The Greens said a two week ‘cooling-off’ period would allow all parties and stakeholders to come together to discuss the Administration proposals and suggest changes to improve it for the good of the whole City.

The Greens’ proposal was given added weight by last night’s decision of the Scottish Parliament to increase funding to local authorities, funding that was not included in the Administration budget today.

The current budget process whereby all parties can produce a budget but only the Administration budget is ever passed is estimated to cost around £1 million. Since 2009 the Greens have chosen not to take part in this process.

Cllr Chapman Greens Finance Spokesperson said:

“Only with a properly transparent and inclusive budget process can we ensure we negotiate the best possible outcome for our City’s workers and residents. At a time where job losses and service cuts seem inevitable, we should be doing our utmost to gather the best proposals for the City, to ensure we protect our workers pay and conditions and continue to deliver the services on which our citizens rely.”*

Greens’ Co-ordinator Cllr Steve Burgess said:

“Every year opposition parties are pressurised into spending Council time and money drafting their own budgets that will never see the light of day.  Council tax payers would be horrified that up to a million pounds of their money is wasted on this. Greens want to see all parties to get round the table to agree the budget and an end to this ridiculous waste. No one has given us a reason why this can’t happen.

“It would be difficult to argue with much of the pre election give-away that the Administration have pushed through today but these handouts take place against a background of draconian cuts to jobs and services made in last year’s budget many of which will only come into effect after the election.

Here is the monthly report from your Edinburgh Green councillors:

The City Council is looking at out-sourcing school meals with penalties for providers if they do not increase take-up.  However, the Greens have argued that, in the short term, this could could lead to a “chips ‘n’ pizza” approach rather than investing properly in healthy, locally-sourced options.

Green councillor, Alison Johnstone said:

“We need to be absolutely clear how any provider would reach these targets.  We do not want a race to the bottom, in terms of quality and produce when providers should be extending healthy options and doing much more to source local food.”

See the story in the Edinburgh Evening News.

The main pollutant is nitrogen dioxide from vehicle exhaust fumes and is linked to breathing difficulties.  But tiny particles called “PM10s”, are also dangerously high in some parts of the city.

Although the Council is responsible for air quality in Edinburgh it has so far failed to bring pollution to within safe limits and the problem is growing.  For many years now parts of the city centre, Corstophine and Great Junction Street in Leith have breached safety standards.  But just recently the Council quietly announced to the Transport-Environment committee, which I serve on, that several other areas – including Southside, Gorgie, Inverleith and Tollcross – had been added to the list of pollution hotspots.

In response I have called for the urgent adoption of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) where only less polluting vehicles are allowed to enter but the Council has stalled the process, preferring to see Scottish Government approval.  This is expected some time next year: another year closer to 2015 and the prospect of fines.

It remains to be seen whether LEZs can be brought in and whether they will be enough to improve air quality as pollution continues to spread.  There is talk that the City Council may even have to try again with a congestion charge in order to get vehicle pollution in the City to within safe limits.

It seems that Edinburgh’s reputation as “Auld Reekie” is not consigned to the history books.

Edinburgh Greens

Here is the monthly report from your Green Edinburgh Councillors:

Full Council Meeting 24th November

Alternative Business Model
At the full Council meeting on the 24th November there was a(nother!) debate about the first of three components of the Alternative Business Model (ABM), dealing with the Environmental Services Workstream. The report prepared for the Council recommended the selection of a company called ‘Enterprise’ as the preferred bidder. As has been our consistent position, we voted against this along with Labour and the SNP. Because the administration split, the LibDems and Tories (who voted for out-sourcing) were defeated. This is excellent news for the city, but we wait to see what happens next month when we consider the Integrated Facilities Management and the Corporate & Transactional Services workstreams.

Occupy Edinburgh
In consultation with several members of the Occupy Edinburgh (OE) group in St Andrew’s Square, we submitted a motion in support of the vision of OE. This motion was not acceptable to the administration, but their amendment did include recognition of the aims of the Occupy movements worldwide, and reasserted the Council’s commitment to redirect economic decision-making towards the poor and disenfranchised of society. Because of Green leadership on this, Edinburgh Council is the first governmental body to back the Occupy Movement. Only the conservatives voted against this.

Scottish Friends of Bhopal
A Green motion welcoming the setting up of the Scottish Friends of Bhopal in Edinburgh, highlighting that adequate compensation is still sought from Dow Chemical and that a memorial service will be held at Greyfriars on the 27th anniversary of the disaster, was passed unanimously.

Transient Visitor Levy (Tourist Bed Tax)
There has been much speculation since 1997 about a levy on hotel nights in the capital which has the potential to raise as much as £10million per year, yet nothing formal has ever come before Council. Greens tabled a motion calling for the Council to agree to a levy in principle and seek a report from officers on how this could be implemented. The Green motion was referred to Policy & Strategy Committee for consideration.

Companies and Organisations Wholly Owned By The City Of Edinburgh Council
This motion intended to ensure that the democratic and managerial problems associated with Tie Ltd were not repeated anywhere else in the Council. The administration amended the motion, but the thrust remains the same, and there will be a report on how best to deal with such companies/organisations going to the Policy & Strategy Committee in January 2012.

New Boroughmuir High School
We tabled a Green addendum regarding the potential future site for Boroughmuir High School and asked that no biased steer towards relocation over refurbishment of the existing building be given in advance to the consultation, in line with the wishes of parents who spoke as part of a deputation to the City Chambers.

Policy & Strategy Committee 8th November

The Committee heard that the Council’s promotion of several infrastructure projects through the novel Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) has received a blow with Forth Ports being bought by Arcus, who have shelved plans for housing in favour of renewable energy industry at Leith Docks. A link road between Seafield and the docks is still being promoted under TIF.

Education Committee 15th November

Greens seconded a Labour amendment on restructuring of secondary school management structures. The Council are hoping to save £2.4million in staff budgets by removing Principal (subject) Teacher posts and adopting a ‘Faculty’ model. The local authorities that they cite as ‘evidence’ that this model is successful have not made the massive cuts to their education budget that Edinburgh has.

This amendment, which called for evidence of the educational benefits and further details regarding the potential savings, was successful as the 5 members of the Education Committee who are not councillors (but teacher and religious school reps) also voted for it.

Alison Johnston proposed her own Green amendment on a report entitled ‘Positive Destinations’, which suggested that children whose entry to primary school is deferred are more likely to drop out before taking any exams. This and similarly negative statements on deferral (rates of which the Council is trying to reduce as more parents in Edinburgh defer than in other local authorities) were not supported by evidence. The committee, with the exception of LibDem and SNP members, voted for the amendment calling for further research including from countries where school starting ages are later than our own, and the amendment was passed.

Audit Committee 17th November

Greens questioned how those staff charged with internal audits are coping with the current high volume of work in the face of reduced staff numbers. The internal auditor confirmed that there are risks involved, both in financial terms and in reputational damage to the Council if insufficient resources are available to ensure proper scrutiny of Council activity and finance. This is an area we will continue to monitor.

Culture And Leisure Committee 22nd November

Reports at this meeting focused on the performance of the City’s Festivals. Greens called for clarification of the Fringe figures (which reported a record year despite decreased figures – a matter of calculation formula and one which will be improved by next year) and for details of legacy plans following the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Fewer adults are accessing Edinburgh Leisure facilities, a consequence of the recession and a concern when obesity in Scotland has led national news broadcasts. A further cut to the Council’s grant to Edinburgh Leisure is expected in February’s budget.

Public Meeting On ABM 10th November

Steve Burgess represented Green councillors at a hastily-convened public meeting on the Alternative Business Model (ABM), in lieu of any real public consultation on the issue. The meeting got quite heated, largely over the lack of consultation on ABM.

Strike Action 30th November

All of the Trade Unions recognised by the Council will be on strike on Wednesday 30th November. Greens have publicly supported such action. Other than Labour, ours is the only group that has done so.

Local Action Against Privatisation

All three of our Green councillors have supported local community groups organising against the privatisation and outsourcing of Council services, including Greater Leith Against The Cuts, the various Neighbourhood Partnership public meetings that have been held, and other groups.

Meadows and Morningside Ward

Greens attended Morningside, Merchiston and Marchmont and Sciennes Community Councils where discussions have included the Council’s privatisation agenda, the Craighouse development proposal, low capital spend on cycling and the ongoing statutory notice investigation. We have supported the Save Our Craighouse petition.

Greens have continued to press officers to finalise the lease agreement for Crags Sports Centre, which includes a clause giving access to the community.

Recently the NHS have closed access gates to Astley Ainslie Hospital, which has meant parents having to take a less safe route to school. Steve Burgess has writted to the NHS asking them to reconsider.

“We need housing but it should be on brownfield sites and others within the urban area before we start picking away at the land on the green belt. The green belt has served Edinburgh very well and prevented a continuous urban sprawl.

“The Leith Docks area hasn’t been confirmed for renewables yet and our point is we shouldn’t cut into the green belt until necessary.”

The full report is in the Edinburgh Evening News.

Read Alison’s blog.

Alison is Edinburgh born and bred and lives in the south of the city with her husband and young daughter.

A former East of Scotland 800 metres and 1500 metres title holder, Alison still runs for fitness.

Read Alison’s interview with the Edinburgh Reporter and keep up to date with her blog and on Twitter.

Alison as an MSP

In stepping into Robin Harper’s shoes as MSP for Lothian Alison’s priorities include:

• Investing in vital public services;
• Protecting local shops and post-offices
• Preserving precious green spaces in our towns and cities

Alison in the Council

For full contact information and surgery times see Alison’s details on the City Council website.  Alison is the spokesperson on culture, leisure and sport; and children and families

Steve was born in Edinburgh and has lived here most of his life. He went to school in Edinburgh and attended Edinburgh University where he studied Biological Sciences, later returning as a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for HIV Research at Kings Buildings.

After completing an MSc in Environmental Studies at Strathclyde University in 1996, Steve went to work for Greenpeace in New Zealand as a campaigner, including a tour of duty on the flagship Rainbow Warrior II. Returning to Scotland he ran the election office for a Scottish Green Party hopeful of a place in the new Scottish Parliament. When Robin Harper was elected as the first Green UK Parliamentarian in 1999, Steve joined Robin’s staff and worked in Parliament with the Green Group of MSPs for eight years latterly as Head of Research.

Steve was elected to City of Edinburgh Council in 2007 to represent Southside/Newington ward. As Co-ordinator of the Green Group of Edinburgh Councillors, he represents the Greens on the Council’s overarching Policy & Strategy Committee. He is also speaker on Environment issues and is Green member of the Council’s Transport Infrastructure & Environment Committee and the Planning committee (including the Development Management Sub-Committee).

Steve is married to Julita and they have a son, Seth, born in August. When not at the City Chambers or at home with family, Steve plays fiddle in a Scots music group and enjoys sailing and also mountain walking.

contact

See full details of Steve’s contact details and surgery times.

Maggie has lived in Edinburgh for more than 9 years, having moved to the UK from Zimbabwe where she was born and brought up.

As well as her councillor role, Maggie currently teaches at Napier University and has recently completed a PhD in Geography at Edinburgh University.

She has worked in the west of Scotland in Environmental Management, and as a community carer throughout Edinburgh.

Maggie also keeps a blog and can be found on twitter (@MaggieEdinburgh).

For full information on contact details and surgery times see Maggie’s details on the City Council website.

‘Whilst we voted again today for the line to St Andrew Square, we couldn’t support the LibDem Administration because unlike Greens, they weren’t proposing alternative ways to fund the tram such as a tourist bed-tax which is successful in other European cities.

‘Council approved up to £15.3 million annual extra borrowing for 30 years but we need to get that figure down if it’s not to impact on the future delivery of Council services.  A tourist bed-tax would be one way to raise new money to pay for the tram.

‘Despite our constant concern that there’s still no fixed price for the tram line to St Andrew Square, we had to accept there is now no time for further work to eliminate risk because there’s a deadline today after which the contract automatically terminates and we end up in court.

‘Those calling for cancellation have failed to explain where the Council would get the £161m to pay off contractors without completely devastating council services.  Even the SNP have accepted there’s no alternative but to press ahead with the line to St Andrew Square.

‘We restate our support for a public enquiry into what has caused escalating cost and delays to this project’

NOTES: (1) Green amendment is available from the above number. Paras 6 and state;

‘Council…Is concerned that there are still risks and no maximum cost for the line to St. Andrew Square and furthermore a lack of contingency in case the project goes even further over budget than current risk estimates allow, however concludes that there is presently no prudent alternative other than to authorise proceeding with the line to St Andrew Square and therefore agrees recommendations (i)-(iv) on the understanding that approval is for funding of up to £776m and notes recommendations (v)-(xi);

‘Requests the Chief Executive actively investigate alternative funding mechanisms to contribute towards payment for the project including a tourist ‘bed-tax’ as operated in other cities and to actively pursue actions to drive down costs in order to keep the project within the proposed new budget and report on these to Council’