Next Meeting: Thursday 31 October on Teams; 19.00 to 21.00.
>>> Events, Consultations, References and open-forum Articles. SCROLL DOWN for full Article texts:
8 Oct: Reference: Cllr. Cammy Day: Letter of Support for Community Councillors: Dated, 8 October, by email, I've just received the following text from Cllr. Day, Leader of CEC:
Dear Community Councillors,
Support for Community Councils
At the last meeting of the Policy and Sustainability Committee, a motion was approved that I write on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council on training and accessibility of Community Councils. The following motion was agreed by our members -
'To agree that making Community Councils more accessible to elected members, community councillors and the public plays an important role in enabling a greater diversity of people to engage with local democracy.
To recognise that a lack of equipment is only one potential barrier to Community Councils running hybrid meetings, and that in some cases, training on how to use the equipment may also be required.
To request officers to provide political groups with budget estimates for providing Community Councils with hybrid meeting equipment and training on how to use it as part of the 2025/26 budget, on the basis of their engagement with Community Councils.'
Following this agreement, officers have gathered estimates for the hybrid equipment which would be approximately £1400 per community council, or £65,800 for all 47 community councils. Training on how to use the equipment will be delivered by council officers. Further progress on this work will be reported to the Culture and Communities Committee on 5 December 2024.
I hope the above demonstrates how much we value our Community Councils and the important work you do as the direct links to those living in the city.
Yours sincerely. Councillor Cammy Day
8 Oct: Event: CEC Support for Community Council Elections: Meeting on 22 October: The elections are due to be held on February 2025. CEC is committed to offer strong promotional support and to offer substantial operational and training support once the new community councils are in place. Chairs and Secretaries should have received the invitation to attend the Tuesday 22 October meeting (18.00 to 19.30). The central issue, of course, is what form the promotion and support will take. The over-arching issue is the question of just how committed CEC is to backing a well-functioning, positive and meaningful community council framework. In the first instance, contact the Governance Team at
8 Oct: Consultation: Visitor Levy for Edinburgh: The Visitor Levy is an important development for the city. The consultation opened on 23 September and closes on 15 December. The full background is here: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/business/visitor-levy-edinburgh. This is the link to the latest press release: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/14067/help-shape-edinburgh-s-final-visitor-levy-scheme. The consultation document is here: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/visitor-levy/. On Wednesday 6 November, EACC will meet a CEC lead (Katherine Kennedy) on this project (one of a series of meetings with stakeholders) to go through the proposed structure of the levy and its implications. I understand she may approach community council Chairs and Secretaries in the same vein. You can contact her directly - Katherine Kennedy, Project Manager, Business Growth and Inclusion - at
8 Oct: Consultation: Edinburgh Future Libraries Strategy: Following initial engagement work in Q1, this wider consultation (with a close on 18 December 2024) focuses on the draft Future Libraries Strategy 2024-2029. Access the Culture and Committee reports and respond to the consultation on the future shape of the library service at: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/futurelibraries. The shape stands to change quite dramatically. This is something for community councils to get to grips with.
8 Oct: Reference: Public Spaces for Events and Filming Policy: CEC has announced (1 October) details of the Public Spaces Process and Revised Charging Model for guidance on the booking of all outdoor space use. Separate technical details apply where any type of licence, building warrant or planning permission is needed. You can find the full background here: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/download/15852/event-planning-for-public-spaces
25 Sep: Event: Cockburn Association: 30 Oct: Responsible Tourism: Solutions for Edinburgh's Future: An afternoon discussion (12.00 to 17.00) on tourism pressures; city vulnerabilities and resilience; and actionable strategies; with contributions from those in the industry, academic observes and CEC. Here is the link to book a place in person or online: https://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/event/responsible-tourism-solutions-for-edinburghs-future/ .
25 Sep: Consultation: Visitor Levy for Edinburgh: Councils in Scotland have new powers to introduce a visitor levy in their local area. CEC opened its consultation on this potentially key policy lever on 23 September (with close on 15 December). It's a hot topic. How does it fit with 'responsbile tourism'? Guide your neighbourhoods to speak up on this one. Here is the CEC consultation link .
25 Sep: Reference: Edinburgh Development Forum: This is a CEC-led round-table. From today's quarterly meeting: (1) City Plan 2030 should be formally adopted on 23 October and be approved at Full Council on 7 November. This opens the way for real work to begin on City Plan 2040, which needs to be in place by May 2028. Local Authorities are committed (by Scot Gov) to deep consultation and engagement with localities on 'place priorities' for CP 2040. CEC will have to devote significant ersource to this programme. On the other side, community councils have a big responsibility to play their part as 'agents of local opinion'. This is not something to view from the sidelines. (2) Report from the private sector: Edinburgh's commercial property market is vibrant, but precarious and arguably unstable. Demand for (scarce) high quality office space is strong.; sentiment is selective; 'poorer', older space is being given the shoulder. Building contractors are pressured by delays, costs, supply issues; 'construction risk' is driving some under. Property investors are loading up on (conversion) hotel space; qualiity inner-city office space (a lifeblood for the local economy) is evaporating; the imbalance is a bad sign.
25 Sep: Reference: Edinburgh Bus User Group (EBUG): Call to new CEC Transport Convener, Cllr. Stephen Jenkinson: Open Letter (published in the Edinburgh Reporter) calls for renewed CEC / bus operators combined focus on getting key priorities delivered on bus stops / shelters / live timetables / interchanges / highway infrastructure. The bus station issue needs resolved 'at pace'.
25 Sep: Consultation: Edinburgh Future Libraries Strategy: Following an earlier engagement exercise, this consultation opens 25 September (with 18 December close). Libraries stand to look very different in the future and to be used in quite different ways. This is for the CEC's Future Libraries Strategy 2024-29. We all have a stake in this. Here is the CEC consultation link .
23 Sep: Reference: Scheme Review: The final Report on the Review of Scheme for Community Councils and their Boundaries goes to Special Council on 26 September. You can view the papers and arrange to view the meeting on this link . A few questions on boundaries remain to be ironed out. Beyond that, our attention turns to the promotional support that CEC will be able to deliver for the community council elections in February 2025. This needs to be a big undertaking because public interest in community councils' undertaking is low and their credibility is thin. EACC hopes to be involved with CEC Governance in shaping the CEC communications programme. Please get in touch now with your own ideas and suggestions.
9 Sep: Reference: Scheme Review: Cllr. Val Walker: EACC Board Members Ian Doig and Ken Robertson today met with Cllr. Walker (Convener, Culture and Communities Committee) to underscore the need for CEC to publicise and promote the forthcoming community council elections in a comprehensive and imaginative manner. The promotional messaging should reinforce community councils' visibility and viability, their demonstrable purpose and influence and the future support and training of community councillors.
28 Aug: Reference: Transient Visitor Levy (TVL): More background and detail on this in a presentation by Edinburgh Tourist Action Group. Envisaged governance structure for the TVL is by way of a Visitor Levy Forum (where EACC will have a membership place) reporting to the CEC Policy and Sustainability Committee. Go to the menu bar link EACC Papers >>> Meetings 2024 to see the slide pack.
26 Aug: Reference: Edinburgh Transient Visitor Levy (TVL): This is now a live CEC project, with the draft scheme approved by councillors at the Policy and Sustainability Committee of 22 August. It will go out to consultation between September and December this year. Find out the detail (as it currently stands) on the CEC site: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/business/visitor-levy-edinburgh/2. Target for implementation is mid-July 2026.
16 Aug: Article: Local Place Plans; the early steps: Nick Marshall from Northfield and Willowbrae CC outlines how his community council have embarked on their Local Place Plan, with a view to submission around Easter next year. It's a time-consuming project that calls for a lot of commitment, but so far it's proving very worthwhile. You can contact Nick to find out more.
15 Aug: Reference: Neighbourhood Networks: A report on Neighbourhood Network functionality was presented to the CEC Culture and Communities Committee on 8 August. Outwith the North West Locality, the current framework essentially doesn't work, with low levels of engagement and support, a perceived lack of clout and competition for participants' time from other ongoing local groups and agencies. How the structure might change is part of a wider, ongoing review of community planning aspirations and needs. You can read more on the background in this link to the Agenda Papers. Go to Item 8.1, Page 601.
14 Aug: Reference: Edinburgh's Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES): Email
13 Aug: Reference: Planning: Following on from the EACC Guidance Notes profiled on 2 August, Ronnie Shaw of Liberton & District CC has profiled two nicely-formatted general guides to the Scottish planning system from Highland and Moray Councils. You can find them here: Highland Council Guide to the Planning System and Moray Council Guide to the Planning System. You'll find other important planning links on the menu bar under Planning & Place.
2 Aug: Reference: Grange Prestonfield CC recently published a Guide to the City Plan 2030 and Edinburgh Design Guidance frameworks, a short primer for new community councillors (pending) and for anyone else looking to catch up. With the same in mind, I’ve added three new EACC guidance notes on planning policy, drawn directly from Scottish Government material on Community Engagement, on Development Management and on Householder Permitted Development Rights. You can find them in the EACC Papers >>> Planning link on the menu bar. You will also find in that file a new illustrated guidance booklet for homeowners on Retrofitting Historic Sash and Case Windows. This illustrative paper has been offered by Dr Victoria Lee, a Lecturer at Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture at the University of Edinburgh. She notes it has been vetted by Edinburgh World Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland and CEC for accuracy and practicality.
2 Aug: Reference: Neighbourhood Networks and Community Grants Fund: Andrew Field, Head of CEC’s Community Empowerment and Engagement Service, is currently leading two reviews of the Neighbourhood Networks structure and the Community Grants Fund. Along with Joan Parr, CEC Service Director, Culture and Wellbeing, he is taking two reports to the Culture & Communities Committee on 8 August. Both reports are work-in-progress. Here is a link to the Culture & Committee Papers for that meeting with an outline of the background issues.
2 Aug: Reference: Edinburgh Partnership Board: CEC leads the Edinburgh Partnership Board (EPB), a city-wide forum of public sector and third sector agencies focused on health and social wellbeing and on related community needs. Within the Scheme for Community Councils, community councils are held as the “key community representative bodies within the local community planning arrangements across the city”. At EPB level, big change is in prospect in terms of how community planning functions and services can be delivered more effectively. Michele Mulvaney, Strategy Manager, Communities, at CEC, spoke recently to the Members’ Board about the Transformation and Improvement Programme underway at EPB. The presentation pack is in EACC Papers >>> Edinburgh Partnership Board: see 24_07_25 EP Transition Prog and NNs.pdf. There is a Q1 2025 timeline on bringing the change into play. Note that a central objective is to raise the scope and opportunity for active community involvement in community planning. That looks to mean a new front-line undertaking for community councils.
5 Jul: Reference: City Plan 2030 (CP 2030): This is now the template against which development proposals and applications in the city are measured and judged by CEC Planners. It is a 200 page-plus document of fine detail and precise wording and it is to be used alongside the equally detailed Edinburgh Design Guidance framework. Together they serve to set the standards by which Edinburgh shapes as it grows. Every community councillor - especially those who will take up their place after the next elections - should have a meaningful awareness of just what is in the two 'rule books'. Grange Prestonfield Community Council (GPCC) has just produced a really useful summary of the essential parts of both documents. This is an introduction which will put the novice on nodding terms with the mountain of detail in both documents, especially CP 2030. GPCC has generously asked to make it available to other community councils. You can find a copy by going to EACC Papers >>> Planning on the menu bar or by using this link: 2024 Jul City Plan 2030 GPCC Summary & Guide .
4 July: Reference: 1. City Plan 2030 was adopted by Edinburgh Council on 27 June as the city’s Local Development Plan (LDP). It is now with Scottish Ministers for comment and the final approval. A new LDP must be in place by May 2028 (City Plan 2040); work starts now. 2. The Scheme and Boundary Review enters Phase 3 consultation on 10 July for a four-week period. 3. Local Heat Networks: A slide and commentary pack from the 27 June EACC presentation by Clean Heat Edinburgh Forum (CHEF) is now on the website. ( Go to EACC Papers >>> Meetings 2024) As a preface, take a look at this 10-minute video from Dr Kira Myers (Edinburgh University and CHEF) who scopes the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsPEv2YLRnI. The video illustrates scale of issue, scale of thinking and scale of challenge. When you round off the slide pack commentary (and have used the interactive map), ask yourself if your community will be impacted and, if so, how your community council might give an early lead to residents on what could be coming down the line. 4. The Polwarth Pavement Project: A really encouraging story of (Merchiston) community council small-team endeavour, also profiled in a slide and commentary pack from the 27 June EACC meeting (access as above). A pivotal ‘place’ in the community, a transport node crying out for reshaping and de-risking; detailed proposals and plans worked-up and tabled; support all round, including from Councillors. However....the message doesn’t yet resonate with CEC, 12 months on from this ‘local place plan’ submission. Powers still to be persuaded. On the other hand, Local Place Plans (LPPs) are to be a central feature of City Plan 2040. Use this story, alongside similar cases from Cramond & Barnton and Queensferry & District CC, to consider how better to manoeuvre and unlock the ‘LPP code’ from here. (There is a lot of help available from the sidelines, when you ring the right bells.)
26 Jun: Reference: 1. Scheme and Boundary Review: A final four-week consultat ion period will begin in July following a further report to Special Council on 27 June. The final report will go to Full Council for approval on 29 August. New community council elections will follow 'in the Autumn', it is said. It will be a tight timeline. 2. City Plan 2030 was endorsed by Planning Committee on 19 June and will be adopted by the Full Council on 27 June. It will be in Q3 to Scottish Ministers. 3. Now the attention turns to City Plan 2040. Local Place Plans will be a feature; here is a link to get you started: Resources - Planning Aid Scotland (pas.org.uk). 4. Planning Edinburgh has also opened a consultation on its amended West Edinburgh Placemaking Framework and Strategic Masterplan. West Edinburgh is recognised as a major development corridor within the growing city in City Plan 2030 and it will be a central feature in the emerging City Plan 2040. This link gives you detail and access to the consultation, which runs until 1 August: West Edinburgh Placemaking Framework Amendments . 5. Turning to Community Planning, CEC recently presented to Edinburgh Partnership Board a proposed new framework for the delivery of better Local Outcome Improvement Plans. It will mean changes to the Neighbourhood Network and Locality Community Planning Partnership structures. 6. CEC's Neighbourhood Environment Service is developing its plans to end the use of glyphosate-based weed control chemicals across its full estate, moving on now from CEC-maintained grounds to address roads, carriageways, pavements and hardstanding areas. This is work-in-progress. Self-help groups interested in taking on 'self weeding' programmes across their properties, so to avoid any use of chemicals, are invited to discuss this by contacting
31 May: Reference: CEC Planning Webinar: May 30 CEC presentation note filed in EACC Papers >>> Planning (see toolbar). The focus was on the Development Management Process and on Development Planning (front-running City Plan 2040). See also the Appendix reference there to the Our Place Place Standard tool for community engagement in local place planning. A report on the 30 May EACC meeting covering Edinburgh Bus User Group, Licensing and Planning Issues can also be found in EACC Papers >>> Meetings 2024.
28 May: Reference: Funding The Public Sector Built Environment: The Scotsman (27 May) carries an opinion piece from Euan Pirie, head of major projects and infrastructure at Harper Macleod, where he talks of the funding pressures facing local authority housing projects and other public sector built environment challenges in the years ahead (including retrofitting, community building and city centre regeneration). Read about the innovative funding possibilities, here in the Harper Macleod publication The Blueprint .
27 May: Consultation: George St. to Meadows Active Travel Plan: Get the consultation detail on concept design here: Have your say on Meadows to George Street improvements – The City of Edinburgh Council. Big changes are in prospect. A series of outdoor public events to meet the project team and to illustrate the proposals will take place: Thurs 30 May, 8am to 6pm at Middle Meadow Walk / Sun 9 June, 10am to 4pm at Candlemaker Row / Sat 22 June, 10am to 4pm at the Mound.
Consultation documents will be on display at the Central Library on June 4-6 and 25-27 and at the National Museum of Scotland June 7-14. Big changes are in prospect. Floating bus stops are part of the plan. Blue badge holders may find access more difficult. There will be traffic displacement from George IV Bridge and the Mound.
27 May: Reference: Transport & Environment Committee: From the meeting on 25 Apr 2024: Road Safety Delivery Plan 2024/25 - See this link . From the meeting on 23 May 2024: Business Bulletin Page 151; West Edinburgh Transport Improvement Programme Page 167; George Street and First New Town Project Page 257; Supported Bus Services, West Edinburgh Page 297; Neighbourhood Environmental Services Policy Assurance Update Page 310 - See this link .
17 May: Event: Planning Appeals Training for Communities: A DPEA webinar on Wednesday 12 June (18.00 to 19.30) offered by the Improvement Service (IS). DPEA: Planning appeals training for communities | Community Council (communitycouncils.scot). The IS Community Councils website (amongs many other things) also profiles a series of 'Skills Support for Community Councils' courses, some provided by the Open University and some by external providers like Microsoft and Google. There is a lot of 'digital' content on offer. Worth looking at here: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/skills-supportOU-CC
17 May: Reference: Scheme Review Phase 3: The Phase 2 consultation closed on 3 May. A revised Proposed Scheme draft goes to Special Council at 10.00 on 27 June. The papers for the meeting should be available on the CEC site on 21 June. A final four-week consultation period should begin on 1 July with a final report submitted to the Council for approval in August.
Having listened to community council opinions expressed on the Phase 2 Proposed Scheme draft, the Members' Board made its own submission to the online consultation at the close on 3 May. On 14 May, it sent a short letter to all CEC Elected Councillors, setting out in-gathered assessments of the Proposed Scheme as it stands, along with a number of suggestions for improvement. You'll find a copy of the text on this site on the menu bar: EACC Papers >>> Community Council Support.
Chairs and Secretaries: you may wish to express your own community council's views directly to your Ward Elected Councillors.
17 May: Reference: Local Traffic Improvement: CEC's Transport and Environment Committee recently approved (25 April) a new Local Traffic Improvement (LTI) programme (replacing the Neighbourhood Environment Programme). "The LTI programme is intended to improve local access for people walking and cycling in our communities and consider the introduction of small traffic schemes to mitigate or eliminate the impact of intrusive road traffic in residential areas."
Community councils can act as project sponsors. CEC is offering an initial budget of £500k, with a cap on individual projects of perhaps around £50k.
Project assessment will be based on a strict methodology. You can find out more on the programme proposal in this link - go to Page 252:
Agenda Document for Transport & Environment Committee 25 Apr 2024
There could be real project potential here for some troublespot in your community. Write to
2 May: Event: Edinburgh Bus User Group (EBUG) AGM 6 June: It emerges Edinburgh's bus station may be on the move by 2027, but to where? CEC's lease on the property (currently owned by a pension fund) expires then. Quick thinking is going to be needed on all sides. The EBUG AGM gives you a chance to get closer to the debate, which is bound up in the need for additional terminating capacity in the city at east and west ends. Professor David Begg will be guest speaker. He is the former political transport lead at Lothian Region and the City of Edinburgh councils, chaired the Government’s Commission for Integrated Transport, was on the board of the Strategic Rail Authority and First Group Ltd. He publishes the Transport Times. (https://www.transporttimes.co.uk/) The event is on Thursday 6 June 2024, at 18:00 in the Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.
1 May: Article: Grange Association Home Energy Event: 30 Apr: Climbing the ladder of home energy saving - good advice is essential almost right from the start. Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective is one of several early ports of call.
1 May: Reference: Planning Legislation: Pending 24 May: New Permitted Development Rights (PDR), under legislation due to come into force on 24 May, are intended to help support the deployment of domestic and non-domestic renewables equipment (including solar panels) and the alteration / replacement of windows to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. See this Scot Gov Policy Note , in particular Sections 1.9 - 1.11 and 1.26.(*The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2024)
30 Apr: Reference: Edinburgh - City Factsheet: Find out more on how Edinburgh ranks on key UK urban area indicators from the centre for cities site. Use the data tool.
19 Apr: Reference: Edinburgh by Numbers 2023: A fast-expanding city, drawing people and inward investment. 'Wellbeing' indicators hold up; strong employment levels in a high-skilled regional economy (led by health, finance and insurance sectors in employment numbers; finance and insurance and real estate in gross value added terms); big tourism (and hotel) rebound. See the detail here: Edinburgh by Numbers #17 . Read it in conjunction with the Edinburgh Partnership Survey Q3 2023 (https://www.edinburghpartnership.scot/downloads/file/219/ep-survey-results), which gives a better picture of what it is like to live here.
19 Apr: Consultation: CEC Budget Engagement 2024: Opened 9 Apr; closes 28 Jul. The backdrop: a forecast cumulative budget shortfall of "£143m ... by 2028/29" for "the lowest funded local authority in Scotland" (Council leader Day). "To meet this shortfall, the Council must find new ways of becoming more efficient, reducing costs, or raising more money. We may have to reduce or stop providing some services. It is important that residents can influence these decisions."
Where can the Council improve? Where is the Council doing well? Where can the budget and Council services be pared? Are the Council's business plan priorities the right ones?
This consultation goes right to the heart of what it means to run a city. Some imaginative thinking needed, all round. Here is the consultation link: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cg/budget-engagement-2024/ .
19 Apr: Reference: City Plan 2030: Student Housing: The Report of Examination (below) considers ( as 'Issue 25') the many representations submitted in relation to City Plan 2030 policy proposals on Student Accommodation (See City Plan 2030 Page 123). Opinions submitted include on the one hand: over-provision at the expense of mainstream (affordable) housing; pressures on 'social fabric' of the 'balanced communities'; inadequate measuring / monitoring of 'demand' for student accommodation (by number of units and type), allowing too much 'speculative' development. On the other hand: there is significant under-supply of purpose-built student accommodation in the city; inclusion of mainstream housing in developments can conflict with the economics of purpose built student accommodation delivery. The Council concludes no modification in existing policy guidelines (within City Plan 2030) is merited. The Reporter shades at the margin the requirement for housing to comprise 50% of all student accommodation units on sites greater than 0.25Ha. Access the detail of the review here: Scottish Government - DPEA - Document (scotland.gov.uk) Go to Issue 25 on Page 1385. (Issue 23 covers Affordable Housing; Issue 26 covers Housing Policy.)
10 Apr: Reference: City Plan 2030: This is Edinburgh's proposed Local Development Plan, now entering a new stage with the publication (5 Apr) of the mandated Report of Examination from the Scottish Government Reporters. The Report's recommendations will fall to be considered by the CEC PLACE Directorate and any modifications incorporated into City Plan 2030's next submission to the CEC Planning Committee and Council (likely in Q3). The Report is on the Scottish Government DPEA website here: https://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Document.aspx?id=1002545
10 Apr: Reference: The Sunday Times (7 Apr) reported on the launch of a key report on how to reconcile projected continued expansion in aviation, airports as a driver of growth and job creation and decarbonisation towards net zero. The focus of the report, led by Duncan Maclennan (emeritus professor of urban economics at the University of Glasgow) looks at Edinburgh, a 'metropolitan economy' that must compete on a big stage and serve as a hub for central Scotland. The link to the report is here: Future flying: Up in the air?
21 Mar: Reference: Planning Democracy and the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (ARPS) recently concluded a series of webinars covering 'Scotland's Planning System / National Planning Framework 4 / Navigating Local Development Plans / Having a say in the future of your area'. View the series at: https://aprs.scot/event/joint-webinar-series/ . Planning Democracy offer guides on Planning Appeals and Responding to a Planning Application; you can view them here . In a wider context, the Improvement Service ('"The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland") has a comprehensive Planning Skills Series where you can pick up a lot of technical detail. View the programme, along with a directory of 'Planning Links', at: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/skills-and-development/planning-skills/planning-skills-events .
4 Mar: Reference: Slides and notes* from the 29 Feb meeting now available. Go to EACC Papers >> Meetings 2024. (*Gavin King, Head of Governance on the Scheme Review Phase 2, and Cllrs. Mandy Watt and Lewis Younie on the City's Budget 2024/25 outcome.) Go to the Consultation Hub link above to access the Phase 2 consultation. Note the following extract from Gavin King's remarks:
<Everyone would love to see CCs become more diverse and representative, but (CEC) nervous about doing anything prescriptive which boxes CCs into a situation where they become unviable. The changes which emerge have to be about how CEC can support CCs and encourage people to take part in them; that hinges on how ‘we empower CCs’, how CEC ‘supports… and works with’ them. The support has to be practical and it has to be effective.>
6 Feb: Reference: This is an update on the earlier (29 Jan, now deleted) reference to Our Future Streets - a circulation plan for Edinburgh, the far-reaching proposals intended to tie together the City Mobility Plan, 20-Minute Neighbourhoods and the drive to Net Zero 2030 among other objectives. The press highlighted the north-south tramline corridor, the congestion charge proposals and the closure of key city-centre routes to reduce car use by up to 30%. Our Future Streets went to the Transport & Environment Committee on 1 Feb.
The submission on the Tramline Extension is here: Item 7.3 Tram from Granton to BioQuarter and Beyond Consultation for Strategic Business Case Develop.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk) . (A 12-week consultation is proposed.)
The wider Our Future Streets (OFS) documentation is in three parts, with the links offered as follows:
The Place Directorate submission to the Transport & Environment Committee along with the OFS Appendix 1 Technical Summary Report Part 1 (49pp) here:
https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s66421/Item%207.2%20Our%20Future%20Streets%20-%20a%20circulation%20plan%20for%20Edinburgh_Part1.pdf
The OFS Appendix 1 Technical Summary Report Part 2 plus Appendices 2 and 3 here:
https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s66422/Item%207.2%20Our%20Future%20Streets%20-%20a%20circulation%20plan%20for%20Edinburgh_Part2.pdf
The OFS Integrated Impact Assessment Summary Report (Feb 24) here:
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/34487/our-future-streets
OFS heralds raw transformational change in the way this city moves, designed around the adoption of an over-arching Streetspace Allocation Framework (SAF). Our Future Streets "must follow the principles of sustainable development, simultaneously providing better economic, social and environmental conditions for all". However, here is the ever-present pinch-point: "the ... next steps are dependant, to a greater or lesser extent, on funding bids and associated increases in employee resources."
29 Jan: Reference: Congestion charge plan and north-south tramline corridor profiled in The Times (Saturday 27 Jan). Closure of key routes to cut city centre car use covered in Evening News (29 Jan) and The Scotsman (30 Jan). Our Future Streets - a circulation plan for Edinburgh (the Circulation Plan) goes to the Transport & Environment Committee on Thursday 1 Feb. See this article: Bold plans proposed for Edinburgh’s city centre and key transport corridors | Scottish Construction Now .
The Transport & Environment Committee submission on the Tramline Extension is here: Item 7.3 Tram from Granton to BioQuarter and Beyond Consultation for Strategic Business Case Develop.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk) . A 12-week consultation is proposed. The Framework for the Integrated Impact Assessment of the Circulation Plan is here: our-future-streets (edinburgh.gov.uk) . The Circulation Plan itself is decribed in overview and in technical detail here: Circulation Plan .
12 Jan: Reference: How does your council work? The Governance function sits at the heart of it - who does what and how it should be done. Take a look at this Committee Best Practice Guidance paper (December 2023), tabled at the Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee on 28 November 2023*. Note the Executive Committee Structure (P7): Policy and Sustainability; Culture and Communities; Education, Children and Families; Finance and Resources; Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work; and Transport and Environment. *Item 8.4 Committee Best Practice Guidance.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk)
The wider Committee structure is set out here: Committee structure - Modern Council (edinburgh.gov.uk)
Nick Marshall from Northfield Willowbrae CC shares his experience in shaping a Local Place Plan (LPP). Contact him at
"We decided to do a LPP late last year, when CEC first announced they were keen to have them submitted. We were able to put together a small team including two people with experience of participatory planning and one former senior planner. The deadline looks to be some time late in 2025. We are aiming to submit around Easter.
CEC told us that there was no funding to help us, so we have been paying for meeting venues and posters from our small CC funds. We have recently been approved for a community grant of £1000. We have done most of the work ourselves on such things as leaflet design and drafting. Total costs will be around £1500, plus a lot of volunteer time.
The main focus of our work to date has been through participatory meetings, based on the Scot Gov 'Place Standard Tool', which offers an excellent planning template. ( https://www.ourplace.scot/tool ) We printed a questionnaire derived from this and set up an online questionnaire on the Improvement Service website, adapted from their standard online questionnaire.
(See here for more: https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/planning-and-place-based-approaches )
We have been running Saturday morning free coffee events for two hours or so every two months, placed posters on local noticeboards and on some bus shelters, and used some banners. We've arranged three walkabouts so far, in Piershill, Lady Nairne and Northfield, and have held a church hall and a local pub meeting. We've had up to 30 attendees at these events.
With about 50 questionnaires returned and a further 60 online forms completed, we are ready to move on to the next stage. We need to draw up an explanatory summary of current CEC policies as they relate to our area, then sit down to analyse the responses we've received from people so we can get a clear fix on the really key issues and how residents feel about them. That way we can identify what we include in the LPP and what we encourage CEC to take forward by other means.
Then it's a case of drafting the LPP and bringing residents, neighbouring community councils and (importantly) local elected councillors into the picture. Hopefully, that leads us to submitting a final version to CEC in eight months' time or so.
This is a big local learning exercise; time-consuming but so far very worthwhile. I'm happy to share more on how we have gone about it."
End/NM
The further up the ladder of home energy saving you go, the more complicated it becomes and the more help and advice you need. This event was a very useful reminder of that, but it also reinforced the point that the early steps – draught-proofing and easy-to-access insulation – can be quick wins. On this, it’s never too late to make a start and to keep on top of it.
This Grange Association (GA) community get-together was anchored by Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective (EdinBRIC), a non-commercial, independent, member-led enterprise with both a RIAS and a RICS professional at the helm, currently in receipt of support from Edinburgh Community Climate Fund provided by the City of Edinburgh Council. The meeting also covered case-studies illustrating the practical home retrofit experience of three GA members. (For more detail, contact
EdinBRIC is a knowledge and services network for re-shaping domestic energy consumption, in the home and in the community. It hinges on the Resilient Community concept. Take a look here:
About us – Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective (edinbric.scot)
In the same vein, Loco Home Retrofit CIC is a Glasgow-based co-operative (regulated by the Community Interest Company Regulator) with the same focus of improving the existing fabric of household buildings by reducing energy demand and moving on to low-carbon heating sources. Learn more here:
Loco Home Retrofit CIC Limited – Glasgow's Retrofit Co-operative
Both enterprises stand ready to bring together households, tradespeople and professionals to chart the complicated path towards home energy retrofit, leading from problem through knowledge share to solution. Whether the starting point is single household or shared ownership or residents’ association, community groups like EdinBRIC and Loco Home Retrofit begin to open up the ‘How to go about it’ manual.
See if what they have to say has any pointers for you. Check, too, with Home Energy Scotland ( About us · Home Energy Scotland ) and its network of local advice centres. If you have ideas to share with EACC, please get in touch.
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Tollcross Community Council Response: 7 March 2024
Consultation on Community Council Scheme and proposal to amend boundaries. Phase 2
There is a lot in the scheme that is very useful to Community Councils (CCs), especially when being set up.
The language of the Scheme gives the impression of the Council micromanaging community councils rather than it being a two-way process of negotiation. Examples of this include lots of instructions about the order of business at meetings, the amount of money to be held in accounts and a constant flow of documents to the Council (about 1300 from all Edinburgh’s CCs with a financial penalty for non-compliance, not mentioned in Government guidance).
It is clear that much of this wording comes directly from a series of documents from the Scottish Government to councils and so councils are constrained by this. However, changes such as demanding the accounts 3 months earlier and demanding a community engagement report, both with financial penalties for not complying, are not following Scottish Government guidance and appear dictatorial. Language is important if we are to feel that we are on the same team with common goals.
Read more: 21/03/24: Scheme Review 2024: Reaction: Tollcross CC
QDCC Proposals to Consider for Meeting with CEC Governance
Resources & Support
Meeting Definitions & Attendance
Ward Cllrs Role & Function
Keith Giblett: Queensferry & District CC
Ian Williamson, Secretary of Cramond & Barnton CC, was in touch recently to set out a list of ongoing issues which have 'exercised us in recent years'. It conveys a good deal of frustration and it will, as he puts it, 'resonate with other CCs'. Here is a summary of what he has to say. The question, then, is what you think should be done, could be done, to break the impasse. Let me know, please.
CEC Relationship: The absence of meaningful engagement and consultation - 'a constant feature'.
Planning: Lack of opportunity to check or challenge the breadth and accuracy of Planning Officers' Handling Reports prior to Development Sub-Committee Meetings.
S75 Developer Obligations: CEC to provide regular public reports on the scale and application of S75 payments.
Transport Strategy: Local CC input on commuter route road-charging, on demarcation of no-go 'rat runs' and on bus service provision.
Active Travel Safety: Insufficient attention paid by Transport Officers to locally identified traffic hazards and travel mode conflicts.
Road Works: Need for more effective management, control and monitoring of road work undertakings, timescales and quality of completion.
Bus Services: Regular Transport & Environment Committee reporting on levels of service provision: Bus operator obligation to pre-consult on substantial changes to route and service provision.
Affordable Housing Obligations (AFO): Regular CEC reporting on the progressive discharge of AFO in respect of individual major developments.
Council Finances: CC desire for stronger, more frequent information on CEC funding and expenditure on both current and capital accounts. More explicit information on expenditure on external service (including consultancy) provision.
Support for Community Councils:
What are CEC's ideas and proposals for improved levels of practical support?
Community Empowerment: Do community councils actually want more specific, delegated responsibilities for community service provision (as imagined in the Scot Gov Democracy Matters consultation? Can they realistically anticipate being able to put in place the management and resource platform to deliver?
The Review was submitted and approved at the special session of the CEC Full Council on 8 February, accompanied by a small number of amendments. Two related to the naming of community councils; the others to community council 'shape'. Here is the link to the full documentation.
Choose agenda document pack - City of Edinburgh Council 8 February 2024 - Modern Council
The framework within which community councils are to operate rests heavily on the Scottish Government 'Model Scheme for Community Councils'. The framework (including proposed boundary revisions) now moves to the Phase 2 eight-week consultation, which has been scheduled to start on 12 February and run to 8 April. In the documentation as tabled to the Council, CEC made no move explicitly to bolster practical assistance and support to community councils to aid their efforts to function well and to ensure relevance to their communities. (In fact, such provision as there is in the existing Scheme was dropped from the proposed Scheme which went for approval on 8 February.)
However, one amendment now attached to the Scheme for consultation over the course of Phase 2 may (or may not) prompt a shift in support.
This Green Group amendment reads:
"1.3 Agrees to include in the above consultation the following options for improving access, equality and diversity : term limits for office bearers; gender balancing mechanisms for community councils; increased training for community councillors and office bearers focussed on running meetings, handling email workload and the duties of community councillors; additional resource for encouragement of candidates to community councils; resources to support attendance at community councils including transport and care costs.
1.4 Agrees that should the above require additional officer time then the launch of the next consultation should be delayed by no more than two weeks from the proposed 12th February start date."
As you judge your own response to the Phase 2 consultation, you might ask whether that goes far enough and how you would see such support being practically delivered.
Otherwise, note a separate amendment relating to 'Election of Office Bearers' which would limit a person's role as Chair to a 'combined term of five years' (with annual election). The occupation of other Office Bearer posts would not be so limited. Does that compromise continuity and function, or would it open the way for others who would wish to lead?
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This is an extract from a 23 Jan 2024 letter to EACC Chair, Steve Kerr, written by Superintendent Samantha Ainslie of Edinburgh Division. The letter follows up on a November 2023 meeting and it gives context to, and information on, current community policing arrangements. Do note the website and Facebook links:
<<<
Resonant with your own comments, I also found the meeting helpful, and I wish to acknowledge at the outset that we enjoy the great privilege of policing with and for our local communities, and that I fully appreciate the role and the support provided by Edinburgh’s Community Councils, individually and collectively.
Please be assured I understand that community policing representation at Community Council meetings is very much sought after and valued, however, as variously communicated, as a consequence of City of Edinburgh Council’s revised funding arrangements, circa 1 April 2020, we have been unable to commit to attending the meetings. Notwithstanding which, should community officers be unable to attend, we have given an assurance that officers will provide a locally focused snapshot report / newsletter, with this arrangement being well-established.
Noting your reference to the reports being uniform in nature, whilst serving an analogous purpose i.e., providing news, updates, useful contacts, an outline of local policing activities and our response to localised issues and themes, the content will vary, quite rightly so, informed by the bespoke nature of ‘place’ and reflecting our diverse communities.
That being said, I thought it helpful to include an outline of divisional scrutiny arrangements, and consequently, each newsletter will now provide the following standardised narrative and easily accessible links:
On a quarterly basis, the Divisional Commander attends and provides both a written and verbal report to Edinburgh Council Culture and Communities Committee, during which scrutiny is provided in terms of the Division’s performance against the Local Policing Plan and other ongoing or emerging issues.
Edinburgh Division Scrutiny Reports can be found:
Item 7.1 - Police Scotland Edinburgh City Division Scrutiny Report April 2022 to March 2023.pdf
This meeting is also freely available/accessible to view live or retrospectively.
Our Local Police Plan 2023-26 outlines our local Divisional priorities and is accessible via the Police Scotland website:
Edinburgh - Police Scotland
Members of Edinburgh Division’s Senior Management Team routinely respond to queries received from Elected Representatives, including MPs and MSPs and constituents’ concerns across a broad spectrum of topics.
From a locality perspective, each of the 4 Local Area Commanders chair local Community Improvement Partnerships and also form part of the membership of Locality Community Planning Partnerships. These fora are focused on addressing local concerns in partnership.
Police Scotland’s Quarterly Performance Report for the Scottish Police Authority, and performance statistics by council and Policing Division, can be accessed here.
As a signpost, Edinburgh Division’s performance data can be found on the ‘Data Div6’ tabs.
Recorded and detected crime data at Multi-Member Ward level, Road Traffic Collision (RTC) data (casualties and circumstances), and Stop/Search data can be found via
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/crime-data/
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/road-traffic-collision-data/
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/stop-and-search/data-publication/
This raw data can be filtered to provide more accessible information, however, crime data is only provided on an annual basis.’
Advice and information, across a range of crime prevention themes, are available on our website Advice & Information - Police Scotland , and additionally, our Senior Management Team, and Road Policing colleagues, provide Edinburgh focused commentary within a regular Edinburgh Evening News ‘Capital Cops’ column. Not forgetting the regular local policing updates provided on our social media channels, including our Facebook page https://en-gb.facebook.com/EdinburghPoliceDivision .
>>>
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Parking on pavements is generally a nuisance and can often be dangerous. Scottish Government legislation passed last year banned it while allowing some limited exemptions. Enforcement has now been passed to local authorities. CEC has given notice that it will enforce the ban from 29 January with no exceptions.
For most of the city, roads are wide enough to accommodate parking while those who live in the medieval centre and certain other very densely populated areas have long acquaintance with highly restricted parking. However, for certain locations, notably outside the city centre where access to a car is more important or where streets are unusually narrow this ban introduces very practical difficulties.
There are streets which are so narrow that if residents cease parking on the pavement passage of emergency vehicles or waste collection lorries will become impossible. In some locations residents have developed the informal practice of pavement parking down one side of the street simply to allow passage of local traffic and keep one pavement clear for disabled access etc. The no-exceptions approach ignores these practicalities and could of itself lead to dangerous consequences.
Residents in such areas may find that their nearest legal parking option is some distance away in wider adjoining streets where there may already be parking pressures. They query whether this is fair or equitable. These issues are especially acute for disabled persons or simply the more elderly. It is unclear how disabled parking spaces will be managed. There are concerns that the pursuit of revenue-generating ‘fines’ will mean an especial focus on ‘compromised’ narrow residential streets as ‘easy targets’.
Some are asking whether enforcement is being rushed and whether more detailed preparation and consultation could have avoided the issues. Comparisons are being drawn with other local authorities who appear to be adopting a more common-sense and flexible approach. “No exceptions” appears to rule out any mechanism to seek exemptions.
Is your community council affected? If so, EACC would like to hear from you.
Bill Rodger, Trinity CC.
Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (November 2023)
Summary and assessment by Sarah Mehrabi of Clean Heat Edinburgh Forum
(Received 18 Jan 2024)
The Strategy
The Edinburgh Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) is a long-term strategic framework aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings in the local authority's area and reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from heating. The strategy aligns with the Scottish Government's target of decarbonizing the heating of all buildings in Scotland by 2045 and the Council's goal of making Edinburgh a net zero carbon city by 2030.
The strategy sets out three central principles: taking a whole-system view, having an inclusive energy transition, and implementing a smarter local energy model. It also establishes two main targets: for 50% of Scotland's energy consumption to be supplied from renewable sources by 2030 and for a 30% increase in energy use productivity across the Scottish economy by 2030.
The strategy identifies key actions to support the transition to a climate-friendly energy system, including boosting advisory services for energy efficiency, providing support to remote and rural off-grid communities, and developing specialist knowledge and skills in retrofitting and zero emissions heating systems.
The document highlights the local policy landscape, with a focus on accelerating energy efficiency in homes and buildings and enabling the development of a citywide program for heat and energy generation and distribution. It also emphasises the importance of retrofitting social housing, developing regional renewable energy solutions, and establishing an Energy Efficient Public Buildings Partnership.
The strategy's findings highlight several challenges specific to Edinburgh's building stock, such as a high proportion of flats and mixed-tenure buildings, existing gas grid connections, an aged housing stock with listed buildings, and a significant number of homes with uninsulated walls. The analysis identifies strategic zones that provide potential pathways for decarbonizing the building stock and areas of pressure in terms of energy efficiency.
Overall, the Edinburgh LHEES aims to drive interventions and mobilise stakeholders to achieve the targets of energy efficiency and decarbonization, recognizing the need for significant resources and collaboration between the public and private sectors.
The Delivery Plan
The key points of the Delivery Plan for the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy of The City of Edinburgh Council for the years 2024-2028 are as follows:
1. On 15 December, CEC’s Policy & Sustainability Committee receives the Council’s Draft Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and the related Draft Delivery Plan. Scot Gov has mandated all Local Authorities to prepare this kind of detailed thinking for the road to Net Zero Emissions by 2045. You’ll find the full set of documents in the Public Document Pack, Agenda Item 5.2, on Page 111. There is a lot of reading here. It is a very commendable piece of work, led by CEC Programme Development Officer, Kyle Drummond.
2. The LHEES papers are preceded (on Page 36) by the submission of the Draft Climate Ready Edinburgh (CRE) Plan 2024-2030, with a public consultation to follow. The CRE Plan updates risk assessments of why and where the city needs to adapt, building on big themes like Planning and the Built Environment, Coastal Adaptation, Sustainable Transport, the Natural Environment, Community Support and Climate Justice. It goes almost without saying that “as this work develops….the need for additional investment will become more acute”.
3. The CRE Plan is strong on concept and has a ‘vision thing’ – “Edinburgh will be a thriving, fair, resilient city and region where people, communities and nature flourish in a changing climate”. By contrast the Edinburgh LHEES and the Delivery Plan which follows (Page 293) are deep on detail, setting out ‘baseline analyses’ of where the city’s building stock falls short on energy efficiency, where it exacerbates fuel poverty and where it runs high on carbon emissions. The Delivery Plan translates analysis into activity and goes on to identify, almost by grid reference, a series of ‘priority areas of focus’ (also termed ‘strategic zones’) where walls and lofts will be insulated, heat pumps installed and heat networks stitched together. (The high-level ‘principles’ governing ‘how to start’ priorities are set out on Page 135. The high level ‘Considerations’ shaping the ‘pathways to decarbonisation’ – ‘how to get there’ – are summarised on Page 163. The mapping starts on Page 249.)
4. All of this goes towards identifying “a portfolio of projects that could potentially be delivered, or at least initiated/progressed, during the Delivery Plan period (2024 to 2028), subject to the necessary resources and powers being available” (Page 308). Note the conditionality. Specified are eight Delivery Areas relating to Energy Efficiency, 10 Delivery Areas relating to Heat Pumps and 17 prospective Heat Network Zones; a total of 35 physical intervention project localities. (Other declared projects include high-rise housing retrofit, old and historic properties retrofit and green heat.)
5. This is detailed drawing-board work (mapped from Page 319). Here are some of the acknowledged limitations. On Energy Efficiency: the interventions will not pay for themselves over time; they would likely need to be partly or wholly subsidised. On Heat Pumps: there are significant obstacles to embarking on any large-scale installation programme. On Heat Network Zones: how to plan and undertake the large-scale excavation which then disrupts almost every other element of city infrastructure.
6. The full Delivery Plan Schedule of Actions to be led by a new “LHEES Office” is set out on Page 390. There is much to be done, all of it hinging on the adoption of core high-level Principles to guide a “20-year journey to decarbonisation”. Here are some of the strands of thinking embodied within these Principles: Behavioural change will be vital. / There has to be a major structural change in electricity pricing. / “The capital costs of implementing the Edinburgh LHEES are vast.” / “…the Council does not currently have a budget in place for the delivery of the Edinburgh LHEES.” / “…additional powers to compel change will be required to deliver heat carbonisation in a timeous manner.” / “…there are significant pressures on the availability of skills associated with heat decarbonisation.”
7. The LHEES Office is on a Scot Gov grant budget of £75k per annum for five years out to 2028. That is more or less all that is in the Council’s kitty so far for this massive decarbonisation project. The Council is currently facing “severe stress on its budget”. In prospect is a long-running programme whose “targets will be extremely challenging”, calling for “large-scale activity by both the public sector and the private sector and the commitment of significant resources”.
8. This is, in essence, a city redesign project. “The total cost of delivering the Edinburgh LHEES – i.e. of improving the energy efficiency and decarbonising the heat of every building in Edinburgh – will be in the order of several billion pounds over the next 20+ years.” “A wide variety of stakeholders will require to be mobilised towards these goals.” Note that last verb. Be prepared to be disturbed.
Appendix
Energy Efficiency Delivery Areas
Restalrig & Lochend / Bingham & Magdalene / Restalrig & Craigentinny
The Calders / Granton, Wardieburn & Royston / Niddrie & Craigmillar
Clovenstone & Wester Hailes / Muirhouse
Heat Pump Delivery Areas
Lochend Butterfly Way / Waterfront Park / Robertson Avenue
Fountainbridge / Oxgangs Avenue / West Pilton Grove
Craigour Place / Elgin Street / Morrison Crescent
Craighouse Gardens
Heat Network Zones
New Town / Leith Walk / Old Town & Southside / Gorgie & Dalry
Craigleith / Granton / Leith / Portobello & Seafield
Morningside / South East Edinburgh / Colinton Mains
South West Edinburgh / Heriot-Watt / Sighthill & Gyle / Ingliston
South Queensferry / Second New Town
Reference:
Policy & Sustainability Committee Papers, 15 December 2023
Agenda Item 5.2
Edinburgh Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy and Delivery Plan
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Nick Marshall of Northfield and Willowbrae CC offers a quick summary of three core initiatives of the Council on 'neighbourhood design'.
This briefing is to provide clarification on various transport initiatives by City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). Several members of the public have raised concerns with the Community Council about these initiatives, often based on misinformation found online. Rather than preparing a separate response for each person, this briefing will provide a basis for such responses.
Low Emission Zone (LEZ)
An LEZ (sometimes called a Clean Air Zone, CAZ) is an area in which the use of older or more polluting vehicles is limited or prohibited. CEC is introducing a LEZ, covering an area slightly larger than Edinburgh city centre to be fully active from 1 June 2024. It is currently in a testing phase. Other LEZs in Scotland are in Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow. Unlike the London ULEZ, there are no permits. Vehicles considered more polluting (roughly pre-2015 (Euro 6) for diesel cars and pre-2013 (Euro 4) for petrol cars), are not allowed inside the LEZ perimeter, and owners/drivers are charged each time they drive into the zone. Central Edinburgh air is badly polluted, and councils are legally required to take action to reduce such pollution (mainly nitrogen oxides and particulates) which comes mostly from vehicle exhausts. The LEZ is an attempt to reduce this pollution. More information:
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN)
An LTN is an attempt to reduce traffic passing through a predominantly residential area, especially traffic which is seen as using residential streets to avoid busier main routes. Vehicular access is maintained to all properties in an LTN, though journeys within the LTN may take slightly longer. Filters may be put in place which only allow some traffic, e.g. buses or emergency services, to pass. It is these physical filters which discourage through traffic.
The aim of an LTN is to make residential areas safer and more comfortable to live, travel and spend time in. CEC is responding to Government policies to encourage Active Travel (i.e. walking and cycling) and to reduce private car use, to reduce pollution, reduce carbon emissions and address the obesity epidemic. CEC is introducing LTN trials in Leith and Corstorphine and may subsequently introduce them in other areas of the city. More information: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/13101/developing-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-for-communities-across-edinburgh
20 Minute Neighbourhoods (20MN)
20 Minute Neighbourhoods is a planning initiative across the UK to promote towns and cities where everyone can access all of their daily needs within a 20 minute walk, including shops, post office, doctor, dentist, library and other council services, social venues, greenspaces and jobs. This is very much how towns and cities used to be organised, before the advent of out-of-town shopping centres and long commutes.
With 20MNs, Local Development Plans prepared by the CEC encourage developers, businesses and service providers to set up local branches or small businesses to set up near to residential areas and in local centres rather than on distant industrial estates. Stories that 20MNs will restrict peoples’ movements are entirely unfounded - no one’s ability to travel for shopping, services or work if they wish to do so will be affected. CEC is currently trialling 20MNs in Craigmillar/Niddrie, Gorgie/Dalry and Portobello, but will also introduce them to other parts of the city in due course, and with public consultation.
More information: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/future-council/need-20-minute-neighbourhoods
Are all these initiatives linked?
The LEZ is aimed solely at reducing air pollution in the city centre. LTNs and 20MNs are separate initiatives brought into the Edinburgh 2030 Climate Strategy which aims to reduce carbon emissions and is the city’s response to the UN Paris Agreement, UK Low Carbon Transition Plan and the Scottish Government Climate Change Plan. CEC is therefore legally required to take action to (for instance) reduce private car use, increase Active Travel, insulate homes and other buildings, encourage businesses to be more energy efficient, reduce waste and create more low-carbon jobs.
More information: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/download/15068/2030-climate-strategy
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CEC’s Planning Division have their heads down in earnest now, pushing to wrap up City Plan 2030 for adoption by mid-2024 and starting to shape the canvas for the one that comes next, City Plan 2040.
“Pie in the sky!”, I can hear, or worse. But that completely misses the point. A local economy needs to change and develop. The city needs to adapt and grow. Someone has to own the project. Better too early than too late.
So, as they say, ‘Fail to plan; plan to fail’. The Scottish Government has no intention of letting that happen. Local Authorities have their orders. The clock is ticking. Here’s a quick rundown on where things stand.
City Plan 2030 is the successor to the current Local Development Plan 2016. A local development plan carries a 10-year strategy along with policies and proposals to determine planning applications and an Action Plan to guide delivery.
City Plan 2030 was submitted to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) for formal examination in December 2022. This process is close to completion. A Report of Examination should be returned to the Council in Q1 2024. It will carry recommendations and may include proposed modifications. The Council will decide on adoption of the plan. It’s expected that will take place by mid-year.
The legislative framework for development planning has now changed with the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. New procedures on the shaping and build of local development plans were announced by the Scottish Government in May 2023, along with new regulations and a change in the ‘planning style’ to be adopted. Every planning authority in Scotland is expected to have a new local development plan in place by May 2028. The over-arching National Planning Framework 4, which covers all of the country, stays in place for now. (It will also begin a journey of revision.) Other reference points include Regional Spatial Strategy and community-led Local Place Plans.
The new ‘style’ of City Plan 2040 will display three core characteristics. It will be:
‘Place-based’ – focused on illustrative local geographies; climate-crisis aware;
‘People-centred’ – prepared collaboratively through active public and community engagement;
‘Delivery-focused’ – targeted on achievable outcomes.
Notice that phrase ‘active public and community engagement’. City Plan 2040 is coming to you. At this very early stage of ‘Evidence Gathering’, you are being invited to say how you would like to be involved in, and to be kept informed about, the whole process. Here is the link to the survey that the Council has opened until 19 January 2024. Take the opportunity.
City Plan 2040 - Draft Participation Statement - City of Edinburgh Council - Citizen Space
The Evidence Gathering stage sits within the Development Plan Scheme (DPS) for City Plan 2040. The DPS is the ‘how to go about it’ framework. Work on the DPS will be accompanied by work on a draft Participation Statement, a summary of when and how the public and communities will be engaged over the course of the long planning programme. One aspect already in course is the live invitation for community groups to submit Local Place Plans to inform the planners’ early thinking.
As a community councillor, you are going to hear a lot about City Plan 2040. Community councils are there to serve their communities. Helping deliver that sought-for close engagement between the planners and the people is going to be a big item on their ‘to do’ list.
Here are some useful references:
Planning Edinburgh blog:
View the City Plan 2030 project webpage at:
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cityplan2030
View the City Plan 2040 project webpage at:
https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/local-development-plan-guidance-1/city-plan-2040
Sign up to the mailing list:
Questions about the content of the current local development plan:
Scottish Government Local Development Planning Guidance
Local development planning guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
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Roger Colkett of Tollcross CC sits on the EACC Members' Board. He has many years experience of dealing with licensing issues raised at his community council. He is about to submit (as a member) a paper to the Edinburgh Licensing Forum making a series of recommendations which he feels would benefit both sides to the licence application review process; those parties making an objection and those parties making a representation. His paper will be marked as an EACC Discussion Paper. You can find the full paper (for download) on this site EACC Papers >> Appendix. Here is some of what he has to say on recommended improvements:
Clarity and Accessibility:
The process of responding should be much more user-friendly, particularly for first-time respondents.
1. Until a better online system is available, each response received by the Licensing Department should prompt a routine reply, attaching copies of the relevant operating and layout plans (in the case of major variations both current and proposed).
2. Layout plans are sometimes on very large sheets, details of which can be difficult to decipher from the provided copy. Respondents should be made aware that originals can be viewed at the City Chambers. If possible, respondents, if they need to, should be able to view originals at a local council office.
Fairness:
3. Before they speak to their response, the Convener should ask each respondent if they wish to make any points in addition to those included in their submitted response. If so, the additional points would be noted separately and the applicant would be given the opportunity to ask for the application to be continued to a later meeting to give time for any amendment required.
4. Having had to speak first without prior knowledge of the applicant’s argument, the respondent should be asked after the applicant has spoken whether they wish to say anything more.
5. In support of respondents having to speak first, I’ve heard it argued that the convention is compatible with the presumption that applications should be granted unless there is an exceptional reason to refuse. If so, in the interest of fairness and logical consistency, when an application relates to premises in an area of overprovision (in which case the presumption is reversed with the default being to refuse), the applicant should be required to speak before the respondent. Moreover, if the requirement for the respondent not to deviate from the submitted response were to stand, the same requirement should apply to the applicant’s published application in an area of overprovision.
Recognition:
6. When respondents want to say something after the applicant has spoken, the Board and its convener (recognising that respondents are usually seeking to contribute to the process, not to frustrate it) should politely ask them to be brief, thank them for their contribution, take on board the points made and if what they have said fails to comply with the law or the Board’s policy, clarify how and why that is the case.
Convenience:
7. Of course, it’s difficult to anticipate how long the assessment of each application will take, and one doesn’t want the relevant application to be dealt with before the respondent is due to appear. However, all applications for which responses have been submitted could be brought to the earliest possible point in the meeting and arranged in ascending order of complexity and/or likely controversy, ideally with allocated timeslots, so that unpaid volunteer respondents would have had as little of their time wasted as possible.
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Community Council population size; based on 2011 Census.
Leith Central | 25,099 |
Corstorphine | 23,387 |
Gilmerton/Inch | 20,319 |
New Town/Broughton | 18,136 |
Merchiston | 17,834 |
Grange/Prestonfield | 15,700 |
Leith Harbour and Newhaven | 14,580 |
Craigmillar | 13,799 |
Northfield/Willowbrae | 13,235 |
Southside | 13,148 |
Liberton and District | 13,073 |
Stockbridge/Inverleith | 13,052 |
Morningside | 12,788 |
Drum Brae | 12,429 |
Craigentinny/Meadowbank | 12,420 |
Granton and District | 11,813 |
Portobello | 11,581 |
Marchmont and Sciennes | 11,539 |
Gorgie/Dalry | 11,273 |
Tollcross | 10,859 |
Wester Hailes | 10,848 |
Leith Links | 10,351 |
Queensferry and District | 9,479 |
Fairmilehead | 9,309 |
Craigleith/Blackhall | 8,920 |
Trinity | 8,721 |
Old Town | 7,875 |
Firrhill | 7,716 |
Hutchison/Chesser | 7,702 |
Sighthill, Broomhouse and Parkhead | 7,568 |
West Pilton/West Granton | 7,509 |
Currie | 7,494 |
Colinton | 7,213 |
Cramond and Barnton | 6,953 |
Stenhouse, Saughton Mains and Whitson | 6,282 |
Craiglockhart | 6,076 |
Balerno | 5,927 |
West End | 5,810 |
Muirhouse/Salvesen | 5,168 |
Drylaw/Telford | 4,563 |
Silverknowes | 4,309 |
Juniper Green | 4,242 |
Longstone | 3,968 |
Kirkliston | 3,660 |
Ratho and District | 3,346 |
Total | 476,626 |
Two Scottish Government officials led a recent Improvement Service webinar (10 Oct) to promote directly to Community Councils the new consultation phase of the government's Democracy Matters local governance review. The consultation document is here . The very earnest endeavour is to give people the opportunity to come together in their communities to imagine how new and inclusive democratic processes can best help their town, village or neighbourhood.
I attended the event. What follows are my personal impressions.
There was no doubting the sincerity of the Scot Gov speakers. However, their somewhat evangelical tone was somewhat undone by the reaction from the floor. (There were around 30 Community Councils represented.) Some long-standing issues emerged.
Read more: 13/10/23: Democracy Matters - The Scot Gov 'national conversation'
A good number of Edinburgh Community Councils presently feel they are in straitened circumstances, low on participants and finding it difficult to meet their support needs on admin and, notably, on IT and media. The City Council and, at a higher level, Scot Gov have a long-declared commitment to the nurture and support of 'local democracy', led by Community Councils. On the context of the now-current Scheme Review, there is every incentive for a Community Council to make clear its concerns, opinions and needs. On the issue of practical support, here is a repeat of part of the 6 August EACC update, which covered the early stage of the Scheme Review.
Resourcing of a community council (2019 Scheme, Paras 11.9 and 11.11):
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Tommy McLean of Corstorphine Community Council offers (25 Sep) his opinion on the central role CCs should be looking to play here:
City of Edinburgh Council’s (CEC) Helen Bourquin, from the Community Engagement & Empowerment (CE&E) Team, spoke to EACC on 31 August about the LIP programme. (Here are the slides from the meeting.) I set out below my thoughts on how Community Councils can meaningfully participate. This is an excellent opportunity for Community Councils to be involved in identifying and shaping community priorities within the compass of their own LIP, working alongside CEC and other statutory Partners.
The current plan (covering 2017 to 2023) was justifiably criticised because local communities felt they were not given much opportunity to determine what they considered to be local priorities. The Edinburgh Partnership have asked CEC to engage with communities more effectively this time.
The CE&E Team is leading on this. In the North West Edinburgh Locality (the first plan to be worked on this time) CE&E have led several meetings to engage representatives from local groups (including Community Councils). The joint meetings have proved useful, encouraging and drawing involvement from a broad spectrum of community interests and networks. I understand a similar model of engagement will be used in each locality.
Simply put, Community Councils have a central position within their communities. It’s important that the knowledge and experience that sits there is fed into the LIP process to help develop programmes that are meaningful, realistic and useful for our communities and that make improvements to the lives of people living in them.
Possible roles for EACC:
Possible roles for individual Community Councils
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Climate X Change (CXC), based at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute at High School Yards, Edinburgh, is a Scottish Government-funded centre of expertise on climate change. CXC 'commissions research and analysis to support the Scottish Government as it develops policies on adapting to the changing climate and transitioning to net zero'.
I came across this October 2021 paper* (55pp) which offers a detailed assessment of where and why heat pump efficiency can vary widely across the heating season and in different buildings, domestic as well as non-domestic. One standout is that weak user understanding of how to operate heat pumps and weak or imprecise installation design, specification and commissioning can really impair how well they perform, albeit that heat pumps are a mature heating technology.
Poor performance, of course, hits user levels of satisfaction and user behaviour. Amongst the conclusions (at the time) from this piece of work; customer expectations need managed; strong customer support is needed from pre-sale to after-sale; the supply chain needs to focus more on tailored specification and installation, case-by-case.
Here is the Link to the CXC paper, which carries a very useful primer on heat pump technologies.
* Courtesy of the Grange Association, Edinburgh.
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'Don't let it sneak up on you', says Bill Rodger, Trinity CC.
The Communal Bin Hub (CBH) project is rolling out in phases, skirting an earlier failed attempt to introduce it within the World Heritage site.
The core objectives of increasing effective recycling capacity and our overall recycling efficiency requires that each CBH carry twice as many bins. That means combining two sites into one larger site approximately 30ft long.
“Phase 1” covers the north east including Trinity. Phases 2 and 3 are underway and Phase 4 is under ‘consultation’ The following draws on Trinity’s experience. Despite having relatively few tenements and communal bins, the issues arising have prompted a significant response, have absorbed much Community Council and Elected Councillor time and have proved intractable.
Implementation started in December 2022 with bull bars installed in the roadway outside the new locations. Bins were combined inside the bars shortly thereafter. Deeply felt concerns were soon reported.
Complaints included:
Solutions might be found through practical conversations with CEC. However, Trinity residents have not found the project to be easily opened up to discussion and to solutions utilising local knowledge. The CEC process followed appears rigidly obstructive. A limited opportunity afforded in late 2022 to local Councillors to facilitate discussion, which did allow some progress to be made, was subsequently constrained by a report in 2023.
The main lesson to be learned by other CC areas ahead of CBH rollout is this: it's essential that those residents likely to be affected engage early with the consultation and look to understand properly their own situation. Urge them to do so and to take a close look. They should not take ‘general reassurances’ as being sufficient and all they need to know. Of course. it can be a challenge to engage those most affected ahead of problems emerging.
In this programme, CEC’s real objective shouldn’t be the principle behind the CBH project (which is commendable) but rather the search for practical solutions through proper engagement, so as to allow programme completion while minimising the impact on quality- of-life for those unfortunate individual residents staring out at their CBH.
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24 May 2023: Scottish Community Development Council (SCDC) Event:
Meeting National Standards for Community Engagement.
At some point, your Community Council may become involved in something ‘big’ – community regeneration, placemaking, asset transfers, participatory budgeting, local health and social care support – and dealing with a number of counterparties. In such circumstances, two issues stand to be addressed at the outset:
1. You are going to be ‘fully engaged’, with local residents and businesses and with other bodies and agencies, both public and private;
2. Your ‘project’ is going to need very careful ‘management’.
This SCDC event was a very useful refresher on good-practice principles designed to help you get the best out of the work you’ll be putting in and the best out of the all-round ‘engagement’ you’ll find yourself in the midst of. It showcased how SCDC can help in these situations.
Here is the core ‘checklist’:
Inclusion: Identify the key people and organisations you need to work with.
Support: Identify and overcome any barriers to engagement and participation.
Planning: What exactly are the community’s needs and ambitions here?
Working together: The networks to full engagement and project success.
Methods: Plan the project to win.
Communication: Be clear on who you need to talk to and how you can best work with them.
Impact: Review regularly how you are getting on and what could be done better.
You can get much more on all of this at SCDC.
National Standards for Community Engagement | SCDC - We believe communities matter
SCDC will also offer training and support on a wide range of topics, including the Community Empowerment Act (2015), running participative events and ‘getting your message across’.
One interesting feature of the webinar was the profiling of VOiCE, an online software tool that allows ‘shared’ project planning and management of community engagement programmes.
VOiCE in essence ‘project manages’ the deep detail of the core checklist above. This facility is free-to-use for community organisations such as CCs.
There is more here: VOiCE (voicescotland.org.uk)
All of this is well worth looking over. Speak to Dawn Brown, SCDC Development Manager;
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The Clean Cities Campaign is hosted by Transport & Environment, 'Europe's leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport'.
A City Ranking survey across 42 major European cities ('the state of shared and zero-emission mobility) ranks on shared bikes and e-scooters, shared electric cars, publicly-available EV charging infrastructure (all per 1000 inhabitants, in Q1 2023) and the percentage of the city's urban bus fleet that is zero emission (data gathered ranges from 2021 to 2023.)
Copenhagen ranks 1/42 with a score of 87% and a grade A. Edinburgh ranked 38/42 with '12% and E', on a par with Birmingham. Glasgow ranked '30% and D'. (Edinburgh was 31/36 in 2022.)
UK city investment in zero emissions is lagging. The UK Climate Change Committee on 28 June rated government action on emissions 'worryingly slow'; 23% of all UK emissions comes from surface transport.
See City Ranking - 2023 focused edition - Clean Cities Campaign and Publications - Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)
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Opinion: John Loudon, Cramond & Barnton CC, calls for change.
I have a long-standing personal and formerly-professional interest in bus services in and around Scotland. I believe Lothian Buses (LB) serve our city well; we are fortunate to have them. However, their handling of their recently-announced service changes saw them drop somewhat in my estimation and I wish to offer some personal views and suggestions in the wake of what has taken place.
LB is owned 100% by Transport for Edinburgh (TfE) which in turn is owned 91% by City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). There are four Elected Councillors on the Board, which is chaired by Cllr. Scott Arthur.
What has happened?
LB is quite properly run as a successful (and hugely important) commercial business.
It would certainly not be reasonable for Elected Councillors on the LB Board or sitting on, for example, the Transport and Environment Committee, to seek to micromanage LB services. However, I would expect they should be informed about important planned service changes so as to anticipate and then express local concerns. This doesn’t appear to have happened in advance of the May route changes, which came to them and to a good portion of the travelling public as a big surprise.
I sensed immediate dismay on the part of the Councillors and my mailbox began to fill with bus users’ dissatisfaction and resentment.
There is the clear perception of a communication breakdown here and of a poorly-handled attempt to mend it. I wouldn’t want to see this repeated.
The matter hinges on the recent termination of Service 41 and replacement with Service 47 following a new route south from its arrival in the West End. This had been subject to much rumour and speculation and it caused significant angst in and around my area in the north-west of the city, an area many would say is already poorly served by public transport in comparison with other parts of our city.
The public in North West Edinburgh, not least those who are old, infirm or who have young children, have lost reasonable access by the Service 41 to Princes Street, George St, the bus and railway stations, the Mound, the Festival Theatre, as well as the St James Quarter which the Council have actively promoted. For those that do go there, extra time is now involved plus a material cost to those individuals who have to buy two or more tickets. The Service 41 withdrawal has also had a marked impact on the travelling public in the South of the city. Councillors’ mailboxes have filled up there too.
In overall terms, the dropping of Service 41 came as a very unwelcome shock. Even our local Councillor Kevin Lang, who sits on the Transport Committee, was unaware of the planned changes, although CEC officials clearly knew about them well before the necessary application was made to the Traffic Commissioners. As I understand it, the officials made no negative comments. Again, one might ask why that was the case, given the impact of those changes on a sizeable portion of the city bus-user constituency and on prized ‘connectivity’.
What needs to be done?
I believe we need some changes to governance and culture within Lothian Buses to ensure, insofar as commercial and operational constraints allow, that provision of bus services is more responsive to communities’ needs.
We need far better communication and explanation for alterations to services. In this case, I have seen nothing at all from the Head of Communications at TfE.
Councillor Lang tabled a Council motion on 18th May* (attached) which brought unanimous cross-party support for change. That was a welcome first-step. This is not about politics but our bus services.
Looking ahead, I’d suggest heed should be paid to the City Council’s Public Transport Action Plan, to reflect properly the need for connectivity and to make LB more accountable to City and regional residents for the services it provides.
We need improvement in live bus timetabling information and the introduction of integrated ticketing – to enable the purchase of a single ticket for an origin-to-destination trip and return if needed, which may require use of more than one bus service and possibly the tram and trains.
There is also a need for improved liaison between the City Council’s Roads and Public Transport staff, Lothian Buses and local communities, this to ensure that roads and active travel proposals (e.g., on-road cycle lanes) do not have unforeseen and / or unacceptable implications e.g., delays to commercial or public transport services.
How to move forward?
We require a concerted effort. I’d like Community Councils, working with the EACC, to put pressure on all of their local Councillors to highlight bus user concerns and the desire for change to Cllr. Scott Arthur, Convenor of the Transport Committee, and his fellow members.
Cllr. Arthur, on the Board of TfE, can speak directly to TfE CEO, George Lowder. They can establish what statutory changes are needed to allow the Transport Committee better to work with TfE in advance of important service adjustments, so that local polling and feedback can properly lay the foundation for big changes in routing patterns and the like.
It may be that the legislative structure of the LB – TfE – CEC relationship precludes this. I don’t know. However, in the first instance, the important step is to invite Cllr. Arthur to look into the situation and to report to the Transport Committee on how we get a better communications and public relations deal from Lothian Buses.
*Lothian Buses Lib Dem Motion 18 May 23 - See Menu, under Roads & Transport .
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Event: 24 May 2023: SCDC Webinar on how best to secure strong community engagement:
At some point, your Community Council may become involved in something ‘big’ – community regeneration, placemaking, asset transfers, participatory budgeting, local health and social care support – and dealing with a number of counterparties.
In that event, two issues stand to be addressed at the outset:
1. You are going to be ‘fully engaged’, with local residents and businesses and with other bodies and agencies, both public and private;
2. Your ‘project’ is going to need very careful ‘management’.
SCDC offers good-practice principles to follow; a core checklist and some training opportunities.
See more under Meetings.
Meetings (edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk)
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Event: 7 Jun 23: CEC Spatial Policy Unit:
Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) Workshop:
(Ruth White, Placemaking and Mobility Strategy and Development Manager, CEC.)
The draft AQAP sits in the delivery channel of the City Mobility Plan, alongside Active Travel, Public Transport, Road Safety and Parking Action Plans. The five sets of proposals are currently out for consultation until 9 July. ( Item 7.5 - Revision to the Air Quality Action Plan - Draft for Consultation.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk)
In broad terms, there has been progressive improvement in city air quality standards over the past 15 years, but they are ‘nowhere near’ World Health Organisation standards and some ‘trouble spots’ in the city remain. There is increasingly solid recognition of the damage to environment, personal health and welfare arising from pollution. The main local pollutants of concern are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), to a lesser extent carbon dioxide (CO₂), and fine airborne particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5 (measuring less than 10 micrometres in diameter and less than 2.5 micrometres respectively).
The overarching legislative drivers come from the Scot Gov Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy (CAFS) 2, from National Planning Framework 4 and from the National Transport Strategy (National Transport Strategy | Transport Scotland )
There are eight key themes under the AQAP proposals:
Low Emission Zone (LEZ) • Strategic Transport • Behavioural Change to Active Travel • Public Transport • Low Emission Vehicles • 2030 Climate Strategy • Integrated Policies and Guidance • Domestic Emissions.
There is a close convergence here with the broader City Mobility Plan (City Mobility Plan – The City of Edinburgh Council )
The high-cost elements are:
Implementation of the LEZ;
Incorporating AQ considerations into the Public Transport Action Plan, with support for projects to decarbonise the Edinburgh bus fleet;
Improving the St John’s Road / Drumbrae South corridor;
The development of net zero community heating projects;
The development of a Whole House Retrofit (WHR) programme for social housing in the city.
The ‘difficult’ elements relate to personal behaviour change, essentially in car use and in domestic emissions (open fires and wood-burning stoves and the like).
Set in the context of the Net Zero 2030 Climate Strategy, it is difficult to exaggerate the scale of change envisaged for the city. The easy thing is to be cynical about the intent and the effort. However, the direction of travel is clear. The success of the endeavour will rest on funding, human resource at CEC level, the progressive selection of the right priorities on the way, all alongside the right nudges to induce personal behaviour change.
See this CEC Consultation document: Actions to deliver Edinburgh’s City Mobility Plan - City of Edinburgh Council - Citizen Space
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Event: 6 Jun 2023: Screen Meeting with CEC Public Spaces Team:
Update on Use of Public Spaces for Events and Filming.
CEC Place set in motion the development of a Public Space Management Plan early in 2020, overseen by the Culture and Communities committee. Key Principles for the use of public open space for events and filming were set out in September 2021. Consultations continued over the course of 2022. An Update on the Use of Public Spaces for Events and Filming was given to the Culture and Communities Committee in May 2023. Further work on the shape of the framework is taking place. A final report on the policy and associated guidance will be presented to Committee in October.
An update on the programme was offered to ‘stakeholders’ on 6 June. Joan Parr, CEC Service Director for Culture and Wellbeing chaired the session. The ‘scope’ of the overall programme has expanded appreciably, post-Covid, with a marked expansion of Filming Processes, for example. It was clear that the Public Spaces Team are under a good deal of pressure to wrap it up.
The essence of the programme is the distillation of 17 Key Principles (governing applications for, granting of, and conditions of approval) into the following four Key Policy Themes:
1. Process is transparent and accountable: Digital Platform to host all proposed and approved event information; open to the public.
2. Process and activities are proportionate: Event and Filming activities have to be 'proportionate' to their location and subject to 'area conditions'.
3. Activities must have a net positive effect: Measure across 'community wealth, cultural identity, reputation, quality of life or social value'.
4. Organisers will minimise their impact: Observing physical reinstatement; sustainability (net zero) principles; industry best-practice; stakeholder engagement.
Detailed ‘Guidelines’ to govern Policy ‘application’ remain ‘in the background’ (now somewhat lost from sight, in the opinion of one attendee, this after long gestation in past consultations with interested parties, including Community Councils.) They must be brought back into sharp focus.
From a Community Council perspective (principally Old Town, New Town and West End, but not exclusively), the points repeatedly made at this session covered:
Clearly inadequate pre-advice and consultation at present on ‘events and filming’;
Poor or no advance communication of dates and locations;
A lack of Council commitment to full financial transparency and reporting of the costs and benefits to the city of a now heavy (and growing) events and filming calendar.
For the moment, direct any queries to
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Report: 6 Jun 2023: Edinburgh's Alcohol Profile Map
Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) is the national charity working to reduce and prevent alcohol harm. AFS campaigns on minimum pricing and on alcohol availability and licensing, with a special focus on the dangers of marketing exposure to children and young people.
AFS offers practical guidance for community groups in support of effective action to curb alcohol harm, crime and violence in their locality. If you would like to know more, go to:
Working To Reduce Alcohol Harm | Alcohol Focus Scotland (alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk)
In the meantime, AFS publishes regular Local Alcohol Profiles, mapping ‘Alcohol harm in your area’.
Here is the latest report for Edinburgh.
Edinburgh LAP May 2023 (alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk)
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Event: 23 May 2023: Scottish Parliament committee Hearing
The Scottish Parliament Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee held a three-hour evidence session on Community Councils in their 50th year.
What's been achieved? What needs to be done?
EACC was represented by Steve Kerr (Chair), sitting alongside representatives from four other CCs, three other regional CC Associations, Cheshire Association of Local (Parish) Councils, The Improvement Service, the Scottish Community Development Council, and Dr Oliver Escobar (Senior Lecturer in Public Policy) of Edinburgh University.
See the full report under Consultations.
Consultations (edinburghcommunitycouncils.org.uk)
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