South Edinburgh Greens

South Edinburgh Greens (SEG) Annual Report

June 2025-26

Introduction

SEG is a sub-branch formed of two wards in the south of Edinburgh stretching
from Bruntsfield Links to the Pentlands. There are currently 295 members, 236 in
Morningside and 59 in Colinton/Fairmilehead.

Morningside has had a Green councillor since 2007 (Alison Johnstone 2007-12,
Melanie Main 2012-22, Ben Parker 2022-).

Morningside has four councillors in total (currently Green , Labour, Lib Dem,
Conservative). Colinton/Fairmilehead has three (currently Labour x1 conservative
x2).

Colinton/Fairmilehead has never been a target ward, although we do stand
candidates there (Helen McCabe in 2022, Daniel Milligan 2025).

SEG Activity 2025-26

The SEG AGM was held on Thursday 13th June 2025 at the Eric Liddell Centre. Jo
Phillips and A McNestry were re- elected as Co-convenors

Green News in Morningside

In conjunction with Ben we produced and delivered two editions of Green News.

We have a target area which we deliver to consistently . These are the greenest
polling districts . (If we were to increase our delivery capacity then we might
be able to extend this area in the future).

We have a limited number of delivery volunteers with a few people doing a large
amount,

Communication with SEG members

Aideen checks the Forest database for new members and emails them a welcome
letter designed by Steve West. She also monitors the SEG Inbox and replies to
emails. We have a WhatsApp group with approx 25 members signed up at any one
time.

SEG Monthly Meetings

All our SEG meetings were in person this year. Due to an ongoing problem of
finding a suitable venue in Morningside - that is accessible, interesting and
affordable - in December it was decided to continue to hold fewer meetings a
year at the Eric Liddell Community Hub. We invite members to coffee mornings in
the Eric Liddell on a Saturday in months where we don’t have a meeting . Ben
gives a council update at each meeting . At our Saturday coffee mornings we
discuss matters arising and Ben is available to answer questions.

Liaison with the Branch 2025-26

Aideen acted as SEG rep on the branch committee membership group during the
year, attending branch meetings and following activity on Slack. Aideen attended
Local Teams and Membership working group meetings.

Community activity

Ben is an active contributor to various community groups in the wards and feeds
back to the sub branch on these . Various members have attended some community
initiatives but we feel we need to formalise some of these.

Membership

Diversity: it seemed that a slightly wider cross section of society was
represented at meetings than in previous years, although there is still a lot of
work to do.

Membership numbers increased up to and during the Holyrood election.

Finances

SEG did not have a budget (or a Treasurer) for 2025-26 . We decided to keep
things simple and we ask suppliers to invoice the branch directly. Members
contributed to refreshments at meetings. We received funds from the branch for:

Total = £320

The Eric Liddell have recently increased their charges and now charge by the
hour.

New team for 2025-26

The SEG AGM was held on Thursday 13th June 2025 at the Eric Liddell Centre.
There were 11 people in attendance and Aideen McNestry and Jo Phillips were
reelected as co-convenors for 2025-26 . Cllr Ben Parker gave an update of his
year as a Councillor and the group discussed future campaigning, including
thoughts about the upcoming Holyrood Election. There was a better than average
turnout at the AGM and we focussed mainly on the Holyrood election . We planned
to start canvassing in December.

Holyrood Elections

We kicked this campaign off with the let’s get started meeting with Adam
McGibbon and mainly focussed on the Holyrood election for the rest of the year
and into 2026.

SEG with the rest of the branch made every effort to be successful and these
efforts were well rewarded.

Our AGM on June 11th focussed on preparing for the council elections next year.

New team for 2026-2027

Aideen McNestry and Jo Philips stood down as co convenors. So far we have not
managed to recruit any new members to help run SEG.

Aideen will continue to do the admin, checking mail box and welcoming members
etc and Jo will likely stay on as Coco if no one comes forward.

This is an ongoing situation ….