Time for developers to build better places - Ian Murray
Last week, it emerged that 16 households in Gilmerton would have to temporarily relocate following the discovery of a previously undetected mining feature beneath their properties.
I have been in touch with some of the residents to support them as they navigate the disruption, and I have written to Miller Homes, the developer, to ask for an explanation as to why these issues were not discovered earlier in the construction process, prior to the homes being built.
While the details in this case are particularly extreme, this is an all-too-familiar story in the south of Edinburgh: residents move into a new development, only to find that works that should have been completed long before they move in have been left unfinished.
It is an issue I have been campaigning on for years through my Build Better Places campaign.
I started the campaign to improve local public services. While housebuilding in the south east of the city has accelerated in recent years, local services have not kept pace.
It is right that we build new homes as Edinburgh’s population grows, but my office hears daily from people who cannot access GP services, or primary school places for their kids, or who must walk significant distances to reach the nearest bus stop. It affects new and longstanding residents alike.
Over time, what began as a campaign for better public services has also become a campaign for accountability and ensuring developers fulfil their obligations. In many cases, residents are being forced to live in the middle of unfinished building sites with essential infrastructure remaining incomplete for years.
Every week, I hear from constituents about half-built play parks, construction sites seemingly frozen in time for years on end, schools promised in glossy sales pamphlets but not delivered, and paths leading to nowhere.
And when residents want to challenge this, they find themselves passed between developers, the council, factors, the Scottish Government and an assortment of agencies. By applying pressure, my team and I can and do secure progress, but the central issue of a lack of accountability remains.
Too often, neither residents nor councils have the powers or funding they need to hold developers accountable for unfinished infrastructure works. So, I welcome the emphasis the new Prime Minister has put on restoring agency to local communities. Andy Burnham says he wants to reverse a decades-long trend where power has been centralised and accountability has been fragmented.
The SNP would do well to heed this message here in Scotland. Far from putting control back in local hands, our devolved Scottish Government has centralised power in Holyrood. It is a betrayal of the promise of devolution, which was supposed to be about putting decision-making as close to people as possible. Meanwhile, SNP cuts to local government funding have left the City of Edinburgh Council with the lowest funding per head of any local authority in Scotland.
The Scottish Government should follow Andy Burnham’s lead and reverse years of centralisation so that our communities have the powers and resources to shape their own future and secure the services and infrastructure they need and deserve. Powers for local people to make decisions for the places they call home.