Edinburgh council: a lesson in how not to take budget decisions – Robert Aldridge

Politics is about deciding between conflicting priorities. It should also be about joined-up thinking. The council’s budget last week was an example of how it should not be done.

As Lib Dems we believe prevention is better (and cheaper) than cure and that decisions should be taken as close to communities as possible.

That’s why we voted to continue to invest in 35 locally-based community police officers. They do a superb job in preventing low-level crime and creating confidence in the community. They know when something isn’t right and act quickly to prevent problems turning into crimes.

As more people are living longer in their own homes in their local community they need to feel safe and secure. These officers play a vital role in keeping them confident about carrying on living independently.

There were difficult choices to be made by the council in its budget mainly because the SNP Holyrood Government continues to cut the grant it gives to councils in real terms.

But given the choice between investing in our local community police officers or continuing to pay up to £1.4 million each year to keep people employed by the council whose jobs have disappeared, the SNP and Labour chose to pay people to do “non jobs”. The total cost of community policing paid by the council was £1.6m.

So if in the coming year you see fewer “bobbies on the beat”, increased anti-social behaviour, an increase in low-level (but high-impact) crime, and increased pressure on our over-stretched care homes just remember the SNP and Labour had the choice to prevent it and chose not to.

Get back on track

Many people will have noticed that new bus diversions are due as the tram works reach their next phase in Leith. But what on earth has happened to the Tram Inquiry?

Lib Dems were fully in favour of the independent inquiry into the original tram works so that we could learn lessons as a council before we extended the line. In fact we voted to wait for the results of the inquiry before signing any contracts for the current works (but were defeated by the SNP and Labour).

The Inquiry was announced in 2014 and began its work in 2015. It is now over a year since it heard its last bit of evidence, but we have heard nothing. I want the Inquiry to be thorough and comprehensive rather than too quick. But it has now lasted almost as long as the inquiry into the Iraq War and cost millions of pounds.

I have no idea of the personal circumstances of the chair of the Inquiry, and if there are good reasons for this lengthy delay I will of course accept them. But there are former officials of the council who are now retired and former councillors who left the council eight years ago who still have this hanging over them. There may be people who were involved who can no longer be held to account. And of course the council is well ahead with the new tram line without being able to learn the lessons or implement the recommendations of the Inquiry.

Very soon the Tram Inquiry will have taken longer to report than the tram line took to build. We are eager to see its recommendations and learn its lessons.

Can I respectfully request the Inquiry team gets a move on?

Robert Aldridge is the Lib Dem group leader at Edinbugh City Council