Edinburgh Tenants Federation are holding in-person and online support sessions for any Edinburgh Council tenants who want to respond to the city council’s Rent Consultation.
Please contact Shona Agnew – shona@edinburghtenants.org.uk / telephone 07399584282 if you wish to book on one of the dates listed.
Edinburgh’s council tenants will be spared a rent rise following a vote at today’s Budget meeting.
Conservative, Green and Lib Dem opposition councillors submitted an emergency motion this morning and have comfortably defeated the city’s Capital Coalition SNP – Labour administration in a key vote on the council’s Housing Revenue Account Budget Strategy.
Hailing the vote as a victory for Edinburgh’s poorest citizens during the pandemic, the Greens said the decision was ‘environmental justice’.
Housing Convener Cllr Kate Campbell responded: “Edinburgh faces huge housing challenges and this £2 million is money we can ill-afford to lose. This decision will have a detrimental impact on low-income familes.
“We are listening to our tenants and that is why we put forward this HRA report. We are doing what they asked us to do.”
More to follow …
UNISON City of Edinburgh branch, has raised fears about the further budget cuts being presented to the city’s full council meeting today and condemns both the Scottish and UK governments for the continuing underfunding of Local Government.
Over the past 10 years the council has seen hundreds of millions of pounds slashed from its budget resulting in hundreds of job losses, cuts to services, and the closing of third sector organisations.
“Local government is at the point of collapse and the Scottish and UK Governments have done very little to prevent its demise while at the same time due to COVID-19 has asked it to do more,” said the union’s branch secretary Tom Connolly.
“Providing services from the cradle to the grave, local government and the services it provides impact on all citizens. The continuing underfunding can have a serious impact on the effectiveness of the services being provided.”
UNISON, the biggest union representing workers in Edinburgh council, says that those employed in local government are fire fighting to keep services running, they feel undervalued and the increasing high levels of stress amongst staff is an example of the negative impact on the health and wellbeing of those staff.
UNISON’s Plug the Gap campaign https://www.unison-scotland.org/protect-our-council-services/ has called on the government to bridge the £1 billion funding gap in local Government. COSLA has also called for the action to be taken to bridge the Funding Gap.
“Everyone suffers if Local Government is not provided the funding that it needs to provide meaningful services across our communities,” added Tom Connolly.
“Staff in local government need to be rewarded and paid well for the jobs that they do, there are many low paid workers in local government providing face to face support to or most vulnerable children and adults, in school, care homes etc.
“Other council staff keep our public buildings clean, keep our roads clear, clean our streets and empty our bins, administrative and clerical workers dealing with benefits and other essential administrative tasks, all examples of low paid and undervalued workers who have continued to keep the city running.
“These workers now need to be given the value that they have always deserved and rewarded with decent pay and conditions. Clapping does not pay the bills.”
As the city council’s budget meeting gets underway, some images from budgets past:
Capital Coalition poised to slash city services by more than £34 million
Campaigners from North Edinburgh Save Our Services and representatives from Edinburgh Tenants Federation will appeal to city councillors to draw back from making swingeing cuts to council services across the city when they speak at deputations to the City Council’s Budget meeting on Thursday. Continue reading Silent Slaughter: Community groups and Trade Unions urge council cuts rethink
The safety of Scotland’s high rise tower blocks will be examined by a Holyrood Committee, following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee will scrutinise accommodation in Scotland’s high rise communities, by expanding an on-going inquiry into housing and building regulations in Scotland. Continue reading Safety of Scotland’s high rise homes under scrutiny
The city council has set out plans on the delivery of a ‘new-look’ housing strategy which aims to significantly increase the number of affordable homes in the city from 3,000 to 8,000 and accelerate investment in the services that will reduce tenants’ cost of living. Continue reading Housing: city council plots the way ahead
Holyrood reception marks ETF’s special year
Edinburgh Tenants Federation (ETF) celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a Parliamentary Reception hosted by MSP Sarah Boyack on Wednesday evening.
Edinburgh Tenants Federation, which has a membership of over 40 tenants and residents groups across the city, was congratulated on its 25th Anniversary by the MSP.
ETF members old and new joined in the celebrations along with representatives from the Tenants Information Service, Blackwood Homes and Care, the International Association for Community Development (IACD), Shakti Women’s Aid and Inverkeithing Community Initiative. MSPs Gordon MacDonald and Alison Johnstone also joined the celebrations.
The event featured contributions from Sarah Boyack MSP, Convenor Betty Stevenson and Vice Convenor Maud Wylie, who said that the success of ETF could not have been achieved without the determination and commitment of the tenant volunteers. Councillor Cammy Day talked of the work that Edinburgh City Council and ETF have collaborated on over the years, in particular the successful tenant-led inspections.
Sarah Boyack MSP said: “The work of the Federation over the years has been fantastic. It has been great to see the work that has been done supporting tenants with mental ill health and campaigning for fairer rents. I was very encouraged to hear that the Federation are already working with the Syrian community in helping the refugees coming to settle in to the city.”
ETF Convener Betty Stevenson said: “Thanks to Sarah for hosting this event for us; it was wonderful to see so many people supporting the work of the Federation. Thanks to all those who have been involved over the years, here’s to the next 25!”
Thursday was the final day of ETF’s Parliamentary Exhibition and Housing Minister Margaret Burgess (above) was among the MSPs and staff to view photos and news stories dating back to the 1980’s and the Federation’s formation in October 1990.
‘It’s a broken council which is failing it’s people and this budget must be rejected’ – Linda Garcia, WIG group
Councillors have set Edinburgh’s budget after a marathon meeting at the City Chambers yesterday. A raft of deputations from across the city urged the council to reject a budget package of cuts and service reorganisation aimed at saving £22 million this year, but councillors voted to approved the budget.
Leading the deputations was Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s Women’s International Group (WIG). Royston Wardieburn was the city’s very first purpose-built community centre – it first opened in 1965. Two years ago – after years of hard work by the management committee – a brand new centre was opened, but members fear that all that good work could be undone by proposals to change the way community centres are operated.
WIG’s Anna Hutchison told councillors: “We are very concerned about these proposals. We have achieved a great deal in our Centre in recent years, but there is still a great deal of work to be done and we cannot build on our achievements when everything keep changing.
“Cutting CLD (community learning and development) staff and removing them from centres seems very short-sighted given that the Scottish Government is now requiring all councils to produce a CLD plan stating how they intend to build stronger, more influential and inclusive communities and improve life chances through learning and active citizenship.”
She warned that voluntary management committee members would ‘walk away’ if proposals to change the role of CLD staff in the running of community centres is implemented.
WIG’s Linda Garcia added: “We do not accept the proposed budget. We do not accept the way Edinburgh’s finances are being run. We do not accept that inequality, poverty and powerlessness are inevitable in our communities.
“We have been ‘trained’ to believe that no alternative (to cuts) is possible and that achieving a decent and fair society is just too damn complicated, so best not to try! We do not accept that this is the case. We want a council which puts citizens at it’s heart”.
“We believe that this budget is unacceptable to the citizens of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, despite a string of scandals, the Council seems unable to change. It is a broken Council which is failing it’s people and this budget must be rejected”.
“We demand that you join the campaign to secure additional funding from the Scottish and Westminster governments to safeguard our public services.
“We demand that you support Unite’s campaign to restructure the £1.2 billion debt owed by the Public Works Loan Board – paying £56 million in interest charges each year is completely unacceptable.
“We demand that the Scottish Parliament orders a Public Inquiry to examine the mismanagement of this Council, the numerous scandals and cover-ups by successive administrations.
She concluded: “We demand that you return power to the people.”
The group, joined by supporters in the public gallery, then serenaded councillors with a song! Based on the original Italian partisan song Bella Ciao, WIG’s words are:
The public sector is for the people
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The public sector is for the people
Not for sale to profiteers.
Oh we are singing for education
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
We are singing for education
And an equal right to learn.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer,
Unnecessary and unfair.
They cut the funding, they cut the workers
Oh bella ciao; bella ciao; bella ciao, ciao, ciao
They cut the funding, they cut the workers
Ain’t no ‘Big Society’.
Following that musical interlude, WIG were followed by a succession of deputations from across the city, each one urging the city to think again. EVOC, Edinburgh East Save Our Services, Edinburgh Tenants Federation, Edinburgh Trade Union Council, UNITE Edinburgh Not for Profit Branch, Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Alliance, Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links, UNISON and the EIS: each one advanced powerful arguments – but ultimately each one was unsuccessful as councillors voted to press ahead with the cuts.
Protecting frontline services in Edinburgh for young, old and vulnerable residents was a priority at the budget meeting, according to senior councillors. Investment in roads and pavements, investing in school infrastructure and working towards the redevelopment of Meadowbank Sports Centre and Stadium were other key priority areas.
Councillors say public opinion expressed during the recent budget consultation helped to influence key decisions as they attempted to balance the city’s books.
Cllr Alasdair Rankin, Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “Given the financial challenges all local authorities are facing over the next few years, we want to invest in the areas that are essential to Edinburgh and so it is important that the public continue to tell us what is important to them.
“This year we published the draft budget in October and 3,525 people gave us their views – five times the number of responses compared to last year. We also used a new online planner to give respondents the opportunity to express what they feel the Council’s priorities should be. The planner allowed us to show where we will incur costs in 2017/18, to demonstrate the impacts of increasing or decreasing spending in all of our services. This was extremely popular and 1,719 of those people took Edinburgh’s Budget Challenge.
Cllr Bill Cook, Vice-Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “We used the feedback received during the consultation process to help us make many key decisions such as maintaining funding for homelessness services, not increasing allotment charges and putting an extra £5m towards improving roads and pavements.”
The eight successive year’s Council Tax freeze maintains Edinburgh’s band D rate as the lowest of Scotland’s four major cities.
The council tax band levels for Edinburgh in 2015/16 will be:
A: £779.33
B: £909.22
C: £1,039.11
D: £1,169.00
E: £1,428.78
F: £1,688.56
G: £1,948.33
H: £2,338.00
The total revenue budget is £949m for 2015/16. Council Tax funds 25% of this with 75% coming from Government grants and business rates. The total capital budget (including the HRA) is £245m.
Key budget provisions:
Ensuring every child in Edinburgh has the best start in life
– Allocated an additional £5m of capital to support rising school rolls
– More than £4m invested in Early Years Change Fund for services for the very youngest children
Ensuring Edinburgh, and its residents, are well cared-for
– Maintaining funding for commissioned homelessness services
Providing for Edinburgh’s economic growth and prosperity
– Maintaining £1m to continue supporting the Edinburgh Guarantee, helping improve job opportunities for young people
– Support the Strategic Investment Fund with an additional £4.5m
Strengthening and supporting our communities and keeping them safe
– Continuing to invest in community policing
– Allocating an additional £100,000 to each neighbourhood to allow local people to have an even greater say in how their area can be improved
Investing in roads, pavements and cycling infrastructure
– An additional £5m investment in roads and pavements taking the total to £20m
– Commit 8% of the transport revenue and capital budgets for creation and maintenance of cycle infrastructure
Becoming more efficient
– Delivery of procurement transformational efficiencies
– Implementing the Better Outcomes Leaner Delivery (BOLD) programme
– Reducing the head count of the organisation by developing existing staff, revising roles and responsibilities and implementing structural change in the organisation through the ’Organise to deliver’ programme
– Maximising income
– Maximising savings through the rationalisation of the Council’s property estate
– Reducing carbon footprint and generating income through strategic energy projects
While the council argues that front line services are being protected, campaigners believe city councillors have let the capital down.
One Unite member who attended the lobby said: “This is a sad day for Edinburgh. You might have thought that a Labour-led council, supported by the SNP, would stand up for workers and communities – well, today’s vote shows you can think again. You can’t cut 1200 jobs without it having a huge effect on services and the people who will suffer most are the people in the poorest communities, the people who depend most on council services. People are angry – and rightly so, because these cuts will do real damage. Edinburgh is a rich city, yet our politicians vote through cuts on this scale? It’s shocking – they should be ashamed.”
A member of the Anti-Cuts Coalition added: “Deputation after deputation urged the council to reject this budget but it’s clear the councillors had already made their minds up. They blame Westminster, they blame Holyrood but at the end of the day our councillors have got to take a long, hard look at themselves.
“They have got to make a stand – if local councillors won’t support and fight for their communities, who will?
“Communities are being treated with contempt and remember – these cuts are just the start. We are facing another two years of austerity budgets, with more services slashed and hundreds of jobs lost – and when members of the public wake up to that it will be too late.”
Visit our Facebook page to see a webcast of the Budget meeting
http://l.facebook.com/l/PAQGWhuX2/www.edinburgh.public-i.tv/core/share/open/webcast/0/0/0/0//webcast/0/0/0
You’ll find pictures of the lobby there too
and Muirhouse’s Betty is Inspiring Volunteer of the Year!
Edinburgh’s Volunteering Ambassador the Lord Provost Donald Wilson will honour some of the dedicated volunteers who give their time, energy and commitment to the people of Edinburgh at a special awards ceremony taking place on tomorrow (Wednesday 4 June) during Volunteers’ Week.
Now eight years old, Edinburgh’s Inspiring Volunteering Awards reflect the exceptional range of organisations and individuals working in the city’s vibrant charity and non-profit sectors.
This year’s nominees include sports coaches and language teachers; fundraisers and befrienders; green fingered gardeners and inky fingered administrators as well as charity shop workers and guardians of our artistic heritage. We even have a group who don costumes to bring history to life.
A wide age range is represented and our nominees come from across the broad spectrum of cultures that make up our ever more diverse city.
This year there’s a new special recognition category of Tenant Participation Champion which recognises the work done by Community Councils and tenants organisations in fighting for the rights and improving the quality of life for those living in Edinburgh’s public and private rented sectors.
This year’s recipient of the “Lord Provost’s Inspiring Volunteer of the Year Award” is Betty Stevenson, the Chair of The Edinburgh Tenant’s Federation.
Betty has been a consistent champion for the rights of Edinburgh’s tenants for many years. Fearless and forthright, she has never been afraid to stand up to the powerful be they councillors or MSPs if she believes they are not doing enough to protect the most vulnerable. She expects the same level of commitment from everyone involved in ETF and leads by example.
Lord Provost Donald Wilson, said: “There are thousands of dedicated and inspiring volunteers in Edinburgh selflessly giving up their own time to help and support others. These awards are simply one way of recognising some of their tremendous work, and their contribution to the wellbeing of our city’s residents cannot be overstated.”
Kris Von Wald, Convenor of Volunteer Centre Edinburgh, said: “The Lord Provost has agreed to present these awards because he recognises how important volunteers are to Edinburgh and its residents. The Awards seek to acknowledge the hard work, commitment, energy and positive difference that volunteers make”.
Congratulations to Betty, and congratulations also to the following individuals who will receive Special Recognition Awards:
Arts, Culture & Heritage Volunteer
Dr Helen Bennett, Curation and cataloguing of the glass plate negative collection of George Paxton (1850-1904) at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Charity Shop Volunteer
Kieran Potter, Accessories Merchandiser / Sales Statistician / Weekend Shift Leader / Shop Window Display Team at Oxfam
Environment / Conservation Volunteer
Evie Murray, School Garden Clubs and Leith Croft Co-ordinator at Leith Community Crops in Pots
Fundraising Volunteer
Irene Schofield, Fundraising Volunteer at Gorgie City Farm
Health & Social Care Volunteer
Donald Peden, Befriender at Ecas
Long Standing Contribution to Volunteering Award
Reg Kingman, Former Chair of Drum Brae Community Council at Drum Brae Community Council
Sports Volunteer
Kate Graham, Coach Coordinator at Forth Canoe Club
Tenant Participation Champion *New category this year*
David Thomson, Chair Redbraes Residents Association at Redbraes Residents Association
Trustee Volunteer
Amelia Calvert, Chairperson (Trustee) at Eczema Outreach Scotland
Young Volunteer
Naomi Paton, Peer mentor at Citadel Youth Centre
The award ceremony has been organised by Volunteer Centre Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Compact Partnership. Should be a great night – there’s a lot to celebrate!
Elizabeth Maginnis Residents Group
Elizabeth Maginnis Residents Group held their Annual General Meeting on Thursday 8 November in Elizabeth Maginnis Court. Councillors Vicki Redpath, Cammy Day and Allan Jackson were in attendance. Also in attendance was Mike Maginnis, who is the husband of the late Elizabeth Maginnis and he donated eight pictures to be hung up in the building.
The following were elected to serve on the Management Committee:
Andy Buchan – Chair
Evelyn Ross – Vice Chair
Terry Kirby – Secretary
Kenny McLachlan – Treasurer.
The group has been busy throughout the year with various fundraising initiatives. Evelyn Ross, Vice Chair and fundraiser within the group wrote to the First Minister, Alex Salmond and the Lord Provost, Donald Wilson asking for a donation of a bottle of whisky for a forthcoming raffle, to which they were happy to oblige.
Evelyn commented, “we would like to thank the First Minister and the Lord Provost and everyone who donated. We are also hoping that Mark Lazarowicz , MP will donate something.”
Mark Henry, Edinburgh Tenants Federation
