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City of Edinburgh Council (Portobello Park) Bill Committee 26 March 2014

26 Mar 2014 · S4 · City of Edinburgh Council (Portobello Park) Bill Committee

Item of business

City of Edinburgh Council (Portobello Park) Bill: Consideration Stage

McMahon, Siobhan Lab Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

Good morning, and welcome to the fourth meeting in 2014 of the City of Edinburgh Council (Portobello Park) Bill Committee. I remind members, witnesses and those in the public gallery to switch off all mobile phones and BlackBerrys.Before we start the oral evidence session, I point out that we have a number of issues to get through today. I remind witnesses that we have the content of all objections and supplementary written evidence. In addition, as the witnesses are aware, we have considered a substantial amount of evidence on a number of issues that were raised in objections and covered in oral evidence at the preliminary stage—in particular, the precedent argument, alternative sites, the court decision and the consultation process.I will manage proceedings to allow all areas to be covered fairly. I ask witnesses to focus on the main issues that they want to raise and to avoid unnecessary repetition of information that the committee has and which, along with the oral evidence sessions, will all be taken into account.The expectation is that the focus of the sessions is for each party to probe the other on the issues in question. Indeed, the purpose of the cross-examination is to assist members in making a decision on the issues, but I reiterate that the committee’s role is not to carry out a planning inquiry. The committee appreciates that the format will place some people in an unfamiliar situation.As the session involves groups of objectors appearing together, I will briefly set out the overall format. The lead objectors and the promoter’s lead spokesperson will be responsible for co-ordinating the evidence from their respective parties. First, I will invite each group’s lead objector to make brief general introductory remarks; the promoter will then have the same opportunity. We will move on to each of the categories, on which a spokesperson from each group on each issue in the category will be invited to outline briefly the concerns on a specific issue. Therefore, for category 1, a lead spokesperson from each group in turn should speak on each issue—first, on loss of amenity; secondly, on social, environmental and financial impact; and thirdly, on replacement open space. We expect only one person from each group to speak on each issue.Once all the issues in a category have been addressed, the promoter will be invited to state its position on each of the key issues in the category. Both parties will then have the opportunity to cross-examine each other on all the issues in the category. Following that, lead objectors will have an opportunity for any final comments on that category. Consideration will then move on to the next category of objections and the same format will be followed. Following the conclusion of proceedings on all categories, members will be invited to question witnesses from both parties, although members may raise a question for clarification at any point in the proceedings. To conclude, both lead objectors and the promoter will have the opportunity to make brief closing statements.If a group does not wish to address a specific topic in a category, I ask that they indicate that intention at the start of consideration of the relevant category. The promoter should also indicate whether it wishes to address any issues that the objectors consider do not require to be raised during the session.I hope that that is clear.We move to the first formal session. I welcome the witnesses representing objectors from groups 2 and 4. The two objectors from group 2 are Jennifer Peters, lead objector, and Ian Ross. The objectors from group 4 are Gillian Dunn, lead objector, Dr Gordon McCulloch, Archie Burns and Stephen Carr.

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City of Edinburgh Council (Portobello Park) Bill Committee 26 March 2014

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