city council – Page 130 – The NEN

Edinburgh Cycle Hire reports 119% growth over 12 months

Edinburgh Cycle Hire has reported growth of 119% between September 2019 and 2020. Over 221,000 trips were made during that time, eclipsing growth reported by other UK cycle schemes and the record set by the company last year.

The scheme has seen exponential growth with average trips per day up by 46%. This is due in part to the 75 new hire stations installed at sites across the city including Montgomery Street and Belford Road next to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) and Dean Gallery.

Other sites included West Crosscauseway, Corstorphine Road and Craigleith Road. These are areas previously not served by a cycle scheme and is part of a strategy to create a cycling network for the city as an alternative to short car journeys.

New users to Edinburgh Cycle Hire have totalled more than 34,000 bringing the overall to 57,000 customers cycling in and around the city. Earlier in 2020 the popular scheme was extended into South Queensferry with start/end journeys totally nearly 4,500 in the first six months and 1,500 new customers joining the scheme. Proving that cycle hire can function as a public transport service, as well as improving inner city connectivity.

George Lowder, Chief Executive, Transport for Edinburgh said: “What makes this performance truly outstanding is that this growth encompasses a period when the country was in lockdown, with homeworking, no Festivals and few visitors in The City.

“The people of Edinburgh have embraced cycling and we will continue to strive to grow the scheme to meet with this increasing demand.”

Alex Macdonald, General Manager Serco said: “We’d like to thank our customers to the moon and back for making the positive choice to cycle.

“Coincidently the one million kilometres our customers have ridden would take them from the moon, to earth and back again.”

Cllr Lesley Mcinnes, Transport and Environment Convenor, the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Edinburgh Cycle Hire has proved itself to be an accessible and easy alternative to travelling by car and is a vital part of the city’s sustainable transport network, providing another useful choice of how to get around in Edinburgh.“

The scheme has not been without its challenges: theft and vandalism has been an issue with bikes stolen and dumped in public places and damage to hire points.

Further investment has been made to the cycle hire’s infrastructure to deter this type of anti-social behaviour and maintain the scheme’s sustainability. However, this impacts on delivering services across the city, especially in areas where cycling could become a more accessible mode of transport for many communities.

A partnership has been created with Police Scotland to support efforts to recover stolen bikes and prosecute those who choose to damage the scheme’s infrastructure.

Chief Inspector Neil Wilson, Police Scotland said: “Police Scotland, Edinburgh City Division has been working in close partnership with the Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme (ECHS) to address theft of their fleet and vandalism to their infrastructure.

“We have undertaken crime prevention surveys of hire stations throughout the city and we will support ECHS in the implementation of enhanced security measures. Our officers have been briefed on how to spot a stolen bike and regularly undertake targeted patrolling, which has resulted in numerous apprehensions and prosecutions.

“We will continue to develop our approach in partnership with ECHS and would encourage the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity involving the cycle hire network to police.”

To bring cycling to the community the scheme was awarded funding from SP Energy Networks’ Green Economy Fund and Funding by Smarter Choices Smarter Places, which is Paths for All’s programme to increase active and sustainable travel throughout Scotland.

The programme is grant-funded by Transport Scotland. The cycle scheme will implement an outreach programme to help people make the choice to walk or cycle for short local journeys, and to encourage groups who were reluctant to cycle feel confident getting on a bike.

In March Edinburgh Cycle Hire took ownership of an additional 68 ebikes through eBike Grant Fund, delivered by Energy Saving Trust and funded by Transport Scotland. These have been a popular choice with nearly 21,000 trips made. Feedback has shown a broader demographic of uptake for ebikes, especially amongst older users, proving that you never really forget how to ride a bike.

During the summer Edinburgh Cycle Hire, in partnership with Sustrans and funding from Transport Scotland responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by providing free passes to NHS Workers to support them with their essential work.

With increasing demand for the scheme, Edinburgh Cycle Hire’s future looks set to continue in a positive direction as the city continues to seek out ways to improve its connectivity in a sustainable way.

Find out more about Edinburgh Cycle Hire online.

Portobello community embraces My Beach,Your Beach campaign

A summer of learning, celebrating and caring for Portobello Beach has come to a close, as environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful reports on its My Beach, Your Beach campaign.

Launched in mid-July, just as we were easing out of lockdown, the campaign aimed to help improve water quality at six of Scotland’s well-loved beaches through targeted interventions to encourage better attitudes and behaviours.

Now, as we look to the autumn and winter, it is heartening to see that despite 57% of people thinking dog poo is an issue and 35% believing litter is an issue at Portobello Beach, 66% of those surveyed in the area have said they are willing to pick up litter when visiting the beach to leave it cleaner than they found it.

The successful campaign raised awareness of the potential impact on bathing water quality by dog fouling and encouraging gulls by feeding and leaving litter.

The third year of the My Beach Your Beach campaign was a little bit different – extending it to two more great beaches, Irvine and Troon – and also taking community engagement online in the face of lockdown measures, to encourage those who live locally to get involved and celebrate their beach.

Campaign messaging appeared on the bins along the promenade, encouraging people to dispose of waste responsibly.

This was supported by anthe interactive online programme aiming to celebrate and engage people with their local beach, through information about local environment, landscape and heritage, quizzes, photo galleries and a virtual ‘Doggy Ambassador’ competition, reaching nearly 10,000 people.

Although impact monitoring was not possible this year, 90% of locals surveyed had seen at least one campaign message and 83% said that they would like to see more campaign activity like this in the future. Last year, the campaign achieved a 53% reduction in litter as compared to the previous year and a 40% reduction in dog poo too.

Paul Wallace, Campaigns and Innovation Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We know that, in many cases, people only need a small nudge to do the right thing and take better care of their local environment.

“This summer, our local neighbourhoods became even more precious to many of us. For those #LuckyToLiveHere by the beach, the unprecedented pressures of more people taking holidays and day trips in Scotland, consuming more single-use items and take-away food and using limited services, such as toilets and bins, were felt.

“We’re grateful to both council staff and members of local community groups like Keep Porty Tidy, Friends of Porty Prom and Portobello Timebank for working to keep the beach clean for everyone to enjoy and are delighted to find that, following following this summer’s campaign, over 60% of people from communities locally have shown an interest in picking up litter at Portobello beach when they visit, to leave it cleaner than they found it.

“Cleaner sands can lead to cleaner seas – a win, win for our beach environments and communities.”

Cllr Lesley Macinnes, city council Environment Convener, said: “Our beaches and other open spaces have been so important for people to enjoy in recent months as we’ve all had to adapt to the coronavirus restrictions.

“It’s really important then that we look after them and keep them clean and tidy for everyone to enjoy. This campaign has been really helpful in supporting the hard work of our waste services department getting across that message and celebrating Portobello.”

The campaign, funded by the Scottish Government and supported by SEPA, was led by Keep Scotland Beautiful alongside its Upstream Battle and Clean Up Scotland campaigns and annual Beach Awards.

All six of the beaches selected for this campaign have faced challenges in improving the quality of their bathing water as measured by SEPA, and research confirms a significant link between behaviour on the land and the cleanliness of the local seawater.

Find out more about Portobello Beach by visiting its campaign web page at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/mybeachyourbeach/

Green light for a greener Meadowbank

Plans to transform Meadowbank into one of Edinburgh’s greenest neighbourhoods were approved by councillors last week.

Shaped in response to views shared by local residents – who were keen to see more quality greenspace, places for play and better-connected walking and cycle routes brought to the area – the masterplan for Council-owned land at Meadowbank was approved by the Development Management Sub Committee on Wednesday.

The £100m project is now expected to become the first development of its size in Edinburgh to promote the Council’s net zero carbon by 2030 goals by creating a low-car, low-carbon community and energy efficient new homes.

The sustainable mixed-use development will also create jobs and a significant economic boost by regenerating a five-hectare area next to the new Meadowbank Sports Centre – which is already set to become one of the greenest and most accessible centres for community sport in the country when it opens next year.

Space for a new GP surgery and community and commercial uses, the protection of existing trees and planting of saplings plus new rain gardens also feature in landscaping designs, which aim to pay tribute to the area’s sporting and industrial heritage.

With support from Nature Scot and the Scottish Government, the Masterplan has been awarded Building with Nature accreditation, setting the standard for high-quality low carbon features, and the Council has undertaken studies on the option for ‘green roofs’. The designs have also been endorsed by Sustrans’ Places for Everyone scheme, which brings specialised active travel knowledge to the project.

Councillor Neil Gardiner, Planning Convener, said: “As a planning authority, we need make sure we protect our City’s beautiful and historic built environment, while supporting our communities to become sustainable for twenty-first century living.

“We also need to adapt our city to meet the needs of a growing population, address the increasing impact of climate change and ensure growth is responsible. These designs for Meadowbank meet these needs with plans for a truly low-carbon, low-car, energy efficient neighbourhood, featuring new affordable homes. This is a really important site for the City and I’d like to thank everyone who took time to participate in the consultation process.

“The masterplan includes homes to meet different needs, including for families. One third of the houses will be affordable, making a welcome contribution to the needs of the heroes who keep our city running every day. This masterplan, which has broad community support, offers a gold standard for new developments across the city for both the public and private sectors.”

Councillor Maureen Child, Vice Planning Convener, said: “Our aspirations for place making through our new City Plan, which we are currently drafting, are about making sure our communities continue to be great places where people want to live and visit, so feedback from the local community has been key to shaping Committee’s decision making on Meadowbank.

“I’m pleased that an open conversation has been had and that we’ve been able to agree these ambitious plans, which offer a mix of community benefits and improved facilities. It will see the community evolve into a more connected and climate conscious community, in line with our net zero carbon targets.”

Keir Bloomer, the project’s independent Sounding Board Chair, said: “The current proposals have emerged through an intensive exercise in community engagement. In addition to a number of public information sessions and consultation meetings, a Meadowbank Sounding Board was established almost two years ago.

“This group contains representatives of a wide range of local community groups and organisations, including those who were opposed to the original proposals for the site. Local councillors and others with relevant committee responsibilities are also members but they are in a minority.

“Considerable efforts have been made to ensure that the sounding board is able to express its views, regardless of whether these are favourable to the Council’s perspective or not. I was asked to chair the group as somebody who is completely independent.

“The sounding board met quite frequently until restrictions during the pandemic made this impossible. Designs for the site have been altered on a number of occasions in response to its views. As a result, the current plans are greener and more open. Housing density has been reduced and designs improved. It is intended that the sounding board will continue in existence through the development phase, acting as a strong voice for local people.”

Cathy Houston, Project Architect at Collective Architecture, said: “We are grateful for the time taken by members of the community to engage in the Meadowbank design processes.

“This is such an important site in Edinburgh’s City Centre and so it is wonderful to be at this stage with a multifaceted proposal which seeks to enrich the neighbourhood on many levels: ecologically, environmentally, socially and with a huge amount of care.

“The process undertaken with the community has ensured that the development sensitively integrates new housing, local amenities, greenspace and restored public routes east to west.”

Brenda Devlin, a local Community Councillor, said: “Using the expertise of Collective Architecture and the City of Edinburgh Council, local consultations, focus groups, workshops and public meetings were organised.

“It became obvious that the participants that attended these events were being listened to and their suggestions and ideas taken on board. The plans now being presented are a result of these consultation sessions and mostly reflect the vision of local residents, groups, organisations and businesses.

“The creation of a Sounding Board provided another opportunity for further targeted local input and a place for checks and balances to be carried out on the final plans. This eco-friendly development with a mixture of housing types, quality green spaces and community facilities makes this a very exciting development and will be an asset to our area.”

Around 600 modern energy-efficient homes – a minimum of 35% of which will be affordable – are detailed in the planning application, which is available to view as a report to Committee.

More information is available at ww.edinburgh.gov.uk/meadowbank.

Council steps up customer contact to pre-Covid levels

Council officers handled over 250,000 inbound customer phone calls, 150,000 emails and 50,000 tweets at the height of the pandemic, as part of the city’s round the clock response to supporting residents in need.

The Contact Centre team has been thanked for their lockdown efforts – which have largely been from home – ahead of the Council’s move to re-instate all phone lines to pre-Covid levels.

From tomorrow (Monday 5 October) a full service will start to resume with 200 staff managing customer queries by social media, email and phone. This will take place remotely and from Council buildings, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Residents are being urged to keep going online where possible to save time and to keep phone lines free for those without digital access.

Councillor Rob Munn, interim Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “Our customer team has done an incredible job of supporting residents, with great care given to help some of our most vulnerable citizens during what has been a very challenging situation. I’d like to thank each one of them for this as they prepare to return to their usual roles.

“Over the last six months, we have seen more and more residents save time by going online to report an issue, request help or pay for services, and that’s something we want to see continue.

“We know increasing numbers of people would rather use their mobile phone, tablet or computer to contact us and the website is by far and away the quickest and simplest way to get in touch. The savings we make from digital service delivery can also be invested towards improving the city.

“That said, not everyone has the means, the ability or the want to go online. That’s why it’s also important that we start to reinstate our usual phone services again, and why we need people to help us keep these lines free and accessible for those who need them most.”

Councillor Joan Griffiths, Vice Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, added: “The ways in which we communicate in our day-to-day lives have evolved this year and our Contact Centre team has had to adapt to the changing demands of the Council, of residents and of course the pandemic.

“More than ever, residents and businesses want and need to contact us and receive information digitally, and our officers offer a responsive social media and email service.

“We recognise that the team has helped an unprecedented number of residents with questions and concerns at all hours of the day, and that they have done this from home. It has been an incredible effort and I’m pleased that we’re now seeing a return to more phone lines being open too.

“We recently extended our ICT contract with CGI which will help us to move more services online and invest in new technology, as this is all part of our commitment to making Edinburgh a Smart City. I’m sure we’ll continue to see a sea change in the way people want to interact with our services and the demand for quick, useful online services will only increase.”

An emergency only service was introduced during lockdown so that the most critical customer queries could be prioritised as well as new phone lines to support people who were vulnerable and shielding.

Many officers were also redirected to boost welfare and benefits advice services and to process tens of thousands of applications for the Coronavirus business support scheme, which has allowed over £112m to be paid out in grants to local business owners.

The Council’s website is designed for reporting issues such as problems with street lighting, potholes and litter and there are currently 70 services available, ranging from requesting a new recycling bin to parking and licensing transactions. It is also simpler and quicker than ever to report, request or pay online, with customers no longer needing to register or sign in to their mygovscot account to use online waste services.

Since the drive to move customer contact online was launched in 2015, the number of transactions being processed by the Council online has risen to over 80,000 a month with the website receiving close to 288,000 visits every week.

Volunteer Programme set up to support vulnerable families across Edinburgh

National volunteering and social change charity, Volunteering Matters and City of Edinburgh Council have joined forces to launch Volunteers Supporting Families in Edinburgh – a project that recruits, trains and support volunteers to mentor families going through a range of challenges, are in crisis or who need extra help in their lives.

This will be the first time Volunteers Supporting Families has launched in Scotland, with the programme already established in three local authorities in England.

The programme, run by Volunteering Matters, will enable trained volunteers to help families address the challenges they face and assist them in creating a happy and safe environment in which they can thrive.

Volunteers provide a listening ear, practical support and encouragement, helping families with budgeting, healthy eating, setting routines and improving social networks.

Thanks to a 3 year award from the Edinburgh Communities and Families Grant Programme, the projects volunteers will meet their allocated family on a weekly basis, over a six-month period.

Their support will empower parents to develop the skills required in overcoming serious challenges or hardships. In many cases this will enable the family to rebuild their lives and move on from social worker intervention, reducing the need of social services.

Already a success in other areas including Greenwich and Southend-on-Sea, the programme is now available to Edinburgh residents and Volunteering Matters is calling on potential volunteers to get in touch for this exciting opportunity.

John Brown at Volunteering Matters, said: “Our volunteers, and the parents they support, continue to impress us with their energy, resilience, patience and commitment to overcome serious challenges, protect vulnerable children and rebuild family relationships.

“We are proud to be able to offer this key support to people across parts of Edinburgh and would like to invite prospective volunteers to contact us to find out more.”

To find out more visit volunteeringmatters.org.uk/opportunity/vsfe/ or email: james.donnelly@volunteeringmatters.org.uk / kyle.mcfaddenyoung@volunteeringmatters.org.uk

Edinburgh challenged to end poverty within the next decade

The City of Edinburgh Council Leader Adam McVey has pledged that eradicating poverty will stay at the heart of the Council’s future actions and policies.

This follows the publication of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission’s final report, A Just Capital: Actions to End Poverty in Edinburgh, which was published yesterday.

The report identifies seven key areas of action to end poverty in Edinburgh by the end of this decade, including Edinburgh becoming a living wage city, tackling the housing crisis and closing the educational attainment gap.

It marks the end of the work of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission as it hands over to End Poverty Edinburgh – a new independent group of residents with first-hand experience of living on a low income and civic allies drawn from business, public services and the third sector.

As a group, they will work to raise awareness and understanding of poverty, influence decisions, and hold the city to account for ending poverty in Edinburgh.

Adam McVey, Council Leader, said: “On behalf of the Council, I would like to extend my thanks to those in the Edinburgh Poverty Commission and End Poverty Edinburgh for the time, dedication and research that has gone into creating this report.

“I’m also extremely grateful to those who shared their personal experiences and those of their families in helping get to the root of the issues. Tackling poverty in our city is one of our key priorities as a Council – helping those who need it, making resources available for people and, ultimately, doing everything we can to eradicate it in Edinburgh.

“We know that the pandemic has been incredibly challenging for those who were experiencing or at risk of poverty in our city.

“The Commission has pulled no punches and got to the heart of the issues – while there is no doubt that the pandemic has exacerbated the situation, poverty in Edinburgh is a crisis that goes beyond one cause and we cannot ignore it.

“If we’re to make progress on the scale required, it needs a concentrated effort from us, our partners and allied organisations, local business and residents acting as one Team Edinburgh.

“The seven areas of action give our City clear and defined areas for us to focus on and we appreciate that they are interlinked and support each other.

“Our 2050 Edinburgh City Vision is of a fair city where all residents share in its success and have a good level of wellbeing and life experience and we have been working with the Commission throughout our continued response to the pandemic to make that vision a reality, ensuring that as we rebuild our city we do it with our most vulnerable in mind.

“The educational attainment gap is a big priority for us and has been for a long while now. We were making good progress in this area before the pandemic but we’re mindful that the disruption to the school term earlier this year has widened that gap. Now we need to work with our schools and educational partners to double down on that work and ensure the progress continues to be made.

“We also know that access to and cost of housing is a central issue in Edinburgh and needs a focused and strategic approach in collaboration with the Scottish Government to deliver the new homes needed to make significant impact.

“We’ve already made progress around short term lets and will be ready to act quickly when regulations come into effect. We’re proud that Council houses being built right now are some of the best homes being built in the City but there is still work to be done to make sure we can provide good quality and affordable homes for everyone in our city who need them.

“The Edinburgh Poverty Commission has spent over two years listening to the voices of the people of Edinburgh and the reality faced by many of our residents, with COVID making it harder than ever for too many.

“That’s why the Council and the city has to come together to tackle both the cause and consequences of poverty. It will take time and won’t be easy, but we will ensure it remains at the heart of our policies as we drive the change needed across the Capital in partnership.”

While over 200 people attended the online launch of the report, local mum Ashey was picking her children up from school.

She had just left her youngest at her Nan’s as it was raining and the bairn has a cold. Nan had also given Ashley £5 to tide her over until partner gets paid on Friday. He has two cleaning jobs but he expects to be paid off at any time as one big office contract has just been terminated and the other is also looking vulnerable.

Ashley will just have time to pick up the kids, go to Farmfoods, collect the bairn then make the tea for her partner getting home, as he has to be back out for his evening cleaning job.

Tomorrow … well, we will face that tomorrow.

Surviving, not living. There are families just like Ashley’s all over Edinburgh, one of the richest cities in the world.

Edinburgh Poverty Commission set out a ten year ‘horizon’ for eradicating poverty in the capital. For all the ‘horizons’ and the council’s ‘visions’, you wonder where Ashley and her family will be in ten years time, when for now just gettting by, getting through from one day to the next is the ever-present challenge.

Give poor kids a chance

Education Vice Convener Cllr Alison Dickie writes about the pressing issue of child poverty in Edinburgh:

Let’s talk about stigma, even ‘poor kids’ and how it fuels inequality.

Posh pickles and peppered crackers. Years ago, as a young family down Glasgow way, we made some kind soul feel good when they gifted us an exotic hamper. At the time, I remember thinking that it must have been worth about £50, money that could have bought the school trousers our sons needed.

This, and the wider experience of being worried about the next penny, our reliance on housing benefit, and the debt that became a problem, has given me some understanding about the complexity of poverty today.

Lockdown, and its significant impact on lives, has helped many others better understand how we can be just one life change or support network away from becoming financially vulnerable.

We live in an affluent city but there’s deep inequality, where 23% of our children live in poverty – as high as one in three in some areas. And these children and families struggle to get the smallest and most basic of items, never mind homes in this city of shocking rents and house prices. Contrary to popular opinion, 66% of these children come from families where at least one parent works.

In my own classrooms, there was the period stained skirt not to be forgotten, and the PE kit that was never coming out that wash.

And as Vice Convener of Education, I still remember the pupil who shared her family’s shame of walking through the streets to their homeless accommodation, bin bags of belongings clutched in their hands.

Pickled gifts are nice and food provision is vital, but they won’t end child poverty. And neither will a mindset that continues to see the deficit of ‘poories’ and the ‘vulnerable’, rather than the strengths that every child and their family can bring to the future of our city if we get alongside them for the long haul.

Sometimes we recreate inequality. Think of the bulging schools we deem the best, often mistaking levels of academic performance for loaded advantage, or our hesitancy to sit down, learn and work with anyone.

What too of the postcodes judged, or those loud, already empowered, voices who too heavily influence decisions? And those annual SQA results, the prominence given to them when we say we equally value the strengths and qualifications of every young person?

Next week, the Edinburgh Poverty Commission will launch its findings, and their report will inform the Council’s second Child Poverty Action Plan.

Education, in its most holistic sense, is key, from the equity framework that increasingly informs practice across our schools, to helping families find the benefits to which they are entitled through income maximisation, and the mentoring and wraparound support too.

This, and building a stigma-free environment that supports everyone, from a focus on nurture and wellbeing, to digital devices for all, and the roll out of 1140 early years places to help families back to work.

So, ‘All I am saying, is give every child a chance!’

Capital faces council services catastrophe

UNISON calls for government help as city council faces hundreds of job losses due to Covid and funding crisis

Edinburgh UNISON, the union representing most Edinburgh council workers, fears that hundreds of jobs could go over the coming months due to the Covid Crisis and poor funding settlements from the Scottish Government.

Tomorrow (Thursday 24 September), Edinburgh councillors will discuss the updated budget shortfall of £12.2 million due to the council’s Covid response.

Gerry Stovin, Edinburgh UNISON assistant branch secretary said: “With this figure, plus the proposed £25 million in cuts already approved for next year and this year’s cuts and savings not achieved, we could be facing a further £50 million of cuts over the next 12 months.

“This would have a disastrous effect on essential services the public rely on, especially at this critical time.

“UNISON is calling on the Scottish Government and COSLA to agree short term additional funding to cover the cost of Covid, financial flexibility and fundraising powers along with a fairer budget settlement for April 2021 for all Scottish councils.”

Council revises five-year plan for homelessness support

The City of Edinburgh Council plans to revise its Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan to further strengthen support for people facing homelessness.

Members of the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee considered updates to the strategy at a special meeting on Friday before submittting it to the Scottish Government for consideration.

This is the second version of the Council’s plan which acts as a local route map for preventing homelessness, reducing rough sleeping, transforming temporary accommodation and supporting families into settled homes as quickly as possible.

Additions to the plan include exploring ways of intervening earlier and actively engaging with people before they are at risk of homelessness.

These ideas include:

Developing a proposal for a Youth Housing Hub – a centrally located service where young people can access support, homeless assessments, advice and accommodation
A pilot for a new homelessness prevention scheme – involving a team working across Council services to identify trigger points that may put someone at risk of homelessness in the future
A prevention fund – which can be accessed quickly by frontline workers to draw down small amounts of money, empowering them to provide immediate support where they deem appropriate to prevent someone reaching crisis-point
Appointing a new partnership working officer – to identify opportunities for partners and frontline staff to recognise early on when there is a risk of homelessness
A pilot project to base specialist psychologists within homelessness hostels – embedding expert medical advice in the accommodation people are staying in to support with mental wellbeing and treatment.

Edinburgh is working to end rough sleeping and managed to move all families and pregnant women out of B&Bs during the early stages of the Covid-19 crisis. This involved the use of innovative accommodation options, including securing 590 additional bed spaces by turning to private sector leasing, hotels and short-term lets.

The updated Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) also proposes to build on the success of this joint Covid-19 response between the Council and third sector partners to create more and better accommodation options in the future.

Highlighted as important to progress include:

Increasing the amount of Rapid Access Accommodation available in Edinburgh – a service which is accessed directly from the street, does not have a curfew or a time limit for stays and which provides on-site support
Moving the city’s third sector run emergency care shelter into an alternative premises longer term, where social distancing can be practised more easily
Spot purchasing private properties and continuing to work with short-term let landlords to rent homes to the Council
Boosting the Council’s supply of temporary furnished flats
Supporting more people into home shares as part of a longer-term goal of ending the use of B&Bs.

Edinburgh has one of the lowest proportions of social housing in Scotland with only 15% of homes in social rent compared to a Scottish average of 23%, and the RRTP will also require an acceleration in the delivery of new homes.

The Council has one of the most ambitious house-building programmes in the UK to help meet this challenge and a record number of new homes are being built.

Councillor Kate Campbell, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “The RRTP is our annual plan for homelessness and our annual assessment of where we are. It’s an incredibly important document because it shows us, in very stark terms, the scale of the challenge that we face.

“But it is also an opportunity to focus on innovation and there are some incredibly exciting projects within it that show our steadfast intent to tackle homelessness at its root.

“We’ve got plans for more early intervention with a specialist, multi-skilled team which will intensively work with households at risk to prevent homelessness. Alongside this we are proposing investment in a youth homelessness hub and psychologists in hostels to give highly specialist support.

“We’re also asking for funding for ‘Seek, Keep and Treat’ so that we can recruit community recovery workers, with lived experience of homelessness and recovery, to support people with complex needs to move out of homelessness. And we’ve got plans to increase the number of temporary furnished flats and improve temporary accommodation.

“This is all in addition to extending and expanding some of the excellent practices we have developed in previous years.

“We know the challenges we face – only 15% social housing compared to a Scottish average of 24% alongside the most expensive private rents in Scotland. We have the largest Council house-building programme in the country which will address some of the housing need in Edinburgh. But we know we need to keep working to support people out of homelessness, and to prevent it in the first place.

“This plan will guide the decisions we make now and over the next five years as we support people through what is one of the most difficult and traumatic experiences. So we must set our sights high and never stop working to come up with new ideas and approaches to tackle one of the biggest challenges we face as a city.”

Councillor Mandy Watt, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Vice Convener, added: “The picture is improving but there is always more work to be done. For instance, we’ve committed to build 10,000 affordable homes by 2022 and we’ve introduced new ways of doing things like home shares, which allow like-minded individuals to live together until they find a home of their own.

“We’re also seeing fewer repeat presentations of homelessness, meaning our existing prevention services seem to be working but we are always looking for ways to improve them.

“That said, anybody who does become homeless should be found a suitable place to stay until they can move into a settled home. We know this will be financially challenging, so the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan needs to be ambitious and outline options for new investment.

“The plan explores some innovative ideas, like a special hub to support and protect young people from becoming homeless; and a pilot project to quickly and effectively help anyone in crisis by basing psychologists in hostels. Projects like these will strengthen our existing work and join up our services.

Work begins on energy-efficient housing developments

Work is underway to build brand new affordable homes in Bingham and Parkview in North East Edinburgh.

The Council-led developments – which will complete in Autumn 2021 – will be built by construction firm CCG (Scotland) Ltd. CCG has delivered a number of award-winning new homes for the Council at Leith Fort and in Greendykes and is also progressing a major development of affordable housing in Craigmillar, which received its first new tenants this summer.

Both new sites promise to provide modern and energy efficient homes for social rent as part of Edinburgh’s ambitious 20,000 affordable homes target. In addition to delivering new homes, CCG will provide apprenticeships, engage with local schools and colleges and provide community investment funds in Bingham and Parkview.

Construction is now underway in Bingham along Duddingston Row at the former home of Lismore Primary School. Work will also start at Parkview next month at Peffermill Road, the former site of the Parkview Care Home, bringing a derelict brownfield site back to life.

The homes will benefit from improved energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint, saving residents on fuel bills, and will have access to high quality green space. Included in the design is a mix of one, two and three bed flats, colonies and houses, with 70 homes across the two sites (40 in Bingham, 30 in Parkview).

Councillor Kate Campbell, Edinburgh’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “Every new social home counts because housing need is exceptional in Edinburgh – there’s nothing better than seeing council houses being built and knowing that it won’t be long until they become people’s homes.

“With so many families in need of a new home, and construction so important to our economic recovery from Covid-19, the homes and jobs being delivered by our ambitious house-building programme will make a real difference to people’s lives.

“But we have to keep delivering more. We have 3,500 new homes in design development right now, with 800 homes already under construction across the city. Soon, we’ll be setting out our investment plans for the next 10 years, to make sure that we continue to provide much needed homes, create jobs and support local communities with tangible benefits like apprenticeships, community hubs, parks and improved public spaces.”

Councillor Mandy Watt, Edinburgh’s Vice Housing and Economy Convener, added: “Everyone has the right to a safe, warm home. That’s why our strategy for the future is about investing more in our communities, upgrading our social housing and building thousands of new affordable homes in Edinburgh.

“And it’s not just about bricks and mortar – we’re seeing other benefits and improvements that we can bring to local areas. These developments in Bingham and Parkview will benefit lots of people in many different ways. They’ll help to regenerate the area and provide better public realm, better greenspace and funding for neighbourhood projects. They’ll benefit the long-term future of our environment too, thanks to their low carbon footprint and focus on energy efficiency.”

CCG Managing Director, David Wylie, said: “CCG’s commitment to providing quality, energy efficient homes is a philosophy shared by the City of Edinburgh Council. Our partnership has continued to deliver a lasting legacy across the region by not only supporting the supply of new affordable homes but also creating jobs, apprenticeships and localised investment.

“The commencement of Bingham and Parkview is another important milestone for us both and we look forward to working with the Council as we head into 2021 and beyond.”

The £9.5m investment will be funded by the Council with £4.1m in grant funding from the Scottish Government.