The City of Edinburgh Council meets today to set its budget and decide how much everyone living in the city has to pay in council tax which is a part of its funding.
Other neighbouring councils have set an increase of up to almost six per cent. At a time when there are demands by all public service workers for a pay increase, it will be surprising if the council in Edinburgh can retain the increase at just three per cent as it has in the past, and certainly none of the proposals put forward do that.
There will be a whole morning of deputations to the council with these parties confirmed – they will be either presenting their deputation in person or it will be found here in writing –
- 3.1 NHS Lothian/ Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists(written submission attached)
- 3.2 EIS Edinburgh Local Association
- 3.3 Edinburgh TUC
- 3.4 UNISON
- 3.5 Trinity Primary School Parent Council (written submission attached)
- 3.6 Unite CEC Branch
The meeting may go on for quite some time after the deputations have been heard.
The Labour administration published their budget proposals on Wednesday afternoon.
Their paper is very long, but the basics are clear. According to the ruling political group The Scottish Government has underfunded Edinburgh for some years, and the administration proposes to put the council tax up by 5.75%.
The SNP and Green groups on the council got their heads together and have come up with one single budget option. Earlier in the week the SNP though they could introduce a graduated increase in council tax up to 20% on higher bands, but that is no longer on the cards
The Lib Dems also published their own version of what to spend money on and we analysed it here.
The Conservatives have their own views saying that it is the failure of council administrations and COSLA to convince The Scottish Government of the need for “adequate and equitable” funding. The last time the Tories were in power in Edinburgh was some years back, so this makes it a reasonably viable argument, except that every other party is blaming The Scottish Government, (except the SNP Group) and everyone except the Tories is blaming the UK Government for the lack of resources.
Rod Stewart tickets on sale today for second show
Tickets for the Edinburgh Castle gig must have sold well as Sir Rod has agreed to a second date on 7 July.
Edinburgh Streetfood takes place this weekend
On Saturday the first year-round seven day a week street food market will open to the public. It is on Leith Street next to the Omni Centre and will be “bold and eclectic” with a 250 seater urban garden. For more information follow @edinburgh_streetfood on Instagram and visit edinburgh-street-food.co.uk.
Sight Scotland holding group meeting next week
Sight Scotland is delighted to announce the launch of its new Community Activity Groups. This new service will aim to reach and engage with more people affected by sight loss in the community, whilst providing a social platform to help combat isolation and loneliness.
Sight Scotland’s new Community Activity team, which is headed up by Laura Steven in the East and Michael Deadman in the West, recently held an information session for this new service where it invited people affected by sight loss to come along and meet the new team and find out more about what will be on offer. Laura and Michael were especially keen to discuss with clients’ what kinds of groups and activities they want and need. The charity will be running its first Community Activity Group at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh on 27 February 2023.Â
Colin Hilditch, Head of Community Services at Sight Scotland, explains “We are delighted to launch our new Activity Groups service. These groups will provide a social platform where members can come along and hopefully enjoy themselves and meet new friends. People with visual impairment can lose their confidence, self-esteem and ability to do many day-to-day activities. This can often result in isolation and loneliness. The launch of this new service gives us another way to engage with and help more people. It has huge potential to make a big difference to people’s lives.”Â
The new Sight Scotland Community Activity team are hosting a free social gathering at The Gardener’s Cottage in the Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, on 27 February 2023 from 11am -12pm. This social event is for people with sight loss to come together in a supportive and safe environment to meet new and other visually impaired people in their community.
For more information visit:https://sightscotland.org.uk/ or call our helpline on 0800 024 8973.
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Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
