Following agreement on the outline plans for the new tourist tax for Edinburgh the council will meet again next week to agree the final details.
At a lengthy meeting on Friday the members of the Policy and Sustainability Committee which is made up of all the political group leaders, heard deputations and deliberated over rates to charge and how the funds raised will be spent.
Council Leader Jane Meagher said: “Today represented yet another important milestone in our journey towards securing a visitor levy for Edinburgh – and to realising a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest tens of millions of pounds towards enhancing and sustaining the things that make our city such a great place to visit – and live in – all year round.
“At all stages of this process, we’ve listened to and taken account of the views of residents, industry and other stakeholders – and we mustn’t lose sight of just how much positivity there is for the scheme across all of these groups. It’s in this spirit that we’re considering the further submissions received from the wider tourism sector this week, ensuring we’re as well informed as we can be ahead of taking a decision next Friday.
“I remain focused on delivering a scheme that will be both fit for purpose and workable – and that will benefit our city, our residents and our visitors for many years to come.”
Although Labour and the Liberal Democrats agreed the proposed 5% rate, the Greens had suggested 8% and the SNP had proposed hiking the rate up to 7% to make the rate comparable to European cities, but this was overruled. Conservatives wanted to delay making a decision or approve a rate of 4%. The SNP group also put forward a plan to spend £20 million on the housing emergency with £5 million each year to unlock borrowing and a further £15 million each year spent directly on new social and affordable house. The SNP said this would amount to almost 1,000 new homes within five years.
SNP Council Group Leader, Cllr Simita Kumar, said: “The SNP put forward by far the most ambitious plan in terms of using Visitor Levy revenue to address a housing emergency in Edinburgh which is intimately tied up with our city’s status as one of Europe’s most popular cities for tourists.
“Our city is beautiful and abundant in culture, so it’s no wonder that so many people from all over the world want to visit it. But that popularity comes with consequences for the people who live here, not least those working in the tourism and hospitality industries, who are often lower paid and struggle with high housing costs.
“I’m delighted that the Scottish Government has given Edinburgh this valuable tool to harness the popularity of Edinburgh as a tourist destination in a way that benefits all our citizens. We need to use that to its fullest extent. The unwillingness of Labour and their Lib Dem and Tory allies to do that shows their lack of commitment to tackling the greatest structural challenge facing our city – the lack of affordable housing.”
The decision in full is as follows:
To approve the following adjusted Motion by Cllr Meagher:
1) To note the outcome of the consultation on the draft Visitor Levy for Edinburgh scheme.
2) To agree to adopt the final Visitor Levy for Edinburgh scheme, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report by the Interim Executive Director of Place, with the exception of the proposed three-month transition period and note this would be subject to further officer advice ahead of the decision of Council, and with the following change:
At 7. Participatory budgeting (£2m over 3 years). The following wording be added “with appropriate audit checks in place to ensure that these funds are spent on facilitating the achievement of the scheme’s objectives.”
3) To agree to begin the recruitment for the Chair of the Visitor Levy Forum immediately, with the appointment subject to the approval of the Council.
4) To agree in principle the use of the Spend to Save fund to support preparatory work for the Edinburgh Visitor Levy scheme as well as its implementation.
5) To refer the report to the Council meeting on 24 January 2025 for approval and ratification of the scheme and the use of Spend to Save funding.
6) To agree to defer the following items in Appendix 6 to the report by the Interim Executive Director of Place as individual reports to each relevant executive committee for discussion / approval.
2. Mitigation of Tourism on Housing
5. City Operations and Infrastructure
6. Culture, Heritage and Events
7. Destination and Visitor Management.
7) To note that, should Council approve the scheme, each investment theme would be presented to the relevant executive committee for approval, and to agree to reaffirm previously agreed principles, namely that spending should:
a) prioritise additionality in terms of investment in services and improvement projects, and,
b) wherever possible and in a way that was consistent with the statutory requirements, be used to benefit communities across Edinburgh and not just the core city centre.
8) To agree that the development of projects under the TVL themes for investment should also demonstrate their adherence to existing Council strategies where applicable.
9) To agree that the Visitor Levy Forum should contain an equal number of representatives from community and business organisation and recommend that at least 40% of the representatives must be women.
10) To note that an initial decision on how housing funds would be spent would come to Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee in May 2025 and to request that this report should set out what options were legally possible across different housing tenures including social housing.
The council meets on 24 January to approve the next steps for the Visitor Levy. The papers for that meeting are here.
Edinburgh City Chambers. Photo: Martin P. McAdam www.martinmcadam.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
Like this:
Like Loading…