Edinburgh roads: Corstorphine bus gate removed as Low Traffic Neighbourhood made permanent

Edinburgh councillors have voted to make the “Corstorphine Connections” low traffic neighbourhood permanent - but without the bus gate at Manse Road, which was the focus of most of the objections to the scheme.

The Manse Road bus gate was the most controversial feature of the Corstorphine low traffic neighbourhood.

The bus gate banned all traffic except buses, cycles and taxis from turning onto St John’s Road from Manse Road at peak times.  But campaigners argued it simply diverted traffic onto other, previously quiet roads.

The council said the bus gate camera - which was vandalised several times - would now be switched off and any penalty notices issued following the decision would be cancelled.

Corstorphine LIb Dem councillor Alan Beal said he was delighted with the decision.  He said: "The bus gate was not doing what it was intended to do.  It was just sending traffic around other residential roads.  The rest of the scheme is sensible. This is the solution we wanted."

The decision was made by the new Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) sub-committee, by six votes to three.

Its convener Margaret Graham said: “Following today’s decision the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) will become permanent but remove the bus gate on Manse Road. The council will now consider the consequences of this decision and its wider impacts, including the programme for removing the bus gate. 

“Under the wider Corstorphine Connections project we’re creating a safer and more comfortable environment for residents walking, cycling, wheeling and spending time in the local streets and outdoor spaces of the area."

Councillor Graham, fellow Labour councillor James Dalgleish and the Greens' Kayleigh O'Neill voted to keep the bus gate, as recommended by officials. 

But transport convener Stephen Jenkinson, who does not sit on the sub-committee, said the decision was right. 

He said: "The bus gate was one part of an entire project and I'm satisfied the vast majority of the project is going to be delivered for the people of Corstorphine. I think the right decision on the bus gate has been taken, based on the evidence and data presented in the reports.”

And he said even with the bus gate removed, the scheme was still a worthwhile exercise. "There has been quite a significant amount of footpath widening, additional crossings, the creation of the school street, bollards put in to protect children going to and from school and other roads blocked off to reduce traffic flow in the area.

"The bus gate has been the controversial bit.  Everyone has focused on that, not on the wider benefits of the scheme, which I think have been very good.

"I am supportive of low traffic neighbourhoods, but the decisions we take as a council should be evidence based and data led and taken in conjunction with the residents they affect."