Councillor Group - Annual Report

Report to Annual General meeting

Edinburgh Green Councillors Group: Melanie Main, Alex Staniforth, Gavin Corbett,
Steve Burgess, Mary Campbell, Susan Rae, Claire Miller, Chas Booth

Since the last AGM n Autumn 2020 Council and Committees resumed responsibilities
and met on-line throughout the year. Councillors have continued to work from
home, on-line and rarely met officers face to face. Community meetings, notably
Community Councils and Parent Councils, have also resumed on-line but not in
person. For parents, attendance and participation at meetings has generally
increased as on-line meetings give more flexibility for busy parents in the
evenings. Councillors have not been able to visit schools or other sites in
person in general.

However, this has been another year of uncertainty, with a second and third
lockdown setting back agendas for a second year. There was hybrid working in
Council where the CEO and officers retain some emergency authority but with
Council and committees continuing, and the move to recovery as we come out of
the pandemic the priority.

This year have worked with Cllr Derek Howie, who sits as an independent but is a
SGP member, supporting his focus on equality and disability access issues.
Although the Green Group numbers 8, Derek has voted with the Greens and Greens
regularly deliver 10 votes with support from another independent.

Climate change continues to be the priority, the full Green group meeting as a
group and individually for each portfolio with lead officers to input into the
strategy for the council itself and a discussion on plans for implementing the
20-minute city with the Director Place. Steve Burgess is the Group lead on the
Climate Crisis. He represents the Green Group at the All Party Oversight Group
on Sustainability & Climate Emergency discussing council plans for achieving net
zero for both the Council and the City. The aim is to get a city-wide net zero
strategy in place before the UN climate conference, Cop26 in Glasgow in
November.

February is always focussed on the budget in Edinburgh Council and as such a lot
of councillors’ time is taken up with that, in particular Gavin Corbett‘s as our
finance spokesperson. This year we managed to work with other opposition
councillors to ensure that rent for residential council properties was frozen
for this year, ensuring those on low incomes in council houses – who may have
been on furlough and only 80% of their usual income – get a year’s respite from
rising rents. Gavin Corbett‘s overall budget was a ‘Green Recovery’ budget which
put more into parks and greenspace than any other budget as well as serious
investment in the city’s zero-carbon 2030 goal; setting the target line for
other parties seeking to prove that their budgets take the climate crisis and
other environmental concerns seriously.

In the Spring Council business became notably quieter as Holyrood election
campaigning got well underway and Green Councillors joined volunteers working to
elect Green MSPs.

Some committee highlights from the past months:

Mary Campbell brought forward a motion to Education committee to push the
council to do more on deferred school starts. This will involve trying to be a
pilot authority in 2022 for government-funded deferred places, pushing for
premature children to be considered in the legislation, and for funded places to
be given for all applications this year. You can read more here.

At Transport and Environment Committee, Claire Miller tabled a detailed
amendment (see p25) to the yearly report on the air quality figures for
Edinburgh. The air quality action plan is now 13 years out of date and
desperately needs to be rewritten. The city has 5 “air quality management areas”
(AQMA) where nitrogen oxides breach the national agreed levels for clean air and
a sixth AQMA for small particulates. The amendment passed after a vote, which
means that the committee will be prioritising the actions needed to clean up the
city’s polluted air.

Steve Burgess brought a motion to Transport-Environment committee on the urgent
need for temporary toilet facilities on the Meadows to cope with the huge
numbers of people going there in good weather – it was a relief that these
facilities were agreed (all puns intended) and they opened 21^st June.

Alex Staniforth proposed a motion at Council making clear Edinburgh Council’s
opposition to the introduction of photo ID for voting on the grounds of
disenfranchising voters and informing government ministers of that position.
Despite Conservative opposition the motion passed and Edinburgh City is formally
opposed to requiring photo ID for voting.

Melanie Main succeeded in getting a Climate Change Charter 2030 for the
Edinburgh Integration Joint Board agreed, bringing services from A&E to GP
services, care homes to uppaid carers support, into line with Edinburgh’s
Climate Commission recommendations. She was also appointed a Climate Champion.

Through Sub-Licensing, Susan Rae finally secured a section in the Taxi Training
on safety around cyclists, has been working hard on helping black cab drivers
get permission to upgrade their engines to Cat 6 and in relation to short-term
lets, encouraging a robust approach to licensing HMO premises.

In the Housing Committee, Chas Booth has been pushing the Council to mainstream
work to bring empty homes back into use and urging stronger action to tackle
land banking.

Across the city in local wards this year some actions long fought for came to
fruition and others are just getting started:

After almost a decade of pressing on dangerous parking and road safety in
Fountainbridge-Craiglockhart, Gavin Corbett has welcomed the next steps towards
controlled parking in his area: Phase 1 Approved!

After thirty years of residents complaining about dangerous driving and rat
runs, but only 8 years pressing herself, Melanie Main secured no entry signs to
Braid Crescent, and won agreement to close Canaan Lane as part of the Quiet
Route, effectively removing the Woodburn Terrace rat run.

A week after being elected in May 2017, Alex Staniforth began pressing for
Northfield Allotments, in Craigentinny & Duddingston, to have a water supply and
it was connected in April 2021.

In the city centre ward, Claire has picked up her previous work on creating a
buffer zone around the Chalmers Sexual Health Centre on Lauriston Place. In 2018
Claire had raised the issue of anti-abortion protests outside the health centre
and had been successful in bringing all partners together to agree how to
collect information/evidence on the problem. With a new public petition, the
subject came back to the council for debate, and Claire has supported calls for
a national approach and is actively working with colleagues in COSLA to find
solutions for Scotland.

Steve Burgess brought a motion to Transport-Environment committee on the urgent
need for temporary toilet facilities on the Meadows to cope with the huge
numbers of people going there in good weather – it was a relief to residents who
have put up with urination and worse on their doorsteps for over a decade, that
these facilities were agreed (all puns intended) and they opened 21^st June

Mary Campbell has been working to ensure community involvement in the future of
Portobello Town Hall, and set up a public meeting which led to the creation of
Portobello Central.

Chas Booth has been tackling noise and air pollution from ships in Leith port.

Susan Rae continues to ensure that the £eithChooses, first public participation
event, goes from strength to strength. After a successful 2021, with the highest
ever vote and zero complaints, the Group is now developing both their outreach
and funding sources further.

Despite the pandemic, Councillors have deal with literally thousands of requests
for help from residents and supported and initiated numerous local projects. You
can read our full monthly reports which give highlights/examples.