Edinburgh council recommended to take less radical option on future of Princes Street
‘Ambitious pragmatism’ v ‘radical rethink’
Princes Street would see a widened pavement, lifts down to the Gardens and shelters turned into small cafes under proposals recommended by council officials.
There would also be new or improved public toilets and drinking fountains and longer opening hours for the Gardens, as well as new natural stone paving, public seating and an upgrade for the Ross bandstand.
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But the plans are the less radical of two options being presented to councillors following a summit on the future of Princes Street.
The alternative option includes reducing the road space to a single lane in each direction, even wider pavements and a new cycle path on each side of the street.
But council officials say making buses and trams share a single lane would create congestion and "unacceptable" delay to bus journey times.
They also noted that public consultation between November 2024 and February 2025 did not find majority support for cycle segregation along Princes Street, with 60 per cent against and 22 per cent in favour, and that while Spokes considered it essential, Living Streets Edinburgh Group and Lothian Buses raised concerns about the potential impact on footway and public transport services.
Officials recommend the city's planning committee to endorse the more cautious option - which they label "ambitious pragmatism" - saying it would optimise public transport efficiency and create a "significant transformation" of Princes Street and the Gardens, with designs for the footway widening and repaving of the street able to be progressed immediately.
The alternative - described as a “radical rethink” - would require a competitive procurement process and further public consultation, they say.
The summit on the future of Princes Street - which brought together representatives from Historic Environment Scotland, Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Essential Edinburgh Network Rail and Edinburgh Access Panel, among others - heard presentations from council chief executive Paul Lawrence, arguing for the "ambitious pragmatism" option and architect Richard Murphy, who presented his own proposals.
These include extending the pavements out to the tram lane, introducing cycle lanes between the buses and the pavement, building stone planters/seats against the buses and installing continuous evergreen planting to obscure the lower sections of buses.
He would also plant trees to soften the street on the north side, turning Princes Street into a “boulevard” and providing shade in the summer, and remove the railings between Princes Street and the Gardens, having them open 24 hours a day.
Mr Murphy also proposes excavating beneath the paving on the south side and laying out space for restaurants and cafes opening into the Gardens.
The summit followed the rejection last year of the Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy, the council masterplan for the area. It proposed increased pedestrian zones, tree-planting on the roof of Waverley Market, new access ramps into Princes Street Gardens and a footbridge across the Waverley Valley. But it was slated for not offering more of a vision for the future of the Capital’s premier street.
A report to next week’s planning committee says the latest council proposal would renew the street “within the existing policy context in terms of the public transport network and heritage” and provide “an ambitious, exciting and deliverable strategy”.
The report asks the committee to agree that a revised Princes Street and Waverley Valley Strategy, based on the “ambitious pragmatism” options should be brought back for approval in early 2027.