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"Holiday Flats Edinburgh's Ruin"

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    “First world problem that one”

    Not really the point.

    Both ‘sides’ are “first world”.

    More (perhaps) question of attitudes to ‘public space’.

    Would be interesting to know nationality of ‘interlopers’.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  2. chdot
    Admin

  3. Stickman
    Member

    An FOI request has provided a list of all HMO applications:

    http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/4987/hmo.xls

    Posted 4 years ago #
  4. chdot
    Admin

    “list of all HMO applications“

    Not just Airbnb of course.

    Large number don’t seem to have been approved (yet).

    Posted 4 years ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

    Figures published by Airbnb suggest that hosts in the city made £78m from letting out their properties last year, but many are paying nothing for basic services such as bin collections and pavement repairs from which they and their tenants benefit.

    https://www.scotsman.com/regions/edinburgh-fife-lothians/short-term-let-owners-in-edinburgh-subsidised-by-2-6-million-1-4986345

    Posted 4 years ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin

  7. crowriver
    Member

    "The spectacle was graphic evidence that “over-tourism”, a phenomenon more commonly associated with destinations such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Venice and Edinburgh, has arrived in Prague"

    Posted 4 years ago #
  8. Rosie
    Member

    I was in Prague a fortnight ago and the streets were like walking through a football crowd. One of those awful bike buses pedalled by a hen party went past us. Our walking guide lamented that people didn't come to Prague for its beauty but to get drunk (to be fair the beer is excellent) and when we were in an area of elegant apartments, said that these were all being taken over by airbnb. At weekends the citizens flee the city for country homes (quite common in European cities - it's the same in Stockholm.) I asked her about regulating airbnb, and she said that having gone through Communism people are rather chary of regulations.

    The pavements which are paved with decorative setts are beautifully kept, putting Edinburgh's to shame.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  9. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

  10. Rosie
    Member

    As this thread has become about cities generally, I’m linking to an article about city criticism
    Examples of writing about cities include Jane Jacobs and Lewis Mumford.

    “city critics should be writers above all else. And though the past decade has seen an abundance of city-related content in print and online, cities need writers more than ever. That is, cities need to be written about well and in a way that lasts, not merely to spot trends, air grievances, or enter technocratic squabbles. Readers will only tolerate so much more one-dimensional discussion before developing city fatigue, and history has shown what happens to cities when the public loses interest in them. Hence the city critic’s mandate to keep readers engaged and thinking in the long term by treating the city as not just as a fashionable place to live and work, nor as an ideological, economic, and social battleground, but as one of the very richest, most stimulating subjects available.”

    The article links to E B White’s essay about New York from 1949 which has some lovely moments of conveying the atmosphere of a city, as well as being of historical interest. The magic of an outdoor concert. The elevated railways are being pulled down. The United Nations is being built. The Cold War is on and New York is a prime target for air attack. It’s being motorised. The cops are in patrol streets instead of gum-shoeing. Advertisements have obliterated the interior of Grand Central station.

    Peter Ackroyd’s biography of London (not cited) is very good. It’s long, and it could have been longer as far as I’m concerned.

    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/oct/17/a-way-of-learning-from-everything-the-rise-of-the-city-critic?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    Posted 4 years ago #
  11. Rosie
    Member

    Should have quoted this bit:-

    "What would a more fully developed city criticism have to offer? Most who write about cities agree on one thing: helping effect change. The British writer Owen Hatherly, a sometime Guardian Cities contributor who has looked often at post-Soviet urban landscapes, argues for city criticism to “help us understand cities, and how they have been shaped by very particular decisions, choices and interests, and that they can be changed, influenced and transformed in turn.” Nikil Saval, the Indian-American writer, puts capitalism in his crosshairs, since “you can often see examples of our economic system’s mutations and depredations in how cities and city politics work”. Spacing magazine’s Shawn Micallef sees his mission “to get people to really see, experience and live their city,” since they “won’t fight for something to be better if they haven’t yet fallen in love with it.” Walker underscores the importance of advocating for “the people who keep the city running.”

    Posted 4 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

  13. Rosie
    Member

    Cllr Gavin Corbett was tweeting pictures of stairwells in Dalry with 8 key safes.

    Yesterday's Evenings News:-

    "Of all of the housing available in the City Centre ward, the data shows that one in six properties are now Airbnbs, with more than 2,710 out of nearly 16,759 houses listed on the short-term letting website."

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/edinburgh-city-centre-has-more-airbnbs-anywhere-else-scotland-scottish-government-report-shows-820846

    Posted 4 years ago #
  14. Rosie
    Member

  15. Rosie
    Member

    Got from Gavin Corbett. These stats are horrifying:-

    - A small number of "hosts" own more than 100 AirBnBs (2,500 in total)
    - 80% of AirBnBs in Edinburgh are whole properties.
    - 17% of properties in Ed. City Centre are AirBnB

    Posted 4 years ago #
  16. chdot
    Admin

  17. Rosie
    Member

    Airbnb seems to have drifted to the Utterbully thread.

    Andy Wightman is asking questions about short-term lets in today's Parliament.

    He really has put his head down for his airbnb campaign.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  18. Rosie
    Member

    From David Bol:-

    "Big news for #Edinburgh announced by
    @scotgov
    today - councils can license Airbnb-style short term lets from spring 2021 - which
    @Edinburgh_CC
    has been pushing for. Councils will be able to put in "further conditions" but no specific mention of an ability to cap in certain areas."

    Interesting to see what the ECC does with this.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  19. Rosie
    Member

    Following the Scottish Government's announcement of a new regulatory scheme for short term lets, Council Leader Adam McVey welcomes the news that our call for new legislation has been successful.

    He said: “Today’s announcement by the Minister is extremely welcome news and will give us the controls that we need over short term lets for our residents and communities across Edinburgh. It meets our request for mandatory licences and we will now be in a position to more effectively implement planning controls to stop this increase. A review of taxation in this area will also make sure that businesses are paying properly for income they’re receiving and local services they’re using.

    “In 2018, we set up a working group to look at this in detail and provide recommendations, the main one being the need for a regulatory system. Since then, we’ve been working closely with the Scottish Government on the implementation of a new regulatory system, so I'm delighted that we’ll now be able to take this forward, and soon.

    “This news also comes on the back of our successful campaign to introduce a tourist tax, which will also make sure that visitors to the city are financially contributing to the services that they use. All of which are part of a package of measures to better manage the enormous success of our tourist economy.

    “We’ll now work with the Scottish Government on the details of the new system, which I hope will allow us to react quickly when rules are breached as well as addressing the particular challenges we face in Edinburgh, such as housing being taken out of supply, rising rents and anti-social behaviour.

    “Next week we will also set out how we propose to tackle this issue through the introduction of new planning policies in our consultation document ‘Choices’ for the next local development plan City Plan 2030.”
    https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/12712/edinburgh-s-call-answered-for-new-short-term-lets-licensing-regime

    Posted 4 years ago #
  20. Adnerb
    Member

    Glasgow has forbidden any AirBnB type lets in flats where the access is via a close (stair in Ed speak, I think), it has to be by a door directly onto the street. They are allowed if the owner actually lives there, but not for lets of an entire property. Nothing gets done about it unless there's a complaint, but the Evening Times reported the first case of Some Kind of Official Action against a transgressor, within the past maybe 18 months.

    Posted 4 years ago #
  21. chdot
    Admin

  22. chdot
    Admin

    Increasing floods, badly managed tourism and lack of affordable homes drive residents out

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/10/inhabitants-ebb-out-of-venice-as-city-is-flooded-with-water-and-tourists

    Posted 4 years ago #
  23. chdot
    Admin

  24. chdot
    Admin

    The event, titled 'Airbnb and short-term lets - The Fightback', involved presentations from researchers IndigoHouse who prepared the recent Scottish Government consultation into the impact of short-term lets.

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/council/campaign-group-citizen-hit-out-clandestine-networks-power-they-leave-open-possibility-standing-council-elections-1366628

    Posted 4 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

  26. ejstubbs
    Member

  27. chdot
    Admin

    From link -

    But over the past two years, the council has adopted tough measures. Tour coaches have mostly been banished to the outskirts and new shops catering solely to tourists have been outlawed by rewritten zoning regulations.

    There will be no new hotels once developers have exhausted existing licenses. Pending a possible outright ban in some neighbourhoods, Airbnb-style lets must sleep no more than four and cannot be let for more than 30 days a year.

    A tourist tax has been launched: €3 per person per night, on top of a 7% levy on each hotel room (10% on accommodation booked person-to-person online). “Tourists increase the cost of policing and cleaning the public space,” said Al, who works with deputy mayor Victor Everhardt. “We say it’s only fair they should contribute to them.”

    (ThatIsn’tEdinburgh)

    Posted 4 years ago #
  28. chdot
    Admin

  29. Try Cycle
    Member

    Probably soon to come under this category:

    Dalriada pub in Portobello has been sold and planning permission has been submitted to convert it into 3 flats

    Posted 4 years ago #
  30. Rosie
    Member

    @TryCycle - oh groan. I love the Dalriada.

    Posted 4 years ago #

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