Economy Strategy published by Edinburgh Council

An Economy Strategy to build on Edinburgh’s success to tackle inequality and poverty has been published by the City of Edinburgh Council.

The draft strategy recognises that although Edinburgh remains the second most prosperous UK city outside London, jobs growth alone has not been sufficient to tackle poverty and deliver sustained improvements in living standards for everyone.

Consultation carried out with political parties and businesses revealed a consensus of opinion that Edinburgh’s economy should aim to create jobs and inspire innovation but that it should also do much more to ensure that the benefits of that prosperity are accessible to all residents across the city.

It has been created around three themes: innovation, inclusion and collaboration. It includes 10 steps on how to achieve this goal, including: establishing Edinburgh as the data capital of Europe; develop Edinburgh as a city of resilient businesses with the space to grow; and reform Edinburgh’s education and skills landscape to meet the needs of the changing economy.

The council needs ownership and leadership from other city partners in order to achieve this goal.

Gavin Barrie, housing and economy convener, said: “Our Economy Strategy sees an important shift in the focus of our work to help Edinburgh’s economy to grow. It is going from strength to strength and has shown great resilience during tough economic times. The time has come, however, to take a good look at why there are still people living in Edinburgh who are not sharing in this prosperity.

“We need to grow our economy so that it is fair in terms of wages, opportunity, access to housing, education and good careers. Much of that work has already started through our commitment to build 20,000 new affordable homes in the city and the £1.1 billion Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region deal, which will provide £300 million for world leading data innovation centres, £25 million for regional skills programme to support improved career opportunities for disadvantaged groups and £65 million of new funding for housing to unlock strategic development sites.

“The strategy also fits in well with the most recent Scottish Government Economic Strategy and UK Industrial Strategy, both of which have placed increasing emphasis on the need for inclusive growth for our economy.

“Locally, the strategy also represents one of the first major practical steps towards achieving the City Vision for 2050 that we have been developing with contributions from people across the city since September 2016.”