It’s not always easy to find time to shout about all the work we are involved in as councillors, and sometimes the job can be quite opaque to members of the public. To try and help demystify just exactly what the job of a councillor is, I’ve decided to start a monthly blog of activities I’ve been involved with. Whilst this won’t be fully comprehensive, I hope it will give a sense of the sorts of projects I’m working on, and just how varied the work can be.
Tourist Tax funding for social housing
At the last Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee I teamed up with the SNP and Labour groups to agree how funding from the Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) should be spent on housing, following my motion at Full Council in December 2023 which instructed the Council to investigate if this might be possible. The Committee decision was that the money should go towards social housing and not mid-market rental properties, and it also made clear that the Council should conduct additional engagement with Trade Unions who represent hospitality workers to ensure these groups would benefit from the investment. I was also especially pleased to secure agreement that if any money from TVL does go to supporting mid-market homes, a kind of rent control should be introduced to ensure that rent increases within those tenancies are limited to the wage increases of workers. Finally, it was also proposed that Council officers explore options to support the development of a worker / artist housing cooperative and we will receive an update on this at the end of the year.
Edible Estates Climate Adaptation project and Community Led Improvement Programme (CLIP)
I was pleased to attend the launch event of the Edible Estates “Climate Adaptation Road Map” project. I am a big supporter of Edible Estates and it was great to hear from residents across the city about how they see their housing estates adapting to meet the changing climate in the future. To try and make some of these visions a reality, I have been supporting Edible Estates – and other groups such as Granton Community Growers – to design a new kind of estates project in the Council which will support small, community organisations to take on contracts to deliver small scale greenspace improvements in our estates … watch this space!
Cargo Bike Storage for the Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative (BANZAI)
I’m very excited that the BANZAI Cargo Bike library is now up and running – it’s brilliant for the local community to have such a fantastic resource, and I’ve been pleased to work with the team to see how the Council can support with some of the technical aspects. I’ve also been pleased to connect BANZAI with the Merchiston Districts Community Council, and have been encouraging other local groups to make use of this facility. This is community climate action in progress!
Tour De France
After passing my motion to ban fossil-fuel and high carbon advertising on council owned assets across the city last year, I’ve been concerned about the prospect of the Tour De France coming to Edinburgh in 2027. That’s because many of the teams involved are sponsored by fossil-fuel companies like INEOS and TOTAL Energies. Recognising the length of time it takes to plan international events, I’ve been liaising with the Council’s CEO to understand how the Council is engaging with the Tour De France organisers to ensure that this world-leading Council policy will be adhered to when the event comes to the city in 2027.
Council retrofit work: the Mixed Tenure Improvement Service (MTIS)
I’ve been continuing to support Living Rent in their campaign to improve how the Council retrofits properties across the city, and recently attended an event co-hosted with Friends of the Earth Scotland and Unite. I heard from residents and campaigners about their experiences of this scheme which have been very difficult. I have worked consistently on this issue since being elected and I am again considering how to respond to the concerns raised at our next committee meeting, before the scheme expands further. You can read Living Rent’s full report here (PDF download).