CCIN Glasgow conference

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I'd recently been elected Chair of the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network (CCIN) ...

... well, I'm please to report that the next CCIN quarterly-conference will - for the first time - take place here in Scotland. All the details, including the full agenda, are available on the CCIN website - and I'll just re-produce some fo the background detail below:

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CCIN Glasgow Conference

CCIN Glasgow conference

CCIN Glasgow conference

The Co-operative Councils Innovation Network is delighted to host our first conference in Scotland, which reflects our national ambitions and aspiration of our network. The conference, which is being hosted by Glasgow City Council, will provide opportunities to exchange information and learning, and provides a major opportunity to profile the work and achievements of Co-operative Councils.

In addition to CCIN business meetings, the conference will include key speeches from Cllr Archie Graham, Deputy Leader, Glasgow City Council; Cllr Andrew Burns, Leader of City of Edinburgh Council and Chair of the CCIN; and Kevin Rush, Head of Economic Development at Glasgow City Council. There will also be workshops on cooperative approaches to economic development and tackling labour market exclusion; developing the co-operative sector and devolving power and changing organisational culture within councils.

To view the full agenda, please click here.

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Corporate, Policy and Strategy Committee next Tuesday

Unbelievably; it's the December "Corporate Policy and Strategy" Committee next Tuesday ...

... all the papers/reports are now in the public domain: the main Agenda can be found here ---

--- and the individual reports are all up on Committee Papers on-Line (CPOL) linked from here.

Reports that may well attract some attention and debate:

• Edinburgh's Christmas and Hogmanay - KPIs
• Festival and Events Core Programme
• Management Retirement Policy

Just click on any of the above links for access (as a PDF) to the specific report ...

... and, as mentioned before, all of the Policy and Strategy Committee gatherings are now being webcast live - and thereafter archived!

All available via here ;-)

Sadly (well, maybe not!) I'll be in Glasgow next Tuesday for a Cooperative Council Innovation Network (CCIN) event ... more of which to follow shortly! ... so my colleague, Steve Cardownie, will be in the Chair for this meeting.

November Leader's Report

November 2014 Are you ready for winter?    The Council has a crucial part to play in helping the city deal with whatever the weather has in store for us over the coming months and we have recently launched two campaigns to help residents get ready. Our Ready for Winter campaign provides contact and other useful information to residents across the city, ensuring everyone can get the help and services they need. The council website's winter weather pages include details of priority road, cycle path and pavement gritting routes, plus an interactive map displaying the location of grit bins across the city. Also, in recognition of the ever-increasing cost of energy, we've begun a Warm Your Home campaign to help people heat their homes as effectively and cheaply as possible. As ever, but particularly at this time of year, please do take the time to look out for elderly neighbours and friends to make sure that they are safe and well. Councillor Andrew Burns Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council   Keeping to our pledges    It's fair to say that politicians often make ambitious promises when canvassing for votes but how often do they voluntarily put their commitments up for public examination? On taking office in May 2012, we set out 53 specific pledges that we aimed to deliver by 2017. These are based on a number of high level commitments, which include reducing poverty, inequality and deprivation, and maintaining and improving the quality of life in Edinburgh. I am pleased to report that, thanks to recent developments such as the passing of a Private Bill allowing the new Portobello High School to be built on Portobello Park, we have now met 12 of the pledges with all but one of the remainder on track to be completed within our five year term.   Cooperative Capital    One of our key pledges was to put the public back at the centre of decision-making. We want communities to be much more involved in planning, managing and delivering services; to give local people a greater sense of choice and control over the public services they use. We have made some significant strides towards becoming a 'Cooperative Capital' in the past two years, establishing the city's first After Schools Club Co-op Charter and a Student Housing Co-op, while providing development support for the Craigmillar Eco-Housing project. Meanwhile, a number of energy co-ops, including the Edinburgh Community Solar Co-op and Castle Rock Edinvar's 'Our Power' initiative are also progressing well and will soon be delivering affordable and renewable energy to tenants. Having become the first Scottish local authority to join the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network last year, I was delighted to accept the role of Chair recently - recognition of just how far we've come in such a short space of time.   Still time to have your say    We're now around half way through our budget consultation and the response so far has been fantastic. Well over a thousand of you have completed our budget planner online, with a further 200 submitting comments by post or email. If you haven't already done so, please take the time to have your say. The consultation period runs all the way through until Friday 19th December, and we will consider all feedback prior to setting the final 2015/16 Budget in February. The planner also features on our newly established Consultation Hub, which helps you to find and participate in consultations of interest to you. I would recommend subscribing to the automated email alerts for new consultations as and when they come online.   Pride in our People    I recently attended the Council's 'Pride in our People' Staff Awards ceremony in the Assembly Rooms and, once again, I was reminded of the outstanding quality and commitment of the staff who work for this city. The Awards celebrate those who go that extra mile: the people who help us make Edinburgh such a great place to live, work and visit; recognising those on the frontline, the innovators, the leaders and the rising stars - the teams and individuals who've found a way to improve value and deliver our services better. I want to repeat the thanks I gave on the night, not just to the winners and shortlisted entrants but also to staff right across the Council, who continue to play a marvelous role in making sure that everything works efficiently and effectively right across the Capital.   Stay in the picture    Keep yourself in the picture with our news section online. Watch live full Council and some committee meetings on our webcast. Join the debate on Twitter #edinwebcast  If you wish to unsubscribe please email us.
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November Full Council Meeting

The November Council Meeting is coming up - next Thursday (20th) ...

All the reports are now up on Committee Papers On-Line (CPOL) and you can access the main agenda directly here; and each of the individual reports separately via this link.

Of course - as ever, if you're so minded, you can watch all the proceedings live here ...

... or the meeting will be archived a few hours after it finishes for viewing at your leisure!

Cooperative Councils Innovation Network - new Chair ;-)

In all the post-referendum melee; I've completely failed to mention that at the end of September (at their AGM) I was elected as the new Chair of the Coooperative Councils Innovation Network (CCIN) ... I've posted before about the Network (here, and links therein) and, obviously, the whole Cooperative-agenda is at the heart of the political programme that the current (local) Labour/SNP Capital Coalition is attempting to facilitate.

I'm thus delighted to have been elected as Chair of the CCIN - my brief Chair's message can be found here, and I'll simply reproduce the text below as well:

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Message From the Chair

As a council leader, a ward councillor, and a member of my local community, I understand the scale of the challenges that we are all facing locally.

Many communities are disengaged from local democracy; councils can seem like distant bureaucracies; and, as organisations, we as councils are struggling to manage huge funding reductions just as local people are putting more and more demand on local services.

If councils are going to survive in this context, and if communities are going to thrive, then we all need to start doing things differently. We need to work together, in genuine and equal partnership with local people, to make the most of the strengths that lie in our communities. We need to step out of the town hall and back into communities to tackle old issues in new ways. Most importantly, we must drive real innovation, with local people at its core, if we are to face the challenges ahead of us.

This is exactly why the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network exists. We believe that the co-operative principles of empowerment, equal partnership, and collective action offer a positive route not simply to survive through tough times, but to enable local communities to thrive, supported by relevant, meaningful, and empowering local public services.

The network gives us the opportunity to share what works, learning from each others’ practical experiences to translate cutting-edge policy thinking into hands-on practice right across the country. Our work is defining the future of local public services – not for local people, but with local people – and putting local people back at the heart of what we do.

Cllr Andrew Burns

Chair of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network
Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council

October Leader's Report

October 2014
Edinburgh's budget challenge How would you balance the city's books? Where would you spend; where would you save? With four months to go until we set next year's budget, we have launched a new online tool to help encourage as many residents as possible to have their say on where money should be invested and saved in 2015/16 and beyond. The budget planner, accompanied by a short explanatory film on our website, highlights the range of services the Council provides and the challenges we face over the coming years. The consultation period runs all the way through until Friday 19 December, and we will consider all feedback prior to setting the final 2015/16 Budget in February. Councillor Andrew Burns Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council      Doing the important things well Very much with the above challenges in mind, 12 months ago councillors instructed our Chief Executive, Sue Bruce, to consider how we can improve performance, productivity and customer satisfaction. In short, we don't have any choice; we must do things differently. Edinburgh is the fastest growing local authority area in Scotland and we are facing an ever increasing demand for our services against a backdrop of rising demand but stand-still or falling budgets. Having established an overall approach to change in the council, Sue has now set out her vision for the future. Her report describes how we will plan to change the way we deliver services by focusing on priorities and outcomes in the city's neighbourhoods. This will allow us to deliver best value services for residents, reflect local needs and work together as efficiently as possible.   Edinburgh Befriending Consortium My coalition colleague and Deputy Lord Provost, Deidre Brock, recently hosted the official launch of the Edinburgh Befriending Consortium (EBC) here in the City Chambers. Made up of three organisations - CrossReach, The Broomhouse Centre and Children 1ST - the consortium provides much-needed support to young people who are affected by substance misuse in their family and who may be particularly isolated and unable to take part in activities. Thanks to funding from Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, Partnership Drugs Initiative, the Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Partnership and the Council, EBC is now on a much firmer financial footing. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please visit the Children 1st website for further information.   City blossoms at Entente Florale I am delighted to report that our parks, streets and gardens have been awarded Gold at the prestigious Entente Florale competition, Europe's biggest environmental awards. Following on from our success in Britain in Bloom, this is a huge accolade for Edinburgh and proof that we have some of the finest green spaces in Europe. It's also testament to the huge amount of work carried out by the Council and the many volunteers and partners across the city. We will receive a bronze plaque recognising these achievements, which will go on display later this year.   Gold standard communications Congratulations also to the Council's Communications service, which was named Outstanding In-House Public Relations Team at the CIPR Scotland PRide Awards held last week. The award recognises a diverse range of campaigns, aimed at both internal and external audiences. Judges cited a "superb team and a worthy winner", praising its consideration of a broad range of audiences through its campaigns. The Council also won silver for Scottish Public Sector Team of the Year, and was finalist in a further two categories - Best Public Sector Campaign and Best Use of Social Media.   Democracy at your finger tips I have high hopes that the significant interest, and turnout, in the Referendum will translate into greater engagement with local politics - and we're already doing what we can to encourage this. Last month, we expanded our ability to broadcast council business, with the Dean of Guild meeting room now fitted out with cameras and microphones to stream nine additional committee meetings. This is a another step forward in ensuring transparency and raising awareness of how the democratic process works and I am delighted that we now have further opportunities for residents to access and understand the local decisions that affect us all. You can register to receive alerts detailing the agenda of the meetings which are available to view online six days in advance. Find out more about our webcasts from our website and join in the debate on Twitter with the hashtag #edinwebcast.   Stay in the picture Keep yourself in the picture with our news section online. Watch live full Council and some committee meetings on our webcast. Join the debate on Twitter #edinwebcast If you wish to unsubscribe please email us.
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October Full Council Meeting

The October Council Meeting is coming up - next Thursday (23rd) ...

All the reports are now up on Committee Papers On-Line (CPOL) and you can access the main agenda directly here; and each of the individual reports separately via this link.

Of course - as ever, if you're so minded, you can watch all the proceedings live here ...

... or the meeting will be archived a few hours after it finishes for viewing at your leisure!

Take part in Edinburgh's budget Challenge!

I mentioned last week that our Draft Budget figures were now in the public domain ...

... well, much more detail is now additionally available via this link; and a budget-planner is also available, for everyone to have their say as to what services they would spend or save resources on?

And I'll just re-produce the relevant News Release below:

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Take the budget challenge

Published Friday, 3rd October 2014

 

New online tool enables residents to have their say on how the Capital invests and saves

With more than four months to go before the Capital's 2015/16 budget is set, the City of Edinburgh Council has unveiled an innovative online tool to help encourage as many residents as possible to have their say on where money should be invested and saved in 2015/16 and beyond.

At a meeting of the Finance & Resources Committee earlier this week (Tuesday 30 September), councillors approved a report on the draft budget, along with a set of budget proposals for public consultation over the coming months.  

The budget engagement period, which runs until 19 December 2014, begins today [Friday 3 October 2014] and is this year supplemented for the first time by an interactive online budget planner, the first time such a feature has been used by a major city in Scotland. 

The budget planner, together with a short film on the Council's website and YouTube channel, highlights the range of services the Council provides and the challenges it faces over the coming years in deciding which ones to prioritise against a backdrop of rising demand but flat or reducing resources.

Members of the public can take virtual control of the City's finances by using the planner tool to decide how they would balance the budget, discovering how increasing spend in some areas would impact on other areas.

Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance Convener, said: “It is very important to us that we hear and respond to what the people of Edinburgh are saying. By publishing our draft budget proposals months in advance of the February deadline it gives the public an opportunity to tell us what services they want their Council to spend more on and to help us to shape them in a way that will improve the lives of all our city’s residents. 

“This year we have introduced a number of new initiatives to make it even easier for people to tell us how the Council should spend its money. As a result, we are hoping that more of you let us know your views. It is important that people know that we are listening and responding to what they have to say.”

Councillor Bill Cook , Vice Convener, added:  “We want you to be part of this process and we need you to put forward your views whether it is by using our online planner, phone, letter, email, social media, or other means. Everything you say will be considered as part of the budget process and this invaluable feedback will inform the final budget proposals we’ll be putting to the Council in February 2015."

The full budget proposals, the budget planner and short film can all be accessed at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/budget.

You can have your say by:

- completing the online budget planner to have your say on what services you would spend or save money on in 2015 to 2018

- commenting on the 2015/16 proposals

You can do this by:

• email
• phone on 0131 200 2305 (8.30am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 3.40pm Friday)
• writing to us at Freepost, RSJC-SLXC-YTJY, Budget, Council Leader, City Chambers, High Street Edinburgh EH1 1YJ
• speaking to your local councillor

National Poetry Day

Hooray! --- it's National Poetry Day 2014 ;-)

... and this year's theme is; "Remember".

As per recent years, here are a few lines, with the annual theme in mind:


Remember

Still
today I remember
in the quiet
but amidst the noise
too, nothing drowns
out the silence
of emotion.

Calm
now, as the day
begins anew
each moment special
every breath cherished
and yet
the silence.

On days
it can deafen
all else swept
aside, as memory
seeps through every
pore, each detail
clear, warm.

Not
for me the choice
to forget, but to
remember
for what else
can one do, before
the silence.

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Allotment-update ... at last :-)

Good grief ... I do believe my last Allotment-update was back in mid-July ... that #indyref has a lot to answer for :-(

Luckily, my better-half has kept things ticking over; and given this was the first weekend I've had free for months - we did actually manage to spend several hours down there this afternoon ...

... with the picture on the left showing that there's still plenty of colour left in the flower-beds ;-)

Dug up more potatoes (still another, whole bed to lift), with a reasonable crop forthcoming; and the snap below shows that several other crops:

• leeks
• sweetcorn
• parsnips
• kale
• rhubarb
• and beetroot
  
  ... are all still growing strongly :-)

Lots more digging to do!

(just click on either picture for a closer view)

Draft 2015/16 Budget-proposals now available

Whilst most national media-attention (rightly so) has been on the recent Independence Referendum; the life of Local Government has been proceeding apace ...

... and, as per last year, we still had a clear commitment to publish next year's (2015/16) Budget-figures by the end of the preceding September i.e. this week!

Pleased to be able to confirm that those figures are indeed now in the public domain - they will be initially debated at next Tuesday afternoon's "Finance and Resources" Committee: all the reports/agenda are available via here; and the main report in question is directly accessible via here - 2015/18 revenue and capital budget framework.

Initial details on the budget consultation (for 2015/16) are now here - but much more will be up via that link around 3rd October. Please do re-visit that page, and ensure you have your say on these draft proposals ...

... and don't hesitate to contact me directly if you have any specific queries meantime.

Corporate, Policy and Strategy Committee next Tuesday

As mentioned at the end of August, there are two 'Policy and Strategy' committee meetings this month - with the second being this coming Tuesday (30th September) ...

... all the papers/reports are now in the public domain: the main Agenda can be found here ---

--- and the individual reports are all up on Committee Papers on-Line (CPOL) linked from here.

Reports that may well attract some attention and debate:

• Strategic Response to Welfare Reform in Edinburgh
• Employee Survey Results and Next Steps
• BOLD Portfolio - Update Report

Just click on any of the above links for access (as a PDF) to the specific report ...

... and, wait for it, from next Tuesday's Meeting onwards all of the Policy and Strategy Committee gatherings will be webcast live - and thereafter archived! All available via here ;-)

September Leader's Report

September 2014
Business as usual     The dust is still settling following the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum, announced earlier today at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston. The media attention on Scotland, and on Edinburgh in particular, has been unparalled and I am delighted that, as ever, our city shone. Credit is due to the many hundreds of council, and other, staff who played their part in making this possible - both at Ingliston and elsewhere across the city. Of course, whatever the result, Edinburgh was still going to remain Scotland's capital and a wonderful place to live and work - and, crucially, to do business. We are in the unique position here in that we have a Labour-SNP coalition running the city - something that will continue at least until the next local council elections in 2017. We have successfully kept constitutional debate out of the Chambers for the first half of our term and there is absolutely no reason at all why that can't continue. I can assure you that our focus will remain on running the city in the fairest and most efficient way possible and on keeping to the pledges set out in our Contract with the Capital two-and-a-half years ago. Councillor Andrew Burns Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council   First 100 days of trams Sunday 7 September marked the 100th day since Edinburgh Trams began passenger services and we were delighted to report that 1.5 million people travelled by tram in that period. The numbers are very much in line with predictions and with the business model and while it's obviously still early days, it's certainly been an encouraging start. It's also very welcome to see the increase in passenger numbers at Lothian Buses. The most recent Census in 2011 told us that the Capital was bucking the national trend in having more people using public transport, walking or cycling to commute and it definitely appears as though this trend is continuing. Harlaw Hydro I am delighted that work has now begun to develop a hydro electricity generation scheme at Edinburgh's Harlow Reservoir, a community led initiative that will harness enough energy from the water to power more than 50 homes. Due to be completed by the end of the year, the project aims to save more than 129 tonnes of carbon dioxide and produce 260,000Wh of green electricity. It has the backing of 240 shareholders, myself included, with around 70 per cent from the local Balerno, Currie and Juniper Green communities. Further investment is still required and the project is calling for additional backers. As I've said before in this report, we are aiming to become a more Cooperative Council through, amongst other things, promoting the development of cooperatives and other social enterprises. Please visit the Council website for further information. APSE awards Congratulations to the three Edinburgh projects that made it to the finals of this year's Association for Public Excellence (APSE) national awards. The shortlisting of the Muirhouse Community Shop, the Moredun/Hyvots Bank regeneration scheme and the Smarter Rehab project meant that we were also in the running for 'Council of the Year'. Even though they weren't successful, it was a great achievement for Edinburgh, and despite increasing pressure on budgets and resources, it demonstrated that our frontline services continue to ensure that the people are well cared for and looked after. I would like to congratulate all staff across the Council for their hard work and dedication to providing excellent services for residents which led to these nominations. Have your say on 20mph plans Following a successful pilot in South Edinburgh, a 20mph speed limit is now proposed for many city streets including the city centre, main shopping streets, other main roads with more pedestrians, and residential areas. A network of roads in suburban areas would keep a 30mph or 40mph limit. A consultation is now live to help draw up plans for new 20mph speed limits across the capital. We've been delighted with participation so far - we received more than 1,000 responses within just two weeks of promoting the survey. You can take part via the Council website or by attending one of the planned public meetings, roadshows and drop-in sessions being held across the city over the coming weeks. Stay in the picture Keep yourself in the picture with our news section online. Watch live full Council and some committee meetings on our webcast. Join the debate on Twitter #edinwebcast  If you wish to unsubscribe please email us.
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September Full Council Meeting

Well - the referendum may 'only just' be over ... but Council business continues apace, with next Thursday (25th) being our September Full Council day.

All the reports are now up on Committee Papers On-Line (CPOL) and you can access the main agenda directly here; and each of the individual reports separately via this link.

Of course - as ever, if you're so minded, you can watch all the proceedings live here ... or the meeting will be archived a few hours after it finishes for viewing at your leisure!

Edinburgh Council Leader: 'Our City Shone'

Council Leader Andrew Burns speaks following the Referendum result

Published Friday, 19th September 2014
 

"The dust is still settling following the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum, announced earlier today at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston.

The media attention on Scotland, and on Edinburgh in particular, has been unparalleled and I am delighted that, as ever, our city shone.

Credit is due to the many hundreds of Council, and other, staff who played their part in making this possible – both at Ingliston and elsewhere across the city.

Of course, whatever the result, Edinburgh was still going to remain Scotland’s Capital and a wonderful place to live and work – and, crucially, to do business.

We are in the unique position here in that we have a Labour-SNP coalition running the city – something that will continue at least until the next local council elections in 2017. We have successfully kept constitutional debate out of the Chambers for the first half of our term and there is absolutely no reason at all why that can’t continue.

I can assure you that our focus will remain on running the city in the fairest and most efficient way possible and on keeping to the pledges set out in our Contract with the Capital two-and-a-half years ago."

YES or NO - on Friday, we all need to work collectively

I will vote NO tomorrow, as variously explained over recent months and repeated in this blog-post from earlier, but whether the result is NO or YES; come this Friday, we are all going to need to work collectively together ...

... and here's a reminder of that plea I made on September 17th last year.

I'll certainly be keeping these thoughts at the forefront of my mind over coming days and weeks. I hope you can too.


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Posted by Andrew    Tuesday, September 17, 2013  

The morning after ...

* Friday 19th September 2014? *

A year to go until the referendum.

I've a shocking acknowledgement to make - I don't think the sky will fall in, if Scotland votes yes next year ...

... even more shocking - I don't think the sky will fall in, if Scotland votes no next year either.

Life will go on; the earth will continue to turn; the sun will rise.

Of course, the actual result will have a profound political impact on the country we live in.

But neither possible result - and I only wish more politicians would honestly admit this - will be a panacea for all of Scottish society's ills.

Now, it won't shock anyone to hear that I'll be voting no.

Just type 'devolution' in the top-left, blogger search-box; and scan through the results, and you'll quickly realise that I'm a (relatively) unusual - but hopefully consistent - unreformed, Labour Party (con)Federalist.

If I was to pick out one post, to illustrate my thinking, I guess I'd choose this one (and the links therein); but there are many more if you're inclined to undertake the suggested search ;-)

I have thought (rather sadly!) about these issues over several decades now, and basically remain fully committed to the cause of a Federal UK.

I completely accept that others, have arrived at a different decision - many of them may have settled on supporting Scottish Independence via a similar, constitutional (and political) trajectory to my own ... that's fine by me; I respect their view; and hope they respect mine.

366-days from now, regardless of the result, we'll wake up and the sky won't have fallen in; the earth will still be turning; and the sun will have risen ... and we'll need to collectively get on with attempting to make our country a better place to live in, for as many of its inhabitants as possible.

The vast majority of the people I know, on both sides of the referendum debate, are working to do just that today ... they'll be doing just that tomorrow; in a months time; and in years time.

Wouldn't the next 12-months be a little more interesting, and engaging, if we could all just keep that in mind as we move towards the morning of Friday 19th September 2014?

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