Fringe 2023 and accommodation
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe launched its programme on Thursday with 3,013 shows at 248 venues over the three weeks in August when Edinburgh becomes truly the Festival City.
There will be 45,182 performances, with 798 Scottish shows and 535 of those from Edinburgh. There will be cabaret and variety, children’s shows, comedy, dance physical theatre and circus, events, exhibitions, music, musicals and opera, spoken word and theatre.
The Fringe and many of the bigger producers of Fringe shows have been critical of the way that The City of Edinburgh Council has implemented the Short Term Lets (STLs) legislation in the city. The council has interpreted the licensing regime brought in to regulate STLs strictly meaning that there is a smaller number of properties available for Fringe performers or members of the audience to rent for a short period.
That may now change after the ruling by Lord Braid in the Outer House of the Court of Session handed down on Thursday. His Lordship decided the petition for Judicial Review brought by four bodies representing the letting sector and landlords in the city in favour of the petitioners. He declared that the implementation of the Short Term Lets legislation by the City of Edinburgh Council was unlawful.
The Council Leader, Cammy Day said: “I’ve received today’s judgement and am pleased that we’ve been successful in defending large parts of our policy.
“While I’m obviously disappointed that the court didn’t find in favour of our policy on secondary lets, I make absolutely no apology for seeking to protect our residents.
“It’s no secret that we face unique housing pressures here in Edinburgh, with a small but densely populated city centre and fast growing population, and it’s crucial for us to strike the right balance between promoting our visitor economy while looking after the people that live here all year round.
“Our residents have told us that, in many cases, STLs are hollowing out their communities, reducing housing supply and increasing housing costs. We can’t forget that many have endured years of disturbance and anti-social behaviour and we will continue to work hard to get this right.
“The court acknowledged our intention to find a solution to this and agreed that it was legitimate to use both planning and licensing policy. We welcome the clarity His Lordship provided and will now consider our next steps in more detail.
“We remain committed to ensuring the whole city benefits from our thriving visitor economy but it has to be managed and it has to be sustainable – and I continue to believe that fair and effective STL controls would be an important step in the right direction.”
Residents had complained about the impact of STLs in tenements where those accessing stairs changed repeatedly to the detriment of the permanent owners and tenants.
Leith Gala Day on Saturday
Join the gala day, which opens the week long Leith Festival, at Lochend Park for the pageant on Saturday starting at 10am.
Events will then continue all week long until 18 June.
The full programme for the week with all the details you will need about joining in can be found on the Leith Festival website.
Gumball 3000
The Gumball Rally comes to town on Saturday when George Street is largely closed to allow 100 sportscars to be parked and examined by the public while drivers have a rest day before heading off early on Sunday morning.
This is the third time the rally has visited the capital during their nine day rally across Europe which will finish in Porto Montenegro, but the first time the capital is the start of the 3,000 mile route.
The organiser of the event Maximillion Cooper told the city’s licensing committee that the drivers were under strict instructions to drive carefully on the city streets. He also said they want to return to Edinburgh in future years, but that must depend on the plans for turning George Street into a pedestrian area, and also the implementation of the Low Emission Zone rules.
George Street will be closed to traffic from Charlotte Square on Saturday and then from Hanover Street as the cars line up for their procession up the Mound and Market Street to head for London.
Read more about road closures and road works elsewhere in the city here.
Interim council Director quits over criticism
After the Director of Health and Social Care quit her role in May, following a damning report by the Care Inspectorate, the council moved quickly to find an interim replacement to deal with part of the remit. Alan Adams was appointed to the post only a month ago and has quit after criticism of the level of salary he was earning.
This leaves the council in a position where significant changes have to be made to a part of their services where costs are exceeding the allocated budget by a considerable margin.
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