The Accounts Commission has today (Thursday 24 October) published the findings of the Controller of Audit鈥檚 Best Value Assurance Report on the City of Edinburgh Council.
Responding to the , Council Leader, Cammy Day, said:
We’re encouraged by the Commission’s findings, which recognise the good progress the Council has made since 2020.
We’ve delivered a lot of change at a time of huge pressure on our services and on our budget, but we’ve stayed true to our priorities of protecting day-to-day services and investing in a fairer, greener future. Our aims to eradicate poverty and become net-zero by 2030 are ambitious, but we need to be aspirational to make sure they stay at the top of our priority list.
Our focus on getting the basics right for our residents, meanwhile, is also bearing fruit with Edinburgh now a top performing Council in Scotland for street cleanliness, and continued improvements in key areas such as road conditions. We acknowledge, however, that there is still much more to be done and we’ve targeted substantial additional resources into key services such as housing, where we know performance has to improve if we are to tackle Edinburgh’s housing emergency.
We’re continuing to adopt new technologies to make it easier for residents to come to us for help and, as recognised in the report, we’re looking forward to realising the huge benefits our Visitor Levy proposals will bring from 2026 – which we forecast will raise over £100m for the city by 2030.
It’s no secret, however, that ever more difficult financial decisions lie ahead. Despite the unique pressures that come with being Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh remains the lowest funded council per head in Scotland, which is having a huge impact on our finances. The latest projections show that we will face a budget shortfall of at least £30m next year and we’ll need to work even harder to ensure we can keep on delivering best value for the people of Edinburgh.