Greens have big ambitions as city holds double council by-election
Voters head to the polls in two city council by-elections on Thursday in what is almost certainly the last test of its political parties ahead of May’s local elections.
The SNP are looking to defend two seats - in Southside/Newington and Portobello/Craigmillar - after senior councillors Simita Kumar and Kate Campbell stepped down following their election to the Scottish Parliament.
Independent modelling by PollCheck suggests the Greens may be favourites to follow their dramatic win in Edinburgh Central at this year’s Scottish elections by taking the vacant seat in Southside/Newington. It also suggests the party - whose leader in England and Wales Zack Polanski has visited to rally local party activists - may be the main challenger in Portobello/Craigmillar. The modelling is based on local voting patterns in recent elections rather than live polling of current opinion.
Labour and the Lib Dems also have their ambitions, with all four parties hoping to establish some momentum ahead of what promises to be a knife-edge local election in May.
State of the parties: The outcome of the by-elections is highly unlikely to change the current leadership of the council. The SNP are the biggest party on the local authority (with 15 seats going into the by-elections), but are kept out of power by a minority Labour administration (11 seats) propped up by the Lib Dems (14) and Conservatives (10). However, wins this week will give the winning parties stronger local stories to tell heading into May’s elections. Technically, the Lib Dems could overtake the SNP as the biggest party on the council, although the double victor that would take is seen as highly unlikely.
Southside/Newington contenders: The main contenders are seen as Labour activist Ruth Elliott who has campaigned against Purpose Built Student Accommodation developmemt; cycling campaigner and University of Edinburgh AI researcher Artie Khovanov of the Lib Dem’s; and the Greens’ Isabella Gastel Alejandre, who helps run community projects including a permaculture garden and clothes-repair workshops.
Porty/Craigmillar contenders: SNP activist Silas McGilvray appears to face the most competition from Labour’s Jim Wyke, who works in marine environmental protection, and housing co-operative worker Lorenzo Martinico of the Greens.
Watch out for: The winning party or parties insisting they are best placed to win in the area at next May’s elections.
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
DOO-ING GOOD: The Newhailes estate in Musselburgh has received a flood of hand-knitted pigeons from well-wishers (pictured above) after knitted doos were stolen from a display in the doocot at the National Trust property.
BATTERY STORAGE PLAN: Developers seeking to locate a Battery Energy Storage System described as Kaimes Renewal Energy Park within the Green Belt at Burdiehouse Square are bringing forward a renewed application. An earlier application was refused by the city council because of its Green Belt location and proximity to a Special Landscape Area and a Conservation Area, and was also refused on Appeal. Councillors at a meeting of the development management sub-committee on Wednesday will be told no detail about the new application has yet been submitted, and will be asked to consider the issues.
HEALTH BOARDS MERGER? The Scottish Government is considering merging Scotland’s 14 regional health boards, including NHS Lothian, to create as few as three super-boards, according to Daily Record political editor Paul Hutcheon. The move would be a cost-saving exercise, cutting the number of chief executives and other senior executives. A review might be announced as soon as tomorrow when First Minister John Swinney lays out his Programme for Government.
FIRE SITE STARTER: The city council has agreed to explore the possibility of a compulsory purchase order of the fire-hit former Debenhams site on Princes Street. The move comes amid concerns developer Criterion Capital may drop its plans for a Zedwell Hotel and its joint-ownership of the site with French firm Osmo Energie may prolong attempts to bring the site back into use.
FESTIVALS FUNDING BOOST: The Festivals and the city’s other major cultural organisations, including theatres, museums and community arts centres, are in line for a 25% increase in their funding from the city council. Their total council funding will go up to £13.75m after the SNP and Lib Dems forced the city’s Labour administration to use Visitor Levy proceeds to fund a £2.75m increase.
Festivals v city council continued: The war of words between the council’s Labour leadership and the Festivals continued during the fractious meeting at which the increase was agreed on Friday. Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Fringe, accused the council of a lack of strategic thought in its approach to Festivals funding. Margaret Graham, the council’s culture convener, effectively told him ‘you aren’t the only show in town’, insisting the benefits of the Levy had to spread around the city.
No innovation: The blanket 25% funding increase spelled the end of a proposed £1.4m innovation fund, which would have opened funding opportunities to new arts organisations, for next year.
FUNNY THING HAPPENED… The prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Awards winners have been announced – with an Englishman, an Irish woman, but no Scotsman amongst the gongs. Chris Cantrill won the overall top gong, the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his show Rewilding, at Monkey Barrel, which was presented by previous winner Richard Gadd at a ceremony at Ghillie Dhu at the weekend. Marty Gleeson picked up best newcomer for her show Dog Ear, and the Panel Prize went to One Joke, by Liebenspiel, a show in which multiple comedians tell a single joke to raise money for charity.
A FLAT NO: Plans to convert the former Royal London head offices in Henderson Row into 63 flats have ben rejected by the city council for a second time. The revised proposals removed all parking spaces and cut the number of flats by two to makes some of them bigger, but were still rejected.
PORTY SEWAGE: SEPA are warning against swimming or paddling in the sea at Portobello. A water quality warning issued last Thursday remains in place after testing at the west end of the beach, near the Figgate Burn, which carries sewage overflow from the city to the sea, raised concerns.
HEAD TURNING: Edinburgh’s renowned independent school for girls, St George’s, has appointed a new Head – and it looks something of a coup. Niamh Green currently leads the prestigious girls’ boarding school Roedean in the south of England and brings two decades of experience in girls’ day and boarding educations. She takes up her new position in Scotland’s capital next year, when she will succeed Carol Chandler-Thompson.
Pic of the week
THE BUSINESS
Popular East Lothian attraction closes doors
A much-loved local business has closed its doors for the final time. East Links Family Park at Dunbar had its final day of operation yesterday after 25 years at the site and hundreds of thousands of family visits.
The lease on the current site has run out, and efforts by the business to relocate to a nearby site were refused planning permission by East Lothian Council amid concerns about the impact that 100,000 visitors a year would have, prompting hundreds of objections. An appeal was also rejected.
Yesterday, on social media, the business thanked customers and staff and said: “For a quarter of a century, East Links Family Park has been a very special part of family life in East Lothian and beyond. We have had the privilege of welcoming generations of families through our gates, watching children grow up, return with their own children, and create countless happy memories along the way.”
START-UP SUCCESS: Scotland has outstripped the wider UK in business start-ups in the first half of the year, according to the NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland and Beauhurst’s New Startup Index. The number of business incorporations rose 3.73% compared with the first half of last year, to 20,900.
NEW ESCAPE: A new escape room experience has been launched in Edinburgh by local businessman Chris Wood. His Team Machine maintain the new facility is the largest of its kind in the UK and is the first in the capital to offer a tailored experience for children as well as large groups. The venue uses immersive technology and is located at Nicolson Square.
CONFERENCE FUTURE: Norton Park - Edinburgh’s main third sector hub - is inviting community organisations, charities, social enterprises and local people to help shape the future of its Conference Centre, and has commissioned a comprehensive look at options for new and enhanced uses for the facility, with the ambition of creating greater social impact and stronger community benefit for the building in the Easter Road area.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
ART WALK WEEKENDS: Enjoy the seaside and explore the work of 70 artists in their homes, studios and pop-up exhibitions. Art Walk Weekends turn Portobello into one huge art gallery. This weekend and next, at 10am-6pm.
FULL HOUSE: House music legend Armand Van Helden brings his tunes to the Corn Exchange. Catch the You Don’t Know Me and Barbara Streisand star on Saturday night.
HOP INTO THE GARDEN: Live music and street food pop-ups return to Archerfield Walled Garden in East Lothian for the 7th annual Hops in the Garden festival on Saturday. All proceeds go to Leuchie House, which offers 24-hour respite care for people with neurological conditions and their families, near North Berwick.
TOP TABLE: Love board games, card games and roleplaying games? Tabletop Scotland brings more than 130 exhibitors demonstrating and selling games to the Royal Highland Centre for Scotland’s biggest convention of its kind, on Friday to Sunday.
QUICK BITES
FULLY-BAKED PLAN: Plans have been lodged that, if approved, would see the former bingo hall at 50 Nicolson Street in the Southside transformed into a bakery and café. Independent operator PUBLIC wants to transform the venue, which has also been a theatre and the La Scala cinema, into a three-floor venue with seating for more than 100 customers.
COCKTAIL STORY: A new cocktail bar – Understory – is to open in the West End on 15 September. Located within vaults beneath the streets within the Rutland Hotel building it is led by Sam Baxendale, former manager of the multi-award winning Bramble and Rutland Hotel head of bars James Grant.
SOBER THOUGHT: A new café with a “sober bar” list of non-alcoholic drinks is set to open in the West End. Work is underway getting Brioche ready for opening – at a date due to be confirmed soon – and to be run by the team behind popular Bruntsfield coffee shop Matcha Sando.