Perhaps the most rewarding part of being a Councillor is dealing with casework from constituents,  it is a chance to impact positively on people’s lives. The biggest and most intractable casework issue is housing – evidenced by almost 800 people applying for a single council house in my Ward recently.  

Whilst I have a constant stream of housing casework, other issues can be more seasonal. Without a doubt this time of year is when complaints about road and footpath condition peak. This year we went into winter with many roads and footpaths in a bad state, and the cold and wet weather results in further decline. Road and footpath condition is an issue which the council must, and is, taking seriously.  

Having inherited a situation where road and footpath maintenance was underfunded in Edinburgh, the current Labour Council Administration allocated £11M of additional funding to the issue despite our capital being Scotland’s worst funded local authority. We are listening to the public, and will resurface whole streets rather than take a piecemeal approach. This means that 420,000m² of road and 170,000m² of pavement improvements will be carried out in 2023/24, compared to pre-Covid yearly averages of 225,000m² for roads and 30,000m² for pavements. 

In addition to this, we are trialling a state-of-the-art “Pothole Killer” machine which helps automate repairs – so far, it has filled around 8,000m² of potholes. 

We won’t get footpaths and roads back to where we want them to be in one year, but this investment will help halt the decline. 

Indeed, as part of the 2024/25 budget process I am working hard to get additional funding for roads and footpaths – Despite Edinburgh being Scotland’s worst funded local authority. We will invest wisely and prudently to improve the network. In January we agreed the city’s latest Transport Asset Management Programme which commits to prioritising projects to make the most efficient use of the funding available, as well as exploring new methods and treatments to maximise funds. 

If you want to know more on this, you can listen to me here talking on Radio Scotland about the issue.

Our offer for the 2024/24 budget: