Airbnb-style short-term rentals in Edinburgh: SNP government caved in to industry over real control of their numbers – Cammy Day
What started out as a helpful extra provision for vacationers has spiraled out of control.
In the Royal Mile area, for example, apartments rented for a week or even a few days make up a large proportion of available accommodation.
On some stairs, only one or two apartments house local residents. Not only is this destroying the sense of community in the area, but the declining number of permanent residents is reducing demand for essential local services.
The effect? The closure of local convenience stores which are replaced by more souvenir outlets. Families with young children are less willing to move to the area and the local population is ageing.
Demand for places in local schools is less and community groups are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers. And, of course, the use of accommodation for tourists further increases Edinburgh‘s housing shortage.
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All short term rentals must be authorized by Edinburgh City Council
For some years I and my Labor colleagues worked with other parties to persuade the Scottish Government to give us the powers to solve the problem.
We welcome their decision to submit these properties to the planning and licensing system. This has led to heavy lobbying by vacation rental companies. I was a victim of it, as was the Scottish government.
Sadly, however, the Scottish government relented. They removed the power of local authorities to control the number of short-term rentals in any area.
Yes, there are a number of other minor controls, but if we cannot control the number of tourist apartments in the Royal Mile and other areas, the other provisions are worthless. If we can’t control the numbers, we can’t tackle the problem at the source.
Tourism brings many benefits to Edinburgh and the council devotes a great deal of time and money to promoting and managing it. Short term rentals are unmanaged and will remain out of control.
We can see what happens when this growth goes unchecked and tourism and vacationing dominate large areas of cities like Venice and Barcelona, which have been forced to take much more drastic measures to control them.
In Edinburgh, we had the opportunity to address the problem with more modest measures. However, the SNP government listened to big business rather than the local community.
Meanwhile, last week saw the end of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and to mark this work, last Friday I joined the ‘Light up the Night Cycle’ highlighting the need of night cycling infrastructure in Edinburgh that is safe and suitable for use by women and girls.
Around the world, women’s safety and rights finally seem to be a priority. We must also seek to organize ‘Return Home Safely’ campaigns to ensure that women working late in the hospitality industry are given a safe journey home by employers in our capital.
On behalf of the Edinburgh Labor Group, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for a better and successful 2022.
Cammy Day is a Forth ward councilor and leader of the Labor Party
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