Here’s why Edinburgh Council is messing up the city – Jo Mowat

Edinburgh Council’s current administration appears more interested in Scottish independence than pressing issues here and now, writes Jo Mowat.

The City of Edinburgh Council's headquarters in East Market Street

When I was asked to put my name forward to stand for the council in 2007 it was with a renewed interest in the unevenness of the pavements as a fairly new buggy pusher.

After being elected my priority was to improve the delivery of local services for the voters of Edinburgh. Bins, roads, schools, social care, housing and the city centre made for a pretty full to-do list.

As time has gone on different council administrations have missed opportunities to improve service delivery and the current political climate has shifted so much that the delivery of these services now plays second fiddle to the grand plans and projects we apparently need before we can design the new services.

I have lost count of the times that new service delivery design has been proposed; BOLD, LEAN, Service Transformation generally responding to reduction in the block grant from Scottish Government.

Edinburgh has a unique funding situation with a three-way split between grant income from the Scottish Government, council tax and non-domestic business rates. More than other cities in Scotland, Edinburgh relies on successful businesses to fund the city.

With normally buoyant hospitality, leisure, tourism and retail sectors and three universities, the impact of Covid on the city’s finances is likely to be significant.

In 2017 the Conservatives proposed a Coalition of All the Talents (COAT) should form the council administration, rather than try to bring an uncomfortable coalition into being which did not have the experience, confidence or coherent and complementary policy agenda to govern for the good times, let alone try and navigate the city’s way through the most challenging times we have faced.

Those who stood to gain most – ie the leadership of the motley crew of SNP and Labour – railed against the idea of a COAT because “it wouldn’t get the big plans through”.

The right to implement big plans without electoral cover has to be earned; it is earned by shoring up the organisation so that when the auditors go in they do not constantly find problems with basic processes and projects are not being managed off the side of desks.

Before grand new plans are introduced, previous improvement plans need to be implemented, embedded and sustained.

This administration has not earned the right to their grand plans.

They continue to ignore public opinion on detailed schemes and, having removed the economy as a specific remit for any committee, dismantled its direct marketing organisation and, just when the city needs them most, we hear that the overriding concern of the Convener of the Housing, Homelessness and Fairwork Committee is independence, the daddy of all uncosted grand schemes.

The day job needs doing now more than ever and it is frightening that the priorities of those in charge of the city are not recovery from the pandemic, ensuring that the education of our children does not suffer any more than it has, ensuring that our businesses recover and thrive – because you cannot spend taxes if there’s no money to tax – and that our services are delivered.

Instead it is separation from the family of nations that should be working together rather than pulling apart.

Cllr Jo Mowat is the Conservative councillor for the City Centre Ward

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