Edinburgh Council coalition councillors scramble to spend some of extra £9.3 million in their wards as election looms – Steve Cardownie

The news that the Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, has provided a one-off budget boost of £9.3 million to the City of Edinburgh Council will have caused a flurry of activity up in the City Chambers as councillors – if history is anything to go by – scramble to earmark the money for electorate-pleasing expenditure.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has given Edinburgh Council a one-off budget boost (Picture: Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament via Getty Images)

Given that the money can only be used once, certain projects which have an ongoing expenditure timescale will be immediately ruled out.

The recommendations from officials are just that – recommendations – and administration councillors will be mindful that an election is just around the corner and, as a result, they are likely to want to spend the money in areas that will attract attention-grabbing headlines.

Spending extra money on roads and pavements will undoubtedly find favour with the public given that potholed roads are a subject that has dominated the comments section of the Evening News on a regular basis.

Parks and greenspaces could also do with the benefit of extra spending as more people realise the health benefit they offer, particularly given the impact of Covid and the measures introduced in an effort to contain it.

Councillors may also take the opportunity to promote improvements in their own wards, particularly if they are not so confident of being returned on May 5 so would welcome some extra investment that they can trumpet in their election addresses.

Spending on local projects just might provide the extra votes needed to secure an election victory and the council administration will be casting an eye on wards where a boost might make the difference between a win or a defeat.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.