Richard Parker is the Scottish Labour Party candidate in Corstorphine/Murrayfield.
He also stood last year but the members elected in May 2022 were LibDems Alan Beal and Euan Davidson and the SNP’s Frank Ross who resigned before Christmas.
Mr Ross, a previous Lord Provost, had promised when campaigning that he would secure compensation for the Roseburn Traders – the owners of shops and businesses on Roseburn Terrace who claim their business has decreased by as much as 70% during the construction of the City Centre West to East Link (CCWEL). This position has not changed since CCWEL was planned in 2014.
The traders have been a loud voice against the building of CCWEL in the first place, and also in claiming compensation from the council. The matter was decided in December 2022 that the council would not award any compensation, despite the fact that it could have been paid from monies left over from the pandemic.
Parker said: “I want to run a campaign based on Labour values. I am really focussing in on education. I’ve been a teacher for ten years. What I really want to do is try and connect the administration with the profession in different ways, to make sure that we’ve got a real sense of what is happening in our schools in Edinburgh.
“We need to make sure that our hard-working staff are getting all the support that they need to deliver the transformative education that I know is happening in this city.”
Parker’s stance on the Roseburn Traders is clear. He said: “The Roseburn traders are a fantastic pillar of the community in Roseburn, and I fought for them to have some sort of support in May last year.
“I am meeting with Cllr Day to work out what position we will hold in this by election, but my instinct would be that they are pillars of the community and I want to support them. Hopefully, there is ground for us to find agreement on that. I do understand that this would be the seventh time that it is coming in front of the council so whatever we do – firstly I don’t want to offer any false hope, but most importantly is that I am fighting for the residents. If we can find some solution can provide support to both traders in North Bridge and Roseburn that would be something I would love to do.”
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