Introduction
from Alys Mumford and Ben Parker (Green group Co-Conveners)
It’s been another busy month in the Council with lots of activity in committees as well as our wards across the city. At the Full Council meeting in March we were able to bring motions on the Jo Cox Civility Commission which has been discussed at National Party Council, as well as about the Edinburgh Award, proposing to introduce a mechanism for rescinding the award from individuals, if their actions since receiving it could bring the city into disrepute. We were also able to bring important amendments on different motions in support of Council-operated care homes, nature-based solutions to flooding and community growing initiatives.
The next Monthly Member Councillor Forum will be on 6th May as Councillors are on recess during April.
Councillor highlights from the month
Asked to pick 1 highlight from the month, our Councillors said:
Alys Mumford
This month Alys successfully got the Finance & Resources Committee to agree that the Edinburgh Council should be a leader in ethical finance, and we’re hoping that this will have echoes across future work on divestment and ethical advertising.
Ben Parker
Ben worked hard to try and save the Greenbank-Meadows Quiet Route when its future was up for discussion at Transport & Environment committee, writing this blog on the issue. Sadly, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative Councillors voted to strip all infrastructure from the southern end of the route and Ben is now working closely with Council officers and residents to see how to mitigate against this terrible decision.
Susan Rae
Susan has been working on the homelessness task force; working with groups in Leith supporting the residents of Gaza; supporting residents impacted by the recent Bonnington fire and pushing for stronger council action on licensing of short-term lets.
Jule Bandel
Jule fought to retain and improve road safety at Transport and Environment, including for the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, sadly unsuccessfully. In happier news, she was pleased to see the Scottish Government Reporter uphold the Council’s refusal of the inappropriate Eyre Place student housing for a second time.
Kayleigh O’Neill
Kayleigh has been immersed in Transport work, taking park in the Council’s Inclusive Mobility Workshop and of course fighting the good fight at Committee.
Steve Burgess
Steve has continued to press the Pensions Committee on divestment, most recently working with divestment groups to try to make public what investments are held in companies responsible for the genocide in Palestine.
Claire Miller
Claire proposed two detailed amendments (budget cuts and annual budget) at the Integration Joint Board meeting, where budget cuts of £60m were being proposed to health & social care services. The board agreed to include all of Claire’s proposals in an upcoming workshop to review how the budget process works in future years.
Alex Staniforth
At Committee, Alex raised the issue of sending the Lord Provost to Shenzhen despite the risk of companies there using Uyghur forced labour to produce their raw materials.
Chas Booth
Chas was elected to chair the Responsible Construction Working Group, which is looking at how we can encourage developers and contractors to act as good neighbours to residents, and improve communication with community councils and residents’ groups.
Dan Heap
After almost a year of campaigning for better engagement of the Gorgie Farm project with Councillors and the local community, Dan has been invited to join the farm’s Advisory Group. In response to the Council boasting about catching 16 people misusing Blue Badges, Dan’s research revealed that thousands of people are eligible for Blue Badges but don’t claim them, tackling the Council leader on this at March Full Council.
Committee activity and other things to look out for in the coming month
Policy and Sustainability
We won a ton of stuff at Policy & Sustainability Committee this month, including on social care, transient visitor levy, trade union engagement, international travel, and making the council an anti-racist workplace.
Finance & Resources
The Council will be beginning engagement on the budget in the coming months. This is a big green win, after there was no public engagement this year so keep your eyes peeled and get ready to tell the city what we should be spending money on!
Planning
City Plan 2030 should be returning to the council in the next few weeks, for council approval. There are many aspects of this plan that Greens welcomed, including the increase of the affordable housing requirement from 25% to 35% and strengthening of policies on 20-minute neighbourhoods.
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work
We had a very successful committee this month convincing the Council to adopt more ambitious targets on the living wage in its employability work and also passing a motion looking at support for nature within the Council’s housing estate, building on Green wins in the Council budget last month.