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Sources claim Cllr Orr’s coveted position as vice-convenor of the huge transport and environment department was set to be challenged by rivals within the SNP and he was “jumping before he was pushed”.
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http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/jim-orr-quits-snp-over-internal-spats-1-3324716
Shock horror (as they say).
Don't know if anyone else in the SNP cycles...
(Apart from for photo-ops.)
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Jim Orr (@CllrJimOrr)
01/03/2014 09:47
Resigned party whip yesterday. No longer the city cycling guy (sad face). Reasons here http://goo.gl/fUZiMZ Off to Yes event in Gorgie now
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Shame from our perspective. I saw Andrew burns on his bike a couple of weeks back.
Jim appears to have had arguments with his colleagues as he was keen on sustainability.
So bad for the guy, possibly good for cycling and neutral for the council?
"possibly good for cycling?"
Unlikely.
Presume his vice-convenorship will be taken by another SNP councillor.
They are not wildly environmentally-friendly.
"Unlikely"
Having said that, I think expectations are now such in Edinburgh that any attempt to 'roll things back' will be resisted...
Partly depends whether officials 'just get on with it' - though (unfortunately too often) they expect political leadership.
Wow. Thought he was diehard SNP. Presume he is still a member of the national party?
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This decision means that I am no longer a member of any political party. That’s unfortunate but life goes on. I’ll work out my next step in due course, but I have absolutely no interest in joining or being affiliated to any rival party and I don’t see the need for a by-election any time soon either. So I guess that means I’m now an independent councillor.
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Definitely bad for cycling. Confirms our suspicions that party wasn't behind him/ he wasn't able to take hem with him:
" It has become clear to us all that, for whatever reason, both Transport and Environment matters in general, and me personally in particular, have been connected to far too many internal spats over the last two years. "
My thinking was that without the whip he can say what he thinks.
When he was transport vice converter he carried the torch for cycling, with what now looks like little support from his party. He had tired of the spats. EEN described Jim as cycling evangelist. That leaves councillor burns as commuter cycling councillor and pro-cycling leader of the council but he doesn't get involved as much.
I wonder if the huge love for the trams that is about to become the norm (same as in Manchester and Dublin where scorn became sweetness overnight) is a factor in any of this?Hopefully, no one will want to take credit for them but there will be a lot of publicity with councillor hinds taking trams and getting her photo taken etc
Bad news, for Jim Orr personally and for cycling and sustainability in the Council.
Maybe Cllr Cardownie felt that taxi drivers' views were not taken into account sufficiently?
I struggle to think how the SNP can field another candidate for that post who will take on the brief so wholeheartedly. Maybe there is one, who knows?
I reckon cycling in particular will face difficulties with the Council now for sustained support.
In the longer term, the SNP's loss may be the Green party's gain. That's if Cllr Orr decides to stay active in politics: he may decide he's had enough, but I hope not.
David key also cycles. But I think he is education deputy convenor?
Judging by his Twitter feed, it does seem David Key takes an interest in cycling policy and initiatives. Interestingly on the Council register of members' interests it seems he is a helicopter pilot for Bond Air (Strathclyde polis and air ambulance service)!
As he is your local councillor SRD I guess you have a hotline... ;-)
Cllr Orr wants to re-assure us:
Many of the fears expressed should prove unfounded. For example, the recent 7% budget decision had all-party support. And I wouldn't say I was a "cycling evangelist". It was just a policy area delegated to me and I gave it the support it needed by driving it hard and generating lots of publicity. In the SNP at least 3 of 17 Cllrs cycle in more or less every day (Lewis, Key and Ross) with nearly all the rest using the bus or walking in.
The concern should be that cycling might not get the attention it deserves, rather than the support it deserves.
The coalition's wider sustainability goals definitely had the support of the whole council too. And the Labour group were at least as supportive of these goals as their SNP coalition partners I would say. Time will tell but there is plenty to be optimistic about as long as people continue to remind their councillors of the political and other benefits of these policies..
It's certainly true that when I last visited the City Chambers on Parent Council business, I struggled to find any space to lock up my bike due to the large numbers of cycles already in the racks alaround the quad.
"Cllr Orr wants to re-assure us:"
Er, if everyone agrees so much why did he resign??
Of the other cycling SNP councillors, Ross is an accountant, and chairs the Council's Economy committee. Lewis is a freelance musician (studied music at Magdalen College , Oxford and Edinburgh University) and chairs the Culture and Sport committee.
Will it be one of the cycling councillors that's handed the cycling and sustainability 'czar' role? I guess we'll find out more soon...
Er, if everyone agrees so much why did he resign??
Reading between the lines of today's statement (and the off the record comments to the EEN), it seems some of his erstwhile colleagues felt he wasn't 'high profile' enough, ie. in the shadow of Cllr Hinds. So my instinct is the SNP group contains someone who was after Cllr Orr's job and was undermining him to weaken his internal position in furtherance of their own interests. It must have got pretty nasty for him to not just resign the party whip, but hand back his party card after 25 years.
Who is the 'heavy hitter' set to replace Cllr Orr one wonders?
Ross and Lewis are unlikely to move from convenor to vice.
I assume that the Transport v-c will be an SNP councillor - perhaps an existing v-c(?)
Which leaves Cllr Key in the frame, if they appoint a cyclist that is. Maybe they'll appoint a keen motorist and sometime pedestrian instead?
"it seems some of his erstwhile colleagues felt he wasn't 'high profile' enough, ie, in the shadow of Cllr Hinds"
I'm sure there is some truth in that, after all LH has been in politics a lot longer!
However in a coalition, the job of a v-c (from a different party) isn't really to fight with/try to outprofile their boss!
So if it's just 'politics/ambition' it's a bit unfortunate.
Issue for 'us' is whether or not new v-c is officially 'responsible' for cycling - or has other interests (either personally or sanctioned by LH).
From the article you linked to at the start of this thread:
"Sources claim Cllr Orr’s coveted position as vice-convenor of the huge transport and environment department was set to be challenged by rivals within the SNP and he was “jumping before he was pushed”.
But others say the Southside/Newington councillor had grown weary of sniping about his passion for sustainability and claims he neglected wider aspects of the transport brief.
It has also been claimed the SNP leadership in Edinburgh feared Cllr Orr was being consistently “outshone” by department convenor and Labour heavyweight Cllr Lesley Hinds."
I agree with you about the question of the vice convener's remit and whether that will change in emphasis if a new, non-cycling, perhaps more 'hard pressed motorist' friendly councillor takes over. Y'know, those "wider aspects of the transport brief" mentioned above.
I hope this is not the case, but perhaps we are seeing a calculation here by the SNP that there simply aren't many votes in cycling for them. So why bother pushing that agenda?
Let's see what happens.
Shock news indeed as he made an impact on cycling here whether you agreed with everything or not. (Dave's still to post...!)
Councillor Hinds seemed to work well with him and some recent announcements have been positive from the cycling / transport point of view. The fact that we have 'bike users' across all parties is also good thing.
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Of course if the Greens had bothered to join the coalition (they were asked) there would probably have been a Green v-c all this time.
Whether that would have been better or worse is unknowable.
@chdot, we've had this discussion before. Essentially, the arithmetic did not make sense as Labour and the SNP already had a majority.
I don't really see how you can be annoyed with the Green group for something that has come out of internal wrangling in the SNP group. If this is how the SNP treat their own councillor, just imagine the sniping and obstruction a Green vice-convener would have had to put up with!
"Essentially, the arithmetic did not make sense as Labour and the SNP already had a majority"
The Greens weren't needed for a majority. The notion was for a broader coalition - perhaps a bigger talent pool.
"I don't really see how you can be annoyed with the Green group for something that has come out of internal wrangling in the SNP group."
Nope. Just speculating that (now) a Green might have been a good alternative to/replacement for JO - in the context of the 'assumption' (which might be wrong) that CEC's SNP group doesn't have anyone interested in 'active travel'.
"just imagine the sniping and obstruction a Green vice-convener would have had to put up with!"
Er no. In the alternative universe the Greens would be part of the Coalition not a sub-set of the SNP.
I think the Greens should have joined the coalition. I said so at the time. They chose not to. I fully accept that I was not part of (or party to) the (inevitably difficult) negotiations.
They made a political decision at the time which I presume they don't regret.
As is moderately well known, I am not a member of any political party (and never have been).
In general I would like to see more Greens and others from small parties - like the 1999 Scottish Parliament. I believe it's generally accepted that Green influence at Holyrood was reduced when Patrick Harvie tried too hard to get concessions from John Swinney.
I believe at CEC the Greens have less influence (some power even) than they might have done.
That's all.
Wonder if any of this relates to JO's departure -
So Jim Orr becomes CEC's only independent councillor, maybe we could do with more independent councillors and get away from the mickey mouse party political point scoring which gets in the ways of doing what is best for the people of Edinburgh.
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