Edinburgh roads: Supporters of Braid estate traffic filters claim plans to remove them will put children's safety at risk
‘To rip these protections out because of a council blunder is not acceptable’ - Cllr Chas Booth
Supporters of long-standing road closures in an Edinburgh estate claim children's safety will be at risk if plans to remove them go ahead.
Two traffic filters in Morningside's Braid estate, which were first installed during Covid, have now expired and cannot be made permanent due to drafting errors in the original traffic order, and are set to be removed.
But campaigners who want the filters to stay claim the council could still keep them - because that's what's planned for another filter nearby.
A report to the council's transport and environment committee on Thursday says officials intend to retain a filter in Canaan Lane, Morningside, which was affected by a similar blunder, by using a temporary traffic order until a permanent one can be processed.
Ed Hawkins, of Blackford Safe Routes, said: "If they can do that for the Canaan Lane filter, why can't they do it for the Braid estate filters?
"These filters are not a popularity contest, this is about children's safety. We don't want to see children put in danger."
He claimed removal of the filters on Cluny Drive at the junctions with Hermitage Gardens and Braid Avenue would soon see traffic through the estate increase.
"The council has offered a promotional campaign to try and educate children who might be as young as five that the roads are no longer safe - that's completely hopeless, that's not a safety strategy."
Dave duFeu from cycling campaign Spokes welcomed the plan to keep the Canaan Lane filter.
And he said: "We urge councillors to take a similar approach for the two Cluny Drive filters, which have now been in place for five years and have created a safer environment for walking and cycling."
And Green transport spokesperson Chas Booth took a similar view, saying he had still not heard an explanation of why the council was taking a different approach on Canaan Lane and the Braid estate.
He said: "I'm extremely concerned that the report seems to be recommending the removal of essential modal filters in the Braids, which keep kids safe when they're walking, wheeling and cycling to school, because of errors in the legal processes.
"To rip these protections out because of a council blunder is not acceptable. The authority should instead be finding ways to regularise the current situation, and ensure the safer streets measures are enforceable."
But Scott Gibson, of Braid Estate Safety First, called the council's plans a "pragmatic solution" and a "sensible position".
He said: "We believe that appropriate traffic priorities and good signage will allow all road and pavement users to travel safely through and within the Braid estate without the need for modal filters at Braid Avenue/Cluny Drive and Hermitage Gardens/Cluny Drive.
"We think removal of the modal filters will redistribute but not increase the overall vehicle traffic within the Braid estate and will reduce overall emissions and journey times by eliminating the extra distance vehicle travel to navigate the modal filters.”
Mr Gibson argued that with the filters in place, drivers became frustrated at not being able to take the most direct route and tended to speed up and slow down at the various turns and junctions as they drove round three sides of a square. Removing the filters would remove that frustration and lead to lower overall speeds, he claimed.
And he said: “Rat running has been created by the filters and will be eliminated by the removal of the filters because the main thoroughfares through the estate will become the route for traffic and keep cyclists and vehicles separate. Until now, they’ve forced the cyclists and cars onto the same roads and removing filters will put the cars back onto the wide straight road and the cycle route goes through the quieter roads.”
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said there had to be a specific justification for the use of temporary traffic orders.
He said due to the cluster of schools - St Peter’s and Canaan Lane primaries and the Royal Blind School - and healthcare facilities at Astley Ainslie and Woodlands House - Canaan Lane was often the destination for a significant number of vulnerable road users.
“That filter needs to be there for road safety. Removing it risks the safety of potentially vulnerable users of that zone, therefore it’s reasonable under the legislation to have a temporary traffic order in place while the permanent one is being redrawn.