Retail champions set their stall out for city 'villages'

The city council is hunting for three people who will look at ways of rejuvenating nine of the Capital's shopping centres, including Morningside, Tollcross and Leith.

Their appointment, expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, has been criticised by opposition councillors, who are concerned that they are being taken on at a time when the city council may have to make up to 1200 staff redundant.

There are also fears that the new team will be duplicating roles that already exist, including the four "zone managers" who were introduced at the end of last year at a cost of 200,000 a year.

Council chiefs insist the roles are different and the new retail champions will improve the city's "town centres".

Among the proposals to be considered for each centre is whether its shops, cafes, restaurants, halls and other venues could bring in extra revenue by being added to the list of venues for festivals.

Other proposals include seasonal campaigns, creating strong branding for the area, showcasing artwork in empty shops, and "pop-up shops" for established brands or to allow new products to be market- tested.

Councillor Jason Rust, economic development leader of the Conservative group on the city council, said: "It is important that we look carefully at funding and, ideally, source external funding for this. At a time that we are looking at the possibility of compulsory redundancies and are certainly already seeing some people not being replaced, this seems like almost an unnecessary additional tier of bureaucracy."

The "town centre co-ordinators", who will each receive a 25,000 salary and will have a budget of 45,000 between them to spend, will be asked to draw up action plans showing improvements that can be made to the centres of Corstorphine, Gorgie/Dalry, Leith Central, Leith Walk, Morningside/Bruntsfield, Nicolson Street/Clerk Street, Portobello, Stockbridge and Tollcross.

Each co-ordinator, to be funded jointly by the city council and the Open for Business group - funded by tram firm TIE and the council - will cover one of three city sections: east, west and city centres.Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city's economic development leader, said: "I can scarcely believe that anyone, especially a councillor, has been unable to understand the basic difference between a zone manager, whose job is to look after the economic wellbeing of a development zone, and a town centre manager, whose job is to look after the urban realm and assist in assuring the viability of the retail and service offering in an existing town centre."

Graham Birse, chairman of the Open for Business group and managing director of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "The big challenge is to support companies and help them to do better, as this will."