Full council meets today

The City of Edinburgh Council holds a meeting today at the City Chambers with all 63 councillors either in the chamber or online.

It is possible for anyone to watch the meeting from the public gallery or online by joining the meeting here online.

The Council Leader, Cllr Cammy Day has issued his usual monthly Leader’s Report which you can read below.

The councillors all have the opportunity to put questions to the various conveners at a full council meeting. The Questions and Answers are all reproduced below.

There are 34 questions – perhaps begging the question why councillors cannot simply walk up or down a floor at the City Chambers and have a chat with their colleagues.

• The topics covered include the size of each secondary school (in hectares),
• how many communications were sent to Management Committees of Community Centres during lockdown (none as they were closed),
• whether a brush and barrow is the best way to cleanse streets to the appropriate Code of Practice,
• a question about the backlog of replacing windows in council homes which it transpires will take 12 months to clear, a question about street furniture, advice on Low Emission Zone (LEZ) support for those who need to replace vehicles to comply with LEX requirements,
• a question about the 642 sets of traffic lights with rotating cones underneath the pedestrian signalling box (essential for blind people to know when it is safe to cross,
• a question about the traffic lights to be installed at Dalmahoy Junction – which we first wrote about in 2013 here, the nine parking tickets issued to tourist coaches parking overnight in no parking areas,
• an inquiry about the Stolperstein to be installed at St Stephen’s Church in Stockbridge which we wrote about here,
• a question about the West Craigs development and a possible bus gate on Turnhouse Road, a new pedestrian crossing at Clermistion Road North and its accessibility,
• a question about overhanging foliage, a question about reducing car usage towards its 30% target,
• questions over the way that staff working at the South Bridge Resource Centre learned of the Fringe Society’s plans to take over the building with their £7 million plus award from the UK Government,
• traffic orders and new layouts on streets in the Almond Ward.

There are also Motions and Amendments listed in the council papers, including an emergency motion by Cllr Susan Rae on parking on Leith Walk and a motion by the Liberal Democrat Group on asking the Scottish Government to extend the deadline for applications.

There is a report on the Lauriston Castle Trust which the council hope to apply to the Court of Sesson to use its nobile officium – the power to find a legal solution where otherwise there is none – to wind up the Lauriston Castle Trust and transfer the Castle and anything else in the trust to the council.