Edinburgh roads: Go-ahead for revised revamp of George Street - with trees back in
Partial pedestrianisation and car ban in key city-centre street to proceed
Councillors have given the go-ahead to a revised scheme for the revamp of Edinburgh’s George Street - but with trees added back into the plans.
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said the discussions about the redevelopment of the street over more than a decade had been “a long and sometimes painful debate” but the council needed to provide clarity and confidence for the future.
The plans for George Street had to be reconsidered after a full council meeting in February rejected the plan to spend £31 million of Visitor Levy money on the project and said it should be applied more widely across the city centre.
The scaled-back proposal, costed at £20m, included removing trees and using asphalt instead of setts for the cycle-only carriageway down the centre of the street.
But the SNP and the Greens called for the trees to be reinstated in the plans, arguing it would help combat the effects of climate change.
At the transport and environment committee on Thursday, Green councillor Lorenzo Martinico said: “It’s not a compromise we can live with - and I mean that literally. The urban heat island effect is something we need to be very wary of. There is a clear trend of increasingly warmer weather.
“Not having essential tree canopy shelter in one of our flagship shopping streets puts its long-term viability in serious jeopardy.” And he said it was not just the summer months. In winter, trees could help break the impact of wind in the street.
The Greens also underlined the importance of George Street as a crucial part of the cross-city cycle route, the City Centre West East Link (CCWEL) and the committee agreed that cycle access should be maintained during construction.
An official told the committee it could take between 18 months and two years to get statutory consents for the project approved, during which time a contractor would be appointed. Construction would then take between two and three years.
Another official said the reduced scheme retained all the proposed sustainable drainage system (SUDS). The removal of trees had been suggested because it was already a contentious issue on heritage grounds. George Street was designed without trees and some argued they would spoil its intended look.
The trees themselves would cost around £350,000, but with associated costs for utilities, risk and overheads, the estimate was around £850,000.
Tory councillor Jo Mowat said in addition to the £20m for the reduced George Street scheme, £13.75m was required for the works identified as needed in Princes Street and then there were the “cross streets” like Frederick Street. So with £31m of Visitor Levy funding earmarked for the city centre, the council was “already a few million pounds adrift”.
She asked where the additional money was going to come from. Gareth Barwell, the council’s director of place, said officials were confident the costs were realistic. And he said there was a proposal for a further £10m to be released from an unallocated reserve. “We feel that creates a robust project budget.”
Earlier, William Duncan, chair of the George Street Association, told the committee: “This has been a long saga but after years of debate there is a ready-to-go plan to redevelop George Street and this has widespread support from businesses. Moreover, funding is now available from the Visitor Levy. With these three essential elements in place, there seems to me no rational reason to delay a decision to proceed.”
He said the latest plans could be viewed as a glass half full or a glass half empty. “The George Street Association position is let’s call it a glass half full and see whether we can get a little more funding to fill the glass a little further as the project develops.”
The revamp will remove the central parking from George Street and replace it with a two-way cycleway. General traffic will be banned between 10am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday, and between noon and 7pm on Sundays. But taxis will be allowed in for disabled people and there will also be limited coach access.
Before the 9-2 vote to approve the plans, with the trees added back in, Cllr Jenkinson told the committee: “What we have is a proposal which is a compromise, but we need to provide some clarity, we need to make a decision and we need to give people confidence to make future investment decisions based on what George Street and surrounding streets will look like in future.”