Today at the City Chambers
The Licensing Sub-Committee meets today to hear a range of licensing applications from street traders to second hand dealers and sunbeds.
There are 23 applications to be heard and the meeting begins at 9.30am.
Although you can read all of the papers here it is not possible to follow proceedings online as these meetings are not webcast.
Transport and Environment Committee on Thursday
Ahead of the Transport Committee on Thursday Living Streets wrote an article about the lack of spending targeted solely at pedestrians. In the article they say that council spend on roads outstrips funding for pavements.
The group which campaigns for pedestrians is critical of the smaller amount of money being spent on improving pavements in the city.
There are 130+ projects which are listed by council officers – and some of the projects will proceed and others will be paused. The prioritisation for the next 10 years is explained in the report and the projects are listed in the appendix.
There is a map which the council has produced with details of transport schemes in the city (although presumably it will have to be. updated once the committee meeting is over when councillors agree to pause some of the projects).
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Open in new tab Living Streets Edinburgh Convener, David Hunter, said: “We know that there’s a lot of concern about potholes and the state of the roads in Edinburgh, but it’s frustrating to see so little of the roads budget targeting pavement improvements. In every city neighbourhood, there are cluttered, narrow pavements full of trip hazards which make it hard for people to get out to the local shops health centre or to catch the bus.
“We’re expecting the Council to announce its plans for spending on the City Mobility Plan and active travel shortly. If the Council is serious about getting people out of cars and supporting sustainable, inclusive local communities, it’s got to do more to improve local walking environments.”
Read the Living Streets article here.
In addition Mr Hunter has also written to the members of the Transport Committee asking that the decisions on the City Mobility Plan are deferred. The letter reads:
Dear TEC Councillor
I’m writing in connection with the report on City Mobility Plan priorities, Item 7.5 on the TEC agenda for 22 May. The recommendations do not adequately reflect the CMP’s ambition to effect “a transformational change in walking and wheeling in Edinburgh”.
Over two years ago, two new initiatives were introduced into the Active Travel component of the City Mobility Plan: ‘Action for Better Crossings” (ABC) and the “Edinburgh Accessible Streets Initiative” EASI). These programmes (both proposed by us) finally offered the prospect of a strategic, rather than piecemeal, approach to addressing some of the most fundamental problems with getting around the city as a pedestrian – for example:
- the time that you have to wait for the green man at traffic lights,
- the thousands of missing dropped kerbs on pavements,
- narrow footways,
- pavement clutter, etc.
As we understand it, effectively nothing has been done yet to implement either initiative as a coherent programme. We had hoped that they would form a key part of this report. However, there is no mention whatsoever in the report of either ABC or EASI, despite Council having confirmed them as at the heart of CMP policy only last year (see attached).
Instead, some elements of ABC and EASI are simply noted as part of the ‘rolling programme’ in Appendix 4b. Paragraph 4.14 of the report states an expectation that these will be funded at “an overall level roughly equal to recent overall investment”. This isn’t good enough: there is no indication of how much money is budgeted for these schemes; certainly there has been no systematic investment at all in recent years in widening footways. Many of the other aspects like the pedestrian crossing programme and the crucial school streets reviews have huge backlogs owing to lack of resourcing.
These vital programmes need to be considered alongside, and on the same level playing field, as the active travel and public transport listed in Appendix 1. Councillors should be able to consider whether investment in school streets, road safety, ABC or EASI is more or less worthy than these projects, whether they be George Street, Hawthornvale-Salamander Street, the Lindsey Bridge or Dalry 20 Minute Neighbourhood. Otherwise the opportunity to consider where best to invest both staff time and capital funding is lost and a ‘silo’ approach is entrenched.
We also have serious concerns with the overly-complex methodology for assessing projects in Appendix 1. It gives no weighting to walking and wheeling (“top of the travel hierarchy”) and doesn’t sufficiently value schemes relatively modest but important to pedestrians such as Calton Road and the Causey. These projects fail to score highly enough only because work on them has already been “paused’ for years.
However, the fundamental weakness of the report is to take too narrow an approach to evaluating a limited set of projects. We would therefore like to see the report deferred perhaps for two cycles, and a new report brought forward with a more strategic approach to future investment, including the programmes mentioned above.
David Hunter
Convener
Living Streets Edinburgh Group
Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2025
This takes place on 30 May and will celebrate the work of students of Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Music – but have a look at the Edinburgh College of Art Eventbrite page for all sorts of other graduate shows – in fashion, animation, music and costume.
At the Botanics
A new exhibition opens on 23 May. Linder’s first retrospective in Scotland showcases 50 years of trailblazing artwork. It dives into her fascination with plants and invites us to see beyond traditional ideas about gender and sexuality.
Deliciously satirical, her photomontages remix images from popular culture, ranging from early pin-up photography in this first exhibition in a domestic setting.
This adapted version of Linder: Danger Came Smiling – a Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition from Southbank Centre, London – spills out into the Garden.
Linder: Danger Came Smiling is recommended for audiences aged 16 and over. The exhibition includes depictions of nudity and images of a sexual nature.
Image: Linder with Rhododendron lanigerum, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2025. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean / StudioRoRo.
https://www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on/linder-danger-came-smiling/61197
Business Beats Cancer Dinner
The Business Beats Cancer Edinburgh Annual Dinner, held at Prestonfield House, has once again demonstrated the power of the city’s business community, raising an incredible £200,000 for Cancer Research UK’s Scotland Centre.
Guests at the sold-out event enjoyed an unforgettable evening featuring an inspiring keynote speech from Glenn Campbell, the esteemed political reporter who shared his personal journey with brain cancer. Host and auctioneer Grant Stott brought his characteristic energy and humour to the evening, ensuring a lively and generous atmosphere which ended with a rousing rendition of Stott’s signature song “That’s Fife”.
The evening’s live auction featured an array of exceptional prizes, including tickets to the sold-out Oasis gig at Murrayfield, a Diana Ross Getaway to Glasgow, business class Qatar Airways tickets, and a Sir Chris Hoy signed GB cycling skin. These exclusive items helped drive the night’s fundraising success, with all proceeds going directly to life-saving research at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre, advancing breakthroughs in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.
Business Beats Cancer Edinburgh has now raised over £760,000 since its inception, making it the best-performing Business Beats Cancer Board in the UK. This year’s dinner continued that legacy, providing a platform for powerful stories, networking, and crucial fundraising.
Lou Kiddier, Chair of the Business Beats Cancer Edinburgh Board, expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to the event’s success: “The incredible generosity from guests at this year’s dinner is a testament to the spirit of our business community in the capital. Even in these uncertain economic times, it is heartening that so much was raised for a cause close to so many hearts. Together, we are funding research that will save lives and bring hope to countless families across Scotland.”
