Edinburgh: city that lost its way for want of leadership
The Edinburgh tram project has brought bad publicity to the capital
THREE years after Scotland’s capital was caught in the eye of the global financial storm, serious questions are being asked about the city’s future.
After a bruising period when Edinburgh’s reputation has been battered by the collapse of its banking giants, the debacle over the trams project and the growing number of gap sites in the city, there is growing discontent about where the city is going – and who should be leading its recovery.
With a string of major projects on the back-burner, the city struggling to attract inward investors and even a shortage of available office space, envious glances are being cast west.
Glasgow already appears to be reaping the benefits of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with new venues and others being overhauled. In Edinburgh, major developments are almost at a standstill.
Any lingering complacency in the city was probably swept away earlier this month when it emerged that Edinburgh had slipped to 31st out of Europe’s 36 main business centres – one place below its west coast rival.
The concerns have emerged despite Edinburgh’s booming tourism industry and money-spinning festivals helping the city to claim a string of “best city” honours over the past year, before the Rough Guide proclaimed Glasgow should be the capital instead of Edinburgh.
Much of the frustration is focused on the city council, which has been run for the past four years by a coalition of Liberal Democrat and SNP councillors.
Earlier this week they kissed and made up after the latest in a growing list of public spats, this time over controversial plans to privatise key public services.
The most damaging rift had been over the tram project, with many observers blaming the SNP’s opposition to the scheme for the costly dispute with the main contractors dragging on for nearly two and a half years.
However, there have also been fall-outs over the council’s efforts to shave millions from its budget, including controversial school closure proposals.
There are calls for Sue Bruce, the new chief executive of Edinburgh City Council, to be given more authority after impressing in her first ten months in the job. She has been credited with resolving the tram dispute, which the council’s Lib Dem-SNP council coalition had been in charge of. It has since been brought under the control of Holyrood.
Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “We could not have anticipated what was going to happen in the city over the last three years.
“Edinburgh has come through a significant and shattering crisis and it is clear its confidence is yet to recover.
“The city requires a unity of purpose and dynamic leadership, which it has not had in recent years, but cities like Glasgow have benefited from.
“We need everyone pulling together and putting their shoulder to the wheel. Having a coalition in charge of the council has not been helpful.
“Edinburgh’s fame over the tram project, for example, has now spread around the world. There is no question that it has damaged the city’s reputation.”
Mr Birse said there were various signs of optimism, including the city’s appeal as a renewables hub, the growing number of jobs returning to the financial services sector, and the strength of the tourism industry.
However, he said Ms Bruce inherited a “bucketful of problems” when she started her post in January.
Mr Birse added: “While we are not in favour of a system of electoral mayors, which would be very difficult to introduce in Scotland, there is definitely a case to give Scotland’s cities more power. They need to join together to provide one cohesive voice to make their case to the Scottish Government.”
One senior business figure, who asked not to be named, said: “The big issue in Edinburgh is a general lack of confidence.
“People look to the council to take the lead and it has just not been happening. There is a real lack of forward planning and although it is good at talking the city up, there is no sense of a proper strategy or vision.”
The past few years have seen Edinburgh hit with the full impact of the economic downturn, with around 4,000 jobs lost in the financial sector alone, and both RBS and HBOS rescued by taxpayer-funded bail-outs.
The same period has seen the council administration dogged by controversy over the handling of the tram project, which the SNP repeatedly demanded scrapped, while a string of major projects have either had to be shelved or are struggling to get off the ground. If that wasn’t enough, the dark shadow of a wide-ranging corruption inquiry into property repairs is set to drag on for years.
Professor David Bell, of Stirling University, said: “Edinburgh has not fared too badly from the downturn, and it could certainly have been a lot worse.
“There is a definitely a lack of business confidence and finance available at the moment and that will have a long-term impact.
“The problem with coalitions is you don’t really know what you are going to get.
“There is a sense of things swinging one way and then another and one party doing or saying something for political advantage.”
George Stonehouse, dean of Edinburgh Napier University’s business school, said: “I think since Sue Bruce has come into the council she has obviously identified a lot of difficulties.
“The city could certainly do with a much better overall vision and clearer messages about where it wants to go. It’s not very clear at the moment.”
Richard Kerley, chair of the Centre for Scottish Policy, said: “This is not the first occasion on which Edinburgh has had coalition or minority administrations. This is just not a very stable one and not a very successful one.
“However, easy solutions are not readily and immediately available, and with council elections just over six months away it seems likely that there will likely be some form of political rebalancing within the council next May.”
The council has been in charge of efforts to attract major investors into Princes Street, as well as promoting major opportunities on the waterfront, and a new “international business district” near Edinburgh Airport.
Progress on all of these has been slow, with only one major development being completed on Princes Street in the past six years, developers all but pulling the plug on schemes on the waterfront, and work on developments near the airport still at the planning stages.
The council is pinning its hopes on a new business district on the advent of the tram scheme as well as the recent earmarking of a site for the city’s long-awaited major concert arena, which had been previously touted for the likes of Leith Docks and Princes Street Gardens.
Charles Guest, a partner at the planning and development consultancy Ryden, said: “We tend to concentrate on the bad news in Edinburgh but the reality is Edinburgh has done pretty well at bringing in companies like Tesco, Virgin and Avaloq who have created a lot of new jobs.
“The big problem that is holding up a lot of developments is a lack of confidence and available. “It is very difficult to raise finance because of the way the market is.”
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Comments
There are 60 comments to this article
Page 1 of 4
Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 11:07 AM#58: "There has been this silly anti car policy but cars should not rule the city either" Cars never ruled the city. Cars were used to get people in and out of the city in a convenient and relatively fast manner. We should be embracing the car. That was why it was invented.
Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 11:04 AMThe rot in Edniburgh started with all the ludicrous anti-car measures implmented by Begg and Lazarowicz. The city worked fine when the CPZ was compact and not in operation on saturday afternoon and sunday. It also worked fine before most of the NS roads were blocked off. People could come into Edinburgh by car, drop off adjacent to the destination, park easily and cheaply and then pick up from the roadside prior to returning home. Whoever thinks that by preventing that and inconveniencing people, they are going to improve the economy of Edinburgh is away with the fairies. Edinburgh's economy (and indeed the city) has been destroyed for the sake of making it more "friendly" for a minority of non-car owning, bigoted loonies---and even they are not content. I said at the time that these measures were initially proposed that it would destroy Edinburgh and what do you know? I'm right yet again. And then of course cam the trams. They didn't turn into a debacle because of SNP opposition. They turned into a debacle because they are a bloody silly idea that will never work. Scr@p the trams. Open the roads back up. Get rid of the stupid one-way systems. Reduce the cost of parking. Get rid of most of the bus lanes. Convert the traffic lights back into roundabouts again. Reduce the size of the CPZ back to what it was in the mid-80s. Give us our city back and get it moving once again. That is the ONLY way ahead.
Navvy
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 08:52 AMThe trams may well be designed to be fast which as others have pointed out give rise to other problems such as the interface between pedestrians and car and bicycles with the trams BUT the ability to go fast does little to reduce journey times unless the stops are far apart AND there are no traffic lights or stoppages. If the stops are fas apart then feeder buses to the stops will be needed not only to the stops but along the tram route as well. I travel to the airport on the 100 bus and will be very surprised if the tram is consistently quicker never mind of equal cost. There has been this silly anti car policy but cars should not rule the city either. To me there should be a cordon, perhaps more than one where it is very difficult for cars to go. From there people should walk or take public transport and it is possible to have innovative ways of moving the less mobile among our unhealthy population. My car policy would see the city make every effort to move cars as rapidly as possible up to the cordon, sequenced traffic lights and properly policed stopping and parking. As part of keeping the cars moving and efficient we should have an underpass at Barnton - wanted these 45 years, a city bypass with 3 lanes each way and no roundabouts, a northern bypass better than the present Ferry road Leith mess and probably road pricing is required - I have lived with it in Singapore - but good public transport must be in place first. Other thoughts are reducing signage and street "furniture" old cities such as Bruges Leiden and many more do much better. More inner car parks perhaps under Queen Street Gardens with shuttles to princes street. Princes Street itself could be double decked all the way from Atholl Crescent to beyond Waterloo Bridge which would have to be rebuilt - just look at the big drop in Princes Street Gardens. We elect councillors to have ideas and vision and they should not be hiring in expensive unaccountable people to have ideas for them
Navvy
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 08:26 AMThe Scottish Government are intensely culpable in that having allocated £500Million to the trams they did not check up on how it was being spent despite all the well published signs that things were very wrong. However it is the council and those who voted for them who are at fault starting with the grossly incompetent Dawe. The citizens voted them all in and should take action. NO Labour - they started it - LibDEm or SNP sitting councillor or past councillor of the last 8 years should be reelected unless there are very extenuating circumstances to show that teh said councillor has acted in the interests of the City in respect of the trams and of the many other bad policies enacted over the last 2 councils
wayneb
Thursday, November 24, 2011 at 07:39 PMPending Moderation
daveatclola
Monday, November 21, 2011 at 06:31 PMthere is a strange change taking place in 'who is to blame' for the disaster that is the tram installation. The city council had an at arms length body whose sole job was to work with the builders to allow completion of the project on time and on budget. This lot continuousy lied to the council and the public about the state of affairs during the builder work so far completed. various 'leaders' came and went, one even accused the builders of deliquincy, yet Sue Bruce the other day admitted that she was dealing with the same people and what had changed were the council folks. sanity now prevails ie., both sides have reasonble folks dealing with the forward planning. What is boils down to is that the clowns at TIE were competely incompetent, the builders ran rings round them [note the number of points that went to arbitration and the number that were WON by the builders.]. these days the scotsman has decided that the folk at TIE are no longer to be held resonsible for their actions, the SNP are now the culprits. I just do not see the reasoning here, SNP did not chose TIE or interfere with their running of the project, how can SNP then become the culprit all of a sudden. Scotsman has not shown why they are now resonsible. One thing is for sure, if the SNP had not put a cap on the govt input cash the taxpayer would be paying vast amounts more to the project with a never-ending drip of funding.
regalzone
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 10:20 AMITS like the chap says .tourists dont come to see trams !my hometown has shot itself in foot with the tram.its not Glasgow that has a brilliant light rail subway that doesnt have to stop at lights etc! Glasgow is sitting on a goldmine of disused tunnels and lines that will be turned over to light rail .and it doesnt have to dig up city centre streets to get it into city .the sad thing is ,neither did we!
regalzone
Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 10:11 AMI moved out of my hometown because of the mess they are making of it .im so glad i dont rely on it for a living anymore. I Joined my family and friends in Glasgow.it has everything Eburgh has and more ,Brilliant vibe to the city and Subway. And the biggerst art & cultural centre outside london and brings more conferences to city than any city outside london.the best move i ever made.Never looked back.i feel sorry for my fellow citizens of the capital.it could have just taken a leaf out of Glasgows book who has been doing it for decades.
AlexWalk55
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 06:13 AMAs an Edinburgh born lad, I am proud of Edinburgh of the past but not of the last 50 years or so. Auld Reekie has become the anti-car capital of Europe, the tram fiasco simply shows how the left has treated scots generally and Edinburgh people in particular. Additional layers of authority from Westminster, The "Scotiish" Government and Edinburgh Council demonstrate that more levels of governance are bad for Edinburgh and it's people. I miss Edinburgh and perhaps Edinburgh has missed me, but I choose to live in the sun where taxes are low, there are no wheelie bins, you put your rubbish in bags that is picked up 3 times a week, there is a strong community spirit where people help each other, where council tax is at a level where Edinburgh people would find amazingly low and where the mayor chats to everyone and holds his surgeries at the local coffee house. Stop the politicians from ruining what's left of Edinburgh, stop feeling helpless Edinburgers, take control and vote them out, your once great city needs you, now.
Jess The Dog
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 01:38 PMMost of these issues go back at least five years.... certainly the Tram. Andrew Burns was invisible at the crucial time after the Tram Acts were passed and has no right to comment on the current debacle without explaining his own inaction. Edinburgh needs good leadership, independent of the Lab-SNPLib ping-pong game, but it isn't likely to happen. The city needs a directly elected Provost.
bdj
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 08:57 AMThe Rough Guide - total mince. Among other things, the city is suffering from the financial crisis. That was inevitable. Whatever else you can say about RBS and HBOS etc they paid big wages and exuded self confidence. Now they are government owned, subsidised by the taxpayers and synonymous with dodgy dealing and failure. That's bound to have a knock on effect throughout the city. The only wonder is it is not worse. #42 much that's true and Comrade Begg has much to answer for.
Jocki
Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 02:41 AMA am sure Ms Bruce has found a lot O problems in the City Council, it is awe the Councillors, wit a mess they hive made O the City and they wonder why people won't invest in Edinburgh. Awe thir fault, the sooner they get the Boot the better, a team O Joe Blows aff the street could dae better fur the City, and a Squad O Chinese could hive done the Trams faster and Better and it wid be finished on time and done richt. Accordin tae ma Cousin John who lives in the City the place it in a hell O a mess and the centre is loosin oot on Folks visitin the Shops, Awe the transport is bein re-routed roon the Toon instead O through it. Councillors get yir selves in gear or get oot that is wit the Folks O Edinburgh want, and it will happen at the Elections, yil awe be Bootit oot.
leithforme
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 06:43 PMEdinburgh has just become the laughing stock of the world under the current, worst in living memory, administration - they've bought the city to it's knees and burdened it with hundreds of millions of pounds on unneccessary debt to fuel thier vanity projects and incompetence; just remember this next May - you may have proportional voting; doesn't mean you have to use all the 'votes' - just vote for you you want, but don't give the Lib Dems or SNP your 3,4,5th votes (or however many they give you - does democracy still exist when everybody who's bribedbullied their local party members for a place on the 'list' gets in?) - make Edinburgh a LibDemSNP free zone!
Aristotle
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 04:06 PM#44 e2toe4 Very impressed when I went to Reims this year - example to Edinburgh of how to do a tram system - one that serves more than a small proportion of the population and links important centres - city centre, main hospital and university. As you mention it is unobtrusively laid out and landscaped and fits in with its surroundings. If a medium sized provincial city can do it why can't our iconic World class capital ? Clearly a lack of leadership and accountability go far to explaining the difference.
Richard Lionheart
Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 01:28 PM#42 Just about hits the nail on the head with the hammer. Edinburgh Changed when Labour declared the Politically Correct Independent Republic of Edinburgh and forgot that they were a city council there to serve the people of the city and make life in the city better! The Tram project should never have proceeded when the Lib DemSNP took control of the Council. Perhaps that was something to do with the leader of the SNP being Psuedo New Labour, and a possible long life pal of Prof Begg.
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