1. Welcome

Tam Coyle welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Attendance and Apologies

2.1.Community Councillors

Tam Coyle (V/C), David Cowan (Secretary), Peter Hayman, Eileen Mills, Gary Atkinson, Carla Arrighi, Niall McColl and Scott Thornton.

2.2.Residents

FC, AL, PP, GW, NR, OG,TD, EM

2.3.Elected Representatives

Lord Provost Philip Braat, Deputy Lord Provost Christy Mearns, Cllr Eva Bolander, Cllr Angus Millar

2.4.Ex-officio

Constables Rob Wilson and Stephen Clark- Police Scotland,

3. Minutes of Last Meeting (30 November 2021)

3.1.Update on Action Points

1. Report back on meeting with Mairi Miller re Connolly’s bar (Christy Mearns) - Still in progress
2. Follow up re Ramshorn (Tam Coyle) - Still in progress
3. Raise Connolly’s bar issues with Mairi Miller (Tam Coyle & Christy Mearns) - Still in progress
4. Report noise issues to Council team and police (All) - Done
5. Follow up on Annie Millers’ pub licence withdrawal (Eva Bolander) - No update
6. Update on progress of Waterfront development (All councillors) - See update below
7. Follow up re missing statue on John St (Christy Mearns & Carla Arrighi) - Statue reinstated

3.2.Corrections to minutes of last meeting

No changes were requested.

3.3.Approval

Proposed by: Carla Arrighi
Seconded by: David Cowan

4. Matters Arising

4.1.New Office Bearers and representatives

• Chair (and Merchant City Festival Rep): Tam Coyle
• Vice-Chair (and Social Media Manager): Niall McColl
• Secretary: David Cowan
• Treasurer: Carla Arrighi
• Area Partnership Representative: Gary Atkinson
• North-West Partnership and Media Spokesperson: Scott Thornton
• Merchant City Park: Eileen Mills
• Planning: Peter Hayman
  All will serve until our 2022 AGM

4.2.School Consultation

The proposed school has been withdrawn after conclusion of the consultation.

5. Police Report (Rob Wilson and Stephen Clark)

5.1.Report

• Busier over Festive period, but no incidents of note.
• Drug users in Glassford Court set fire to bin store which filled building with smoke; Police will follow up with Tam and FC
• Avant Garde issue on 31 December – No comment from Police.

5.2.Questions raised

• TD – Garth Street traffic and obstructive parking – Police will follow up
• PP – Graffiti “tagging” on Herald Building – Police will liaise with Council officers; likely to be the factors that have to get it cleaned as private property
• NR – Candleriggs Parking and driving on pavements ; Police did move on vehicles in December and will continue to do so

6. Treasurer’s Report (Carla)

Getting things sorted out but takes time

7.Elected Members Reports

7.1.Cllr Eva Bolander

• Filming in City Centre – reaction has been generally positive. Any issues raised will be passed to Film Office
• Planning Enforcement charter being reviewed; lays out what they can and cannot deal with. Copy will be sent to the Community Council.
• Short-term lets legislation moving forward; Council licencing scheme to be in place by October 2022
• Ramshorn – still trying to get friends group going (volunteers welcome) – interest from various organisations keen to see it started; will be linked with Necropolis and Southern Necropolis groups. TC met with Friends of Garnethill Green Spaces (FROGGS)
• Cladding – ongoing discussions with Kaukab Stewart MSP; no direct feedback on what’s happening
• Virginia Place – issue of commercial waste has been raised again; planning application for bin shed on pavement – see 8.1.3 under planning

7.2.Deputy Lord Provost Christy Mearns

• Candleriggs – TRO published to remove pedestrianisation south of Bell St; Christy will follow up and feedback
• Repainting of faded road markings
• Connolly’s bar – complaints have reduced, but that may be due to recent restrictions; noise control will investigate further if they restart.
• Ingram St car park – Proposal of Application Notice has been submitted;
• Online Consultation from 8 February to early April
• https://www.65-97ingramsgtreet.co.uk
  * Event in Merchant Square on 9 February, book appointment via Eventbrite
  • Citation – variation of licence to serve alcohol outdoors
    • NM reported noise problems over festive period, which were raised with noise control team
    • Application for outdoor seating was withdrawn last year

7.3.Lord Provost Philip Braat

• Sewer work on Ingram St – has written to Scottish Water to ensure road surface reinstated properly
• Refuse collection – should be largely back to normal
• Recycling bins at 103 Hutcheson St not emptied since installation in October; PB will investigate

7.4.Cllr Angus Millar

• Filming – Glasgow seen as a good location
  • £42 million benefit to the local economy since 2021, but not much seems to be coming to the impacted areas
  • Will reach out to DC to discuss experiences with filming
• Waterfront – work carried out late November and December was technical groundwork investigation
• Old Wynd and surrounding streets – has requested that the very poor lighting be upgraded

7.5.Questions

• ST > Any update on Borderland; DC – not as yet
• DC – roads were cleaned after filming, but not the pavements; Eva will follow up
• EM – Adjustment to “Open Daily” notice at Ramshorn – Eva will follow up
• TC – when will we be able to access City Chambers again?
  • PB has call with business team on 26/1, will update at future meeting
  • EM – how are the meeting rooms configured for ventilation? PB will check but thinks its opening windows
• DC – what facilities are there for livestreaming meetings? A couple of meeting rooms have been configured to allow council meetings to be livestreamed, but probably won’t be available to MCTCC. Anderston CC are conducting hybrid meetings – NM will write to them to ask how they’re doing it
• ST – any update on delay in mandatory introduction of interlinked smoke/fire alarms
  • Can be followed up with Kaukab
  • AM – requirement to have them fitted hasn’t changed, nor the implementation date, but initially no penalties will be applied
• PH – recent metro announcement, will there still be a tunnel connecting Queen St and Central, and is Crossrail still part of it?
  • AM – detail still to be worked out
• NR – Coffee shop on Candleriggs was originally 9am – 5pm, now opening till 9pm Fridays with BYOB.
  • TC will follow up with Mairi Miller
• NR – businesses not cleaning the spaces that have been made available for them, and street furniture hasn’t been cleaned in many years
  • AM will raise with officials

8. Planning (Peter Hayman)

8.1. New Applications

8.1.1.Redevelopment of 65-97 Ingram St by Artisan

• Proposal of Application notice lodged.
• Online consultation from 8 February to early April
• Online chat on afternoon of 8 February; in person sessions in Merchant Square on 9 February – prebooking required
• Website: https://65-97ingramstreet.co.uk

8.1.2.Howard St use of retail unit as hot food takeaway (21/03868/FUL)

• Change to building from barbershop to hot food takeaway
• Proposal would require installation of flue on outside of building
• This is inside the conservation zone, and in a listed building
• Last date for comments: 11 February 2022

8.1.3.Use of pavement as bin storage area, Virginia Place (21/03656/FUL)

• Need to see detail of this
• Last date for comments 14 February 2022

8.1.4.Erection of rear and rooftop extensions to Former Lewis’s building (21/03594/FUL and 21/03595/LBA)

• Lodged on 25 January
• Last date for comments: 11 February 2022

9. Licencing (Tam Coyle)

• Tesco in Ingram St is now Sainsbury; application to sell alcohol had to be resubmitted
• Application from Citation -mentioned above

10.Merchant City Park (Eileen and Peter)

• Artisan keen to speak to the community
• Eileen has received correspondence, but MCP have declined to speak with them
• In terms of fundraising, EM pointed out that its difficult to raise funds when you don’t own the property.

11.Local Issues (all)

11.1.Condition of streets

• Streets are slippery and unkempt
• Bins are being left outside Merchant Square at all hours
• Councillors to follow up

11.2.Lack of green space

• Other than proposed MCP, only site in our patch is Deans Well Garden
• JR – how many green spaces have the council added in MCTCC area?
• CM – there was funding made available for pop-up parks via Area Partnership, still live
• EB – none that she’s aware of, but improvements made at Rottenrow and Cathedral St, plus stalled space at Greyfriars Garden

12. Social Media (Niall McColl)

• No report due to lack of time

13.AOCB

13.1.Hustings

Our April meeting is planned to be a hustings event for the Council elections taking place in May.

14. Date of next meeting

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 at 7pm

15.Action Points

1. Report back on meeting with Mairi Miller re Connolly’s bar, and speak to her re coffee shop on Candleriggs (Christy Mearns)
2. Provide copy of Planning Enforcement Charter (Eva Bolander)
3. Follow up on Candleriggs TRO re pedestrianisation south of Bell St (Christy Mearns)
4. Contact David Cowan re experiences with recent filming (Angus Millar)
5. Follow up on recycling collections from 103 Hutcheson St (Phillip Braat)
6. Follow up on graffiti tagging on Albion St (Phillip Braat)
7. Arrange for “Open daily” notice at Ramshorn to be corrected (Eva Bolander)
8. Confirm arrangements re use of City Chambers, including ventilation and streaming facilities (Phillip Braat)
9. Write to Anderston CC re hybrid meetings (Niall McColl)