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Five things you need to know today Edinburgh!

February 2, 2015 6:02 am

Regulatory Committee

Festival Photographer

Generate your own energy

Speed Networking

Morningside Heritage talk

This afternoon the council’s regulatory committee will meet to discuss fees charged by the council for public events and the moving of taxi stances at Haymarket. The fees are charged to meet the expense of the council’s community safety team in inspecting venues and granting licenses.

Licensing fees usually attract a lot of public attention particularly when community groups or charities are asked to pay what might be considered high fees. The list of fees has been revised in an effort to alleviate the burden on such bodies and that list will be approved today.

All of the charges will be considered in light of impending budget decisions next week, but it is important to realise that fees are ring fenced in the same way as other parts of the council’s budget. This means that any reductions in fees will have to be balanced by other charges increasing.

Fees for Houses in Multiple Occupancy and taxis have been increased in this financial year for the first time in almost five years. Other fees have risen at around 3% for the past three years but this is still not enough to cover all of the council costs in this area, particularly the costs of any complaints procedures.

The council has already achieved savings of £160,000 and there will be further cost savings by issuing licenses online, but there is still an immediate deficit.

The council wants to raise its fees by around 2.5% for 2015-16 but aims to cut the cost of providing some licences by offering one permit for three years rather than having annual renewals to process. Other one day licences will be converted to seven day permissions, again in an effort to reduce the administration costs.

Where there is an application made for any licences involving keeping animals, then the person seeking the licence will now be asked to pay any veterinary bills.

Public Entertainment Licences are the most expensive in terms of staff time and the use of safety teams, so this area has been streamlined. From now on the council will set more fee categories for large scale events of more than 10,000 people.

Although the Fringe Society has made suggestions to the council for a different fee structure the council has already decided it cannot accept this as it would reduce income by over half and is not viable.

The Council has undertaken some customer research before proposing these changes and is confident that they will be able to balance the income and expenditure in this area.

For some categories these changes will mean that their licence fees increase by 100%. For a window cleaner in the last financial year the annual fee was only £50 whereas it will be £100 in the coming year. This cost can be mitigated by applying for a three year permit but will nevertheless be an increase that some will no doubt complain about.

The fees proposed will become part of the Fees and Charges documentation which will be considered within the Budget next week.

As well as money the committee will also discuss taxis and particularly those at Haymarket. The council proposed moving the stance there to Haymarket Terrace with a new stance for seven taxis. The bus stop will be moved to a position outside the Tune Hotel.

You can watch the Regulatory Committee by clicking here at 2:00pm or you can watch it later when the footage has been archived.

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The Edinburgh International Festival and The Morton Charitable Trust are now inviting emerging photographers to apply for the position of Festival Photographer 2015.

This opportunity for an emerging photographer, based or studying in Scotland, gives the winner unparalleled backstage access across the Festival to artists, staff, technical set up, rehearsals and events to bring together a rich archive of images of the Festival.

The position, which comes with a £3,500 award, allows the photographer to develop contacts with a range of media outlets, artists, venues and agencies throughout the Festival period, providing a strong launch pad for their future career in the profession.

The Festival Photographer’s work is showcased through online galleries on the Festival website eif.co.uk, and their work is promoted through the Festival’s Facebook, Flickr and Instagram presences. An exhibition of their work is mounted each the autumn at The Hub, Edinburgh’s Festival Centre.

Fergus Linehan, Festival Director, said ‘This is a fantastic opportunity for a new photographer looking to make a name and a career for themselves. Not only do they have an access all areas pass they have the chance to make relationships and grow their profile with a huge range of creative and exciting people, both artists and media, taking part in the Festival.

‘The Festival is developing a stunning archive of photography through this project and we must thank The Morton Charitable Trust for their commitment and vision in supporting this post, which benefits both the Festival and the photographer hugely. We look forward to discovering another new talent in 2015 and taking them with us on an incredibly exciting adventure.’

Those looking to apply can find more information at eif.co.uk/festival-photographer. The closing date for applications is Saturday 14 February.

Previous winners of this position include Claudine Quinn (2010), Eoin Carey (2011), Sally Jubb (2012), Stuart Armitt (2013) and Clark James (2014)

Clark’s exhibition of work from Festival 2014 is currently running at The Hub.

Behind the Scenes

Clark James, Festival Photographer 2014.

Now until 13 March 2015

The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE

Supported by The Morton Charitable Trust.

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Go to the Water of Leith Visitor CentreEH14 1TQ on Wednesday 4 February to find out how to generate your own electricity with Changeworks, one of Scotland’s largest environmental charities.