This is possibly the best known part of the city with all its landmarks, beautiful buildings and streets. Or are they? There are many potholes in the city centre. One of the worst streets is probably Charlotte Square, official home to the First Minister and a busy thoroughfare.
The tram is now firmly ensconced here, with its familiar bell sounding all the way along the route from the airport to York Place. It has changed the city centre, and possibly opened up some of the area too.
27% of the jobs in Edinburgh are located here right in the city centre close to all transport links and shopping.
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Open in new tab The current councillors for the the ward are
Joanna Mowat – Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Alasdair Rankin – Scottish National Party (SNP)
Karen Doran – Scottish Labour Party
None of these councillors are resigning. They are all standing along with a Green candidate and a Liberal Democrat candidate.
The ward is now a four member ward. The 2017 candidates are :
DORAN, Karen (Scottish Labour Party)
MILLER, Claire (Scottish Green Party)
MOWAT, Jo (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)
RANKIN, Alasdair (Scottish National Party (SNP))
SIDOR, Peter (Scottish Libertarian Party)
STEVENS, David (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
Karen Doran Labour
Karen was born and brought up in Edinburgh, and has lived here all her life. She was educated at Tollcross Primary School and James Gillespies High School. She lives with her husband and two children. She worked as an office manager for Malcolm Chisholm MSP and Mark Lazarowicz MP for nearly twenty years.
Claire Miller Green Party
Claire is standing to represent City Centre residents on Edinburgh Council. She’s currently a Community Councillor for New Town & Broughton, and volunteers for other groups such as the Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust, which is gearing up to open a new community centre.
If she’s elected Claire will focus on local city centre issues such as:
- Making homes more affordable and increasing the number of homes in the city centre by introducing rent controls and also introducing regulation for holiday apartments
- Improving street cleanliness and bin & recycling collections by implementing the Green’ ten point plan
- Making the city centre a safer place for cyclists and pedestrians by enforcement of the 20mph speed limits, new cycling infrastructure such as the east/west cycle corridor, and more pedestrianised areas
- Helping rough sleepers in the city centre to access good quality services as quickly as possible – taking care of vulnerable people and ensuring the system supports them properly
- Improving green spaces in the city centre, including protecting the trees in St Andrew Square after frequent events and festivals have been shown to have caused serious damage
Joanna Mowat Conservative Party
Joanna Mowat was first elected to the City Centre Ward in 2007 and has represented it ever since – prior to election she worked for an MSP, for a Finance Company and a quango so she has experience in private, public and political sectors.
She has been the Convenor of the Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee since June 2016 and has served on the Planning Committee since 2007 . She speaks on planning for the Conservative Group. Over the last 10 years she has been, at various times, Finance, Transport and Environment and Economy Spokesperson as well as serving on the Police Board of Lothian and Borders Police Force prior to the creation of Police Scotland and am now on the Police and Fire Scrutiny Committee.
Mowat said: “My ambition for the Ward hasn’t changed in the ten years since I have been serving as a councillor – which is to maintain the City Centre as a living city centre.
“I firmly believe that the heritage we have in Edinburgh is a blessing rather than a curse and that we should let us guide it to finding the “Edinburgh” solution to the challenges that face us – which aren’t that different to those that have faced the city many times before.
“Other cities have lost their residents in the heart of the City – Edinburgh never has and we need to ensure that we don’t now. Edinburgh is a great city – and with one foot in the past but looking firmly to the future we can continue to be one of the best small cities in the world.”
Alasdair Rankin SNP
Alasdair Rankin has been the Finance Convener in charge of the city’s £1 billion budget.
Alasdair’s working life has been in public service. He was a civil servant, then a parliamentary official and has been a City Centre Councillor since 2011. Since 2012 he has been Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, ensuring that Council resources are used efficiently and focused on service delivery.
Peter Sidor Scottish Libertarian Party
There is information about the party on their website here.
David Stevens is the Liberal Democrat candidate
David has lived in Broughton since 1998 and has been involved in the local community since then. He was a teacher for twenty years before a career change a couple of years ago.
He’s asking you to vote Liberal Democrat for five reasons:
- Liberal Democrats are committed to providing high quality public services on a ‘best value’ basis.
- Liberal Democrats are committed to protecting the poorest and most vulnerable.
- Liberal Democrats are committed to protecting the environment.
- Liberal Democrats believe in localism and decentralised decision making.
- To send a message to Westminster.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
