Tag: income

City council’s commercial property strategy generates £15m for local services

Council sets sights on new business park

Commercial property investment by the City of Edinburgh Council has provided space for local businesses to thrive while raising over £15 million a year for vital public services, reveals a new report.

A revised version of the Council’s Commercial Property Strategy – which supports existing, new, and expanding enterprises across the Capital – has been approved by the Finance and Resources Committee.

It reveals that the Council is the biggest landlord of commercial property in all of Edinburgh, with a portfolio of 949 assets worth in the region of £245m. This has helped the Council generate income to reinvest towards frontline services and make profits from sales, which have helped with budget savings.

The strategy also supports a number of grassroots and community-based clubs and organisations with low-cost lease arrangements.

Under the refreshed plan, the Council will continue to maximise income growth from buildings in the year ahead while also prioritising support for start-ups and the Capital’s ambitious net zero by 2030 climate commitment.

A change to the strategy will also allow the opportunity for funds from property sales to be reinvested back into the portfolio, helping to streamline and make the most of the council’s assets.

This involves a vision for designing inhouse and building a new, sustainable, business park on Council-owned land at Peffermill – mirroring the successful business park launched in East Hermiston in early 2018. Five years on, the East Hermiston Park is providing 16 fully let units in a 1,600sqm modern industrial space yielding an annual income of £185k.

Councillor Mandy Watt, Finance and Resources Convener, said: “I’m pleased that the refreshed strategy has received Committee’s approval and that we’ll be able to improve on the £15m of income already raised from the council’s property portfolio.

“The opportunities available to support even more jobs at the new low carbon business park in Peffermill are exciting, and I’m looking forward to plans being brought forward later in the year.

“Over the last year, the council has used its properties to support the economic success of the city post-Covid and helped budding businesses to thrive, in ways that maximise income for delivering Council services. The results speak for themselves and we’ve seen first-hand the benefits business parks like the existing one at East Hermiston can bring.

“Against a backdrop of reduced government funding, we’ve had to think creatively to make the most of any income that we can raise for council services. This property strategy is a good example of that.”

‘Economic security trap’ driving millions of Brits to work with Covid symptoms, RSA warns

Millions of British workers are putting themselves and others at risk of Covid-19 due to inadequate sick pay and pressure from their employers, new research shows.  

The RSA (royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) warns that a growing ‘economic security trap’ — the choice workers face between protecting their income and their health — is contributing significantly to the spread of the virus. 

Polling carried out between 13 Jan and 15 Jan by Yonder (formerly Populus) of UK workers finds: 

  • around one-in-25 (4%) British workers has worked within 10 days of a positive test, rising to one-in-ten (10%) of those in insecure work such as a zero-hours contract, agency work or the gig economy 
  • 6% of British workers have worked with Covid-19 symptoms, rising to 8% of insecure workers and 13% of the self-employed 
  • 12% have been ordered into work when they could have easily and more safely worked from home 
  • only 16% think Statutory Sick Pay is sufficient to meet their needs. 

The RSA calls for an emergency package to address economic insecurity, including: 

Recent RSA research on key workers has found that many staff in key industries report struggling to take time off when unwell, including 29% of those working in social care.  

The RSA has a long-running programme of research dedicated to tackling economic insecurity in the UK. Last year the organisation published A Blueprint for Good Work, putting forward practical solutions for providing good work after the pandemic. 

Alan Lockey, head of RSA’s future work programme, said: “Our polling shows that millions feel forced to put themselves and others at risk of the virus because of insecure work, pressure from bosses, and the failings of our deeply inadequate welfare state.   

“Rishi Sunak must close this ‘economic security trap’ — the terrible trade-off many workers face between their health and putting food on the table — by allowing self-isolating workers to access the furlough scheme, and retaining the £20 per week uplift in universal credit.

“We also need to see help for the millions currently excluded, through no fault of their own – and the self-employed in particular. An ’emergency basic income’ style scheme, using the current tax infrastructure, is the best way to help reach all this group and close the gaps which we believe are helping to increase the infection rate.”