Edinburgh roads: Controversial traffic measures recommended for removal after wording blunder
Filters in Morningside’s Braid estate will have to go, council officials say
Controversial road filters in an Edinburgh estate should be ripped out because of wording errors in a traffic order three years ago, city officials have told councillors.
The filters which restrict vehicles at certain junctions in Morningside’s Braid estate have been at the centre of controversy since they were first installed five years ago.
In March 2024, the city’s transport committee voted to remove the filters and put in a segregated cycle lane along with traffic calming measures, but the decision was not implemented and its validity was then called into question after the Standards Commission censured two councillors for taking part in the vote despite living nearby.
A decision on the future of the scheme, part of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, has been referred to the council’s Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) sub-committee, which meets on Tuesday, May 12. Supporters of the filters were hoping the March 2024 decision would be overturned and the existing traffic measures would be made permanent.
But now a report to that meeting by officials has revealed a drafting blunder in a 2023 Experimental Traffic Regulation Order for the two filters on Cluny Drive at the junctions with Braid Avenue and Hermitage Gardens.
The report says: “Officers have identified that the written descriptions of the two prohibitions of motor vehicles trialled at Braid Avenue and Hermitage Gardens were incorrectly drafted within the Schedules to the Order. This means these parts of the ETRO cannot be made permanent.”
And the report also recommends that, due to the “interdependency” of the closure of Braid Road with the Cluny Drive filters, the closure of Braid Road should not be made permanent either.
But the situation has sparked a furious response from those who wanted the existing measures to remain in place.
Morningside Green councillor Ben Parker said: "I've been contacted by many constituents who are very angry that the measures which keep their children safe on their walk to school will apparently need to be ripped out because of a council error.
“I share their anger and frustration at this situation, and I have asked council officers to urgently explain how this error happened, and what is being done to rectify it.
“It isn't right that the safer streets which have benefited children and other vulnerable road users over the past three years will simply be removed because of a mistake - children's lives are more important than that."
Cllr Parker said he was in discussion with colleagues and council officers about what action could be taken to address the road safety concerns of residents if the measures did have to be removed.
“What options do we have to put some of the measures back in place, and what further action can be taken to address road safety concerns? This incident raises further questions about whether the legal processes around traffic and road safety measures are fit for purpose. Greens have long called for a review of these legal orders, and this episode adds further weight to that argument."
And Edinburgh cycle campaign edi.bike said removing the filters would bring greater road danger for those walking, wheeling and cycling.
A spokesperson said: “Our community are bitterly disappointed to see this council failure potentially cause measures for safer streets to be ripped out.
“There isn’t any suggestion in the report that there might be another way to fix the legal mistakes made and preserve the safety benefits of the route and the quieter, cleaner streets for residents, yet we know from previous council decisions and other councils that this is possible.
“In other cities, wording mistakes in legal orders have been addressed using temporary orders, or made permanent later using a standard permanent orders.
“The council must find a legal route to make the existing measures permanent, if members of the sub-committee vote to keep them. To tear them out because of a paperwork error would be an unforgivable failure of both policy and imagination.”
But Scott Gibson, of Braid Estate Safety First, who has been critical of the current measures, said there could still be a Quiet Route through the estate without the filters.
He said: “We would prefer there to be a better layout that prioritises pedestrians and cyclists because I think the current layout is dangerous. You have cyclists racing down the hill on Braid Avenue, paying no attention to the Give Way and coming straight through the modal filter without slowing down, creating a serious risk of accident to themselves, pedestrians, and drivers.
“What you should be doing in my view is directing traffic down Braid Avenue, which is the widest and straightest street in the estate and is controlled by traffic lights. The cyclists could then use the side streets that are then quiet because you’ve not forced the motor traffic onto them.”
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said: “The decision has been referred to the TRO sub-committee to determine. I’m not in a position to prejudge any decision they may take.”