We have all enjoyed the opportunities to canvass with the branch and host events this month that highlight the impact Green Councillors are making/can make in local communities. We would encourage anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in local or national politics to reach out to us!
Ahead of the winter holidays we want to thank everyone who has volunteered to deliver Green News to spread the good news from their local councillor and/or MSP. With less than 200 days until the Holyrood election it is crucial we get out on the doorstep and fight for more Greens elected at the national level. More Green MSPs means more Green wins and progress that supports our Councillors. This is your sign to get involved in your local sub-branch today! All help is appreciated to further our movement and support our elected members.
Take care and thank you all again, Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill and Chas Booth
Councillor highlights from the month
Asked to pick one highlight from the month, our councillors chose:
Alex Staniforth
As well as working on the budget more generally, at Finance and Resources Committee Alex successfully passed a motion which will allow councillors to be informed of which reserves are being kept for a specific purpose.
Alys Mumford
Alys has been taking some time off for family and caring leave.
Ben Parker
At Planning committee, Ben secured agreement for a highly technical amendment looking at how the Council records accessibility information about new home completions – at the moment, when a house is built, no information is routinely collected and stored about the home’s accessibility features. Ben’s idea is that, if the Council can begin to collect information more systematically about new build homes, a database can be built of where accessible housing is in the city. This would be a big step forward from the current patchy picture which exists.
Chas Booth
Chas brought a motion to full council asking officers to explore the use of ‘climate perks’, which are incentives for council staff to travel more sustainably or otherwise reduce their climate impact. The motion was agreed with support from every other group except the Tories.
Claire Miller
In the city centre ward, Claire has been focused on helping residents affected by drug use in public places, including attending and taking actions away from a multiagency / residents’ meeting and responding to individual residents who have experienced harm.
Dan Heap
Dan has been working with employees sacked by Rockstar Games for trades union activity and is bringing a motion of support to the Fair Work Committee next week. He has also been working with Ben on Committee decisions relating to Westfield Court, a housing block in his ward that has been experiencing significant maintenance issues.
Jule Bandel
Jule is unwell and taking time off from council business.
Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill
In Forth Ward, Kayleigh has been pushing to keep active travel links open along Ferry Road Path after Leonardos (boo!) put up fences that restricted access. She also enjoyed attending the Council’s celebrations for 25 years of the Edinburgh Biodiversity Action Plan with Cllr Parker.
Steve Burgess
In Southside Newington ward, Steve joined around forty local people planting 20 fruit trees and spring bulbs at the new Prestonfield Green community growing garden. Steve is currently pressing the council to allow volunteers to make use of the former bowling pavilion as a base.
Susan Rae
This month has seen the expanded Leith Chooses team put in a great deal of extra work dealing with the record number of applications received. Voting day is 24th Jan. Meanwhile the additional Housing, Homelessness & Fair Work committee meetings this month has been challenging as we deal with the housing & high-rise flats crises.
Committee updates
Committee updates and other things to look out for in the coming month.
Governance, Risk and Best Value
Community cohesion has been flagged up as a council-wide risk for the first time (Report: 8.4 Corporate Leadership Team Risk Report as at 8 October 2025), which reflects the increasing tensions that Greens are concerned about in neighbourhoods where people are dealing with economic and social difficulties. At committee, we raised the need to tackle misinformation and disinformation head-on so that vulnerable groups are not targeted or scape-goated. This is a thread running through a lot of our work at the moment and is expected to continue.
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work
At Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee, Ben was pleased to work with Steve, our Pensions committee representative, to secure agreement from committee to explore options for using the Council’s pension fund to invest in housing. It’s early days, but, if the business case stacks up, this has potential to unlock significant investment to build the homes desperately needed to tackle the Housing Emergency.
Finance and Resources
On 10th December a special Finance and Resources Committee will be presented with the draft budget from officers – this allows us to see what the basic budget looks like and make our adjustments at the budget full council in Feb.
Transport and Environment
Kayleigh and Chas brought 10(!) amendments to this month’s committee which may be a record for the term. We looked at maintaining bus service 13 as a supported service, stood firm on bus prioritisation in bus lanes and gates and scrutinised reports on traffic regulation, protecting the Union Canal, saving the Burnside (Longstone sinkhole), addressing the nature and climate emergency and the 2030 Climate Strategy update. Unfortunately, Chas’ motion on blacklisting CAF (transport company that manufactured our own tram stock) for operations in Palestinian occupied territories was not successful.
Pensions
As a member of the Council’s Pensions committee, Steve Burgess has made a formal proposal that the Lothian Pension Fund undertakes a feasibility study into investment in local house-building, to help alleviate the City’s Housing emergency and at the same time provide stable, competitive income to pay pensions.