Consultation and Engagement Hub

Welcome to the City of Edinburgh Council Consultation and Engagement Hub. This site will help you to find and participate in consultation and engagement activities that interest you.

Closed activities

  • Community Payback Consultation 2023

    We want to hear your views on Community Payback Orders (CPO). These are given out by the Court to people to pay for their crimes as an alternative to a prison sentence. In particular, we want to know what you think about the unpaid work part of a CPO, which...

    Closed 11 September 2023

  • Hunter's Hall Public Park - Common Good Consultation

    Notice of Proposed Lease of Common Good Property: Area of Ground within Hunter’s Hall Public Park, Edinburgh Under section 104 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, the local authority is required to publish details of any proposed disposal or change of use in respect of...

    Closed 10 September 2023

  • Broxburn to Maybury Public Transport and Active Travel Improvements

    Working with West Lothian Council, we want to improve travel along the A8/A89 between Broxburn and Maybury. Our aim is to better connect communities with major employment, education, healthcare and leisure opportunities. To meet our net zero targets, we need to make it safer and...

    Closed 5 September 2023

  • Amplification of Sound in Public Spaces – Busking

    We would like your views if you are an Edinburgh resident or business, and are directly affected by busking. By 'directly affected', we mean if you hear buskers from your home, place of work or business, or when you are going about your normal business. Edinburgh welcomes buskers and...

    Closed 31 August 2023

  • Fields in Trust Protection Phase 2

    Parks and green spaces are proven to help people stay physically and mentally well, build community spirit, help combat loneliness and are important for the planet. Following a public consultation at the end of 2022, an additional ten green spaces have now been protected by a Fields in...

    Closed 23 August 2023

We Asked, You Said, We Did

Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes

We asked

The City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Canals are working in partnership to update the Edinburgh Union Canal Strategy.  Originally produced in 2011, we asked for views to help inform the updated strategy.

You said

The consultation received 604 responses, with 599 from the Consultation Hub plus 5 additional responses via email.

  • 90% of respondents are using the Union Canal to walk or wheel and 55% to cycle.
  • Many respondents are using the Union Canal on a weekly (41%) or daily (36%) basis.
  • The most common type of journeys completed are leisure journeys (93%), travelling to the shops (35%), and travelling to work (28%).
  • Respondents enjoy the Union Canal due to the access to nature (54%), the path being away from traffic (43%), and that it is quiet (28%).
  • Improvements that were most strongly supported: widening towpaths (74%), enhancing vegetation and wildlife (46%), and introducing safety features such as lighting and CCTV (42%).
  • The most popular facilities to be integrated are places to sit (60%), toilets (57%), and coffee kiosks (38%). Some flagged that having toilets in coffee facilities would be helpful.
  • Respondents would feel safer using the Union Canal given management of cyclist speeds (30%), lighting at night (17%), and widening of the towpath at bridges (11%). Antisocial behaviour in different formats was also flagged as a risk to individual safety.
  • 80% of respondents felt that biodiversity along the Union Canal was very important.
  • 51% felt the Union Canal’s biodiversity benefited their wellbeing and /or mental health.
  • Pollinators (73%), butterflies (67%), and birds (61%) were the most spotted species along the Union Canal.

We did

Thank you for responding to this consultation.

The project team, which is made up of officers from Scottish Canals and the City of Edinburgh Council, will integrate responses and feedback into the refreshed Edinburgh Union Canal Strategy.

Updates and progress will be available in the refreshed Edinburgh Union Canal Strategy as well as on https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/unioncanal.

We asked

We created a plan to regenerate six small parks in Leith following meetings, workshops and other events that we held in spring and summer of 2023 with organisations and groups based in and around Leith including:

  • Leith Rotary Club
  • Three community councils
  • Leith Library
  • St Marys RC Primary and Leith Primary School
  • Area Councillors
  • Leith Theatre
  • Cables Wynd House Tenants

This project was guided by the actions identified within the Edinburgh Nature Network to create designs to make these parks better places for nature and people. Funding for the design stage of Linking Leith Parks designs was awarded by greenspace scotland.

We held a public consultation on the proposed designs for these parks between 1 June 2023 and 12 July 2023.

You said

  • 25 people attended our virtual and online workshops in May and 27 attended in June.
  • 34 people responded to our consultation via the hub.
  • 69% of responses strongly agreed or agreed that the designs would make the parks a better place for nature.
  • 63% of responses strongly agreed or agreed that the designs for the parks would be good for health and wellbeing.
  • Significant themes from the workshops and consultation comments stressed the importance of maintenance for the longevity of the designs.
  • Comments showed no clear consensus towards the introduction of a segregated area for dog walkers at Dalmeny Street park.

We did

We would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation.

We have already considered the comments made with a view to taking account of them in the next phase of the project. If in time we are successful with funding bids, we will be able to move to a detailed design phase. Updates on this will be published on www.thrivinggreenspaces.scot.

We asked

Every year the City of Edinburgh Council’s housing rent consultation gathers tenant views on their experience of the housing service and presents options for setting the next year’s rent levels. 

Tenants were presented with three rent increase options this year: 0%, 2.5% and 5%. The consultation explained the impact the different options would have on delivery of key commitments, including meeting Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 (EESSH2) and our ability to build new homes.

In addition to these this year we also asked more detailed questions on cost of living difficulties and what issues were most affecting our tenants.

You said

We received 1,040 responses for the 2023/24 consultation – 40 through our online survey and 1,000 through a dedicated telephone survey of randomly selected tenants asking the exact same questions as in the online survey.

Just over half (53%) of the respondents supported a rent freeze for a third year in a row. Almost 70% of those who voted for a rent freeze get help with paying their rent through benefits. Therefore, any increase in rents would be covered through a proportionate increase in benefits (assuming tenants’ circumstances have not changed). 47% of tenants agreed that rents should be increased in 2023/24, with almost a third (31%) of respondents voting for a 2.5% increase and 16% supported a 5% increase.

Around 10% of tenants felt that rents were not value for money. 64% of respondents were aware of the previous two-year rent freezes.

35% of tenants surveyed said they were finding rent more difficult to pay for. Around a third (31%) sought additional help, with over half of those tenants speaking to their housing officer. The second and third most popular places for support were the Council’s Income Maximisation Service and Citizens Advice Bureau.

The majority of respondents highlighted that food (70%) and energy bills (77%) were becoming increasingly difficult to pay for. 23% of tenants said they had been consciously reducing their energy usage to save money. 31% of tenants also commented that their home quickly becomes cold once their heating has been turned off.

We did

The Housing Account (HRA) Budget Strategy 2023/24 - 2032/33 was considered by City of Edinburgh Council at its budget meeting on 23 February 2023.

After two years of freezes, any increase in rents would be a positive step in getting the business plan to a position to be able to deliver Council commitments, whilst keep rents affordable and any increases well below inflation.

Council agreed a 3% rent increase in 2023/24 and noted that based on 3% rent increase per annum over the next ten years, around 86% of existing homes could be brought up to Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH2) over the lifetime of the business plan and that c.2,400 new social rented homes could be delivered. Council also agreed to set up a Tenant Hardship Fund to support tenants experiencing financial hardship, including those who cannot access benefits.