October Leader's Report

October 2016

#Edinburgh2050 What's great about Edinburgh? What could be better? What should the city be like in the year 2050? These are the questions we've been asking as we develop a '2050 Edinburgh City Vision'. We have much to be proud of here in the Capital but we do need to start thinking seriously about what we want Edinburgh to look like in 10, 20, even 30 years' time. It's important to note that this will not be a Council vision; rather officers' role will be to facilitate and support citywide collaboration and debate. Already, people from all corners and sectors of the city have been having their say. Our launch event at Cortex HQ, attended by more than 100 guests, has been reported widely in the media and continues to be hotly debated on social media. Indeed, #edinburgh2050 trended on Twitter, reaching more than a million people! If you haven't already, please have your say by answering our three simple questions at Edinburgh.org/2050 and on social media @edinburgh using #Edinburgh2050. Councillor Andrew Burns Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council Play your part in improving our services Please help us to improve our services by playing your part in our public engagement, which runs until 18 November. You can do this by completing our survey and/or contributing your ideas via our dialogue page. Thanks to your previous feedback, we have already agreed draft spending and saving plans for the next three years and this year's engagement is focusing on three themes, namely: new ways of working, lean and agile services and working with partners. Following the success of previous years, we are running another 'Question Time' event on 10 November in the City Chambers. This is designed to give you the opportunity to quiz our panel of senior councillors on the Council's budget proposals for next year and beyond. The proceedings will be chaired by Evening News, Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday Deputy Editor, Euan McGrory. It will also be broadcast live via the Council website. If you would like to put a question to the panel, or just come along and be part of the audience, please register online by 7 November. Billion pound boost I'm delighted that work is under way on the £1bn Edinburgh St James development. Our staff worked extremely hard at Festival time to keep the city litter-free and our specially branded Our Edinburgh bins collected 60% more litter during August, showing that the public are definitely doing their bit to help Edinburgh look her best. The Council and the Scottish Government both played a crucial role in helping the developers reach this major milestone for the project, which will transform the East End of Princes Street when complete in 2020. The investment will provide much needed premium retail space and leisure facilities, a world class 5 star hotel as well as new homes in the heart of the city. This will create thousands of jobs and contribute millions to the Scottish economy each year. A new centre for Pennywell and Muirhouse I was excited to see the plans for the new civic centre for Pennywell and Muirhouse, which will be considered by councillors on 27 October. The £26m proposals include the construction of 160 energy efficient homes, a new shopping centre, new office space for local services and a new civic square and public realm. This forms part of one of Scotland's largest housing-led regeneration schemes, which included the building of Craigroyston Community High School back in 2010. Construction of over 700 new homes and an NHS led partnership centre are already well under way and, over the next six to eight years, the area will be home to around 2000 new residents and over 180 staff. The consultation on plans for the civic centre is continuing and local people can share their thoughts by popping into Muirhouse Library, the Community Shop on Pennywell Road, the Local Office on West Pilton Gardens or on the Council's Consultation Hub until 28 October. Solar Co-operative success Earlier this month the Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative celebrated the completion of a project to install solar panels on 24 Council-owned venues. This will deliver cheaper, more sustainable energy to the buildings involved. Now, I'm delighted to see the initiative has been shortlisted for the Best Community Project Award in this year's Scottish Green Energy Awards. This recognises close partnership working between the Council, the Co-operative, local people and organisations, highlighting their contribution to the renewable energy industry. Involving the community and partner organisations to shape the way we deliver services is exactly the kind of collaborative approach we envision for Edinburgh's future. I wish all those involved the best of luck for the awards in December. 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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