Councillors have agreed to adopt Edinburgh’s Visitor Levy scheme, subject to further officer advice on the transition period and final approval by Council next week.
The final proposals for the scheme, updated to take account the findings of the 12-week public consultation, were presented by officers at a special meeting of the Policy & Sustainability Committee earlier today (17 January).
The final decision will be made by Council on Friday, 24 January.
Responding to today’s decision (which is set out in full below), Council Leader Jane Meagher said:
Today represented yet another important milestone in our journey towards securing a visitor levy for Edinburgh – and to realising a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest tens of millions of pounds towards enhancing and sustaining the things that make our city such a great place to visit – and live in – all year round.
At all stages of this process, we’ve listened to and taken account of the views of residents, industry and other stakeholders – and we mustn’t lose sight of just how much positivity there is for the scheme across all of these groups. It’s in this spirit that we’re considering the further submissions received from the wider tourism sector this week, ensuring we’re as well informed as we can be ahead of taking a decision next Friday.
I remain focused on delivering a scheme that will be both fit for purpose and workable – and that will benefit our city, our residents and our visitors for many years to come.
The full webcast of today's meeting along with the committee report is available on our website.
Committee decision in full:
To approve the following adjusted Motion by Councillor Meagher:
1) To note the outcome of the consultation on the draft Visitor Levy for Edinburgh scheme.
2) To agree to adopt the final Visitor Levy for Edinburgh scheme, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report by the Interim Executive Director of Place, with the exception of the proposed three-month transition period and note this would be subject to further officer advice ahead of the decision of Council, and with the following change:
At 7. Participatory budgeting (£2m over 3 years). The following wording be added “with appropriate audit checks in place to ensure that these funds are spent on facilitating the achievement of the scheme’s objectives.”
3) To agree to begin the recruitment for the Chair of the Visitor Levy Forum immediately, with the appointment subject to the approval of the Council.
4) To agree in principle the use of the Spend to Save fund to support preparatory work for the Edinburgh Visitor Levy scheme as well as its implementation.
5) To refer the report to the Council meeting on 24 January 2025 for approval and ratification of the scheme and the use of Spend to Save funding.
6) To agree to defer the following items in Appendix 6 to the report by the Interim Executive Director of Place as individual reports to each relevant executive committee for discussion / approval.
2. Mitigation of Tourism on Housing
5. City Operations and Infrastructure
6. Culture, Heritage and Events
7. Destination and Visitor Management.
7) To note that, should Council approve the scheme, each investment theme would be presented to the relevant executive committee for approval, and to agree to reaffirm previously agreed principles, namely that spending should:
a) prioritise additionality in terms of investment in services and improvement projects, and,
b) wherever possible and in a way that was consistent with the statutory requirements, be used to benefit communities across Edinburgh and not just the core city centre.
8) To agree that the development of projects under the TVL themes for investment should also demonstrate their adherence to existing Council strategies where applicable.
9) To agree that the Visitor Levy Forum should contain an equal number of representatives from community and business organisation and recommend that at least 40% of the representatives must be women.
10) To note that an initial decision on how housing funds would be spent would come to Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee in May 2025 and to request that this report should set out what options were legally possible across different housing tenures including social housing.