Building on Success – making Our City, truly One
City
Back in November 2016, Edinburgh Labour launched a Draft Manifesto
consultation process, to which we subsequently received over 1,000 responses
from members of the public. And just last week, we became the first political
Party in Edinburgh to launch our finalised vision for the Capital – the
feedback we received to our earlier draft is clearly reflected in the final
document, which is now available at www.edinburghlabour.com
Edinburgh
undoubtedly prides itself on being a fantastic place to live in, to work in,
and to visit. And over the years, Labour-led councils in our city have used
their powers to help create a dynamic economy that generates jobs, encourages
innovation and fosters new business. Twenty years ago, a Labour Council was
farsighted enough to nurture what is now Edinburgh Park. Over the coming decade
we need to work closely with our three city universities, and new technology
firms, to create similar opportunities for our children and grandchildren.
However
with success come challenges – and our vision for the Capital attempts to
address the four main challenges facing our city.
The Challenge of Growth - Edinburgh’s population
is already over 500,000 and is growing rapidly. Edinburgh is predicted to
become Scotland’s largest city by the mid 2030s. So we do need to plan for:
more homes and schools; better transport links; more skills training and more
jobs; and increased levels of services for all age groups.
The Funding Challenge - the funding the Scottish
Government receives from the UK Treasury has increased over the last few years,
but during that time the SNP Scottish Government has cut
the
grants it gives to Councils. Edinburgh suffers more than most councils. It gets
the lowest grant of all Scottish councils - £1,928 per head against a Scottish
average of £2,232.
The Challenge of Increasing
Centralisation
- the SNP Government keeps trying to get more and more control by centralising
services. Police Scotland, which has neither saved money nor improved services,
shows this does not work. In contrast Edinburgh Labour has consistently
devolved power and decision making to local people, working in partnership with
local communities and the voluntary sector.
The Challenge of Poverty
and Inequality
- we need to ensure that all our citizens can share in
the
city’s success. Just under a sixth of the population (79,550) live in
households whose income falls below the poverty threshold. More than half of
these (42,100) are in work. Many are in jobs which are minimum wage, short term
or have zero hour contracts. High house prices and rents make living in the
city very hard for many. And there are also significant health inequalities
across the city.
Our vision for the Capital provides specific action to address these four
challenges; and these are actions that we know can be delivered upon – I’ll
mention a few here, but much more detail is available via the full document:
·
We will build a minimum of 16,
000 low cost homes for rent and sale over the next 10 years, through the
Council and our partner housing associations and cooperatives. To meet need at
least two thirds should be let at ‘social rent’ levels.
·
We will improve access to health
and care services by creating eight local centres where people can work on
solutions to their needs with health and care professionals and voluntary
groups.
·
We will build new primary schools
at St John’s Portobello, Morningside, St Crispin’s, Broomhills, Gilmerton
Station Road, Leith Waterfront, Granton Waterfront, Maybury , Brunstane &
Queensferry, and new High Schools for
Castlebrae and in West Edinburgh.
·
We will increase spending on
roads and pavements to a minimum of £20m per year, and give local
communities more say on where work is done. And we will also maintain spending
on cycling at 10% of our transport budget, enabling projects such as the
completion of the west to east link across the city centre , and the building
of segregated cycle lanes.
·
We will continue to support the
city’s major festivals which generate jobs and boost local business but,
side by side with this increase the funding for local festivals and events. We
will also support the creation of further work spaces for artists and
craftspeople.
·
And we will campaign for an overhaul of the planning appeal system to
make it shorter, more independent and give
communities the right of appeal.
Edinburgh
Labour believes that the mark of a civilised society is how it looks after its
young and vulnerable citizens – and the proposals outlined in our vision for
the Capital will help do just that.
Cllr Andrew Burns
Labour Group Leader &
Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council
