Edinburgh councillor rants 'this might have been sorted if the area was affluent'
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An Edinburgh councillor has slammed his own authority after the stump of a tree brought down during Storm Eowyn is still blocking a path - more than three months on.
SNP member for Craigentinny / Duddingston, Cllr Danny Aston, said concerned constituents "maybe have a point" when they claim it would have been sorted in a more affluent area.
Cllr Aston posted a TikTok from the scene in Restalrig and said: "That tree actually came down during Storm Eowyn which was the night before Burns Night, so the 24th of January and as you can see, its been chain sawed and much of the tree has been removed but a lot of it is still there and there is a lot of broken pavement restricting the space available for folk to get by- and do you know what, it looks pretty bad as well.
"I asked council officers to get on and crack on and get the tree stump removed and repair the pavement. The result of that has been that they put a couple of cones down.
"Folk often say, 'if it was in a different part of the city, a more affluent part of the city, it would have been removed' and do you know what, three months on maybe they have got a point and frankly I just don't think this is good enough. I'll be kicking this up the chain to make sure it gets some further attention."
As well as the stump, the pavement has been damaged too which Cllr Aston believes is restricting access further.
Edinburgh Council officers have acknowledged the damage is an obstruction and have it will be repaired as soon as the stump is removed - but were unable to say when this would happen.
A council spokesperson said: 'Following the storm our teams assessed damage all over the city, clearing debris and making areas safe.
"This included removing a fallen tree in Restalrig, which unfortunately also caused some damaged to the paving. We appreciate this is an obstruction and plan to fix the slabs as soon as the tree stump is removed.'
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