With over 100 days in office as Council Leader, Cammy Day reflects on Edinburgh's challenges and priorities.
The last few weeks have been both incredibly challenging and hugely rewarding for Edinburgh, showing our city at its magnificent best as we marked the passing of Her Majesty The Queen. At a time of great sadness and sorrow, the flawless efforts of an army of volunteers, partners and council workers shone through. Together, we did Edinburgh, Scotland and Her Majesty proud.
The same is, of course, true of our city’s response to the global pandemic since it began two and half years ago and, more recently, to the horrific events in Ukraine. The welcome and support we have given, and continue to give, to people in such desperate need, has been truly immense. It is now six months since we opened our Welcome Hub at Gogarburn, and we’re now approaching having safely brought 10,000 refugees through its doors. It’s clear that the processes we have in place are working – and very much appreciated – and we need to keep adapting and responding as the conflict continues and more people arrive.
As we edge closer to winter, however, we must stay focused on the wider priorities for our city and for our residents. The true scale and difficulty of the cost-of-living is becoming ever clearer. Let’s be in no doubt: this is a huge debt crisis, with people facing the toughest financial squeeze of their lifetimes, and we – and our partners – are working extremely hard to lessen the impact of the crisis and make a real difference.
As I outlined to the Council last month, it’s vital that we work together to progress the work of the Poverty Commission to tackle this head on. We’ve taken the decision to look at freezing tenants’ rents for a third year in a row. I’ve also written to the Scottish Government requesting that the rent freeze across private and social rented homes is maintained until rent controls are in place in Edinburgh.
I am conscious that many of our residents will rightly concerned about the cost of heating their homes. We are looking closely at providing ‘Warm and Welcoming Spaces’ across the city, where Council venues would offer free activities for all age groups and provide a space where people feel safe, warm and at ease. These spaces would also be a place where residents can access support and advice to help alleviate food and fuel poverty.
Our colleagues in health and social care are facing ever increasing challenges as more people - with more complex needs - look for support. Our teams are putting in a huge amount of hard work in the run up to winter, and we’re doing everything we can to help meet this demand. We are underway with a significant recruitment programme, including community facing events with the Capital City Partnership and our third sector partners.
And we can’t forget the escalating climate emergency either. It’s amazing to think that, only twelve months ago, we were counting down to COP26 in Glasgow. That’s why, as we marked Climate Week 2022 earlier this month, I restated the Council’s – and the city’s – commitment to the fight against climate change and our ambitious target of being net zero by 2030.
Work is already well underway on several major projects to support clean, green active and public transport to connect communities across the city – bringing benefits to every corner and every resident. Our City Centre Transformation is an ambitious plan for a people-focussed Capital that improves community, economic and cultural life, and sits alongside the transformational City Mobility Plan to deliver truly sustainable, safe and integrated mobility for Edinburgh over the next 10 years.
The Trams to Newhaven project is nearing completion, with track now running all the way from Picardy Place to Newhaven. It’s thanks to the hard work of all those involved that, in spite the challenges of recent years, the project is still on track for delivery on time and on budget. Once operational next spring, it will provide a reliable, high capacity transport link to the north of the city. The City Centre West to East Link is transforming the area and will significantly improve walking, wheeling and cycling conditions along the route, as will the Meadows to George Street programme on the critical corridor from Teviot Place to George Street.
Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone will not only drive down air pollution in the city centre but is expected to have a knock-on effect around the Capital. Our new network of electric vehicle chargers, which were switched on a few weeks ago, will further support people to make low emission transport choices – as have our partners at Lothian Buses, with a new and growing fleet of all-electric double decker buses.
Creating connected, social and healthy communities goes beyond transport. We’re boosting our affordable house-building programme and delivering on our 20-minute neighbourhood strategy, including the pioneering regeneration of the Granton Waterfront and north Edinburgh. Participation and accessibility is at the heart of our plans, and will bring huge physical, mental and social benefits to generations of local people. The recent opening of the new Meadowbank Sports Centre was a significant step in the right direction.
The same is true of our ambitious new school and early years building programme - part of our planned £500m investment over this decade. Work includes the replacement Currie High School - which will be Scotland’s first Passivhaus high school - a new primary school at Maybury to meet local population growth, a replacement Liberton High School and a new early years campus at Kirkliston.
Our commitment to providing our children and young people with every opportunity to succeed continues in the classroom too with the announcement that our Empowered Learning programme will provide every school pupil from P6 to S6 with their own iPads.
Our city has great economic strength, but it is small. We need to manage how the city’s popularity affects the people who live here and how it impacts our streets – not least as we welcome thousands of visitors back to the city post-pandemic.
That’s why we’ve worked so hard to convince the Scottish Government to give us the necessary powers to introduce a visitor levy, and it’s why Edinburgh became Scotland’s first short term lets (STL) control area in September – something I was delighted to introduce as we seek to tackle this long-standing issue. These developments could support our cultural venues, help keep Edinburgh looking at its very best and contribute to wider infrastructure right across the city. I’m clear that it should be our decision how this money is spent; it must be in addition to our core grant and, most importantly, be for the benefit of the economy and local residents of Edinburgh.
This is all incredibly important but, alongside our ambitious manifesto commitments, we must also demonstrate how we can improve core day-to-day services and deliver for the people of Edinburgh by prioritising where there is the most need and where we can create the biggest impact.
That means making an Edinburgh a cleaner, better maintained city that we can all be proud of. The newly published Waste Improvement Report is a clear indication of our determination to ensure our proud city consistently looks at its best. It also means allowing all of our residents to access fair work, support and public services in ways that meet their needs and expectations.
My confidence at the start of this administration that our collaborative approach in bringing these ambitions to reality would lead to more constructive and co-operative decision-making has been well placed. We’re already seeing the benefits of working closely with other political groups to reach consensus, and the atmosphere at some committee meetings is almost unrecognisable to what has gone previously.
I’m not naïve enough, however, to believe that there won’t be more robust discussions ahead, but I want to thank other group leaders for their positive engagement so far and my fellow councillors for their efforts to improve the tone of our meetings.
We’ll need this spirit of improved collaboration as we tackle major issues and we’re working hard to ensure the Council Business Plan – a draft of which will be published shortly – reflects these ambitions while dealing with ever-tighter financial settlements from the Scottish Government. We’re continually looking at ways of delivering greater value from our budgets but, in common with all other public bodies, we’ll inevitably have to take some tough decisions about our spending priorities in the challenging months and years that lie ahead.
My drive to address the issues that matter the most to the people of Edinburgh is every bit as strong as when I took office in May. I will never tire of making the case for the funding we deserve as a Capital City or of protecting our front-line services.
By doing this – and more – we can end poverty in Edinburgh and become a net zero city, creating better places to live and work in the process.
Ambitious? Undoubtedly. But our response to the dramatic and often tumultuous events of the past few weeks, months and even years has shown our city at its magnificent best and underlined just how much we can achieve when we work together.