The Edinburgh City Council Policy and Strategy Committee met on 14 June 2011.

The report on the council’s progress with the governance of major projects was approved by the committee, who also noted the developments in major projects in the city and agreed upon the initial proposals, ahead of a more detailed report in November 2011. The projects include works on The Royal Commonwealth Pool, James Gillespie’s and Boroughmuir High schools, The Usher hall and the Assembly Rooms. Nothing more was mentioned about the Edinburgh Tram project at the meeting, which has been given red status in the report.

The committee also noted the 2011-2014 departmental service plans as requested, and referred each plan to its appropriate committee.

One item on the agenda which was discussed at some length, was the Commissioning Strategy for care and support services. This is a plan for the provision and procurement of care services.

The committee approved all requests, barring the submission of the final strategy to the full council on 30 June 2011. Instead the committee agreed that the commissioning of the strategy be delayed and examined by a committee council in order to allow further scrutiny of what Council Leader, Jenny Dawe described as, “a vitally important issue”. This committee will meet on 9 August 2011.

Item 14 on the agenda concerned the Sustainable Edinburgh report, which revealed that the council had downgraded their ambitions from being the no. 1 sustainable city in Northern Europe to being, “up there with the best”. The council say that their goals must be realistic. Other issues raised were the multitude of definitions for the term ‘sustainability’, and the absence of an adequate system for measuring the progress of any implemented actions. The committee agreed that some method of quantifying progress made should be looked in to. Green Group Environment spokesperson Steve Burgess said:-

“After four years of this LibDem-SNP Administration, the Council has woken up to the fact that it’s got no chance of being the most sustainable city region. However, the way things are going there’s also little chance of being up there with the best. We’ve another glossy document this morning but little in the way of concrete actions and no way of measuring any progress.

“My call for clear actions and indicators on progress was accepted, the Administration has now got six months to put some flesh on the bones.”

Also discussed was a report from The Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Department that sought approval for a ‘full and genuine consultation’. The committee agreed that access to drug and alcohol abuse treatment centres was an issue for users, and that there should be a reasonable spread of services across the city.

All other items on the agenda were agreed upon, and noted or approved.

Find the agenda here.

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