Tag: city council

Council budget: have your say

Councillors Rob Munn and Joan Griffiths, Finance & Resources Convener and Vice Convener, remain committed to ambitions and priorities for the Capital as the council embarks on the budget process once again …

Budget planning time is always a challenging point in the year for local authorities but the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on services has added another layer of complexity to the decision-making process ahead of us in February when the full Council meets to set our budget.

Nonetheless, we remain firmly committed to the positive and forward-thinking ambitions and priorities we’ve set for the Capital and will be guided by these, and by the latest public feedback, as we embark on the budget process once again.

Our Council teams have gone to incredible lengths to keep essential services running during this unprecedented crisis, but inevitably there have been some services that have had to be curtailed or paused for a time to help us deal with the pandemic and to keep residents and our colleagues safe.

Dealing with the pandemic has placed a much greater demand on services and brought additional costs with it. Meanwhile a significant reduction in our income, through areas such as leisure and transport, has resulted in an additional £47.5m gap in our budget over the next three years.

So, once again, we’re faced with difficult decisions and prioritising how we spend our budget, rethinking how our services are designed and delivered – and where we can make real and lasting savings.

That’s why it’s crucial we hear directly from the people we serve on what you want us to prioritise, as well as how your lives have been affected by the way Covid19 has changed – or, in some cases, temporarily suspended – our services.

There’s less than a week left to have your say in our budget survey, which has already gathered views from more than 1,200 respondents keen to help us shape our services over the next three years.

From the feedback we’ve had already, we can see that citizens welcome the way we’ve kept refuse and recycling collections going throughout the pandemic, as well as home care provision and the work we did to open schools up quickly for the children of essential workers after lockdown began in March.

People say they missed being able to visit their local library or use Edinburgh Leisure services, with community centres and recycling centres (when closed) also cited. 

When asked what the Council’s priorities should be for recovery, respondents mention keeping schools open, providing social services including care for the elderly and support for those with additional needs and restoring public transport usage to pre-pandemic levels.

We’ll take all the feedback we receive in this survey on board when we set our budget in February. In addition, we remain fully committed to our established core priorities of tackling poverty and inequality, boosting sustainability and promoting wellbeing – all of which were set based on direct feedback from you on what is most important to the people of Edinburgh.

Your voice matters, so if you haven’t yet done so, please have your say by 10 th December and help us get this right for Edinburgh for the years ahead.

Drumbrae Library Hub to reopen on 14 December

Hello wonderful, beautiful, spectacular library fans!

I know you’ve all been absolutely champing at the bit for the news and I’m sorry to have left you all hanging so long but the stories you’ve heard are absolutely true …

… Drumbrae Library Hub will be re-opening on December 14th! Woooooooo!

Now, before you all get too excited I should let you know that we will be running the same service as the other libraries that are already open which means that you will need to book an appointment to get access in order to browse & borrow, use the PC’s and get your National Entitlement Card.

You can make these bookings through the Library website (or just use this link: https://tinyurl.com/y6nlh8m7).

We will also be running on reduced hours for the moment and I have attached the opening hours in the form of a wee jpeg there (below).

From all of us at Drumbrae Library Hub I would like to thank you for your patience and I cannot properly express how excited we are to welcome you all back (in an orderly and covid safe manner)!

DRUMBRAE LIBRARY HUB

Have your say on capital’s Food Growing Strategy

Edinburgh folk are being encouraged to have their say on the Council’s first food growing strategy.

The strategy aims to encourage people to get more involved in local food production, promote local and sustainable consumption and help improve issues such as biodiversity, health, food security and address poverty in the capital.

Supported by Edible Edinburgh, the Growing Locally consultation is looking for people’s views on food growing, from growing in gardens and allotments or as part of a community growing project.

The consultation is looking to find out:

  • Ways in which the purchase of local and sustainable food could be increased, to help to reduce the city’s carbon emissions as well as supporting the Edinburgh’s green recovery from covid-19.
  • Feedback on ways in which local food growing could help to reduce food poverty and improve health and wellbeing.
  • How the Council and others in the city can help support people to become more involved in local growing.

Edible Edinburgh chair, Councillor George Gordon, said: “The Growing Locally strategy aims to reduce carbon emissions, support local food growing businesses, increase land availability for food growing, reduce inequalities and increase awareness and choice around healthy and sustainable food.

“We are calling for citizens to contribute to the consultation as to how they feel local food growing can help respond to these challenges, as well as help create a vibrant and thriving sustainable food economy in Edinburgh for everyone.”

Brenda Black, Director of Edinburgh Community Food and member of Edible Edinburgh said: “The Growing Locally strategy aims to help promote better food relationships within our communities by connecting people through well-being, through encouraging local growing and consumption of healthy and sustainable food. This consultation provides the opportunity to hear your views on how we can help tackle these issues together as a city.“

The draft food growing strategy was first approved for consultation by Council Committee in February 2020, but the online consultation was delayed due to the outbreak of covid-19.

The consultation will run until 18 January 2021 and will be supported through a series of online events published on the Edible Edinburgh website.

Have your say on the Growing Locally strategy via the consultation hub. 

Sharing the Christmas sparkle across the Capital

Christmas 2020 will see more festive lights than ever across the Capital following a one-off funding boost that aims to spread some cheer at the end of a challenging year.

Thanks to savings identified in the Culture budget due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on festivals and events there will now be Christmas lights in every ward of the city, with the new provision being used to dress living trees. 

The traditional Christmas centrepiece is already illuminated following the switch-on of the 2020 Christmas Rainbow on the Mound to accompany the traditional Norwegian tree on Friday (27 November). The 18m wide rainbow pays tribute to frontline workers who have given so much during the pandemic. The programme of citywide installation has begun.

Culture and Communities Convener, Cllr Donald Wilson, said: “This has been a very tough year for all of us and as we now look ahead to a very different Christmas, it’s important to show that Edinburgh’s festive and community spirit is alive and well despite the challenges we’re facing.

“Along with our usual provision of Christmas lights and trees around the city we’re also making sure that we spread the Christmas sparkle where we can to parts of Edinburgh that have not previously had festive lighting provision and to make sure that is the case for several years. I’m delighted to confirm that from 2020 there will be lights in every ward of the city.

“With this one-off spend we’ll be ensuring all 17 wards have festive lights for around five years – the life span of the new lighting.”

Culture and Communities Vice Convener, Cllr Amy McNeese-Mechan, said: “To keep everyone safe we unfortunately weren’t able to have our usual community light switch-on ceremonies this year, but I hope this extra splash of festive sparkle across the city will boost spirits and can be enjoyed by residents safely.

“Our thanks to the team who had to work so quickly and explored ways to add lights to previously unlit areas. The task of plotting the best spots is not as easy as it sounds and I want to congratulate the team for researching the city and making sure we could find living trees that are suitable for lights. They had to be on Council land, big enough to accommodate lights without harming branches, in a visible spot or in area of high footfall and near a suitable power supply.

“The installation of the festive lights has started across our communities and I hope citizens enjoy the extra Christmas cheer they’ll bring to local neighbourhoods.”

New Christmas lights for 2020:

Rainbow on The Mound
Nativity Scene (East Princes Street Gardens)
Granton
Gracemount
Longstone
Currie
Balerno
Liberton
Sighthill
Oxgangs
Kirk Brae
Craigentinny
Portobello High School
Leith Walk
Duddingston
Meadowbank
Canongate
Leith – Bernard St Bridge
Meggetland Bridge

Next steps for controlling capital’s short term lets

The Council has published its response to the recent Scottish Government consultation on short term lets. It welcomes the announcement that draft legislation on proposals is expected to be considered by Parliament next month.

The report, which will be considered by councillors at Tuesday’s Policy and Sustainability Committee (1 December), broadly welcomes the Scottish Government’s approach to a new licensing regime and planning control areas and outlines what is required to happen next to allow the Council to implement both licensing and planning controls after the new legislation comes into force next spring.

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Earlier this year I wholeheartedly welcomed the Scottish Government announcement that our call for a new regulatory scheme had been successful. Since then there has been a consultation on proposals and the government has confirmed a draft will be considered by Parliament in December with new legislation being brought in next spring. All of this progress has been in direct response to our hard work in pushing for the powers we know we need to deliver for our communities.

“We’re seeking some clarification on some technical issues regarding implementation and are still working on how these powers can help us control the number of short term lets in the city through a combination of planning and licensing policies.

“We’re pleased that, through new short term let control areas, we’ll be able to control the number of short term lets in the city as properties being let out in these areas would automatically require to have ‘change of use’ planning permission in place.

“It’s also good news that when people apply for a licence we can ask for evidence that they have that permission. This is something we’re very keen to do and our ‘Choices’ consultation for our next local development plan – ‘City Plan 2030’ – showed overwhelming support for control zones.

Depute Leader Cammy Day added: “Great progress is being made to tackle this issue we have campaigned so hard to address. This is so important as short term lets have reduced the city’s housing stock, hollowed out communities and caused numerous issues for residents such as noise and other anti-social behaviour.

“It’s important though that we manage expectations just now as there’s still a lot of work to be done when the legislation is approved later this year to implement the right licensing regime and planning controls for Edinburgh.

“I look forward to the draft legislation going before Parliament in December and legislation becoming a reality in April so we can use the new legislation to improve the lives of many of our residents throughout the city.”

Further information:

  • The Scottish Government proposes that the licensing system be delivered by local authorities but the regulations will specify a minimum licensing scheme which will be mandatory. Local authorities will have the power to introduce licensing conditions from a specified list of options to address local issues of concern.
  • The Scottish Government’s proposals would not allow the licensing system to control the numbers of short-term let properties by imposing a cap or limit. 
  • Rather, it is the short term lets control area that would be used to manage high concentration of short-term let properties.
  • The proposed regulations would allow planning authorities to designate all or part(s) of their area as a control area.
  • Within such a designated area, the use of a dwelling house for secondary letting will always be deemed to involve a material change of use and requires planning permission.
  • This is consistent with the Council’s desire to have a method of managing high locational concentrations of short-term let properties and clarifying the planning process for such changes of use to bring a simpler approach.
  • The proposals also address a key Council principle about ensuring a joined-up Planning and Licensing approach by including a mandatory condition for licence applications which would require the host to confirm that they have applied for, or obtained planning permission (if required), that it remains current and that they are complying with any planning conditions.

Edinburgh’s Christmas lights up the capital to thank key workers

  • Edinburgh’s Christmas lights are switched on with a specially lit 18 metre Christmas Rainbow on the Mound to accompany the Tree gifted by Norway.
  • The Christmas Rainbow symbolises both Edinburgh’s celebration of Christmas and gratitude for front line workers
  • Edinburgh’s Lord Provost and Norway’s Honorary Consul General switched the lights on following an online meeting between the Lord Provost and Vestland County Convenor, Jon Askeland.

Edinburgh looks very different this Christmas to any other year in recent memory. However, despite the lack of any live activity, City of Edinburgh Council and its Edinburgh’s Christmas producer, Underbelly, wanted to mark Light Night, the traditional switch-on, which is usually seen by thousands of locals every year, with something different to mark 2020 – the Christmas Rainbow.

The illuminated rainbow, which sits at over 18 metres wide on the Mound and adjacent to the Christmas Tree gifted to Edinburgh by Vestland in Norway, gives thanks to Edinburgh’s and Scotland’s front-line workers who have given so much during the recent pandemic and so provides a one-off festive celebration for Edinburgh.

The Christmas Tree and the Christmas Rainbow were switched on by The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Frank Ross and the Honorary Consul General for Norway, David Windmill on Friday the 27th November, which succeeded an online meeting between the Lord Provost and the Vestland County Convener Jon Askeland.

Charlie Wood, co-director of Underbelly for Edinburgh’s Christmas, said: “There is no denying that Christmas this year will be a tough time for most. Many have lost loved ones and lots of us will be unable to spend the holidays with friends and family due to the Covid-19 restrictions.

“This was one of the reasons that we wanted to continue the tradition of the Edinburgh’s Christmas light switch on, in a safe and physically distanced way, and, most especially, why we wanted to mark what has been such a negative year with the Christmas Rainbow and the Christmas Tree, as symbols of colour, of light, of celebration, of positivity and of gratitude.”

Frank Ross, Lord Provost said: “Our annual Light Night signals the start for the festive season for me, but this year, like most things, we are doing it differently. 

“Whilst we can’t come together as a city for Light Night, I hope this year’s Christmas rainbow helps us enter the festive spirit, spread some happiness whilst celebrating and paying tribute to those in in our communities, NHS, key workers, volunteers and businesses who have gone above and beyond in this most challenging of years.

“With our partners Underbelly, we are committed to do all we can to bring Christmas spirit to the Capital and keep some of our traditions.  Our priority throughout remains people’s safety and making sure everything we deliver is Covid-secure.

“The Christmas lights will be switched on throughout the city in the coming days and we hope this helps to create a festive atmosphere and I sincerely wish that we can all have the happiest Christmas we can.”

David Windmill, Honorary Consul General for Norway said: “In a year when there has been so much change and difficulty for us all it was important for Norway to maintain its tradition of gifting the Christmas tree to the City of Edinburgh.

“This beautiful tree in the centre of the city reflects the gratitude of the people of Vestland on the west coast of Norway for help and support in the past and also the hope that this time next year we shall be celebrating the joyous and traditional Christmas in Edinburgh that we all know so well.”

Edinburgh unveils plan for ending poverty by 2030

Edinburgh skyline

The city council has unveiled a ten-year delivery plan outlining the actions it will take to help eradicate poverty in the Capital by 2030.

Published just under two months since Edinburgh became the first UK local authority to set a target date for ending poverty, the End Poverty in Edinburgh Delivery Plan 2020-2030 will be considered by the Council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee on 1 December. 

It sets out key actions to be taken by the Council over the next decade in response to the final report from the Edinburgh Poverty Commission, which was published in September this year. 

Preventing poverty through people-focused and “poverty-proofed” Council services, helping households maximise their incomes, establishing Edinburgh as a Living Wage City and pressing the UK and Scottish Governments for changes to housing investment and social security policy are among the priority actions outlined in the delivery plan.  

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Tackling poverty and inequality in our City drives the choices we are making as a Council. We have to act decisively if we’re to eradicate poverty in the Capital by 2030. The first iteration of the delivery plan, just weeks after we received the final recommendations from the Edinburgh Poverty Commission, is the next major step towards that aim. 

“The ongoing impact of the Covid19 pandemic has hit those on lowest incomes hardest, this should challenge all of us to join the fight to end poverty in Edinburgh. We’ll be ensuring this is central to the choices we make when setting our budget and refreshing the Council’s Business Plan in early 2021.

“This isn’t something the Council can achieve in isolation, however, and this plan is only the first step towards meeting the call to action the Commission has set for us all. The next year will be critical in making sure we pull together and start the long-term work we need to do to end poverty in Edinburgh.

Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “It’s estimated there’s as much as £80 million in unclaimed benefits in the city. Making sure people are able to access all the financial support they are entitled to is one vital step we can take towards ending poverty in Edinburgh.

“The Edinburgh Poverty Commission report showed us that there are already a number of excellent support services working hard in this city to help Edinburgh residents do just that, but there is much more we need to do. Eradicating poverty in Edinburgh will take a massive collective effort – a ‘whole city approach’ – and this new delivery plan will see us working with our partners across the city to extend these supports and make sure high quality services to prevent or help people out of poverty are embedded in every community in Edinburgh.

“We’ll also continue to press the Scottish and UK Governments hard on making essential changes to housing investment and to social security policy and implementation to build a stronger support system for Scotland that, to quote the Edinburgh Poverty Commission report, ‘is based on a fundamental objective of providing income security sufficient for people in Edinburgh to live free of poverty‘”.

The End Poverty in Edinburgh Delivery Plan 2020-2030 highlights 13 priority actions needed to accelerate progress towards the goal of ending poverty in Edinburgh by 2030, and 44 actions identified for delivery and implementation through existing or forthcoming mainstream Council plans and strategies.

The Plan’s actions span seven ‘action areas’, as outlined in the final report from the Edinburgh Poverty Commission: 

  • The right support in the places we live and work
  • Fair work that provides dignity and security
  • A decent home we can afford to live in
  • Income security that offers a real lifeline
  • Opportunities that drive justice and boost prospects
  • Connections in a city that belongs to us
  • Equality in our health and wellbeing

If approved by councillors on the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 1 December, the Delivery Plan will then be implemented, with a detailed progress monitoring framework brought back to Committee within two cycles. 

In October, the Committee agreed to endorse a Team Edinburgh approach with other partners and organisations to become the first UK local authority to commit to ending poverty by a specific date.

On the day the Capital Coalition made their announcement on poverty targets a protest was taking place in Muirhouse, one of the capital’s poorest areas.

Living Rent campaigners staged an ‘Enough is Enough’ event to highlight the intolerable conditions council tenants are living in.

WALL OF SHAME

Muirhouse residents highlight council’s repairs failures

  • This afternoon Muirhouse Living Rent members will be highlighting Edinburgh council’s home repairs failures in chalk outside Pennywell Road shops before hand delivering their demands regarding the repairs process within Edinburgh Council properties to council buildings on West Pilton Gardens
  • This action comes after repeated instances of residents’ repairs’ needs being ignored, delayed or delivered to a poor standard and seeks to call Edinburgh council’s attention to the wider repairs system
  • Tenants demand that Edinburgh city council introduce measure to improve delays, satisfaction and communication regarding repairs

Today, from 1pm – 3.30pm, Living Rent members from Muirhouse will gather to protest the failure of Edinburgh City Council to provide an adequate standard of repairs to council properties in the area.

Members’ will write a wall of complaints in chalk complying with social distancing measures to bring the council’s attention to the significant delays, lack of communication, and poor quality repairs across these properties which have left many residents living with long-term mould, damp, drafts, and leaks.

Information received from a Freedom of Information request shows that despite there being less than 5,000 council properties in the North West locality of the city, to date there are 1,390 uncompleted repairs jobs.

Residents also learned that in the last year alone, the council received over 2,815 repairs complaints relating to heating systems and 1,472 relating to plumbing works with the average time taken for a repair to be completed being 35 days – this is despite a 2019 Edinburgh council report revealing that 90% of homes in Muirhouse required repairs [1].

Ongoing issues with severe damp, mould, and leaks in Muirhouse residents’ homes is contributing to respiratory health problems with one resident being told by her doctor that her mould-ridden property was no longer safe for her and her child to live in.

Edinburgh council advice to residents suffering with extreme mould and damp is to ventilate and heat the property, but owing to the structural insulation problems across many of the blocks, heating the properties sufficiently is a costly process.

Some families across the blocks estimate their winter heating costs to be as high as £50/week – adding to problems of fuel poverty in an area where one in three children live in poverty [2].

Amidst a global pandemic, accessing secure, safe and quality housing is more important than ever, and residents fear that the upcoming winter will exacerbate the consequences of unaddressed repairs issues.

Following the chalk wall of shame on Pennywell Road, tenants will proceed to march down to the West Pilton Gardens Council offices where they plan to deliver their letter of demands by hand.

These demands include:

– A new system by which tenants must sign-off on all repairs jobs prior to the council closing the case
– Tenants to be given ‘repairs process’ satisfaction forms after the completion of each repair
– Having a named council employee who works in the repairs department who is designated to be responsible for all repairs cases across Muirhouse
– Tenants to be given a deadline for any second repairs visits within 24 hours of the first visit by a tradesperson or council worker
– Tenants request Edinburgh council provide a reasonable timescale within which all repairs should be resolved

Muirhouse tenant and Living Rent member, Shafiq, said: “I have been waiting for over nine months for a leak repair. My home is permanently damp and causing respiratory problems during a pandemic – and I’m not even living in the worst flat in my building!”

Another Muirhouse-based Living Rent member highlighted that “this type of behaviour by Edinburgh council shows the need for an in depth review of their system which is clearly failing tenants in the middle of a pandemic, when access to warm, secure and quality housing is crucial to health”.

Notes

[1]https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/edinburgh-council-finds-90-cent-muirhouse-flats-need-repair-141071

[2]https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/shameful-figures-show-extent-child-18153034

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45508172

[4] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/authority-acting-like-a-slum-landlord-wbncv9nr8

[5] https://nen.press/2018/09/13/slum-landlord-muirhouse-high-rise-conditions-insufferable/

www.livingrent.org

City Council ‘must do better’

Over the last four years many services provided by the City of Edinburgh Council have improved, its finances have been well-managed and ambitious strategies to improve the lives of local people and the economy have been agreed.

In a report published today the Accounts Commission says, however, that since 2016 there has been mixed progress at a strategic level, across community engagement and continuous improvement.

The council must now put in place a long-term financial strategy and a more effective workforce plan.

Both are essential for the council to address the additional pressures the impact of Covid-19 has placed on the council, and support how it will fund and manage its vision for the future. Strong leadership and clear, collaborative working with local partners are vital to realise these ambitions.

Across Scotland, Covid-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities, an issue of significant concern to the Accounts Commission.

Whilst Edinburgh is, overall, a prosperous city, the Commission urge the council to continue to lead and progress its commitment to reducing poverty and inequality across the city.

The council should also do more to embed community empowerment throughout the council’s culture, enabling local people to improve public services and their communities.

Elma Murray, Interim Chair of the Accounts Commission said, “The City of Edinburgh Council can do more to maximise its potential to improve the city and the lives of local people.

“Whilst the ambition of the council and its partners is impressive, the detail of how it will deliver, monitor and report on its key strategic goals must be in one accessible and coherent plan. It is the responsibility of all local councillors, working together, to ensure the city and its services continue to improve.

“It is important for the council to focus on continuous improvement and the creation of long-term financial and workforce plans. I expect the council to act swiftly on our report. Doing so will support the council’s ambitions to improve the lives of its residents.”

bv_201126_edinburghDownload

Responding to the report, Council Leader Adam McVey said: “We welcome the Accounts Commission’s constructive feedback in response to the Best Value Assurance Report carried out by the Controller of Audit and we are pleased to note their positive comments about the levels of ambition we have shown in addressing our key priorities of poverty, sustainability and wellbeing.

“The Controller of Audit acknowledged the improving picture of our core services, while our bold strategies to put people at the heart of how we design public space, our proven ability to take difficult decisions like taking trams to Newhaven, and extensive consultations with residents and stakeholders to put communities at the heart of our decision-making are all cited as strengths.

“Of course, we’re always striving to improve wherever we can so that we deliver the best possible services and achieve what we’ve set out to achieve on behalf of the people of Edinburgh. We are now carefully reviewing the full report and will work hard to address areas in need of our attention going forward.”

Depute Leader, Labour’s Cammy Day said: “The Council delivers more than 700 services for Scotland’s Capital, from care for the most vulnerable in our communities and maintaining several hundred miles of roads and pavements to educating our children and putting roofs over people’s heads, and much more besides.

“Our frontline colleagues continue to pull out all the stops to keep vital services going during hugely challenging circumstances right now and I want to thank each and every one of them for their hard work and dedication. 

“These are especially testing times for all local authorities given the ongoing global pandemic and straitened public finances so it’s vital we are equipped with as much information as possible when making decisions affecting our communities.

“What we’re doing now is reviewing the Best Value Assurance report and the Accounts Commission’s findings in full with elected members. We’ll then draw up our detailed response setting out how we plan to use the findings in the best interests of the whole city.”

The Best Value Assurance Audit report and Accounts Commission findings will be considered and scrutinised by the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 1 December, by the Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee on 8 December and by Full Council on 10 December. 

MUIRHOUSE DESERVES BETTER: Day Of Action


📍Thurs 26th 13:00 at Pennywell Road shops: https://fb.me/e/LVcOQRcz

Living Rent Muirhouse members are inviting local residents and union members to draw in chalk their housing problems which are not being dealt with by their landlord – Edinburgh City Council.

Members and residents will then hand in a list of their demands about repairs to the Edinburgh City Council offices. This has gone on for long enough: Muirhouse Deserves Better!

SOCIALLY DISTANCED/ COVID MEASURES

– online tweets and fb posts for those shielding
– masks and hand sanitiser provided
– physically distancing measures enacted