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Edinburgh Benefits From Environmental Priorities Investment

7 February 2012

Residents in Edinburgh will benefit from £650,000 investment into the city's street cleansing and local community environmental priorities it has been announced

The scheme is part of a £2m extra investment by the City of Edinburgh Council this year in services which will improve their lives and boost the city.

The "priority" areas were identified as the result of prudent financial management across all services. The list of areas was drawn up after the Council listened to local people on where they think priorities should lie.　　

Along with the allocated £650,000 for street cleansing, other investments include road safety and street repairs.

"Prudent financial management is allowing us to make this major investment in many areas which will make a real difference to people's lives. This is also being done at a time when organisations all over the country are facing extremely challenging financial decisions resulting in a lot of cuts," said council leader Jenny Dawe.　

"We talked to people and groups across the city to find out their priorities - where they want to see the Council spending money in the future. "This feedback has meant that we can now invest in areas that matter to people, on things that improve the city and generally improve quality of life."

Finance leader, councillor Phil Wheeler, said: "The money is available as a result of prudent management of the council's finances allowing the target of £12m unallocated reserves to be reached a year earlier than anticipated.　

"The other unallocated reserves include a Budget Flexibility element and £2m will be released in the current year to fund investment projects that will make a difference. "The Council agreed that details of the programme of investment work, when available, would be broken down into wards and circulated to all elected members."

Darrel Moore