More policing, restoration of landmarks and investment across the city are all set to come from £90m in income in the first three years of Edinburgh’s new visitor levy.
A SNP proposal got over the line at a Thursday full council meeting, with Labour and the Lib Dems falling behind the party’s ideas for how to spend cash in the levy.
The SNP had presented a modified version of a proposal put forward by city officers, which Labour had supported in its original state.
They also won concessions that, in future versions of the visitor levy, work would be done to maximise the amount of income possible going to housing, and exploring whether the total percentage can be raised.
SNP group leader Simita Kumar said: “We want to do everything we can in terms of making sure we are mitigating the impact of tourism on housing.
“[Another win] has been the injection of the very much needed revenue into not just the centre of the city, but across our communities.
“Winning other parties’ support for our proposals on increasing housing investment has been a long, hard road.”
At present, £5m will be spent on housing during this iteration of the visitor levy.
In coming to an agreement, Labour agreed to pause the George Street and First New Town project, saving almost £21m for other priorities.
Council leader Jane Meagher said: “This is a vote to see a living city, this is what this is about – a city we can all be proud of.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Thornley said it was a “big win” for the city, and noted it was the first in the UK to bring about a visitor levy.
He added he was excited to see investment in a range of areas, including along the Water of Leith.
Funding under the agreement will see money put towards the Causey project in the southside, the Portobello Kilns, the Leith Theatre and a range of other efforts.
In addition, in place of the George Street project, work would go towards improving Princes Street instead, a major priority of the SNP.
And 45 new beat officers would be hired to cover the city centre, funded between the council and Police Scotland.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Edinburgh’s top police officer said the new hires would prevent the currently common situation where local policing teams across the city are drawn into the city centre to meet needs there.
Conservative councillor Phil Doggart said the city was ‘bailing out’ the force, with fellow group councillor Joanna Mowat saying Police Scotland should cover the entire cost.
The SNP wanted to see some money spent on adding and improving walkways and nature paths in the city, as well as better connections to the Lost Shore.
A range of other projects will be backed by the visitor levy income.
The Liberal Democrat group fell behind the Labour administration in its decisions, saying the plan put forward by officers fit two major goals they saw for the visitor levy.
Liberal Democrat councillor Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said: “Wherever possible and legal, the income [should be] used to benefit communities across Edinburgh and not just the core city centre, no matter how important it is.
“And, additional police in the city centre should mean that our well-known community police teams don’t get pulled away from local areas at busy times.”
She added that all proposals must provide ‘additionality’ across the city – allowing residents to notice the improvements coming from the levy.
The SNP, Labour and Liberal Democrat agreement bucked the trend in the Labour-run council, where the Conservatives tend to back Labour and the Greens join the SNP.
Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson, who as transport convener has been working to push the George Street First New Town proposal forward, spoke to colleagues on the loss of support for the project.
He said: “I’m not going to hide my frustration, disagreement, disappointment, that at the 11th hour, we’ve ended up crushing projects that have been years, sometimes decades, in the making.”
The Green group proposed sweeping changes to the officer and administration proposal, cutting away funding for policing, destination marketing and funding for the Tour de France.
Instead, they proposed funding for a range of cultural projects and heritage items, including the Causey and the Gorgie Farm, among others.
They wanted to see funding put towards ‘free bus days’ in the capital, along with sustainability projects.
But they wanted to keep the George Street project in place, saying that – despite price increases – it was nearly ready to go, unlike possible improvements to Princes Street.
Green councillor Alex Staniforth said: “Throwing money at the police is not the way to make Edinburgh more safe at night.”
After the decision, he said: “Our proposals rejected unnecessary spending on the whims of private business regarding graffiti and bunting. We also rejected the pie-in-the-sky notion that extra funding for police will improve the night time experience.”
Fellow Green councillor Claire Miller said she was ‘gobsmacked’ that the SNP had not backed investment in the George Street project.
The Conservative group stressed that they were not keen on the idea of the visitor levy in the first place – but said they felt an obligation to put proposals forward anyway.
Group leader, councillor Iain Whyte, said the scheme should focus on existing infrastructure.
He said: “If we’re going to spend all this additional money, there are some priorities, and those are that the city should be as spotless as possible, and our existing assets are maintained.
“We also want to make sure that we fit the requirements of the legislation; this is exceptionally important.”
He added that he did not want the spend on housing in the proposals, and that he worried it could breach the legislation behind the visitor levy.
The group also said it wanted to reduce ‘risk’ in the scheme. Additionally, it wanted to scrap the George Street project.
Councillors generally supported the idea of the visitor levy – minus the Conservative group – but many criticised the rush with which plans needed to come together.
Some also expressed that they wished guidelines on how the money should be spent were not set out by legislation.
Cllr Dijkstra-Downie said she wished the model was more like the visitor levy in Amsterdam, where the local government has complete authority over how to spend the funds it brings in.
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