Branch Committee

Annual Report 2023 (July 2022 to June 2023)

The past year has seen the branch move much more fully out of COVID-19
restrictions, returning to hosting lots of in person events but maintaining the
option for many to be accessed online, with some excellent events and member
engagement. At the start of the year we planned a busy programme, foreseeing
that this would be an election-free year and of course that was not to be, with
an unexpected by-election campaign in Corstorphine - Murrayfield providing an
opportunity to build and develop our campaigning capacity in West Edinburgh.

This was the first year of trialling our new branch structure, with a smaller
core committee and four working groups (see below). Overall this has worked well
and is a model we will continue with, although some groups had limited capacity
at times as a result of members dropping out or posts being unfilled from the
start of the year. This challenge of encouraging more volunteers to become
active on the committee is likely to be an issue again next year.

Despite this, yet again, the committee has done an amazing job of making the
branch activities, events, communications and campaigning work really well. We
would like to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who
has played a part in this over the past year.

Corstorphine - Murrayfield By-election 2023

The first by-election of the Council term was held on 10 March in
Corstorphine/Murrayfield ward. We had an excellent first-time candidate in Chris
Young, and the West Edinburgh Greens led an energetic campaign, with a large
number of leaflets delivered and areas canvassed for the first time in a ward
that we have never previously targeted.

We secured 417 votes, 5.1% of the total. Although this represents a slight fall
on our 2022 vote share, this was no reflection on the campaign, and appears to
have been driven by a combination of external factors.

Policy and Campaigns

In addition to supporting the by-election campaign and developing new ways of
sharing Councillor reports to members, the working group started the process of
building capacity for branch members to campaign on local issues, outwith
elections. The aim of this is to raise our profile and that of issues we care
about, as well as try to achieve specific campaign wins. Following discussion at
two branch meetings and with local teams, the overall theme of public spaces was
agreed as the first campaign theme, with housing one for future action. Several
specific public spaces campaigns were identified and some actions started,
although this remains something to build on next year.

Events and fundraising

This year we moved to a mixed programme of some online only events with several
branch meetings as hybrid events with an option to attend in person or join
online. Our regular venue has the technology to make this possible and feedback
seems to be that this works well and is something we should continue.

This year our branch meeting calendar was again very varied - thanks to Mariusz
and other members who helped to organise these.

In addition to our monthly meetings, committee members have organised a regular
programme of Green Walks, which have been really popular as a way for members to
explore the city and socialise outwith meetings. A very successful Auction of
Promises was also held in December, raising £1200 for the branch as a result of
members' generous donations and bids.

Membership and local teams

Our Branch work plan set a target of 2000 members by the end of the year. As of
June 2023, the number of SGP members in the Branch was 1981, including 144 in
West Lothian. These numbers are slightly down on last year but this may be a
result of a clean up to the records by Party staff of lapsed members following
the election. From the membership perspective the working group focused on
supporting the local teams to contact new members and coordinated the “Getting
to know the party” branch meeting in January 2023.

The working group also undertook a ward team survey, supported the branch
structure review that is being promoted at the AGM and assisted teams in skills
sharing between teams.

Members of the working group also contributed to the Corstorphine Murrayfield
by-election campaign, helping the West Edinburgh team with elements like
planning delivery runs.

Communications

The quality and frequency of communications this year has continued to be very
high, with regular e-newsletters, Green News, a new events calendar and social
media output ensuring members and others are well informed about the Branch’s
activities. Particular thanks again to Alison and other members of the
communications group for all their work on this. Thanks also to our Councillors
for trying out some new formats for sharing their monthly reports on their work,
which have proved popular with Edinburgh Branch members.

Branch Workplan

At the start of the new committee year, the committee developed a workplan to
guide our activities over the year. Actions are designed to help us achieve four
aims:

Some key actions that were achieved this year were:

Some areas that we have identified as a priority but where we did not make as
much progress as we would have liked because of capacity will remain a focus
next year. These include:

Other Committee Business

Other committee activities over the past year have included:

The branch was saddened to hear of the passing of long-standing member Bill
Brockie in June. Bill played a key role in building our party in Edinburgh and
led a remarkable life. You can read a tribute to Bill’s life from Gavin Corbett
here.

Treasurer’s Report

This year it has not been possible to provide a report in advance of the AGM, as
the outgoing Treasurer has been unavailable. The committee will work with the
newly elected treasurer to ensure proper handover and a 2022-23 report will be
made available at a later date.

Rob Gowans and Zoe Clelland

Branch Co-convenors

June 2023