being formed and drainage being laid in. The base layer of asphalt has been laid on the main entrance road which should help to keep the main Echline Avenue clean from mud. As reported previously Echline Avenue will be closed while the main sewer drains are connected.

Port Edgar

A meeting is in the process of being organised.

Jacobs Ladder

No further progress to report.

Keith Giblett
Planning Convener

                                                                         REPORT : PUBLICITY

1. Gazette – 4 January 2008
                 - Notice of monthly meeting – Queensferry Diary

2. Gazette – 11 January
                  -  Report of monthly meeting – Queensferry Diary

3. Gazette – 18 January
                  - Letter to the Editor re QDCC

T Martin
Publicity Member

                                                          REPORT : Transport

1. On 10 January I travelled to Cowdenbeath to meet Lauren Kobilnyk, Marketing Manager and Sarah Anderson, Marketing Assistant, Stagecoach East Scotland, to work up a design for a promotional leaflet for the South Queensferry area.  The final design includes a suitable acknowledgement for the Community Council and was circulated to the transport and publicity committee members.  The distribution of the leaflets is programmed to commence towards the end of February to time-in with the launch of wi-fi on the vehicles.  I will be looking for volunteers to help with the distribution of these 2,000 leaflets. 
    

2. On 11 January I contacted Roger Hargreaves, Public Transport Manager, City of Edinburgh Council, regarding the out-of-date bus service information at bus stops within the district.  I received the following reply on 15 January:
    

I can advise you that Lothian Buses do not provide information in the display cases in areas they do not serve. The Council does, however, have an agreement with Lothian Buses which makes them responsible for providing and maintaining all bus stop flags.  I am currently seeking to get Lothian Buses to fulfill its commitment and therefore I anticipate that the bus stop flags will be rectified shortly. 

The responsibility for providing information in Edinburgh normally lies with the operators although the Council pursued an initiative to provide integrated transport information itself in the Queensferry area some time ago to try to improve matters. Resource issues prevented us maintaining this information to keep up with the recent service changes and consequently the information in the display cases at bus stops was removed.  We are now in the process of producing replacement information in Queensferry which will be available shortly but unfortunately not in time for the commencement of the service 6 extension. 

The First No 6 replacement service for the 557/558 service has been contracted by West Lothian Council.  The City of Edinburgh Council is however the main funder of the No 6 extension and the decision to fund this service, though for a limited period, indicates a strong commitment to the residents in the Queensferry area and was made despite the budget pressures which are threatening service delivery in all areas of Council activity.  The situation in terms of information is not ideal but I think it was a major achievement to secure, for the time being, a continued service.  Passengers can access the timetable information via First's website.  Also on a positive note fares will return to the previous but one service 457 tendered contract levels.

 

3. On 14 January I chaired a meeting on the Community Council’s transport committee.  Present were Laura Sexton, Diane Job, Annie Gray, David Wragg and Jimmy Brown. 

 M. D. Gallagher
  Transport Convenor

                                                                                                                                                              BACK