We hope that everyone has enjoyed the summer and festival period, whether that is show-hopping and soaking in the culture, or hibernating at home and fearing the thought of entering the City Centre!
Our group has been taking some well earned rest over recess and are now back to dive into council business, ward work and more. In this report we especially want to shout out our continued work on supporting divestment, creating a fairer and more equal city, and helping people who are facing homelessness.
As co-convenors we are immensely proud of the group and look forward to another council year of Green wins and shenanigans galore!
Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill and Chas Booth
Green Group Co-Conveners
Councillor highlights from the month
Asked to pick one highlight from the month, our councillors chose:
Alex Staniforth
Alex put forward a successful amendment to policy and sustainability committee which ensured Fair Work principles would be included in a council review of Third Sector support.
Alys Mumford
Alys has been working closely with organisations offering mental health support around the city as they face devastating cuts to their funding. She brought amendments both to the Integration Joint Board (which manages health and social care for the city) and to Full Council – both failed but it has been very rewarding to learn more about the fantastic work of these services and be a voice in support.
Ben Parker
Ben has been raising concerns about tree protection measures which haven’t been followed by event operators during this year’s festival. He has been particularly upset at the Spiegeltent who failed to submit a timely planning application for their event in St Andrew’s Square and he has escalated his concerns by bringing a motion to August’s Full Council meeting.
Chas Booth
Chas successfully worked with his Labour and SNP ward colleagues to encourage the council to replace the benches at the Kirkgate in Leith, which were removed at the request of the local MSP and the police. Chas has emphasised the negative impact on disabled people of the removal of the benches, and has successfully secured their return.
Claire Miller
In the city centre ward, Claire has been meeting and working with residents to alleviate the acute pressures from peak summer tourism, for example better busking management, improving road and pedestrian safety, and more sustainable travel around the Old Town for people arriving on coach tours.
Dan Heap
Dan had a number of wins at August’s Culture and Communities Committee. As a result of his amendments, all decisions on Firework Control Zones will be taken in public, after he raised concerns about Greenbank residents’ applications being blocked in a meeting behind closed doors. He also won a commitment to get draft Management Rules for busking, to promote responsible busking which benefits both buskers and residents. He also lodged the amendment that successfully banned arms testing in parks, though the huge amount of work to get the win was done by Ben and his Braid Hills constituents.
Jule Bandel
Jule is unwell and taking time off from Council business – she thanks everyone for their kind words and support.
Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill
Kayleigh has been working through recess to develop the group’s strategy from now until the end of term. She has also been excited for the tram consultation that is now live and can be filled out by visiting the council’s consultation hub: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/sfc/tram-north-south/
Steve Burgess
Steve has been getting ready for Education Committee next week – including fighting for the rights of trans kids to be able to use the toilets which align with their gender identity, in the face of updated (transphobic) guidance for schools following the Supreme Court decision.
Susan Rae
This month Susan has been working with the Workers Observatory on the first ‘Gig Economy’ Round Table (held 27 August) where representatives of workers met with officers from Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Government, conveners from relevant committees and councillors to discuss delivery cyclists and the gig economy as part of the Council’s fair work strategy.
Committee updates
Committee updates and other things to look out for in the coming month.
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work
At the last Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee meeting, councillors were asked to approve the suspension of council housing allocations for most people until March 2027. The proposal was to prioritise allocations to homeless households instead. As part of the debate, Ben moved an alternative position that the suspension should only be in place until December 2025 which was successful. The city’s homelessness crisis is complex and though there is some merit to the suspension, Ben reasoned that it wasn’t appropriate to treat council tenants as collateral damage as part of the wider approach to tackling the housing emergency.
Transport and Environment
At the next TEC meeting we will be looking at petitions for safer roads and communities in Gogarloch & South Queensferry, reviewing the Edinburgh Taxicard scheme, considering the establishment of an Infrastructure Forum and scrutinising reports on delays to active travel and Audit Scotland’s report on reducing car use.
Culture and Communities
Greens were delighted to see arms companies banned from using council parks and greenspace after a successful amendment was passed by Dan as part of the update to the council’s parks and greenspace management rules. This built on work Ben had been doing with campaigners in his ward who had raised the alarm about testing happening on the Braid Hills late last year.
Planning
The next Planning Committee will be examining updated guidance on purpose-built student accommodation, as well as debating a motion from Alys about the increase in applications for ‘street hubs’ which might see more damaging digital advertising on our streets.