Latest news from the Council Leader Jane Meagher.
Princes Street response and recovery
It was heartbreaking to see the aftermath of the devastating fire that engulfed the former Debenhams building last month.
It was a huge relief that nobody was hurt and I want to repeat my thanks to the fire service and the police for their swift response and bravery, both on the night and in the days that followed. I also want to thank our Council teams and contractors for their tireless work over the past five weeks to make the building safe – a hugely complex and hazardous operation – and to Lothian Buses for helping us to keep the city moving as best we can.
I’m reassured by the progress being made on site and, if the good (calm) weather continues, remain confident that we’ll be in a position to reopen Princes Street by the end of the month. It goes without saying, however, that this will only be when it is safe to do so.
Clearly, the disruption continues to have a significant effect on businesses, particularly those on the north end of the tram route. That’s why, as part of the £5 million funding received from the Scottish Government, we’re developing a communications campaign to promote Leith, the Shore and Newhaven. We’re doing this in partnership with the businesses and communities themselves – and hope it will encourage footfall into the area well beyond the reopening of Princes Street and into the future.
Last week I met with business representatives, community groups and heritage bodies to update them on our ongoing response – and to hear how we can best support them. It was good to gather feedback on what we can do better or differently but also to receive praise from Edinburgh World Heritage and the Scottish Architectural Society for the care we’re taking to secure and preserve the building.
These discussions provided a timely reminder of the effect this continues to have on the many residents who are struggling to get to work, meet commitments or make appointments. I want to thank them once again for their patience and understanding and reiterate my determination to bring this to an end as soon as it is safe to do so.
In the meantime, please continue to check our dedicated webpages for the latest updates and travel advice.
Helping Edinburgh stay extraordinary
Last month saw the introduction of the Edinburgh Visitor Levy – the result of a huge amount of work over many, many years. I’m proud that we’re the first local authority in the UK to push ahead with a scheme of this scale.
We now have the welcome opportunity to invest more in the things that make our city so special, and we’re already seeing early wins from our investment programmes. Last month, Edinburgh’s Festival Carnival and Mardi Gras hit the city’s streets once again – thanks to £132,000 in visitor levy funding – while the new City Centre Policing Unit and our dedicated team of festival city ambassadors have been out and about making sure visitors and residents feel safe and welcome.
We’re also seeing the benefits of the extra investment we’re putting into keeping our streets and open spaces clean and tidy, while putting further dedicated resources into tackling graffiti. A cleaner, greener, safer Edinburgh isn’t just great news for the city’s visitors, it will bring lasting benefits to those who live and work here all year round. I strongly believe we can maintain and grow global reputation while, at the same time, promoting responsible and sustainable tourism.
A big part of this comes down to the ongoing success of our festivals and I’m pleased that the cultural sector is already enjoying the benefit of the £5 million we allocated to restore Leith Theatre and £3 million towards transforming the Old Royal High School into a world-class centre for music.
I do, however, recognise the ongoing pressures that many of our cultural organisations are facing. I’m absolutely committed to working with them to make sure the new funding streams available through the levy can give them the certainty they need in the short term and, crucially, the confidence to innovate and plan for the future.
Back to school
Last week, our children and young people went back to school after the summer holiday break. I hope everyone is returning to familiar routines well rested and that those starting at a new school, either in P1, S1 or from elsewhere, are settling in well.
For our young people at Liberton High School, there was the added excitement of starting the school year in a new state-of-the-art building – bringing great benefits to the pupils, teaching staff and the wider community.
Over 11,200 of our young people received their SQA exam results over the holidays, and I was pleased to see attainment levels across the city improving from last year across almost all key measures. With just short of 60,000 awards handed out, it is fantastic to see this across 165 subjects, including web design, carpentry, accounting, sport science and beauty.
There is still work to do to close the attainment gap for our most disadvantaged children, and those who are care-experienced – and I’m pleased to see work to address this is already happening.
In recent years, we’ve widened the range of subjects and courses on offer but also the routes through which our young people can progress, creating a more level playing field for both vocational and academic pathways. We want to support the ambitions and potential of every young person – regardless of whether a job, apprenticeship, university or college is their goal.
My thanks to all our teaching and school support staff for all they do to teach and guide our children and young people and I wish everyone a wonderful start to the new school year!
Money well spent
With the buzz and excitement of our summer festivals dominating the city, the sad reality for many of our residents is the challenge of finding a safe and comfortable place to call home.
I’m encouraged, then, that six months on from our budget commitment to invest £1.6 billion to tackle the Housing Emergency, we’re beginning to see progress against our targets of reducing homelessness, creating more homes and supporting people to find an affordable place to live.
The milestones reached over the last year include 1,473 affordable new homes ready for people to move in to – with 994 more in the pipeline. Work is also underway to deliver 1,144 homes on sites across the city, including Granton Waterfront, and we’re also increasing support for those who are experiencing homelessness with 866 suitable temporary accommodation properties purchased.
There’s still so much to be done to address housing demand in the city but I’m pleased that our investment is beginning to make a difference for those most in need of our support.
We can all play our part
While we’re fortunate that we haven’t felt the hot weather and droughts endured by other parts of the UK (and elsewhere) over the summer months, we’re sadly not immune to the effects of climate change – as the two recent wildfires on Arthur’s Seat demonstrate.
Despite our hard work to bring down carbon emissions, we know that a changing climate, including hotter days and wetter weather, could create challenges for all who live in our city. We are ready to respond and support the needs of people, communities and businesses in Edinburgh.
Our Climate Ready Edinburgh Plan details some of the actions we need to take to prepare our city for increasingly warmer and wetter weather. This includes mapping areas most at risk of overheating, planting more of the right trees in the right places and making our buildings warm during winter and cool in the summer.
And remember – whether it’s by using a rainwater planter to save water, adding plants to outside space, recycling food waste or taking the bus or tram instead of the car – we can all play our part.
Josh is miles better
I want to end by congratulating Josh Kerr on his wonderful achievement of breaking the world record for the men’s mile in London last month.
A product of Edinburgh Athletics Club, Josh would follow up his record-breaking run by winning gold over the same distance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – adding to his World Championship Gold and Olympic silver medals. What an incredible career he is having.
I’m sure he inspired many of his Team Scotland teammates from Edinburgh, who also gave a great account of themselves in Glasgow. It was fantastic to see their medal haul spread across so many events and abilities – with the para games fully integrated into the programme. Exactly as it should be.
Overall, Glasgow did Scotland proud, welcoming close to 3,000 athletes from 74 countries across the Commonwealth – not to mention the 630,000 spectators cheering them on.