Council accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over delayed zebra crossing outside Edinburgh school
Parent Council chair Lynsey Houston questioned why the council did not use the road works as an opportunity to improve road safety for the primary school pupils
Parents at Craiglockhart Primary School have criticised the council’s “hypocrisy” of undertaking months-long roadworks while their “long-promised” zebra crossing is yet to be delivered.
Craiglockhart Parent and Carer Council has campaigned for more than a decade to get a crossing installed on Ashley Terrace, which has faced “severe and worsening road safety conditions” in recent years.
The group says a speed survey recorded vehicles being driven at between 60mph and 65mph in a 20mph zone during school hours.
Parent council chair Lynsey Houston questioned why the council was not using the nearly 10-week closure of the nearby Polwarth Terrace junction as an opportunity to put a crossing in place.
She said: “It seems okay to do that work but not okay to deliver road safety measures.
“It’s a kind of council job at the end of the road and they’re happy to do that, but the crossing just doesn’t seem to factor as a priority at all.
“I was kind of hoping that there would be a ‘looking for the honey in the beehive' type thing that while the roadworks are up they might be able at the same time to do our crossing but I was maybe fishing for something that wasn’t there.”
Councillors voted earlier this month to speed up implementation of a crossing after two local ward councillors, Conservative Neil Cuthbert and the SNP’s Neil Gardiner, tabled an emergency motion calling for urgent action.
The project is currently in the detailed design phase and is expected to begin construction in January 2027 as part of a wider package of improvements in Ashley Terrace and Shandon Place.
Plans for a crossing were first secured in 2022 but have been continuously pushed back, with a recent delivery timeline of the 2026 summer holidays being delayed into 2027.
An 80-year-old ended up in critical care in April 2025 following a crash with a BMW outside the school, while a parent was hit by a driver at a pedestrian crossing further up the road months later.
A council spokesperson said: “Pedestrian safety across the city is a priority and I fully understand the safety concerns raised by the community in relation to the junction at Ashley Terrace and Harrison Gardens.
“A joint review of the initial outline design has taken place and the project has moved to the detailed design phase.
“Work is under way to ensure the proposed school and Ashley Terrace crossing design is appropriate and accessible to all who wish to cross.”
Mrs Houston said: “To be perfectly honest with you, if they gave me a date, I would probably be very sceptical because they pushed it back so many times.
“There’s always an excuse. It’s frustrating the lengths that you have to go to as a parent council to get that far; we just really want a start date.”
The parent council chair suggested that a temporary solution be put in place while they wait for a permanent crossing to be built to stop the young pupils from walking out from behind cars to cross the road.