The Edinburgh Reporter March 2023

4 NEWS

By STAFF REPORTER

THE NEW TOWN and Broughton

Community Council (NTBCC)

commissioned a report on the proposed

bin hubs for the World Heritage Site which

finds that the hubs would have a

“significant adverse impact” on the New

Town and Old Town conservation areas,

and on the Edinburgh World Heritage Site.

NTBCC asked conservation practice,

Simpson & Brown, to conduct a Heritage

Impact Assessment on the council’s plans

to install communal bin hubs every 100

metres in every street. Each hub is seven

metres long with bins for all kinds of

recycling and landfill.

The community council say that The City

of Edinburgh Council refused to conduct

its own heritage assessment (which is part

of an Environmental Impact Assessment),

and failed to take into account the views of

residents or heritage organisations before

deciding what to do.

SUPERFICIAL ASPECTS

The mitigation currently proposed by the

council is not judged to be effective, as it

focuses on superficial aspects of the hubs

such as bin lid colour.

There is a risk both to the character and

appearance of the conservation areas, and

to the outstanding universal value (OUV)

of the World Heritage Site, if communal bin

hubs were to be installed.

The report’s findings contradict the

council’s decision that an impact

assessment was unnecessary. According to

the guidance produced by the

International Council on Monuments and

Sites (ICOMOS), wherever a significant

effect is anticipated, an impact assessment

should be carried out. An Environmental

Impact Assessment usually includes a

Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA).

Surveys conducted in 2022 found that

around 90% of residents affected by the

plans were against the imposition of the

communal bin hubs. A pilot scheme using

green gull proof sacks is being trialled at

the moment to show that other

alternatives are feasible and cheaper.

Carol Nimmo, the Chair of the NTBCC

said: “This HIA provides essential and

impartial evidence to the Council that the

introduction of communal bin hubs across

this city centre would have a significant

impact on its cultural and heritage assets.

It is putting its World Heritage status at risk

and the Council should listen to its

residents and rethink.”

Bins risk to world

heritage site

Colin Hattersley

Two former councillors reprimanded

Boroughmuir booze ban

Women’s football team put their weight behind Calling Time campaign

By OLIVIA THOMAS

THE LARGEST FEMALE football club is calling

for a ban on alcohol sponsorship in Scottish

sport. Boroughmuir Thistle are backing the

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems

(SHAAP) campaign, Calling Time.

The campaign began following a report

revealing that Scotland has the second highest

proportion of alcohol related sports sponsorship

in ten top flight football leagues in Europe.

Boroughmuir Thistle are one of a number of

Official Supporters of the campaign, alongside

Scottish Women’s Football, Glasgow City and

Stenhousemuir football clubs, supporters

organisations, medical bodies, education

institutes, and third sector organisations.

Boroughmuir Thistle FC Chair, Gavin

Michie, said: “Boroughmuir Thistle is the largest

female football club in Scotland. We deliver

1700 player hours per week so that girls and

women of all abilities can fulfil their potential.

As a club we aim to provide a positive,

supportive environment to allow this.

“We are proud past winners of the SWF

National Performance League Cup sponsored

by SHAAP.

“It is vitally important as female football

receives more media and public attention that

we take responsibility for ensuring a positive,

healthy and nurturing environment. As a club,

therefore, we will not accept alcohol branding or

sponsorship to capitalise on the emotional

connection our supporters have with

Boroughmuir Thistle.

“We fully support the Calling Time

campaign.”

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, Chair of SHAAP,

said: “Boroughmuir Thistle FC is to be

applauded for their stance. I would urge all

football and sports clubs to consider their role

in promoting a healthy, supportive environment

and as such reject sponsorship from the alcohol

industry, as Scottish Women’s Football has done.

“In a nation where nearly a quarter of us are

drinking at hazardous and harmful levels, and

the number of people dying due to alcohol is

increasing again, we need to see reasonable,

evidenced measures such as a ban on sports

sponsorship taken forward to reset our

relationship with alcohol.”

By PHYLLIS STEPHEN

TWO FORMER Labout

councillors who both resigned

last May, Cllr Maureen Child and

Karen Doran, who were referred

to the Standards Commission,

have both been “censured”. The

panel found that both breached

the Councillor’s Code of Conduct

(CCC). Little that can be done

about councillors who have since

resigned, but the panel chair,

Patricia Stewart, was clear that

they should both be “censured”

which is a formal recording of the

Standards Commission’s severe

and public disapproval of the

councillors’ actions

An option of disqualification

was not appropriate in this case,

nor did the “respondents’ conduct

come close to warranting a

disqualification”.

The CCC applied to the two

longstanding councillors who

were found to be in breach of the

strict rules whereby councillors

should declare interests, both

financial and non-financial, in any

matter on which they are taking

part in discussion and making

decisions. The rider to that is that

any councillor should then not

take part in any decision if, using

the objective test, it seems wrong

to do so.

The objective test set out in the

code is “whether a member of the

public, with knowledge of the

relevant facts, would reasonably

regard the interest as being so

significant that it is likely to

prejudice your discussion or

decision making in your role as

a councillor”.

Both councillors took part in

the discussion and vote on an

Experimental Traffic Regulation

Order (ETRO) to close Brunstane

Road at a Transport and

Environment Committee meeting

in November 2021, Despite the

councillors disclosing a non-

financial interest in the matter,

they both then went on to take

part in the meeting and in the

decision. The result was that the

council had to hold a further

meeting a few weeks later to take

the same decision, without Cllr

Child or Doran taking any part in

that meeting.

Cllr Child was a founder and

member of the local residents’

society, and was also a local

resident which she had declared.

Cllr Doran had declared a

non-financial interest as a local

resident.

The Chair said: “The panel

noted that the requirement for

councillors to withdraw from

the room and not take part in the

discussion and decision-making

on any matter in which they

have declared an interest, is a

fundamental requirement

of the code, as it gives the

public confidence that decisions

have been made in the public

interest and not personal interest

of any councillor or their friends

or family.”