Writing in the Scotsman, Council Leader Adam McVey outlines Edinburgh's economic emergence from the pandemic.
As Edinburgh continues to come back from the repercussions of Covid-19, we’re re-embracing our historic city centre, the beating heart of our Capital.
Our retailers, restaurants and experiences are doing an incredible job of making our streets feel more like our city centre should and I hope 2022 will be the year we rediscovered and re-energised our city centre
There’s no question that it’s been a difficult time for business, nobody should underestimate that. That’s why we’ve worked closely with local businesses who’ve felt the brunt of lockdowns and lost income.
This year, we’ve released just over £10m in grant aid the hospitality and leisure businesses hardest hit by restrictions – adding to the £253m of funding we’ve distributed over the last two years. And we’ve worked hard to inspire and encourage residents and visitors to get back out safely through our successful ForeverEdinburgh and Shop Here This Year campaigns.
If you haven’t visited for a while, you’ll notice a lot of change across Edinburgh’s city centre. A transformation that started before the pandemic to mirror evolving consumer purchasing trends and how people use local high streets.
The opening of the new St James Quarter to the East and the Johnnie Walker Experience in the West have made an exciting, and positive contribution to Princes Street’s changing landscape. It’s testament to the enduring appeal that major landmark projects such as these are coming to fruition.
We’re seeing more of the same with some of our most iconic buildings enjoying a new lease of life. Major investment is being made to convertformer retail stores Jenners, Debenhams, Gap, Topshop and BHS. These will be followed by the creation of the new Dunard Centre concert hall. All this, together with the pre pandemic openings at New Waverley and St Andrew Square, represent a real vote of confidence by both investors and us, as residents and consumers in our city centre.
While we look forward to these developments taking shape, we’re focused on making our city centre a people-friendly place where residents and visitors can enjoy spending time – particularly as we begin to welcome office workers back.
And while I have no doubt that people will continue to shop on our world-famous street – the news that HMV will shortly be returning with a new flagship store is testament to that – we know it has so much more to give. That’s why we’re supporting businesses seeking to diversify – bringing bars, restaurants, live music and leisure to keep the city centre vibrant for longer. Princes Street shouldn’t have to close at 6pm.
We’ve updated our planning policies to encourage mixed use developments, allowing new projects to take advantage of the world-renowned views over Princes Street Gardens to the Castle – where, historically, these amazing vistas have long been wasted on storage and other non-accessible uses. We also look ahead to the George Street and First New Town Public Realm Improvements Project, part of our City Centre Transformation plan, where we hope to create a dynamic and accessible environment fitting of one of Scotland’s greatest world heritage streets.
We continue to work with key partners Essential Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, while also playing a ‘match maker’ role with landlords to identify tenants for temporarily vacant units. We’ll do all we can to fill vacant units, but commercial landlords also have a responsibility to set affordable rents and attract new businesses. Together we can activate more properties and create new venues, providing a more cosmopolitan offering for residents and visitors outwith retail hours
Landlords need to be active in getting new businesses occupying these premises..
We’re also doing what we can to give city centre businesses a boost by encouraging our own staff to make a gradual return to our offices. We know many businesses are planning to do the same and we look forward to seeing our city centre offices active again, albeit in a different way than before. There’s no doubting the benefits to our wellbeing that will bring – and indeed to the local economy.
The pandemic might have slowed things down, but this is the year we’ll be able to rediscover everything we’ve missed and support the city centre to come back more vibrant than ever.