Full council meeting begins today at 10am
Today the monthly meeting of all 63 councillors takes place in the CIty Chambers.
In the papers for today’s meeting there is an Agenda, Motions and and Questions and Answers – questions asked by councillors of the various Conveners.
One question to the Culture Convener has uncovered the possibility of the new owners of the Filmhouse (Caledonian Heritable, Kevin Doyle’s company who also numbers The Dome and Archerfield in East Lothian in his portfolio) leasing back to parties who wish to run it has a “cultural film venue”.
The property was bought recently from the Administrators of Centre for Moving Image (CMI) a charity which was the umbrella organisation for Edinburgh International Film Festival and which went into liquidation last year. The price paid was £2.65 million which is small change for Mr Doyle, whose Archerfield Estate alone is worth a reputed £55 million.
Another question shows that the city is not increasing its recycling rates with a slight dip from 67.6% in 2020/21 to 66.1% this year.
Cllr Vicky Nicolson who is the SNP group Social Care spokesperson has raised the matter of a £430,000 salary for an interim appointee to the role of Director of Adult Social Care. This salary will not cover the entire job just vacated by Judith Proctor who resigned from her position as Chief Officer of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board following a damning report by the Care Inspectorate. The Inverleith councillor says that this is twice the salary for half the job.
And a question by Green councillor Chas Booth asks how many planning applications for a change of use for a property to a Short Term Let (for which there are new planning rules) have been received and refused.
In answer there were 66 applications in quarter one 22/23 of which 14 were refused and one was granted. In Quarter one this year there have been 20 applications of which only 2 have been granted. This has led to the Edinburgh Green Group totting up the numbers in the answer and concluding that holiday let landlords must be ignoring the law. They say that out of the estimated 5,000 holiday lets in Edinburgh, only 604 have applied for planning permission to make their position legal.
Cllr Ben Parker, Co-Convenor of Edinburgh Green Councillors, and a member of the council’s housing committee, said:”It is simply outrageous that more than eight out of every ten holiday let operators in the capital are choosing to effectively ignore the law by not seeking planning consent. We know that holiday lets are contributing to the city’s housing crisis by driving up rents, and the control area was introduced to try to address that. Those struggling to find an affordable home will be sickened by these new figures. Green councillors will continue to take action to try to redress the balance of holiday lets in Edinburgh and advocate for homes for communities, not private profit.”
Cllr Cammy Day the Council Leader has raised the matter of cyclists employed by food delivery companies whose employers do not provide them with safety equipment such as lights. He has suggested a joint campaign with the Police on promoting safe cycling at work.
And in good news, there are congratulations for Spartans and for the North Edinburgh Community Festival.
Follow the meeting from 10am by clicking here or watch the recording afterwards.
Today at Hidden Door
The bad thing about Hidden Door is that it only lasts for five days. The good thing is that today is one of the days.
Today from 1pm at the former Scottish Widows building on Old Dalkeith Road there is a full programme
1:00pm – Doors Open (free entry until 5pm)
6:00pm – The Environments Open (on a loop until late)
6:15pm – Berta Kennedy (Music, Cabaret Stage)
6:30pm – The Micro Band (Music, Loading Bay Stage)
7:00pm – Bibi June (Spoken Word, Poetry Stage)
7:15pm – Azamiah (Music, Cabaret Stage)
7:30pm – Fiona Robertson (Spoken Word, Poetry Stage)
7:30pm – Flasher (Music, Loading Bay Stage)
8:30pm – AKU! (Music, Cabaret Stage)
8:30pm – Jay Whittaker (Spoken Word, Poetry Stage)
8:30pm – Solar Panel (Music, Basement)
9:00pm – Butch Kassidy (Music, Loading Bay Stage)
9:30pm – Exterior (Music, Basement)
10:00pm – Hot 8 Brass Band (Music, Cabaret Stage)
10:00pm – Samedia Shebeen (Music, Club Space)
11:30pm – BUTHO THE WARRIOR (Music, Club Space)
11:45pm – O. (Music, Cabaret Stage)
1:00am – Close
Sheppard calls for portaloos in Portobello
The Edinburgh East MP has called upon the council’s Chief Executive to spend £4,000 on installing portaloos in Portobello this summer to avoid the distress to his constituents of people using alleyways and gardens to relieve themselves.
Sports news
There is a lot happening in Edinburgh based sport this week – read more over here.
And on Saturday the horses will line up to race for the Edinburgh Cup at Musselburgh – where lots of entertainment is planned for later in the day.
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