The council’s Culture and Leisure Committee meets this morning at 10a.m. The Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin, will present a report to the Council presumably to justify his honorarium of £2,500 per annum. There will also be some discussion on the £961,000 refurbishment of the Morningside Library which started last month. At present the Morningside residents are using a Mobile Library while their own is closed.
In other matters to be discussed is the proof that this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival was, on the face of it, an economic disaster, as the numbers of tickets sold fell by around 10,000. However the report also explains that the budget in 2011 was half of what it had been in 2010. Time then for the new CEO, Chris Fujiwara, to ensure that changes are made before next year’s event? We hope so.
Interesting that the figures for the Tattoo are exactly the same in both 2010 and 2011. In other words it was a complete sell-out in both years, earning almost £8m in ticket sales.
Even though the number of tickets sold for the Fringe fell, the report rather confusingly manages to state the following:-“The 65th annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe achieved record attendance at a record number of shows. Over 1.8 million tickets were issued for 41,689 performances of 2,542 shows in 258 venues across the city.”
The agenda for the whole meeting is show below:-
Meanwhile The Scotsman reports that Jonathan Mills, Director of Edinburgh International Festival, has claimed that although there will be an overlap between the dates when the Festival and the Olympics are taking place this will benefit Edinburgh.
There are some interesting planning applications included in the weekly list on the council Planning Portal. Edinburgh builders Mactaggart and Mickel have applied for planning permission for a site on Lanark Road West which involves:-
Demolition of 2 existing houses, associated garages and outbuildings at numbers 501 and 505 Lanark Road West. Formation of new access drive with associated works. The erection of 8 new-build detached houses with associated detached garages and landscaping at 501 Lanark Road West Edinburgh EH14 7AJ. Any comments are due by 2 December 2011. We have a more detailed article here.
Marketing Edinburgh is the body responsible for promoting our capital. Their website does seem to be a bit of a work in progress however, and has little information on it so far. Here is the Edinburgh Sparkles advert which is currently being shown on STV :-
And while you are on YouTube you might cast your eye over our little slideshow all about Edinburgh’s Christmas which will be launched this Thursday with Light Night. Have you ever seen a better Santa? If you have then send us your photos!
