Edinburgh roads: Another blunder means traffic filter near two schools will have to be ripped out
Sub-committee due to decide future of Quiet Route traffic filters on Tuesday afternoon
City council officials have discovered a further error which they say means another traffic measure on Edinburgh's Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route will have to be ripped out.
A problem with the wording of an original traffic order which introduced traffic filters in Morningside's Braid estate more than five years ago had already been identified.
Officials said it meant the filters on Cluny Drive at the junctions with Braid Avenue and Hermitage Gardens could not be made permanent. And they recommended the “interdependent” closure of Braid Road should also be removed.
But now a revised report says a traffic filter on Canaan Lane, covered by the same Experimental Traffic Order (ETRO), will also have to come out because of another wording error. The latest revelation has sparked an angry reaction, particularly since the Canaan Lane filter is close to two schools.
The recommendations are due to be discussed by the council’s Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) sub-committee on Tuesday afternoon.
Morningside Green councillor Ben Parker said: “This latest revelation that, because of a further council blunder, another modal filter on the Quiet Route is not going to be made permanent at TRO sub-committee, absolutely beggars belief.”
He said the filter at Canaan Lane, right outside the Royal Blind school, was an important feature which reduced traffic and kept vulnerable road users safe.
“This filter's key location at the centre of the whole Quiet Route means it is of key strategic importance and for it to be removed is to effectively cut the route in two. There is no other way for people walking, wheeling or cycling to travel safely from the south of Morningside ward to the city centre and it is a travesty that this popular, inexpensive and important filter is set to be removed.
“Green councillors will continue to press council officers and other political parties to put right what has gone so very badly wrong here."
And a spokesperson for cycle campaign edi.bike said the council should be looking to preserve the successes of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route and argued the council had powers to vary the restrictions in the ETRO and allow the filter to be kept.
He said: “We’re disheartened that officers continue to recommend reintroducing through-traffic on a vital corridor for safe cycling, walking and wheeling - particularly as we don’t believe there is a legal requirement for this particular filter’s removal.
“The TRO sub-committee has the power to amend restrictions moving from ETRO to permanent order if their amendments make the restrictions less stringent or onerous.
“On Canaan Lane, the legal wording prohibits vehicle movement for 32 metres between the exit to the Royal Blind School and 51 Canaan Lane - and the implementation trialled is for a mere 1.5m of prohibition at the same location to provide a pair of planters that act as a modal filter.
“This northbound section of Canaan Lane is a quiet, narrow street with private residences and the Royal Blind School compound. Officers should be using the remit of the TRO sub-committee to fix yet another mistake in the legal orders for this route rather than trying to re-introduce vehicles here - just round the corner from two schools on the same road.”
A council source said it was unfortunate that the way the order had been drafted meant the filters concerned could not be made permanent.