Summary of Edinburgh council's 2025/26 budget as approved on 20-02-25
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00:00The City Council has now agreed its budget for the next financial year 2025-26. The main
00:08headline for many people will be the council tax increase of 8%. The Greens had called
00:13for a 10% increase and the Tories wanted 7%. Here's how much you'll pay depending on which
00:19band your home is in. It's the biggest rise for a while. In previous years the Scottish
00:24government has frozen our limited council tax increases, but this year the councils
00:30could decide for themselves. There are other price rises too. Council house rents will
00:37go up by 7%, in line with the decision last year that they should go up by 7% a year for
00:44five years. And pay and display charges are going up too, around 10%. That means in the
00:51most expensive streets in the city centre it will cost £9 an hour to park. So what's
00:58on the spending side of the council's budget? There's nearly £300 million to build five
01:04new schools and extend five others, £50 million to buy or build properties that will be suitable
01:11for temporary accommodation, £12.5 million for roads, pavement, streetscapes and lighting,
01:20and £15 million to build a new Blackhall library to replace the current one which has
01:25rack on its roof. There's also £3.5 million for local charities and community groups who
01:32were facing possible closure after the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board announced it was stopping
01:38their grants. Plans to axe transition teachers and PSAs in P1 and P2 were dropped as part
01:47of the deal to secure Lib Dem support for the budget. And the Lib Dems also secured
01:53an extra £1.6 million to help clear a big backlog of road safety measures. And in return
02:02for their support, the Tories got £500,000 to boost enforcement on matters like fly-tipping,
02:09dog fouling and litter. Finance convener Mandy Watt said she would like to have done more
02:16that had to balance growing demands with the money available.