No 'proactive' contacting of burned memorial bench donors, admit council

A Conservative councillor warned of a “further reputational damage” to the council as the investigation rumbles on.

Memorial benches from Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens are burned at a facility on the outskirts of the city.

Donors who paid for memorial benches to remember their loved ones will not have been told whether their bench was burned by Edinburgh City Council employees

Officials launched a top-level probe in January after it emerged several memorial benches intended to commemorate lost family members and friends had been burned, allegedly to save money for the council.

In an answer to a question from Conservative group chair Cllr Jason Rust at a full council meeting, council leader Adam McVey gave an update on the progress of the investigation which had been paused due to Covid-19.

Memorial benches from Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens are burned at a facility on the outskirts of the city.

He said in a written answer that disciplinary investigations had restarted and the council expect it to be completed within the next four weeks.

Cllr McVey added that 25 benches had been confirmed to have been burned, but the council admitted no proactive contacting of donors or relatives had taken place.

The council said that donors of the burned benches were contacted by the council prior to the burning incident to ask them what they wanted to do with the bench, as is normal practice during the decommissioning process.

After the incident, some donors contacted the council and were told whether their bench had been burned or decommissioned properly, but were not contacted in relation to the investigation.

The council added that no proactive contacting had been undertaken, but that it may still happen if the results of the ongoing investigation deem it appropriate.

Cllr Rust warned that there would be “further reputational damage” if the investigation does not conclude soon.

He said: “While I appreciate there have been extenuating circumstances, the appalling incident was reported publicly in January and it was confirmed in early February well before lockdown that an investigation was already underway.

“It is therefore very disappointing that we are entering July with no outcome. I trust that the four week timescale now given will be met and contact made as appropriate with donors.

“There will be further reputational damage to the council if this is drawn out even more."

The SNP’s Cllr McVey said: “We began carrying out an investigation into the matter in February however, due to the impact of COVID-19 we were forced to suspend it, along with other investigations across the Council.

“We are still committed to completing this process to understand what happened at the time and for the appropriate action to be taken. We have now recommenced the process, which we hope to complete within the next four weeks.

“As a matter of course, all donors are contacted by letter when a bench they have donated is due to be decommissioned, though we will be reaching out with those affected if the investigation identifies that there has been a breach of Council policy which gives reason to do so.”