As City Plan 2030 moves forward, we are holding more events on key subjects such as the Housing Seminar we shared just over a week ago. The events are attended by people who work in these areas and are a way of sharing and gaining knowledge in specific topics.
Our most recent event was on the subject of visitor accommodation, (such as hotels, short-term lets, hostels and guest houses) dealing with the growth of tourism and the impact on the property market.
We invited those involved in building or running visitor accommodation, or with a stake in this activity. With over 60 people signed up to attend, we heard from a range of perspectives.
The first speaker was Jim Galloway, our Head of Enterprise and Innovation at the Council, who covered the trends in tourist numbers over the last few years, why they have changed, and what issues may affect these numbers in the future.
The next speakers were Dr Mark Robertson of Ryden, Andrew Renouf of GVA and Ian Derrick of GVA who discussed the current state of the property market for this sector.
This was followed by a discussion session with input from both industry and community representatives, on the topic of how to address the growth of visitor numbers in City Plan 2030, with a range of views given and discussed.
The final speaker was Keith Miller from our City Plan team who gave an outline of City Plan 2030 and how we will be involving more people in the discussion in the future.
The event was closed by Councillor Lezley Cameron who rounded off the event and addressed a few key points and issues which came up.
Next year we intend to hold a further event on the subject of the retail and leisure sector. Watch this space! If you’d like to give us your own views on this subject, let us know in the comments, or email us at cityplan2030@edinburgh.gov.uk
Planning Edinburgh 
This blog would be more useful if it gave a bit more insight into key points made by all speakers and key points/issues arising …
Hi David, thanks for the feedback, we’ll bear this in mind for future blogs. We recognise this is very much a live topic at the moment and is part of our thinking as we work towards setting out the choices for the city. At the consultation stage next year we’ll be able to share more on this topic and get the full range of views on how we address this and other issues facing the city. Regards, Planning Edinburgh.