Nominations open now for community councils

February 6, 2025 1:00 pm

Nominations are now open for anyone who would like to put themselves forward as a candidate for community councillor. The nomination period runs until 27 February and there is a possibility of elections being held if there are enough nominees in each area.

The role requires commitment but has been made more accessible through hybrid meeting options. While it involves regular meetings and responding to council consultations, particularly on planning matters, it offers a genuine opportunity to influence local decision-making.

There are some drop in events to help anyone who is thinking of standing. The first is on Monday 10 February 2025 11am to 3pm at Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus Foyer, 9 Sighthill Court, EH11 4BN.

And anyone is invited to meet Geoff Calder from Stockbridge and Inverleith Community Council on 15 February. Find out about the work they are doing for the community and how you can get involved in making a difference for your area. Saturday 15 February 2025 outside of Hector’s Bar on Raeburn Place, Stockbridge from 10.30 am until 2.00pm.

Candidates must be nominated and seconded by residents within their community council boundary. The council has useful boundary maps here of each of the 47 community councils (one more than previously). Some boundaries have been changed to reflect the city’s growth. For example, the Cramond Community Council is now to be named Cramond, Barnton and Cammo Community Council as a result of all the new homes built on Maybury Road.

Many of the community councils in Edinburgh have suffered after Covid-19 and the upcoming nominations – and possible elections – present an opportunity to reinvigorate the organisations.

Community councils can have up to 18 elected members and nine appointed representatives from local interest groups. Meetings are often held as hybrid or fully online meetings – when it is usually only the members who have the right to speak.

Culture and Communities Convener, Councillor Val Walker said: “Community councils remain an integral part of the social and democratic fabric of our city. In my experience as a ward councillor, I truly value my relationship with community councils and the excellent work that they do.

“From campaigning on key local issues, to organising meetings, chairing debates, liaising with local and national representatives and much more – the life of a community councillor in the Capital is never ordinary.

“This is an excellent opportunity to take a lead in your local area and make your community a better place. I’d encourage all residents to consider standing as a community councillor. Edinburgh draws its strength from its citizens, and we need their views and ideas to move forward together.”

Edinburgh Association of Community Councils

According to the Secretary of Edinburgh Association of Community Councils (EACC) local democracy is a “three legged stool” with Community Councils forming one of those important legs alongside elected councillors and council officers. The community council set up offers local communities the statutory right to be heard, particularly on planning matters and other changes to neighbourhoods.

“If the community doesn’t give its opinion on what’s happening around it, then it essentially gets left behind,” explained Ken Robertson, Secretary of EACC. “The Community Council’s job is to get that voice heard, but if people don’t speak up, they won’t be heard, and if they aren’t heard, they won’t be listened to.”

Mr Robertson pointed to some of the more active groups which have had local success and made a real difference – like the New Town and Broughton Community Council which has shaped communal waste collection improvements so that residents have either communal bins or gull proof sacks depending on the area. In South Queensferry the Queensferry and District Community Council has led on the development of local place plans along with the councillors and council officers.

He continued: “Edinburgh is a fast-growing, fast changing city, with all the opportunities, stresses and strains that brings. Ward Councillors work hard, but often under the shadow of party politics. Council officials work hard, but under the management pressure to just get the job done. Bluntly, their collective priorities are not always your community priorities. It is so easy for your neighbourhood to be passed by as city change sweeps on relentlessly.

That’s not how it is meant to be. Community Councils are mandated to be heard on all local and city issues. They are your calling card to City Chambers. They are your hotline right-of-way to the City Council. Community Councils are there to represent your ‘place’, your ‘space’, your day-to-day amenity, and your well-being as a city resident.

“If your community doesn’t push for attention, then it’s just another tick in the local authority box. It doesn’t have to be like that. Become an active member of your Community Council. Help kick it into gear. Get ‘local democracy’ on the road. Don’t be left behind. Get your Nomination Papers submitted by 27 February.