Occupy Edinburgh
High School Yards
Gorebridge or Saughton?
Princes Mall
Policy & Strategy Committee
Occupy Edinburgh who have now been camped in St Andrew Square for just over three months have announced they will move out this week, in order to stop public money being spent on the eviction process to get rid of them. Essential Edinburgh who run the square will now have to spend some money putting the garden back into its previous condition, but their funding is not public money. The bulk of their £1m+ budget comes from the levy which they charge their members, all businesses in the city centre area. It cost between £2 & £3million initially to revamp the gardens and allow public access.
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High School Yards may become a centre for the study of global warming with the help of a £50m grant to the University of Edinburgh from the European Investment Bank according to the BBC.
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The BBC also report the story of one man who has said that he preferred the option of going to Saughton Prison than having to return to his home in Gorebridge.
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Edinburgh steel entrepreneur, Sir David Murray, may acquire a legal title to the land on which the Princes Mall is built for less than £1. He bought the mall for £37million a few years ago under a lease, reports The Scotsman. The land is actually owned by The City of Edinburgh Council who do not receive any of the estimated £2m annual rent paid by the various businesses who have their premises in the shopping centre. The Scottish Government propose new laws to turn one of the peculiarities of the Scottish landholding system into a more normal kind of legal title. The Long Leases (Scotland) Bill is now back on its path through Holyrood, having been stopped in its tracks last time round.
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The Council’s Policy & Strategy Committee meets this morning, and one of the first items on the agenda is a deputation by Unison.
