'Edinburgh is just one of the best cities in the world'

Almond councillor Kevin Lang, who leads the Lib Dem group on City of Edinburgh Council, tells Margaret Taylor about the problems city expansion have brought and how everyone in his area is on first-name terms with the Burryman

Describe the area you represent in one sentence
A wonderful collection of eight distinct communities across north west Edinburgh from Queensferry in the west to Muirhouse in the east. 

How long have you lived there?
I don’t live in the ward, but I’ve lived in Edinburgh almost my whole life, apart from a few years in London when I worked for former Liberal Democrat MP John Barrett. I grew up in Silverknowes and went to school in Davidson’s Mains. My dad owned a video rental shop, a fruit and veg shop and a children’s clothes shop, all next to each other in Queensferry. It’s all changed now, but I still get goosebumps when I walk past that row of shops.

Tell us something we won’t know about your local area
There are lots of relatively new names for places in my ward. Kirkliston was originally Cheesetown because a lot of workers on the Forth bridges lodged there and they got fed cheese sandwiches. Davidson’s Mains was originally Muttonhole because of the sheep industry around it.   

Who is the best-known person from your area?
He’s not on the electoral register, but I think the best-known person is the Queensferry Burryman. He’s part of the Ferry Fair festival, which has been a tradition in Queensferry for hundreds of years. On the morning of the fair the Burryman is covered head to toe in burrs and he walks through the town for nine hours handing out sweets to kids. It’s equally impressive and terrifying for children.

What challenges are unique to your particular part of the country?
Definitely the scale of development. My ward is already over 30,000 people – it’s one of the biggest in Scotland – but the scale of housebuilding is massive. From Queensferry, Kirkliston, Cammo, the massive new estate at Maybury and all the development around the airport the population is increasing by hundreds every week. With that comes real pressures on transport, on health services, on schools. Services aren’t keeping up with the population increase – that’s one of the biggest problems we’ve got. Queensferry is almost doubling in size and the local GP practice has already had to close its list to new entrants. There’s a real concern about where new people will go for a GP.

Councillor Kevin Lang

What made you stand for election?
To help people. In politics you can deal with big political issues, but far and away the best and most rewarding bits about being a councillor are the individual bits of casework. The one that has stood out for me was when the mother of a severely disabled child came to a surgery and as soon as she sat down, she burst into tears. The council had rejected her application for a blue badge for her car, which would have made life a bit easier for her family. I was able to get the decision reversed. I’ve still got the letter she sent me thanking me for what I’d done.

What’s the one thing Holyrood politicians could do that would be of greatest benefit to the area you represent?
Stop cutting our budgets. Local government is the frontline of public services – schools, homelessness, transport, social care – and it’s becoming almost impossible to deliver even the legal minimum of certain services because we’re having our budgets cut so much. With inflation and pay increases we’re being asked every year to do more with less and there is going to come a point very soon where local government just breaks.

What’s the best bit about living where you do?
Edinburgh is just one of the best – if not the best – cities in the world. It’s diverse, open-hearted, innovative, and we have some of the best architecture on our doorstep, like the city centre and the Forth bridges. There are some people in Edinburgh who try to shut down during the Festival, but I think it’s just the most amazing thing that for a month every year the world’s entertainers come here, to our city.

Is there a particular word you love using that only people in your part of the country would recognise?
My wife, who is from the south of England, looks at me like I’ve got two heads when I say this, but I use the word juice to describe fizzy drinks. I’ll say I’m going to get a bottle of juice and come back with an Irn-Bru. She thinks I’m mad.

If you could live anywhere else, where would it be?
Probably the USA. I’ve got lots of good friends in America and am on a mission to get to all 50 states. I love America, it’s such a fascinating and diverse country.