On Thursday, members of the City of Edinburgh Council’s policy and sustainability committee will consider a high-level strategy for 20-Minute Neighbourhoods in Edinburgh.

The model is a well-established approach used worldwide as a way of delivering services within communities. This includes finding ways for residents to access most of their daily services provided by the council in a local, accessible and sustainable way, along with those delivered by our partners in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

This is a new approach for the capital and the aim is to deliver more sustainable places, improve public services, and build on what is already a powerful sense of local community across Edinburgh.

Over the last year, the pandemic has seen a dramatic change to the way we all live and work in our local area, and while the concept was already underway in pioneer cities such as Paris, Melbourne and Portland, the global health crisis has highlighted even more strongly how important ‘liveable’ neighbourhoods are.

The emerging City Plan 2030 identified eight town centres as starting points and further work identified 11 more areas to prioritise as they are areas which have gaps in their service provision and/or no natural town centre.

Each of the 19 areas in total has its own unique cultural identity and local heritage and it’ll be important to clearly articulate the differing role each neighbourhood plays socially, culturally and economically as the strategy progresses.

The draft strategy outlines that, if approved, the first areas of focus will be where the need is greatest, whether that’s because of deprivation, poor connectivity, or demographic issues. For example, the council will:

• Maximise the opportunities created by new school investments at Liberton and Currie
• Work to deliver the new Pennywell Hub to provide a partnership between public and voluntary sectors
• Build on the community-led Local Place Planning work in Wester Hailes and Leith
  Work with the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership to combat loneliness and isolation, and build new networks of support and wellbeing
• Look at new schemes to improve the quality of place in some of our busiest and most traffic-dominated centres such as Niddrie Mains Road.

Council leader Adam McVey said: “Twenty-minute Neighbourhoods are about helping local people access the services they need, where and when they need them.

“Getting what you need in your community is about more than just having your services and amenities close at hand. It’s also about empowering communities, fostering stronger partnership working at a local level and, where appropriate, delivering multiple services from stand-alone ‘hubs’.

“We know from our Capital Resident’s Survey that 58% of people agree it would make sense to have all public services delivered from one location. We also know this can be a more efficient way of organisations working within our communities and getting better outcomes for our residents.

“Crucially, building thriving local neighbourhoods will not only boost quality of life and residents’ wellbeing but it will also be greener by cutting carbon footprint of frontline services and making support easier to reach within walking distance.”

Cammy Day, depute council leader, added: “The Edinburgh Climate Commission supports our work on 20-Minute Neighbourhoods as the heart of a sustainable community and it’s clear the plans also support our wider Business Plan priorities in terms of ending poverty, increasing wellbeing, tackling inequality and focusing on prevention.

“The strategy we’ll be considering at Committee sets out a new way of working with our communities and we know from the experience of finding new ways to deliver services during the pandemic that communities want to work with us to co-design services, so it’s an exciting opportunity for Edinburgh. We’ll be working on supporting and creating environments where businesses can thrive and residents’ needs are met, helping to create a vibrant atmosphere and local identity.”

If approved, implementation of the strategy will begin immediately. While the delivery of the strategy will be an ongoing programme of work, a detailed implementation plan will be developed, based on the ‘inform, engage, reflect and deliver’ model.

Potential locations for 20-Minute Neighbourhoods include: Corstorphine, Lochend/Restalrig, Ratho, Craigmillar/Bingham, Moredun/Gilmerton, South Queensferry, Currie/Balerno, Morningside/Bruntsfield, Stockbridge, Gorgie/Dalry, Muirhouse, Tollcross, Granton, Nicholson Street, Wester Hailes, Kirkliston, Oxgangs, Leith/Leith Walk and Portobello.