Edinburgh pledges further funding for net zero work

Elected members on the City of Edinburgh Council have agreed options for investing £21 million in one-off additional funding.

In February, the City of Edinburgh Council set a balanced budget for 2021/22, shaped by the key priorities of the Council Business Plan – tackling poverty, promoting sustainability and enhancing residents’ well-being.

Following confirmation by the Scottish Government of additional funding for local authorities and, council officers identified up to £21 million which could be made available to address budget pressures, anticipated shortfalls in savings delivery and other member priorities in 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Amongst the investment, the council will provide an additional £2 million extra in repairs to the roads and pavements network including local residential areas and an extra £4 million to improve surface condition for all users. The councils will also invest £300,000 to improve both street cleansing operations and winter gritting making our streets cleaner and safer.

Agreed investment options also include £1.1 million in this programme to improve organisation and capacity in communal bins across the city, a further £500,000 to improve council estate carbon performance, £250,000 to expand EV charging infrastructure for the council's own fleet and £700,000 to take forward citizen communication and engagement to bring about behaviour change assisting the city in reaching carbon net zero target.

Rob Munn, Finance and Resources Convener, said: “When our Council budget was agreed in February, the final local government settlement was not known in full. At the time we set a prudent Budget in the knowledge that we would have other decisions to make following clarification of the final settlement. That final settlement was more than we had anticipated and I'm very pleased that we've been able to agree these investments in council today, helping us to meet our commitments and to ensure that we address poverty, well-being and the climate challenge.”