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.
Local Place Plans and Student Housing discussions at Planning committee
Alongside fellow Green councillor Alys Mumford, I was pleased to bring forward a number of important amendments against different reports being heard at the Planning committee meeting in September.
The first amendment related to support available to communities to develop Local Place Plans (LPPs). LPPs are community led proposals which will shape development of the “City Plan 2040”. Shockingly, the Council has not provided translation services for materials, despite community groups asking for these. Alys and I have heard first hand from groups about how some communities are struggling to engage everyone in their area because English is not their first language. In the meeting, we asked the Council to make funds available so that materials could be translated into different languages. Unfortunately, other political groups did not support this amendment, and we will now be looking at how to put this right in the Council budget process in February. It is so disheartening to hear Councillors from other parties claim to support access and inclusion and then repeatedly fail to take even the tiniest steps towards making this happen.
Also on the agenda was a proposal for a moratorium on Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). Whilst it wasn’t possible at this stage for the council to agree a moratorium on PBSA development in the city, with support from the Liberal Democrats and SNP, we secured a commitment that a strategic partnership will be set up between the Council, students and Universities to gather evidence so that a moratorium could be considered or agreed as part of the next City Plan.
Holding rogue landlords to account
As ever, there are lots of items on the agenda at Housing committee, but one issue I am particularly excited about is the work I’m doing with Living Rent to increase capacity in the Council to better hold rogue landlords to account. Living Rent’s excellent campaign has exposed how the council is not sufficiently applying the regulatory powers it has available to keep tenants safe. At Housing committee I’ve asked for information to be provided to councillors about what additional resources are required to take a more robust approach to landlord regulation, and I sincerely hope at budget time other political groups will join the Greens in investing to secure improved rights for tenants.
Community events with Edible Estates and the Astley Ainslie Community Trust
One of the nice things about being a councillor is meeting a wide range of community and interest groups across the city. This month I was pleased to join the Astley Ainslie Community Trust (AACT) who were completing a consultation exercise about the future of the site (photo above), as well as the community growing charity Edible Estates who were hosting a harvest event. I was pleased to meet lots of community growing groups who are active in the city and it was great to hear about the appetite out there for these projects to expand further across the city.
The role of AI in the Council
One issue which I have been particularly concerned about in recent months is the council’s potential introduction of AI within delivery of council services. While there is potential for good use of AI across the council, there are key considerations which need to be made not least relating to the environmental impact of such technology and consequences for workers rights. The council has begun to explore introducing AI and I have been working closely with council officers and other parties to ensure there is sufficient scrutiny about any potential introduction within the council — watch this space!
Support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
And finally, at Full Council in September I was delighted that the council backed my call to move the city closer to implementing Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel in opposition to the genocide being inflicted against the Palestinian people.