At the City Chambers this week
There is an overspend of £14 million forecast at The City of Edinburgh Council and today there is a Special meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee to identify “additional mitigating actions”. This follows a report in June of this year when a provisional underspend of £13.7 million was indicated, but that has been swallowed up by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) which at the same time projected a deficit in its finances of a similar amount. The EIJB through its Chief Officer has responsibility for the strategic planning, resourcing and the operational oversight of a wide range of health and social care services.
It is clear that the EIJB has an increasing funding shortfall, although there is some cash in reserve after an underspend in the previous financial year. There have been briefings for councillors behind the scenes to ensure that they are all aware of the challenges set before the EIJB and a proposed recovery plan.
Executive Directors in the council are required to bring forward cost saving measures.
The council is also asked to note that as agreed in September the council can take on “no new commitments” pending an update at the next meeting on 21 November.
The full council will also discuss this report at a later date in particular in relation to the Edinburgh Visitor Levy for which preparation will be made under the council’s Spend to Save fund.
On Tuesday the council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee meets and one of the items on the agenda is to examine the council’s relationship with Edinburgh Leisure and how it can ensure that the Arms Length External Organisation (ALEO) pays its staff the Real Living Wage. The papers are here.
On Wednesday the Development Management Committee meets when it will discuss the Crosswind development on Turnhouse Road, permission for the Christmas Market on George Street, in East and West Princes Street Gardens and the erection of a Spiegeltent in St Andrew Square to be used as a “storytelling experience with Santa”.
It is a packed agenda with the councillors also expected to discuss development of a national centre for Scotland’s collection of artwork at Madelvic House and an active travel route east of Granton Art Centre.
Everything on the agenda comes with a recommendation from officers that permission is granted, except for one short term let application for a flat in Sunbury Street EH4.
The papers for this meeting are here.
WASPs open weekend
Workshop & Artists Studio Provision Scotland Ltd (WASPs) at Patriothall in Stockbridge are holding an open weekend at the beginning of November.
Over two days, 20 studios will be opening their doors, inviting the public to visit a variety of creative spaces and enjoy a behind the scenes experience. The event will showcase the very best of Scottish art, craft and design. Set across three buildings, there is something for everyone, from glasswork, ceramics, fine art and jewellery to printed textiles.
The former Granton Station Gas Works has been transformed into a 600 square metre creative hub offering affordable, high quality workspaces, co-working desk spaces, a gallery/workshop space and meeting room provision, set in a newly landscaped public realm and outdoor events space which WASPs also occupy.
The future of the premises in Gorgie at West Park Place remain in doubt. WASPs bought the premises from the council in 2021 for £1 but only two years later they threatened to close the premises without “any meaningful consultation” with the community or the artists. A petition was set up by the artists who were renting space there, but little or no progress has been made since we wrote this article at the beginning of August.
Gorgie City Farm
Suzanne Campbell was appointed Project Manager at Gorgie City Farm in July and is trying to drive a conversation about finding a way for the farm to reopen in a self supporting way.
She issued this update a couple of months ago. She said that EVOC:
- “Have applied for and been awarded funding by Community Enterprise to conduct a research project into sustainable farm models
- “Are applying for funding to visit successful urban farms in the UK to learn more about the different ways they earn money
- “Are looking at the health and safety of the land and buildings and what needs to happen before we can welcome members of the public back on Site
- “Have started research into a constitution to set up a new organisation to take on the future running of the site
- “Appointed Johanna to the part-time post of Gorgie City Farm Site Gardner and worked with her on a policy, systems and processes to let the Volunteer Gardeners back on site (This happened in September and gardeners have access to part of the site again).
“We’ve set up new Facebook and Twitter accounts to share what is happening, what we’ve learnt and to start answering these questions. We’ll also tell you about consultation opportunities, so keep an eye out.”
There is an online consultation about the future of Gorgie City Farm and you are invited to have your say in this survey which is one part of it.
Intolerable graffiti
Hibs fans travelled to Glasgow on Saturday for a match against Rangers at Ibrox. Sadly some fans of the Edinburgh club scrawled the number 66 on their seats, and stickers referring to Stairway 13 at Ibrox were applied to the seating in a hideous reference to the 1971 Ibrox disaster when 66 fans died. The graffiti was drawn in chalk, but the harm has been done, and both teams vehemently condemned the actions of some fans as vile.
A Hibernian FC spokesperson said on Saturday: “Hibernian FC is aware of the intolerable graffiti and stickers found in the away end at Ibrox today and condemns the behaviour of the individuals that were involved.
“The Club will work with Rangers to identify those responsible and will take the most serious action possible against anyone involved.
“If any Hibernian FC supporter has any information that could assist the Club to help identify these individuals, they should contact club@hibernianfc.co.uk and the information provided will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.”
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