With two notable abstentions, all 63 councillors voted in the budget debate earlier today in a meeting which began at 10.00am with several deputations and ended just after 4.00pm.

The council’s Deputy Leader Cammy Day said that not one of the councillors in the chamber were happy to make any cuts, and he put on record his dissatisfaction at the continued erosion of local government funding.

The City of Edinburgh Council says it is balancing its long-term budget to protect its priority services and to do so it will increase the council tax by 4.79% which is the maximum allowed.

Reducing carbon emissions and tackling poverty will also drive The City of Edinburgh Council’s budget between now and 2023, although the coalition did not take up any invitation by the Green group to incorporate any or all of their Climate Change budget. In Glasgow meanwhile, the council there did a deal with the Green councillors to include £10 million of climate change action and budget reform.

We collared Finance Convener Cllr Alasdair Rankin just after the vote was concluded to get his instant views :

The council said that councillors today agreed a balanced three-year budget, making the best use of the funding the Council has available for priority services, and paving the way for record investment in new low-carbon schools and affordable homes.

In response to public consultation, the package of spending of over £1 billion forms part of the Capital’s Change Strategy approved by Councillors.

It details six programmes with practical steps, each designed to prioritise the wellbeing and life chances of all residents and accelerate action to address climate change in this council budget and beyond.

The Council will make required savings of £35m over the next 12 months and planned savings of around £87m over the next three years, while targeting spend and policies to be fair on people and the planet.

This will include support for:

New homes

•             The biggest funding on record for thousands of new homes by unlocking £2.5bn of investment, working with housing associations to provide more and better Council homes as part of a longer-term commitment to construct 20,000 affordable new homes by 2027.  At the same time, the council will continue to invest in current Council homes and services to reduce tenants’ living costs through initiatives to reduce energy costs and the city’s carbon footprint.    

•             Redeveloping key sites such as Granton Waterfront, which will receive around £196m in Council funding to support delivery of affordable, eco-friendly homes, attracting £450m additional public and private sector funding to create a vibrant and inclusive coastal community

•             Providing £2m of additional funding to provide more appropriate temporary accommodation whilst enhancing early intervention and prevention initiatives. 

New schools and access to education

•             Through raising Council Tax by 4.79%, the council will generate more than £16m of extra funding over three years to invest in the Council’s key priorities, including supporting the delivery of new or refurbished Wave Four schools, providing communities in Balerno, Currie, Liberton, Trinity and Wester Hailes with new and upgraded schools.  

•             Investing £9.1m to address rising school rolls, as well as continued £3.6m Positive Action Funding and more than £7m of Pupil Equity Funding pledged by the Scottish Government, to tackle the attainment gap.

•             £77m on Early Years services, providing 1,140 hours of funded Early Learning and Childcare provision for all three and four year-olds and eligible two year-olds by August 2020

•             Free school meals for almost 5,000 pupils in Edinburgh schools, in addition to universal provision for pupils in P1-P3. The council will also provide £0.5m in clothing grant support. 

Putting wellbeing at the heart of services and supporting social care

•             Increasing the Council’s spend on health and social care services by over £8m to a total £226m, supporting the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board’s work to drive down delayed discharges to successfully get people home or into a safe and homely setting, sooner

•             In redesigning Council services to promote wellbeing and protect access to services to those who are most in need, spending £9.5m to complete Edinburgh’s new Meadowbank sports centre. 

  • Investing £2m in mental health and counselling services for young people, as well as continuing to invest £3.5m in the Communities and Families grant programme, with an emphasis on youth work, promoting well-being and supporting personal and social development. 

Work to become Scotland’s sustainable carbon-zero Capital

•             Building on the 20% reduction in carbon emissions the Council achieved last year, continue plans to attain net-zero carbon city status by 2030 in the face of a climate emergency

•             Contribute £29.5m into a Zero Waste treatment centre at Millerhill which will supply power to more than 30,000 homes across the Edinburgh region

•             Spend £10.7m to complete the conversion of Edinburgh’s 64,000 streetlights to LED lights

•             Continue work to complete the extension of the tram network to Newhaven, with no additional call on core Council budgets

•             Action plans to invest £17.8m over 10 years towards cycling projects and £123m towards improving roads and pavements, as well as substantial repairs and maintenance expenditure as part of the revenue budget.    

Feedback during public consultation confirmed the majority of residents would support a Council Tax rise if used to support key services. A rise of 4.79% – below the maximum level – will allow the council to invest more in the city’s key priorities, including supporting the delivery of new or refurbished Wave Four schools.  

For those who need more help to pay, the council will also provide over £25m in Council Tax Reduction Scheme support.   

The tax band levels for Edinburgh in 2020/21 will come into effect on 1 April 2020 and will be:

A – £892.39

B – £1,041.13

C – £1,189.86

D – £1,338.59

E – £1,758.76

F – £2,175.21

G – £2,621.41

H – £3,279.55 

The abstentions were Labour councillor Gordon Munro who said he would not support the coalition proposals (although he is a member of the SNP/Labour coalition group.) The other abstention was the Lord Provost who was invited to offer his casting vote for one of the ‘losing’ motions by the LibDems and the Greens – in the event a complicated system of choosing numbered tiles was used to dismiss one of these and to allow voting to continue for the Coalition motion and the Conservative group motion.

The coalition motion was passed with 27 votes.
We interviewed some of the people who made deputations to the council ahead of the meeting.

Phyllis Stephen
Website | + posts

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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