Edinburgh roads: Councillors reject 'last option' to help East London Street residents by prioritising renewal of setts

People living in East London Street have been campaigning for years to get action to tackle the problem. They say their sleep is constantly disturbed by buses using their street as they leave Lothian Buses' central depot in Annandale Street early in the morning and return late at night.

Conservative City Centre councillor Joanna Mowat told the transport and environment committee that she and her fellow ward councillors had worked with residents to try to find a solution to the problem.

Residents in East London Street have complained about the noise from buses using their cobbled street early in the morning and late at night.

And she said as a last option they were asking that East London Street should be pushed up the priority list for sett renewal. The council renews one setted street per year and East London Street is currently fifth on the priority list, meaning the work would not happen until 2030/31.

Ahead of it on the list are Frederick Street, St Mary's Street, Victoria Street and the Shore in Leith. But the committee heard the Shore had been resetted about 12 years ago and was now on the list again because of problems with the work. And it also heard a section of the Royal MiIe required attention and could be added near the top of the list.

But, answering questions from councillors, Gareth Barwell, the council’s executive director of place, said it was possible some of the city centre streets could be allocated funding from the new tourist tax once it is introduced. He said although East London Street was currently listed for 2030/31 “that could change depending on decisions of members on the Visitor Levy”.

Lothian Buses says it has cut the number of buses using East London Street as much as it can without affecting its operations.

A potential option recently ruled out was to use Green Street, parallel to East London Street, as an alternative route but the road layout would have to be changed wtth the loss of trees and parking spaces and the road also goes past a school.

Another option previously floated was to tarmac the central carriageway of the street while retaining the setts on either side, close to the pavement, which would inevitably cause controversy. Earlier this year council officials said no further action was planned.

Cllr Mowat said the plea for higher priority for East London Street was the "last throw of the dice"and she "implored" the committee to agree to their reqest.

She said very little work had been done on the street because it needed to be kept open as a diversion during the tram construction and other roadworks. And she said she did not normally lie to interfere in processes.

But she told the committee: “It is such a unique set of circumstances - we have a highly residential street which has deteriorated over the last 15 years and we have tried every which way to reduce the impact and improve the amenity for residents.

“There are a lot of people living in properties who can’t really double glaze them on a very noisy street. When this street is used most by the buses is between midnight and 6am, which gets the buses out so we can all get to work and use public transport. We know this is essential to Lothian Buses requirements.

“We have tried everything. This is our last throw of the dice to try and improve the amenity for our residents.

“What really worries us is to see other setted streets come back into the programme and think [East London Street} might be leapfrogged.

“Visitor Levy money is no help to this street. It might get some other streets done a bit more quickly, and this one might get up the programme - but there's an awful lot of mights for people who haven’t had a decent nght’s sleep for the last 10 years.

“We can’t even have the conversation with resident about whether we change this from a setted street into a partially-setted, partially-asphalt street until we know the work is going to be committed to.”

SNP councillor Euan Hyslop backed a higher priority for East London Street and voiced fears that otherwise, residents could lose out again.

He said: “There is a risk that, come 2030, it will be still further down the priority list and it will never get done. What do residents of this city have to do to get the council to bring about changes to prevent them from living in what could be described as misery because of the lack of investment in infrastructure in their street?

“The list shows that tourists in this city and having a nice cobbled street in areas like Victoria Street are more of a priority than the residents that put us here and that’s worrying for me.”

But Chas Booth, Green councillor for Leith, argued against changing the priority list. He said: “I have massive sympathy for the residents. But many of us will have residents in our wards that are impacted by poor quality setted streets. I get correspondence from residents in Leith who are also kept awake at night by the very serious probems with the Shore.

“Our job in this committee is to take a strategic, city-wide approach and look at all those competing demands acrsoss the city and use the professional advive we are given by our officers to stake a strategic decision. I think it would be a mistake to set aside that strategic approach and it would also increase the legal risk to the council.”