Edinburgh council's £12,000 travel bill for councillors and officials comes under fire
An opposition councillor in Edinburgh has criticised the approval of more than £12,000 in spending on travel for councillors and council officers.
The council’s policy committee signed off on a number of trips, including the Lord Provost and two others taking business-class flights to New York for Tartan Week next month.
The total cost of his entourage’s travel to the city sits at £6,500, while the travel of a council officer to a transport conference in Barcelona comes in at around £1,000.
And the visit of four council officers to the start of the Tour de France, also in Barcelona, is estimated to cost £5,000.
Alongside the costs, estimates in the report said the travel would produce around 3,750kg of carbon emissions.
The SNP claimed ‘no tangible benefit’ to the city had been highlighted by the trips, and the money should go towards council services instead.
But the city’s top finance boss said the travel was important for ‘representing the city on the international stage’, and learning lessons from other cities.
The council leader is set to visit the Bloomberg CityLab mayors’ conference in New York – though the costs for this are set to be paid for by the event organisers.
A description of the event in a report for councillors says it includes an ‘off-the-record, mayors only event’ that allows participants to meet subject matter experts in issues cities face.
Meanwhile, the transport conference in Barcelona is set to discuss ‘practical insights, shared challenges and innovative approaches’ to urban transport delivery and safety.
The organisers are covering the travel for transport convener and Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson, but the council will foot the bill for the council officer attending.
The visit of council staff to Barcelona for the Tour de France’s Grand Depart is, according to the report, ‘essential’ for the city to host the same event in 2027.
It adds that “the visit will instruct the safe delivery of the event in Edinburgh”, and that it will “investigate sustainability initiatives” which can be applied to the city’s hosting of the event.
Finance convener and Labour councillor Mandy Watt said: “As Scotland’s Capital, it’s important that we’re represented on the international stage along with other major cities – including others from Scotland – as a means of promoting the city, building relationships with leaders from around the world and learning from our counterparts in different countries.
“The Lord Provost’s attendance at this year’s Tartan Week, alongside other civic leaders from around Scotland, has been requested to ‘strengthen the enduring ties between Scotland and New York City’ and will offer several opportunities to support and promote Edinburgh globally.”
She added that having city officers visit the transport conference would let officers and elected members learn from ‘approaches taken by other cities.’
Cllr Watt continued to say that the attendance of the four officers at the Tour de France Grand Depart would be ‘invaluable’ to Edinburgh’s planning for its hosting of the event.
SNP councillor and group finance spokesperson Stuart Dobbin said: “While we know these Labour and Lib Dem councillors want to jet off, there has been no tangible benefit to the city highlighted from these trips.
“This year the SNP Government gave Edinburgh council £17.2m in extra funding. That money should be going towards housing our citizens, supporting council services and improving people’s lives, not spent by councillors on their own travel and hotel bills.”