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The broad horizon of community council interests spans city and local place, space, amenity and wellbeing. On the latter two counts, in particular, we should recognise the powerful work conducted, largely behind the scenes, by the Edinburgh Partnership (EP). Anchored by the CEC Community Planning Management Group and chaired by the City of Edinburgh Council, the EP is the Community Planning Partnership (CPP) for Edinburgh City. It’s a statutory obligation of the Local Authority to have a body like this in place.

The EP’s wide array of members includes NHS Lothian, Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, Scottish Enterprise, the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council, Edinburgh Affordable Housing Partnership, Skills Development Scotland, and many others. Edinburgh Association of Community Councils has a representative place.

The EP anchors the process by which public bodies work with local communities to plan, resource and provide services to improve the quality of people’s lives, and to reduce the outcome gap for those experiencing the greatest inequality.The EP mission is that Edinburgh should be a ‘thriving, connected, inspired and fair city, where all forms of poverty and inequality are reduced’. The EP works across the full spectrum of 'life in the city’ and the wide demographic spread of the city’s residents. A huge commitment goes into this work on the part of core EP members.

As a Community Planning Partnership, the EP is required to publish a Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP), a framework for EP’s priorities and the delivery of its mission. The LOIP is supplemented by a small number of Locality Plans targeted to areas of greatest disadvantage in the city. The Community Planning Management Group draws in the work of seven Strategic Partnerships focused on particular elements of LOIP delivery.

The current EP Local Outcomes Improvement Plan 2018-2028 has been kept up to date with a 2026 ‘refresh’, reviewing best practice, partner commitments and community engagement outcomes. It holds to the original three partnership priority outcomes – Enough money to live on; Access to work, learning and training opportunities; A good place to live.

Work on the next Community Plan (LOIP) will begin now, designed from the ground up, in the face of new challenges to communities and to city life from some fundamental shifts in the social, economic and environmental landscape.

As a community councillor or as an interested city resident, it’s worth taking a quick look at what the Edinburgh Partnership does and what it tries to achieve. A lot of effort goes in here for the benefit of the common good. We should be more aware of it.

https://www.edinburghpartnership.scot/

https://www.edinburghpartnership.scot/downloads/file/288/10-june-2026

The CEC Future Trams Team point to the 18 June Transport and Environment Committee meeting and the early milestone report analysing the 2025 consultation and market research programme on the outline project. View the Committee Agenda and Item 8.1 here: https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=136&MId=7661&Ver=4 .

A Strategic Business Case will be presented at the 10 September 2026 Transport and Environment Committee, marking the point where the decision is made on whether to progress further to the Outline Business Case stage.

Look at the background to the project here: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/futuretrams

We learn from Ian Murray MP that the closed Delivery Centre is to be taken over by an established Edinburgh architectural practice for use as a head office and studio.

The Traffic Regulation Orders Sub Committee (TRO SC) approved new parking restrictions at the ‘loop’ in Rankin Drive on 12 May. There had been substantial local resident objection tabled at the outset when the proposals were published and consulted upon in late February / early March. GPCC tabled then a measured objection. GPCC asked for an equitable and proportionate reduction in the scale of the intended restrictions against the highly-impactful published proposals.

At the TRO SC on 12 May, the objections were not raised as a matter for discussion at all, notwithstanding their number and relevance. Local resident reaction to the outcome continues to build. GPCC has raised with local Elected Councillors some questions on the nature of the TRO SC procedure at the 12 May meeting.

Around September, the Council will likely launch a small-scale CMI product for small investors. The council typically borrows money to invest in medium- to long-term capital programmes. This CMI product will open a savings opportunity for local residents and businesses, over, say, a five-year period, with interest payable and the full amount invested repaid at the end of term. The minimum investment may be of the order of £5 or £10. The target may be to raise around £1m. The funds will be invested in the likes of nature recovery, climate adaptation, decarbonisation, tree planting and ‘healthy street’ improvement schemes across the city. The full undertaking to repay the sums borrowed will rest with City of Edinburgh Council.

A change of use application has been approved, from former children’s nursery to single private dwelling with internal alterations, but with the withdrawal of a proposed new access from Cameron Park. There is now no plan, provision or consent for a breach of the boundary wall at the head of Cameron Park.

At the Council Traffic Regulation Orders Sub-Committee meeting on 12 May, new parking restrictions were approved for the loop section of roadway within Rankin Drive and for some neighbouring junctions. Over sixty local resident objections had been tabled, far exceeding letters of support. (Another 20 or so locations in the city also saw new restrictions.)

The Council advanced the case for the restrictions on the grounds of (i) site inspection, (ii) safe access and improved traffic flow for large public sector service vehicles at that location and (iii) the overall Policy Measures in the City Mobility Plan.

Local Elected Councillors and GPCC had made representations to Council Transport Officers seeking a measured reduction in the proposed scale of restriction, in order to offset in part the sizeable cut in parking spaces for residents. Objections and representations were on record. Disappointingly, the restrictions for Rankin Drive were approved under Traffic Regulation Order TRO / 24 / 34, without any meaningful investigative discussion across Elected Councillor members of the Sub-Committee.

The TRO is in place and there is no immediate recourse. GPCC is in correspondence with local Elected Councillors on this matter.

Residents across Edinburgh are to choose how money raised by the new Visitor Levy is spent in their neighbourhoods. Each of the council’s 17 electoral wards will benefit from a share of £1.7 million over three years, with residents directly deciding how to spend the portion of levy income in their local ward, in part by way of a new online voting portal. A one-year pilot programme will test the process and identify areas for improvement, with £20,000 available per ward in the 2026/27 financial year, followed by the remaining funds for two-year projects to take place in 2027/28 and 2028/29.

Campfire Tattoo Ltd. Ref. No. 57881. 191 Causewayside, EH9 1PH. Skin Piercing / Tattooing Licence: Mon. to Sun. 11.00 to 18.00. Written objections / representations to City of Edinburgh Council, Licensing Service, 249 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ by 12 June 2026. Objection or representation must specify name and address of the person making the submission and must be signed by that person or agent. licensing@edinburgh.gov.uk

The 26 May CEC Policy and Sustainability Committee will receive from the Edinburgh Partnership Board a 2026 refresh of the Edinburgh Community Plan . That is the current 2018-2028 Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) for the local authority. Things have moved on from the 2018 inception, of course. This refresh sets out some adjustments in priorities and in approach. It prefaces the next Community Plan (2028), work on which begins this June. You can look at a short summary here: Edin Partnership LOIP Refresh May 2026

Community Councils should be current with what's happening here. The LOIP is an uphill struggle, filled with complexities. By way of background, the Edinburgh Partnership is the community planning partnership for the city. It brings together public agencies, third and private sectors, and local communities to improve social services and the social welfare of people who live and work here. See https://www.edinburghpartnership.scot/ . Here is the link to the Policy and Sustainability Committee:

https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=135&Year=0