Trouble at Edinburgh's Tron can't be blamed solely on the police – John McLellan

It’s easy to blame police for not being effective in dealing with complaints from High Street traders about lawlessness and intimidation around the Tron, but they can’t solely be blamed for the growing problems in the area.

High Street traders have voiced complaints about lawlessness and intimidation in the area around the Tron

This should be no surprise to Edinburgh Council because during the consultation about the conversion of the old Panmure St Annes’s special school into a treatment centre for homeless people with addictions, local businesses warned this could happen.

And in ending the funding for community policing, while putting minimal effort into the failed attempt to create at Old Town Business Improvement District which would have paid for an officer, the SNP-Labour coalition made managing the situation even worse.

Methadone has been prescribed at the Royal Mile Pharmacy for years, so that’s not the issue, but concentrating people with serious mental health issues at the heart of the World Heritage site was always likely to increase the clash with traders and visitors alike, and that includes Edinburgh people not just tourists.

It might have made sense on paper to put the treatment hub on The Cowgate because of the proximity of homeless hostels, and such problems shouldn’t be swept aside.

But Hunter Square has had problems with anti-social behaviour for years and creating a treatment hub for some of the city’s most hard-to-treat citizens and drawing in more people with addictions ─ and opportunistic drug dealers ─ without an adequate plan to deal with the consequences must be considered a serious failure. And not just by the police.

John McLellan is a Conservative councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston

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