Council tax, schools and potholes - where's the money going in Edinburgh?
It's council budget day in Edinburgh, here's what each party are looking to do with the money over the next year
Last updated 22nd Feb 2023
Political parties in Edinburgh have unveiled their budget proposals as councillors prepare to plug a £76 million financial black hole.
The council will meet on Thursday (February 23) to agree on the city’s annual plan for spending, saving and raising revenue to fund local services.
Council tax rises of between 4% and 5.99% have been proposed and councillors will look to reverse cuts put forward by officers.
Plans have also been set out to increase parking fines to raise £2.4 million and borrow more to fund investment in roads, waste collections and street cleansing.
The SNP and Green groups have submitted a joint budget proposal whilst Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems have drawn up individual plans. Councillors will debate them all and hold a final vote to decide which will be rolled out.
Here's what each party are proposing..
Labour
The Labour administration budget proposes a 5.75% council tax increase, which would mean an additional £79.28 over the year for band D properties, raising an extra £7.6million for the council.
It supports reversing £1.5 million of planned cuts including £370, 000 to speech and language therapy services, £867, 000 to transition teacher roles and £120,000 to the Taxicard scheme which helps people with disabilities to get around.
The administration also wants to fund £9 million investment in roads, pavements and waste through borrowing and reverse a planned £1.5 million cut to the carriageways and footways budget whilst allocating £3 million to the struggling King’s Theatre.
In addition, they would spend an additional £185,000 to scrap fines for overdue library books; £150,000 on new communal bins; £250,000 on free special uplifts for people on low incomes and £145,000 to tackle fly tipping.
However Labour, with just 13 councillors, will need other parties to back their budget for it to be passed. The Lib Dems have indicated they will not vote for any proposals, which reduce school spending, highlighting a more than £5 million cut to devolved headteacher budgets the administration has not reversed in the plans published today.
Meanwhile the Conservatives have said they want to see more investment in reforming the delivery of services and ‘save to spend’ measures, as well as bus services for underserved areas, city centre bin collections and graffiti removal.
SNP/Greens
The SNP-Green budget contains the highest council tax uplift proposed at 5.99%. A bid to apply varying increases to different bands was scrapped after the council received legal advice suggesting this would not be possible.
The rise would see band D households pay an extra £82.59 a year.
The joint budget includes shelving the £5.6 million cut to school budgets and £400,000 to education welfare officer roles.
It seeks to continue free tram travel for under 22s at a cost of £3 million, whilst also opposing the cuts to speech therapy and Taxicard.
SNP and Green councillors have proposed additional investments of £1.2 million in tackling climate change; £100,000 in a commission in accessibility; £500,000 for roads and pavements; £200,000 in street cleansing; £400,000 in public toilets; £100,000 in park lighting and £200,000 to help community centres through the cost of living crisis.
Furthermore they want to set aside a further £500,000 to replace the ‘Pride Bridge’ in Leith and £60,000 to return the Tollcross Clock whilst slashing the Lord Provost’s budget by £100,000. Other plans to save and raise money include leasing out empty council offices, reducing spend on agency staff and the council’s communications budget.
Liberal Democrats
The council’s Liberal Democrat group has tabled plans for a 5% council tax increase – a £68.94 rise for band D properties across the year, raising an additional £5.39 million.
Like the SNP and Greens their budget includes reversing £5.5 million cuts to school budgets, £370,000 speech and language therapy and keeping the Taxicard scheme.
It contains £16 million capital borrowing and planned investments of £3 million in gully cleaning, fly tipping, graffiti removal and street sweeping; £279,000 for a climate and sustainability team; £11 million to improve paths, pavements and roads; £3 million to fund park and greenspace improvements; £2million for flood prevention measures and, as pledged by other groups, £3million for the King’s Theatre.
Furthermore there are plans to save £600,000 by withdrawing the council’s commitment to no compulsory redundancies and £500,000 by reviewing outsourcing of waste and cleansing services.
Conservatives
The Conservatives have put forward the lowest council tax rise at 4%. This would increase band D property bills by £55.15.
They have also called for the speech and language cut not to be taken forward and for a “value for money service reviews to deliver significant savings”.
They have rejected the administration’s pledge to spend 10 per cent of the roads budget on cycling infrastructure and plans to save £800,000 by increasing the cost of on street parking permits.
The group wants to see £200,000 spent on restoring bus services for Willowbrae/Lady Nairne and Dumbiedykes; £8million on roads and pavements; £500,000 on a ‘city clean up’; £750,000 in parks and greenspaces; £1.5million on maintaining bridges and £3million on the King’s Theatre.