Tell us what you think and we’ll deliver again
Back in late 2011, Edinburgh Labour launched a Draft Manifesto
consultation process, to which we received over 1,000 responses from members of
the public.
As
a result of the feedback we received, we ensured that several elements of our
final 2012 Election Manifesto were strengthened – and over the last
Council-term we have consequently ensured that there is:
·
open
live-webcasting of all the main Council Meetings, which are archived and
available for scrutiny by everyone
·
a
completely revised Budgetary-process, whereby a draft budget is published
months in advance and fully consulted upon before final adoption
·
a
Petitions Committee (Chaired by the Opposition) through which members of the
public can directly raise local issues
·
a
revised Audit Committee (again Chaired by the Opposition) which is able to
scrutinise key Council decisions and hold those in power to account
·
an
entirely renewed ‘Localities’ structure, with much more decision-making power
being progressively devolved to local areas and local people
·
the
use of Participatory Budgeting (PB) in ‘Localities’, wherein local residents
choose their own budget priorities
·
introduction of the Living Wage for all of the Council’s workforce,
leading the way for the rest of the Capital City … this benefitted literally
thousands of low-paid Council employees
·
settlement for the outstanding Equal Pay Issues … again benefitting
literally thousands of low-paid female employees
I think it’s fair to say that very few, if any, political Groups had
undertaken such an open, and consultative, Manifesto-exercise before – and
thereafter gone on to actually deliver the changes requested.
And at the end of last month, Edinburgh Labour launched our Draft
Manifesto for the next Local Elections, which will take place on Thursday 4th
May 2017. You can access the document via this link ...
... along with full details of how to send any feedback, a process which
will be run until Tuesday 28th February 2017.
The draft document we’ve just launched has six themes; and I’ll highlight below
just one pledge, from each of the themes.
Planning
for Edinburgh’s Growth
Ensure
the delivery of a ‘City Region Deal’ for Edinburgh, Lothians, the Borders and
Fife – that deal to include
significant infrastructure funding, and new Housing-powers for local Councils.
Young
People and Education
There
are already a number of community sports hubs across the city; Broughton High
School has a school of music and dance, while Leith has a Confucius Institute
specialising in the teaching of Mandarin; and other schools specialise in
vocational courses or are recognised as leading in certain subject areas.
So, building
on the Council’s move to localities we will set up more ‘specialist school
hubs’ in; languages; science & technology; arts/creative industries; and
sport ... in High Schools right across the city.
Affordable
Housing for all
Committing to deliver 8,000 new affordable homes over the
next ten years and encourage our Registered Social Landlord (RSL) partners to
match this, bringing 16,000 affordable homes to Edinburgh in the next decade.
Care
and Compassion in our Society
Deliver 8 ‘Health and Social Care Community Hubs’ across
the City. These Hubs would be physical ‘one stop shops’ where people can speak
directly to professionals in both the voluntary/statutory sector, about all of
their health and care needs. This model is already used in other service-areas,
and has proven to be extremely successful.
Jobs
and the Local Economy
We need to
empower our cities to play a much fuller role in serving their people and
stimulating their local economies - we will therefore press the Scottish
Government over the required powers, and seek to introduce the following
measures locally:
·
abandon
the Council Tax freeze
·
extend
Council Tax banding (if the Tax is not otherwise reformed) to embrace the
wealthiest in our society
·
allow
Council/s full control of Business Rates
·
adjust
means settlement to allow Council/s full income of taxes generated locally
·
introduce
the so-called ‘Tourist Visitor Levy’
Your
Local Environment
We
need to do more on air pollution – as this is one of the most significant
threats to the ‘quality of life’ we currently enjoy in our Capital City:
·
we will therefore consult on the implementation of Low Emissions
Zones (LEZs) for the City
·
we will also lobby the Scottish Government to devolve powers to
Local Authorities, allowing them to; consider the implementation of a
‘Workplace Parking Levy’; and the implementation of an ‘Emissions Surcharge’
Edinburgh Labour believe this is a radical, bold set of proposals, which
– given the chance – we will deliver upon.
But we
do want to have a genuine consultation with the residents of Edinburgh. We’d
like to know what you think of our ideas, or give us your own ideas to ensure Edinburgh
remains a European City to be proud of.
Cllr Andrew Burns
Labour Group Leader &
Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council
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