Support for half of city’s high school students faces axe
Plus: Starmer leads praise for courageous Chris Hoy; and Short-Term Let operators' share new research with council
School cuts proposal ‘will be absolutely devastating’
Some of the country’s leading care providers have warned proposed cuts to support services in the Capital’s schools will be “absolutely devastating” for thousands of pupils.
The number of support staff assisting pupils with additional needs would be cut and those remaining diverted to other duties as part of a cost-cutting plan being considered by the city council.
There are around 25,000 pupils in the city’s schools with Additional Support Needs (ASN) such as autism, dyslexia and mental health problems. That accounts for around 45% of all pupils including approximately half of high school students.
The number identified as having extra support needs has risen significantly across Scotland and almost trebled in Edinburgh over the last decade.
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), which represents providers of specialist care and education for children and young people, have condemned the proposal as a “sticking plaster solution” which would “lead to reduced life chances”.
The city council is looking to cut £4 million from its schools inclusion budget as part of a wider drive to save £110 million over the next four years.
‘Absolutely devastating’: The SCSC says: “Any further axing in staff, who are already overstretched and under-resourced, in supporting these pupils will prove absolutely devastating. This will impact not only them, but also fellow pupils who will face reduced teaching time given the need to support those with ASN, as well as putting even more pressure on teachers and support staff.”
‘Least worst options’: Edinburgh’s education convener councillor Joan Griffiths says the council is looking at the “least worst options” amid the need for significant cost savings, adding: “Our saving proposals are at an early stage of development and will require further work and wider consultation before they are progressed to budget decision in February 2025. We acknowledge that the measures will impact on staffing.”
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
LOVE FOR THE HOYS: The Prime Minister has led a national outpouring of admiration for Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy after he revealed his cancer diagnosis is terminal. The six times Olympic cycling champion from Edinburgh has been told he has two to four years to live after the disease spread to his bones. His wife Sarra has also been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of Multiple Sclerosis, but he said the couple feel “lucky” that there are treatments which can slow the impact of the diseases.
HOGMANAY IN PORTY: Portobello Town Hall will host a free afternoon ceilidh and an evening concert by one of Kurt Cobain’s favourite bands, the Vaselines, on New Year’s Day as part of an expanded Edinburgh's Hogmanay programme. Leith Arches will also stage a New Year's Day club night with DJ and producer Hayley Zalassi headlining an all-female line-up, while Idlewild will headline a "Night Afore Concert” in the Assembly Rooms on 30 December.
BACK TO THE OFFICE: Fund managers Baillie Gifford have become the latest to shift working back to the office and away from the remote working practices established in the pandemic. The Edinburgh-based financial giant has told its 1800 staff they should work from the office unless there is “a sensible reason” to do otherwise. A Baillie Gifford spokesman told Sky News: “Of course we maintain a degree of flexibility for all staff, as we always have done, pre-pandemic.”
NEW JENNERS BOSS: The man who led the famous London store Selfridges as chief executive through the pandemic is to take charge of the redevelopment of Jenners. Edinburgh-born Andrew Keith will take up the post overseeing the transformation of the buildings into a hotel and reimagined department store in the New Year.
CRIMEWATCH APPEAL: The detective leading the ongoing search for the body of Suzanne Pilley has made a renewed appeal for help 14 years after her murder Edinburgh. Convicted killer David Gilroy has refused to reveal her whereabouts. Det Ch Insp Bob Williamson told the BBC’s Crimewatch he still hopes someone may have seen Gilroy’s silver Vauxhall Vectra being driven to Argyll on the day after she disappeared.
PAOLOZZI SALE: Works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi from his family's private collection are to go on public sale for the first time this week. Among the works by the Leith-born ‘father of pop art’ being offered for auction at Dreweatts in Newbury is the project ‘The History of Nothing’ based on a 12-minute 1962 film of changing black and white stills, with a random soundtrack of aircraft, locomotives, church bells and barking dogs.
PUMP IT UP: When Rosslyn Castle’s East Range reopens for holiday guests it will be Net Zero-ready and engineers believe it may be the world’s oldest building to have adopted air source heat pumps.
PORTO A GO-GO: The UK’s first vertical whisky distillery, the Port of Leith, has won a legal fight with Portuguese win makers over the use of the word “port”. The Douro and Port wine Institute, which represents port wine makers in Portugal, claimed the name was an infringement of its trademark on the names "Port" and "Porto", despite the distillery pointing out it was a reference to the harbour. The European Intellectual Property Office ruled that the Port of Leith Distillery can be registered for spirits, but not port wines or sherries.
PAYNE VIGIL: Around 200 fans of former One Direction singer Liam Payne gathered in the Meadows yesterday to pay tribute at an informal memorial service following his tragic death in Argentina.
AWARDS SPECTACLE: Optometrist Michael O’Kane, clinical director at Specsavers in Morningside and Cameron Toll, has been announced as a contender for ‘Optometrist of the Year’ at this year’s Optician Awards. He is the only optometrist from Scotland to be shortlisted, with the winner set to be announced in November.
SALE SMASHER: A small wooden footstool, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Miss Cranston’s Argyle Street Tea Rooms in Glasgow in 1898, has been sold by Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull for more than £81,000 – ten times the original estimate. The small, oak, footstool attracted international interest.
THE BUSINESS
Short-term lets sector research being shared with council
Research conducted by Edinburgh-based consultancy BiGGAR Economics claims that short-term lets make a substantial impact on the local economy while making up a tiny per centage of properties in the Capital.
The research, carried out for the sector, calculated that short-term lets generated £154million in GVA and supported more than 5500 jobs in 2023.
The report, which was jointly commissioned by Justice for Scotland’s Self-Catering and STL Solutions, looks at the sector’s economic impact as well as its effect on housing supply. City of Edinburgh Council introduced controversial STL licensing last year, claiming that the number of AirBnB-style properties in the city was having an adverse impact on housing supply, and dramatically reducing the entire properties being used for holiday lets.
The report concludes that secondary lets – properties rented out in their entirely to visitors rather than owner-occupied – account for just 0.8% of dwellings in Edinburgh. Meantime, it maintains, the number of long-term empty properties continues to rise, including in the period after licensing was introduced, with the city remaining a hotspot for empty housing at around 4% of homes empty.
The study comes as Edinburgh Council consult on their licensing scheme and the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee will shortly take oral evidence from stakeholders on the Scottish Government’s STL implementation update report. The research is being shared with the council and Government.
WHISKY SALE: The building which houses the Johnnie Walker Centre on Princes Street is being offered for sale by international property consultants JLL, at offers in excess of £31.58 million. The property is let to Johnnie Walker owners Diageo on a 25-year-lease.
HOTEL HEAVEN: Edinburgh remains the most attractive city for hotel investment in the UK outside London, according to the 2024 European Hotel Industry and Investment Survey by Deloitte. The Capital retained its spot as the most attractive city for UK regional hotel investment for the fourth consecutive year running.
PLANNING AHEAD: Dundee-based financial planning firm Thorntons Wealth Management has acquired Edinburgh financial planning firm Robson Macintosh. In a move that takes group assets under administration and management to close to £1b, Thorntons said.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
STREETCAR ON STAGE: With Kirsty Stuart and Matthew Trevannion taking on the roles of Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, so memorably portrayed on screen by Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams’ searing drama A Streetcar Named Desire is coming to the Lyceum. Starting on Thursday, the acclaimed Pitlochry Festival Theatre production runs until Saturday, 9 November.
MORMON MUSICAL: Described by the New York Times as “the best musical of this century”, The Book of Mormon is at the Edinburgh Playhouse until Saturday, 2 November.
FILM FEST: With winners and nominees from a string of international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, South by South West, Tribeca, Locarno and Sundance, Edinburgh Short Film Festival runs from Friday until Sunday, 10 November. Check out the best in Scottish and world short cinema from Egyptian neo-noir to Hong Kong animation, Belgian comedy-horror to Finnish documentary.
QUICK BITES
CURRY FAVOUR: Loanhead’s multi-award winning Radhuni is at it again. The curry house has been named as a Travellers’ Choice 2024 Award winner by TripAdvisor, placing them in the top 10% rated restaurants globally. The restaurant, which was named along with sister restaurant Itihaas in Dalkeith, is one of only four Indian style restaurants in Scotland to have an AA Rosette for culinary excellence, was named the UK’s top curry restaurant last year by trade magazine Curry Life and has twice won the title of Scotland’s Curry Restaurant of the Year in the British Curry Awards.
SEAFOOD LANDING: A new seafood restaurant – The Crab & Lobster Fish Shack – is to take over the vacant Frankie & Benny’s site in South Queensferry. The new restaurant, due to open Spring next year, will seat 180 customers and create 60 jobs.