Where we are and where we will be

Where we are and where we will be
The idea of Edinburgh is a combination of place, soul and symbolic leadership of a nation

Thursday 12 February 2009

A strange idea of consensus

The City Council Budget meeting today could best be described as an example of poor political theatre; no vision from the SnP/Libdem mal-administration and a torrent of personal abuse from those on their benches with nothing helpful to contribute. One wee interesting thing came to light; the SNP/Libdems had had "budget talks" with the Tories and the Greens, but admitted that they decided not to talk to us. Apparently their idea of consensus politics is to only talk with those they agree with....

If they had talked with us they wouldn't have had to push through their cuts; instead they could have done these things;

On Schools - reversed last year’s funding reductions in those budgets giving schools an extra £2.7million; established a ‘£2million revenue’ schools “Energy and Efficiency Fund” for the city – established a ‘£1.2million capital’ school ‘Refurbishment and Upgrade Fund’; to provide funding to undertake the essential works at Wave3 schools; and to establish a new (year 1) £12million ‘capital fund’ with further funds being prioritised in future years to enable development of the remaining Wave3 Schools.
On Economic Development - made an additional investment of some £1.3million in ‘economic development activities’, and established a £5million “Affordable Housing Fund” for the provision of affordable housing across the city.
On Protecting the Vulnerable - invested an additional £2million revenue in ‘Care for the Elderly’ and ‘Respite Care’ services and accommodation services for ‘Young People with Disabilities’; provided an additional £320,000 to towards the provision of 10 new, local Police Officers; and 2 new ‘Care Homes’ for the city.
On Transport -invested an additional £300,000 to protect and enhance all currently ‘supported bus services’ ‘£1.5million capital’ in bus-priority measures and to re-phase all non-essential ‘capital’ roadworks for the duration of the current tram works, prioritising pavement repairs to a ratio of 60%/40% -£8million of capital expenditure in 2009-10 on pavements and £5million of capital expenditure on roads.
On Local Environment - invested £0.6million to provide £50,000 per annum, of new monies, to each of the local Neighbourhood Partnerships. £0.5million per annum to World Heritage Trust to protect the fabric of the city.
On Culture and Leisure - Invested £120,000 towards cultural education and outreach work and to invest ‘£2million capital’ in parks, pitches, pavilions and play areas.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know supported bus routes are advantageous to those who use the service, but, why are there so many buses crawing around during off peak hours empty?
Would it really be so bad if you had to change bus to get home or is the sight of loads of buses all trundling up and down Princes Street empty good advertising?
Surely there's a better way?

Anonymous said...

Ewan, where would your mystery £42,540,000 listed here have come from? I'm not defending the current maladministration, note.

Ewan said...

Anonymous; off peak buses are what we mean by a bus service that needs supporting ie providing a servcie that might not be financially viable but meet a need, so your half empty bus is some-one elses lifeline.

James

from a combination of a number of things including one off capital expenditure using some of the £50, we left in the bank, merging of two departments (finance and corporate services, cutting the administrations spending on roads by £6m plus, using the savings that everyone has agreed and a number of other sources. Its all in our budget which I can send you if you want me to

Ewan

Anonymous said...

Actually I see very few empty buses,even at off peak times. I do see lots of almost empty cars ...

Even with half a dozen passengers, a bus is making better use of the road space than 6 cars.

Even if like me you're mostly a car driver, you should welcome and encourage things that increase bus use - and get 'other' drivers off the road.

Ewan said...

Archie

couldn't agree more. Even the city car club, despite being about cars not buses, keeps cars off the roads by providing flexible alternatives to everyone feeling they have to own their own car. off peak buses are another of those options even though they sometimes travel less than full

Surgery Times

1st Wed @ Piershill Library, 30 Piershill Terrace.
2nd Wed @ Craigentinny Community Centre, Loaning Rd.
3rd Wed @ Duddingston Primary School, Duddingston Rd.

All 7:15pm -7:45pm

and the last Sat. Lochend YWCA, 198 Restalrig Road South
12noon -1pm


(no appointment needed, all during school terms)
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