Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2014
I am pleased to open the preliminary stage debate on the City of Edinburgh Council (Leith Links and Surplus Fire Fund) Bill, and to provide the Parliament with some background information on how the committee has considered the bill so far.
The bill is the fourth private bill to come before the Parliament this session and is one of the less controversial. No objection to it has been received.
The first thing that struck me about the bill when the committee was given the task of scrutinising it was its rather unwieldy title. It was not long before I appreciated that, although there is one bill, it deals with two different and unconnected purposes. Therefore, although it is fair to say that the bill is not controversial, it has still given the committee plenty of substance to consider. We also had to make ourselves familiar with the rather unique procedures that concern an important area of the Parliament’s work.
Before I provide some background information on what led to the bill and talk about its broad principles, I will speak briefly about private bills more generally and why they are necessary.
Private bills propose laws that allow individuals, groups of individuals or corporate entities to acquire powers or benefits in excess of or in conflict with the general law. Private bills for large-scale works are somewhat rarer these days, but the Parliament still sees a steady stream of governance reorganisation bills and the occasional bill that seeks to make changes to private legislation to enable construction to take place. Unusually, the bill that we are debating deals with both issues. The common denominator is the promoter: the City of Edinburgh Council.
The bill’s first objective is to amend section 22 of the schedule to the City of Edinburgh District Council Order Confirmation Act 1991 so that the erection of a statue of John Rattray on Leith Links is no longer prohibited. Currently, section 22 prohibits the erection of buildings, including monuments and statues, on Leith Links.
Members might ask: who is John Rattray, and why should he be commemorated in that way? John Rattray was an accomplished golfer on Leith Links in the 18th century, and was instrumental in setting down the rules for the game of golf. For that reason, the Leith Rules Golf Society wishes to erect a life-size statue of him on Leith Links. In giving evidence, the chair of the statue committee, Pat Denzler, said:
“The aim was to have something iconic to represent Leith.”—[Official Report, City of Edinburgh Council (Leith Links and Surplus Fire Fund) Bill Committee, 14 November 2013; c 13.]
The sculptor David Annand has been commissioned to create that statue. I am sure that members will be acquainted with his work, particularly as one of his bronze statues—that of Robert Fergusson the poet striding out at the entrance to Canongate church—resides not too far from the chamber.
The committee was concerned with ensuring that the power that was sought was indeed necessary and that no unintended consequences would arise from its use. We were clear that the issues of aesthetics and the security of the statue had already been the subject of the planning process. Planning permission was granted on 18 April 2013
“on the basis that the proposals comply with the Council’s development plan and the relevant non-statutory guidelines, and would preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area and have no effect on residential amenity.”
Our site visit to Leith Links on 5 November 2013 further served to reassure us.
The committee is satisfied that the bill is tightly drawn to create an exception only for that particular statue and that no further development can take place on the site at Leith Links. Fundraising to erect the statue is continuing, and the Leith Rules Golf Society hopes that the Ryder cup will help to focus those efforts. The committee also heard that a proportion of the funds that are raised will be given to the promoter to pay for the statue’s on-going maintenance.
The bill’s second objective concerns the revitalisation of a fund that was set up to assist those who were caught up in a series of fires in Edinburgh’s High Street in 1824. The Surplus Fire Fund is constituted under the Edinburgh Corporation Order Confirmation Act 1927, later amended by the Edinburgh Corporation Order Confirmation Act 1967 and the City of Edinburgh District Council Order Confirmation Act 1991. Esmond Hamilton, from the City of Edinburgh Council, explained that £11,000 was originally collected to assist those who were caught up in the fires, and that that had grown into the sum of £1.25 million, which generates approximately £30,000 per annum.
The Surplus Fire Fund lay dormant until 2001, when the Fire Brigades Union contacted the City of Edinburgh Council, which led to the fund’s reactivation. The council’s pensions and trusts committee discussed the future management of the fund during 2011 and 2012, considering how its assets might be put to better use while having regard to the spirit of the fund’s current purposes, changes in society, the effectiveness of its present constitution and engagement with key stakeholders. On 31 January 2013, the full council agreed to promote the bill, which includes three changes to the fund. The bill proposes to transfer the assets, rights and liabilities of the Surplus Fire Fund to the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Trust; to amend the purposes for which the fund can be used; and to dissolve the fund as currently constituted.
The committee heard from Ella Simpson, the director of the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council, about EVOC’s experience of running various grant programmes and several restricted funds and about its large network of organisations, which could refer possible beneficiaries of the fund.