Joined December 2022
- Tweets 2,933
- Following 31
- Followers 174
- Likes 3,064
80 Photos and videos
Iain retweeted
19 Aug 2025
I asked a friend once, how many people work at Edinburgh council? He told me the last he had heard it was about a third of them.
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Iain retweeted
8 Aug 2025
Loath though I am to say “I told you so”, shutting down all the professional holiday let operators to create a vast unregulated black market was always going to end badly.
independent.co.uk/travel/air…
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4 Mar 2025
Strange - No rent controls or short term let controls required?
“But a development boom and new policies encouraging *housing density* have sent vacancy rates soaring.”
Scotland take notice. @PaulMcLennan7 @SaveSCScotland
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Iain retweeted
31 Oct 2024
I was also at an event last night & this is where the real conversations about Scottish tourism are happening...
- visionaries
- bringing together communities
- data driven
- the smartest minds
- three judicional reviews won
- purpose driven
- deeply inspiring
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Iain retweeted
This does not include privately owned properties. So the total number of empty properties across the city is MUCH higher.
8000 empty properties in the city?
Where are these?
Why can't they be brought back into use?
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Iain retweeted
31 Oct 2024
Fantastic event - our community is stronger than ever in the fight against the unlawful blanket ban being forced on self-caterers! Never giving in to the injustice! Fantastic to speak to the amazing @FionaCampbell74 & @Edinburgh_flex - inspirational @SaveSCScotland @Ivan_McKee
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Iain retweeted
30 Oct 2024
Short term lets being a reason for lack of housing has been debunked, when only 0.8% of dwellings are STLs. What is severely impacting housing is nimbyism and misguided policies discouraging investment. An anti tourism agenda is an extension of this.
scottishhousingnews.com/uplo…
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Iain retweeted
28 Oct 2024
BREAKING: Australian voters turn on @Greens in the Queensland election.
The Greens declared war on small family property investors and voters have had their say at the polling booth. Zero Seats
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
Does that include my current guests, senior members of foreign office relocating from Lebanon? Or the previous one, one of leads at a show in Playhouse? Or the guy before that, with a a toddler, who’s flat nearby was damaged by fire?
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
My cleaning agency owner is giving up because of this legislation. She employs mums with kids who need flexibility and school friendly hours as well as students and people fitting around other jobs. I chat to her staff and they have been happy. Those jobs are now gone
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
Good to finally have some independent research conducted. Perhaps some will be surprised at the economic benefits and the relatively small percentage of STLs, often vastly overstated. Protecting only 0.8% of stock for short term residential needs doesn’t seem unreasonable.
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Iain retweeted
Holiday let crackdown 'will cause huge damage to city economy' news.stv.tv/east-central/sho…
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
Biggar economic have done one report for Airbnb in past, but have done more reports for Scottish Government and councils. They are an independent economic analysis organisation.
Example: gov.scot/binaries/content/do…
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
Exactly. If Scottish Government or Edinburgh Council had asked the same question they would have got the same answer. But they didn’t, they pressed ahead with policies with no regard to economic impact or quantification of true impact on housing stock.
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
It’s very frustrating to have such a dismissive comment attributed to @cllrcammyday considering the only reason this report was required was due to the previously very narrowly scoped & biased economic report commissioned by CEC. This report goes much further and is independent.
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
Incorrect. Airbnb had nothing to do with this report. It was entirely independent, as set out I context of report with author deliberately given free rein to answer the study question as necessary based on available data. (unlike the biased scope of study commissioned by CEC)
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Iain retweeted
23 Oct 2024
0.8% of housing stock for shorter term residential requirements (eg my current guest is foreign office relocating from Beirut). 0.8% seems entirely reasonable for such requirements. The remaining 99.2% for longer term residential requirements. ‘Party flats’ just don’t exist.
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Iain retweeted
22 Oct 2024
You haven’t read the report. It’s independent. Only one question was asked, which the author was free to answer in any way.. There is comparison to long term in the report.
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Iain retweeted
22 Oct 2024
Of course there is no mention of rural communities empty homes (which is a separate issue), it was an Edinburgh specific study, which found only 0.8% of housing stock are full time STLs. Empty homes in Edinburgh are 4% - a much bigger percentage.
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Iain retweeted
22 Oct 2024
Up to now CEC, has been looking at STL legislation through a ‘narrow lens’ of hearsay and anecdotes. This report broadens the lens, giving a comprehensive view of STLs contribution to local economy, whilst giving perspective over the negligible impact on ‘residential’ housing.
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