Edinburgh council U-turns and admits painting double yellow lines on traffic-free road was a mistake

Council chiefs have done a U-turn and admitted that double yellow lines were painted by mistake on a road which is closed to traffic.

The road closure does not leave enough space for cars to drive past

The Evening News revealed last week the bewilderment of residents when the lines appeared in Braid Road, Morningside, given the closure of the road had been at the centre of a well-publicised controversy for months.

The council insisted the double yellows were part of the Spaces for People measures and were to ensure only blue badge holders could park there.

Unconvinced by the explanation, resident Paul Bailey decided to measure the gap left by the road closure signs for cars to get past.

"It was just 3ft 10in - clearly far too narrow for blue badge vehicles, or any others, to pass."

The issue was taken up by Colinton/Fairmilhead Tory councillor Jason Rust, who has now received a reply from officials acknowledging the mistake.

The email says: "There has been a misunderstanding and the double yellow lines should not have been installed on Braid Road.

"However we will leave them in place until we conduct the next review as the road is closed, following that we will consider the most appropriate course of action."

Mr Bailey said he had always thought it was a mistake. “It seems extremely incompetent – they just made it up. It’s a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.”

And Councillor Rust said: "The original response received was frankly unbelievable, but sadly this response received after repeated request is all too believable.

"One day we are informed lines are installed to assist blue badge holders, now we learn that they have been laid by mistake and in fact vehicles could not even access the stretch. This seems to be the council's very own pantomime – however, the council can certainly not claim residents are behind them on this closure.

"Painting double yellow lines on a closed stretch of road has been a waste of time and resource and only served to annoy my constituents in Buckstone and Fairmilehead further. It is farcical and Labour and SNP councillors need to ensure Braid Road is reopened forthwith."

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