The City of Edinburgh Council has delivered sustained improvements over the last 12 months and is continuing to fulfil its longer-term commitments, according to new bench-marking reports.
Demonstrating the Council’s continued focus on investing, delivering and improving the services that matter most to residents, the city’s annual performance report reveals good progress in a number of key areas while also recognising there is room for improvement still to be made.
The findings will be considered alongside the latest Local Government Benchmarking Framework and an update on the Capital’s Coalition Commitments.
Elected members will discuss achievements to date – including improvements in road and waste services, reducing carbon emissions and increasing educational attainment – and how we are working to improve more areas at a meeting of the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Thursday (20 August).
Council Leader Adam McVey said: We’ve made a huge amount of progress over the last 12 months and the results of many of the changes we’ve introduced are clear to see.
“Thousands of new homes are being built, our road condition is getting better and educational attainment across our communities is improving. We’ve seen another significant drop in waste complaints and carbon emissions showing we can continue to improve our basic services while working towards our long term ambitions for Edinburgh. These figures show we’re recording better performance in many areas we know are important to residents.
“We’ll continue to work hard for our citizens and prioritise the issues that matter to them. We face a number of challenges which weren’t foreseen and our plans on how the City adapts to COVID will help us sustain progress, prioritise investment to drive down carbon emissions further and support those residents most in need.
“Despite the challenges which still lie ahead, we remain committed to building on all of the achievements we’ve made to date. With nearly two years until the next Council election we’re well on our way to achieving 48 of our 52 Coalition Commitments, having delivered plans for more classroom assistants and smashed our target for new trees with a net increase of more than 12,000 delivered so far.
“Major infrastructure improvements like the new Meadowbank Sports Centre and Tram to Newhaven are crucial to our City’s wellbeing and sustainable future as are the thousands of new low-carbon homes being built. COVID has shown us how fragile progress can be but it’s also shown us how much we can do with the will to do it.”
Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “We deliver over 700 services every year for residents and visitors, from Council housing and care homes to making sure children receive the right start in life and the education they deserve.
“As we provide these services, our priority is to support our most vulnerable residents, focus on sustainable growth and address poverty – so I’m pleased to see a lot of improvements made in areas like health, the environment and education.
“While a great amount of progress has been made, there are still areas for improvement and we’re working to address these. The inequality gap still exists and we will continue to do all we can to make Edinburgh a more inclusive city, particularly as we recover from the COVID pandemic.
Alongside annual progress, we also need to look to the future. Our Coalition Commitments will put measures in place to make Edinburgh the fairer, greener City we are aspiring to.
The latest performance updates emerge from work the Council has carried out to focus improvements in line with the Council’s Change Strategy, Coalition Commitments and the results of the Edinburgh 2050 City Vision.
Amongst the highlights, the set of reports record:
ROADS AND WASTE
• A drop in domestic missed bin collection requests, down >5,000 in just two years (17,690 vs 22,853 in 2017/18)
• Almost all emergency road defects made safe within 24 hours (98% vs 95% in 2018/19)
• Almost all priority road defects repaired within five days (94% vs 81% in 2018/19)
CARBON EMISSIONS
• A reduction in Council and Edinburgh Leisure emissions (37% reduction to 2005 baseline)
SCHOOLS
• More pupils achieving early level reading (84%) and school leaver literacy and numeracy (67.1%) targets
• More school leavers heading into an initial positive destination (95.1%)
HOMES
• A rise in new homes being built (3,006 projected for this year vs 1,832 in 2017/18)
• A rise in new homes being approved (1,930 which is 230 above target vs 1,475 in 2017/18)
• A decrease in repeat presentations of homelessness (5.5% vs 7.9% in 2017/18)
HEALTH
• A downward trend in people delayed awaiting discharge from hospital (156 vs 267 in 2017/18)
• A downward trend in the number of people waiting for a package of care in hospital (48 vs 151 in 2017/18)
CUSTOMER CARE
• Increased customer satisfaction with the Council’s contact centre (76%)
• Quicker processing of claims and grants, including half the time taken for benefit claims (16.75 days vs 30.9 in 2017/18)
COUNCIL COMMITMENTS
Progress delivering Coalition Commitments (48 out of 52 fully or partially achieved), including successfully:
• Increasing the number of classroom assistants and support staff for children with additional needs to improve attainment and wellbeing
• Increasing allotment provision and support and expanding the network and the number of community gardens and food growing initiatives
• Upgrading parks and planting an additional 1,000 trees in communities
• Protecting Edinburgh World Heritage Status
• Exploring the introduction of fair rent zones, a workplace parking levy and transient visitor levy (TVL)
• Retaining Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Tram in public ownership
• Continuing the Council’s policy of no compulsory redundancies.
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