4
Visitor levy looms ahead
Candidate for
Westminster
GP dilemma in South Edinburgh
By PHYLLIS STEPHENEUAN HYSLOP councillor for Drum Brae/
Gyle Ward has been chosen as the SNP
candidate in the next UK General Election
for Edinburgh West, the seat which
Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine took
in 2019 with a majority of 3,769 votes.
Hyslop is a businessman owner of two
cafés in Roseburn Park and St Margaret’s
Park along with his partner, having set up
the first during lockdown in 2021. During
winter the cafés are opened as free and
accessible warm spaces and took that
suggestion to the council for public
buildings to be used in this way when
residents are struggling to pay their
heating bills.
The couple live in Craigmount with their
four-year-old who attends nursery
locally. Previously, Euan worked as a
support assistant in local schools and as
a support worker for care experienced
young people with a local charity. He
said: “More needs to be done to support
our local high streets and improve the
economic context for businesses looking
to invest here. Our town centres could
offer so much more than they do with the
right economic strategy. My local high
street, St John’s Road, has seen better
times. I’d like to see a renewed strategy
for improvement here and across West
Edinburgh. My SNP colleagues and I will
be demanding powers in Edinburgh to
tackle the immediate pressures facing
communities.”Administration’s proposals passed with LibDem and Tory support
By SARAH BOYACK MSP
EDINBURGH’S INTERNATIONAL
RENOWN brings many benefits to our great
city. Its cultural impact can be felt the world
over. With this reputation great numbers of
tourists visit every year to see what Edinburgh
has to offer. The recent Netflix show, One Day,
has already brought in a boom of new tourists
to Edinburgh.
However, local residents know that this
influx of tourists, adds pressure on local
services. We cannot allow Edinburgh to
become unliveable for its residents. That is why
I am supportive of a modest Tourist Visitor
Levy (TVL) to help reinvest into our great city.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill is currently
making its way through the Scottish
Parliament. If passed, local councils will finally
be able to implement a visitor levy, which will
be applied to hotels and other similar
establishments.
It will also ensure that Edinburgh is a
sustainable city. We are all proud of the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but it is no secret
that the millions of attendees place enormous
pressure on many aspects of our city’s
infrastructure. With a TVL, we can ensure
Edinburgh garners maximum benefit from the
Fringe.
The benefits of a modest TVL are incredibly
varied. It could help support our invaluable
arts, culture and heritage. It could contribute
to our tourist offer and could also be reinvested
into transport, and waste collection, ensuring
key services are able to cope with the huge
numbers of visitors to our capital city.
Edinburgh would not be unique in
employing a TVL, as many major cities around
the world utilise similar schemes. In Europe,
Brussels, Berlin, Vienna and many others
employ a TVL style scheme. No one can claim
that any of these cities have suffered as a result.
We can learn from those positive lessons.
It is no secret that Edinburgh Council is
facing severe financial pressure. Edinburgh is
the lowest funded council in Scotland, despite
being the second biggest city and the capital.
So, a TVL is not going to solve our long-
standing housing emergency and see
significant capital investment in the raft of new
affordable housing the city urgently needs. But
a TVL would allow Edinburgh Council to open
many doors. It could help the Council ensure
enough police and security for major
football and rugby matches and
support safety in the city at night.
A properly implemented TVL
could be a great opportunity for
our city.
The First Minister, himself,
even highlighted its ability to
give local authorities added
flexibility. I and my Scottish
Labour colleagues are
working hard to ensure thatthe bill works for Edinburgh when it is passed
by the Parliament. The Scottish Government’s
normal slap dash approach to legislation must
not lead to a TVL that harms Edinburgh,
rather than helps our fantastic city.By IAN MURRAY MP
It’s something that we have all taken
for granted for decades - the fact
that you can get registered with a
GP and get an appointment.
The frontline of our NHS is so
important for diagnosis and
treatment, but also reassurance and
advice for patients.
Our GP practices work extremely
hard in often challenging
circumstances but the system is
stretched to breaking point.
The consequences are felt by all
parts of the system from patients to
the front door of A&E at the Royal
Infirmary.
There is no place more acutely
experiencing this than in South
Edinburgh.
Thousands and thousands of new
residents have moved to the new
estates in the area, but there has
been no commensurate increase in
public infrastructure and, in
particular, GP services.
New and existing residents are
subsequently losing out on access
to GPs.
This was highlighted as an
imminent problem by NHS Lothian
back in 2012 when they asked The
Scottish Government (who had
approved most of the new estates
on appeal) to provide funding for
new services.
A decade later, in 2022, an
updated report said that without
significant intervention and the
provision of at least 10,000 new
places, GP services would “fail”.
NHS Lothian and I subsequently
identified two potential sites for
new GP practices.
Both sites at the new Liberton
High School Campus and Gilmerton
Gateway were given business plan
process approval by NHS Lothian,
but when it came to writing the
cheque to deliver them The Scottish
Government said no.
In fact, the government pulled
funding from all NHS capitalprojects across NHS Lothian,
including the promised new Eye
Pavilion and others.
The news that new GP facilities
would be ditched came as a
hammer blow to both local people
and NHS Lothian.
I believe the people of Scotland
should not have to pay the price of
SNP chaos and more broken
promises.
That’s why I will fight tirelessly to
get the basic NHS provision that
local people deserve.
Almost 17 years of SNP
devastation and broken promises of
our NHS must end. Patients and our
hard working NHS staff deserve
better than a Scottish government
whose ambition only extends to
managed decline at best. In NHS
Lothian’s words the local service is
“failing”.
It’ll be up to the next Labour
government to do what it always
has to do in power and save the
NHS.POLITICS
Sarah Boyack MSPIan Murray MP for
Edinburgh South