We spoke to the leaders of Edinburgh‘s biggest political parties to ask what they pledge to do ahead of next week’s Council elections.
Last updated 5 hours ago
There is one week left until Scotland goes to the polls to vote in the Council elections.
In Edinburgh, the debates are not lacking.
Here at Forth News we spoke to the main parties in the city about what they are promising to do.
We asked applicants, “What are you committing to do that will improve the lives of people in Edinburgh?”.
SNP
Starting with the SNP, the half of the current administration that has the most seats in the House.
Group leader Adam McVey highlighted two key elements of the manifesto.
“The congestion charge we’re talking about during peak hours is going to make a huge difference for people in the city’s west, south and east.
“People struggling to get around Edinburgh because of the number of cars arriving
“We want to make sure public transport is the way more people do it.”
This tax would involve charging people from out of town a fee to drive a vehicle within the Council area.
“If you live downtown, the short-term rental change is going to be huge.” McVey said, looking at another policy.
These changes affect properties based in residential areas that are used for short-term stays, such as an AirBnB.
A control zone will mean a new request for permission to operate in its current form, which is unlikely as many will be allowed to continue as they currently do.
The party hopes this will open up the housing market.
McVey said: “People have been hugely affected by a reduction in housing by literally hollowed out communities
“and our plans will respond to that and ensure that these residential property areas are for Edinburgh residents.”
Work
The other half of the administration, Labour, is focused on finding ways to deal with the crisis in the cost of living and the labor market.
Cammy Day, leader of the Labor group, tells us:
“There are things the council can do. And even simple things like we’re investing in the next 10 years people have just agreed in the last administration to invest over £700m in tenant housing to make them energy efficient.
“So our aim was to try to put money in people’s pockets and do whatever the council can, while also putting pressure on the Scottish government and UK governments to dig deep when they do. need. And if they needed to. It is time.”
Another party objective is to take services that are currently provided by private contractors and bring them into the local authority.
“We’ve seen over £100m spent on private contractors in the city – who are profit driven.
“One of our ambitions is to bring these services in-house, to create good quality jobs, not zero hours jobs, good quality jobs, terms and conditions and give people a good rate of pay for a good day’s work.
“If we could even bring in 10% of that, it would be millions of pounds of council jobs created to provide services to the council.”
Conservatives
The Conservatives currently have the most councilors of any party in the chamber – one more than the SNP.
But the nature of local authority elections means they may have to find another group to form a coalition with if they want to be part of the administration this time around.
Speaking to us, group leader Iain Whyte admitted that one of the main aims was to clean up the town and improve its roads and pavements.
“We’ve seen the whole place deteriorate both in terms of litter and weeds and overflowing bins, all those kinds of issues, but our roads and sidewalks are in terrible shape.” He said.
“We want to solve this problem, we will solve the backlog of roads and pavements, the 77 million pounds that are left there. And we have plans to clean up the city. And that includes a lot of the enforcement of the rules.
“If you think about it, there were four dog fault fines last year in the city of Edinburgh.
“There’s no law enforcement. And that’s why the place looks messy.”
The cost of living is also an area the Tories want to address, with Whyte telling us the congestion charge would only make the problem worse, so they pledge not to introduce it.
“We are looking for practical ways to help people, ie limit their council tax, limit the increase in rent to 2.5% maximum.
“And in fact, if we can persuade the Scottish Government to give Edinburgh a fair settlement as it should, then we will freeze council tax.” He summarized.
Green vegetables
The Greens are looking to extend their eight seats won in 2017.
Co-organizer Claire Miller thinks there are ways to tackle the cost of living crisis, while benefiting the environment.
“One of the big issues that comes to mind when I talk to people on my doorstep is the cost of living crisis.” says Miller.
“People are really worried about not being able to pay their electricity and gas bills, the fact that people’s bills are doubling and the fact that rents are so expensive in Edinburgh means that actually the cost of Life in Edinburgh is exorbitantly high, and people are really scared.”
One solution offered by the Greens is to provide the resources needed to make homes in the capital more energy efficient.
“We are proposing to fully fund an energy program, which will help people retrofit their homes and carry out deep energy retrofits.
“And that means their homes are energy efficient, that then means their fuel bills go down. And that means their lives are better, they live in warmer, easier to heat homes.”
Liberal Democrats
For the Lib Dems there are two big goals, as for the Conservatives there is a desire to work on the roads and sidewalks of the city.
But another point highlighted by group leader Robert Aldridge is people power.
When asked what he would do to improve the lives of people in Edinburgh, he replied:
“I think it actually empowers local communities to make decisions that affect them and gives them the budgets to spend on that.
“Because there are always different priorities in different areas. In this area it could be parks, in another area it could be something completely different.
“But if people have the ability to really influence how money is spent in their area, that makes local government relevant to them.”
Drum Brae and Gyle’s current adviser added:
“Number one on the doorstep is road conditions, potholes, sidewalks, paths.
“And what needs to happen is to get our streets and sidewalks to a safe state, which is good for pedestrians, it’s good for cyclists, as well as motorists.”
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