Edinburgh needs a Lord Provost to stop incompetents tarmacking over cobbles and ruining New Town

Let’s start with an understanding of what that term means. The Macpherson report defined institutional racism as “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin”. So on that basis, institutional incompetence could be “the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people”.

On that basis, the City of Edinburgh Council ticks all the boxes. From the £1 billion tram project which was five years late and £400 million over budget to school building failures and the statutory notice repairs scandal to the lack of any vision for the city which has allowed Princes Street to slide into decay, a pall of ineptitude hangs over the City Chambers.

Georgian splendour

Much of it goes unnoticed but sometimes it is there for all to see. Edinburgh’s New Town remains a global icon of civic planning. Two-hundred-and-fifty years after James Craig unveiled his vision, it continues to deliver as a place for people to live and work. Its Georgian splendour earned Edinburgh World Heritage Status, a recognition of greatness every city would love to have.

People come from all around the planet to see the neo-classical buildings, sweeping terraces and historic cobbled streets. It is an asset we should cherish and burnish. Instead, last weekend contractors working for the council shut Frederick Street in the city centre to allow them to spread tarmacadam over the ancient cobbled setts. In one afternoon, they turned a distinctive thoroughfare into just another street.

How can we be so casual with our heritage? The Georgian fabric of our city should be something we honour and maintain, not toss aside without care. But it fits a pattern of behaviour that stretches back years.

From the needless signage on every stretch of pavement to the eyesore disability ramp just installed on Charlotte Square and the monstrosity that is the W Hotel, World Heritage Site status seems to be something that is taken for granted rather than cherished.

Wider pavements, fewer pedestrians

The work on Frederick Street is apparently linked to the wider regeneration of the George Street area and images available on the council’s website show a narrowed road laid with new granite setts. But that is not history and it’s also not necessary.

Footfall in Edinburgh’s city centre has declined significantly since the pandemic with homeworking and more retail taking place online. So why are we making pavements wider when fewer people are using them?

It might be an interesting side project for a local authority dripping in cash but the city of Edinburgh Council needs to make budget cuts of £30m this year simply to balance the books.

This pattern of behaviour stretches across numerous administrations so it’s about competence, not politics. The best hope for Edinburgh is the growing clamour to have a directly elected Lord Provost who can be chosen by the people and will be responsible to them.

Just look at the difference Andy Burnham has made to Manchester to see what is possible. The position could attract some amazing candidates but right now, anyone who is simply competent would do.