Introduction from From Susan Rae and Chas Booth (Green Group Co-Conveners)
It’s been another busy month for Green councillors, both at ward level and in committees and at full council. Ben has been working hard to resolve a crisis in temporary accommodation, Jule scored a success at full council on participatory budgeting, and Kayleigh has gone to Belgium to look at best practice on accessible active travel infrastructure (we hope she comes back soon!) to name just three examples. We look forward to chatting about these issues or anything else you want to raise at the next monthly member councillor forum.
Councillor highlights from the month
Asked to pick 1 highlight from the month, our Councillors said:
Alys Mumford
Alys has been battling this month on behalf of the Bingham Community Centre, which has been shut for months now – the council wants to give the lease to a private company but many in the community aren’t happy.
Ben Parker
Ben has been working with Green MSP Lorna Slater and housing / homelessness charities after an emergency housing meeting saw the council make plans to remove 700 people from temporary accommodation without a sufficient plan for their welfare. The situation is still developing, and Ben and Lorna are in close contact about this.
Jule Bandel
Jule secured agreement from Full Council to kickstart work on an equitable, socially just participatory budgeting (PB) process to hand real power to communities.
Kayleigh O’Neill
Kayleigh was sent, on behalf of the council, to Belgium as part of Sustrans’ work on Transforming Mobility. Here there were important discussions about how we as a city improve accessibility and mobility for all in light of the climate crisis.
Steve Burgess
Education Committee unanimously agreed on Steve’s proposals:
- that procurement officers should research the environmental impact of products, with a view to removing greenwashing from the school catalogue.
- that the Marine Conservation Society ‘Plastic-free Christmas’ campaign should be promoted to schools.
Claire Miller
At the Finance & Resources Committee, Claire secured agreement to develop a business case to bring security staff in-house, having seen them contracted out to various different suppliers for many years, which creates a two tier system for our workforce.
Alex Staniforth
In finance and resources committee Alex Staniforth passed two motions – one to address third sector funding in health and social care and one to lobby the Scottish govt for funding for Edinburgh Leisure and other affected Arms Length Organisations to cover changes to National Insurance.
Chas Booth
Chas has been working with local campaigners in Leith to build a case to persuade the council to make the Leith low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) permanent when a decision is made in the new year.
Dan Heap
With the sad death of one of the zoo’s red pandas, an endangered species, due to severe stress triggered by firework noise, Dan has been renewing his calls for a city-wide firework control zone. Dan’s scheme for shops to voluntarily not sell fireworks pending a full legal ban on sales, passed Full Council earlier this month.
Committee activity and other things to look ok out for in the coming month
Policy & Sustainability
The council’s climate emissions reduction plan should be coming back to committee in December and there will be a lot of scrutiny to see if the council is on track to meet our targets.
Transport & Environment
Our next committee will be a busy one, with scrutiny needed on safe cycling on Queen Street, capital investment on the City Mobility Plan, coastal change adaptation, extension of the 20mph network, Edinburgh as a Feminist City, and more.
Culture & Communities
A report coming to committee in December will lay out the final arrangements being made for a new operator for Gorgie Farm.
Health & Social Care
After successfully managing to stave off in-year cuts to third sector organisations, the challenge will now be looking at how to fill the £50m hole in health and social care budgets.
Pensions
On 5th December, the committee will consider a revision to the Lothian Pension Fund Statement of Responsible Investment Principles.