Edinburgh city region bids for more powers to boost growth and tackle poverty
Stronger region could fit with Scottish Government council shake-up plan
Council leaders say more powers for the Edinburgh city region could help boost growth, create jobs and tackle poverty across Lothian and beyond.
And a stronger Edinburgh and South East Scotland (ESES) region could fit in with the Scottish Government's plan to reorganise local government.
The city region deal agreed in 2018, covering Edinburgh, the Lothians, Borders and Fife, has been described as the most successful deal of its kind in the UK. It was launched with £600m from the Scottish and UK governments and has since attracted an additional £1.1 billion of investment and contributed £3.6 billion in economic growth.
Now the six councils are developing the partnership and seeking new powers to be devolved from both UK and Scottish governments.
A proposition drawn up by consultants Metro Dynamics argues that more local control over key issues like housing, transport and skills would allow the partnership to tackle some of the constraints hampering growth and shape investment.
Edinburgh council leader Jane Meagher told the policy and sustainability committee: "This is an extremely successful regional partnership which, if it were given extra powers, could really achieve a huge amount, not only for organisations in the city but more importantly for residents in the city region, particularly in terms of employability because good quality, highly paid jobs are pivotal to the ability of people to move out of poverty."
She was backed by former leader Cammy Day, who said: "The regional opportunities are immense if we get it right. I think getting real powers devolved from the Scottish Government and the UK Government could make Edinburgh and Lothians a hugely successful powerhouse."
Chief executive Paul Lawrence said when city region deal was established, it had been all about funding for specific projects negotiated with the two governments. “The partnership has evolved since then into wider conversations around policy, powers, new arrangements for cross-border collaboration.”
He said the proposal to seek more powers for the partnership had been initiated completely separately from local government reorganisation and it was only in recent weeks that there had been consideration of how they might “fit together”.
But finance convener Mandy Watt said making a more powerful partnership part of the reshaping of local government would mean a delay.
She said: “The city region deal we have is succeeding, it’s promoting growth, promoting employability and it has opened up employment across the region. But running this alongside public sector reform will take too long. This needs to be strengthened, and more powers need to come to it very quickly.”
Ross McKenzie, on behalf of the Greens, said Edinburgh council’s own priorities on ending poverty and tackling the climate and natures emergencies were not reflected in the partnership proposition. “The fact that poverty reduction and energy and electrification are only listed as potential future policy areas should set alarm bells ringing for us,” he said.
And he raised concerns about the governance model of the current city region deal, which has just one councillor from each authority on the joint committee which runs it. “The political composition of the current joint committee is six council leaders: five men and one woman; five Labour, one Conservative - a really worrying democratic deficit.”
But Cllr Meagher said to reflect the party balance across six councils could mean a committee of around 30, which would be “unmanageable”.