Edinburgh traffic: Council plans will leave only one east-west route through city, claims councillor

And he says that will mean increased congestion and more traffic on local roads where people live and shop.

Councillor Whyte claims proposed traffic measures and anticipated developments will reduce the capacity of several existing routes between the east and west of the city.

London Road will be part of the only remaining east-west route through the city, according to Cllr Iain Whyte. Picture: Google. | Google

And when they are all put together, he says the route along Queen Street, Leith Walk, London Road and onto Willowbrae Road emerges as effectively the only remaining east-west main road.

He said: "As a Craigentinny/Duddingston councillor I am extremely concerned for the local implications of the build-up of plans the council has to restrict vehicle movement in the area. Combined with long term plans by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to close the roads in Holyrood Park, it would be catastrophic.

“It will create more traffic on shopping streets and residential side streets in east Edinburgh and make it almost impossible for local people to get anywhere to their west in the city or to get out of Edinburgh.

"I also believe this could be hugely damaging for the future of business and the economy in Edinburgh as the council shows no wish to retain a viable set of main routes in and out. Even in European cities that are zealous about forcing reductions in car and van use, they retain a network of main routes.

“The council's combined plans leave only one route in east Edinburgh with no resilience for roadworks or incidents. How are the many businesses who use vehicles to deliver to or provide services to customers meant to get about?"

Cllr Whyte said the existing route through Leith - along Salamander Street, Seafield and onto Sir Harry Lauder Road - would be affected by three separate projects, starting with the Leith Connections phase three plans for a cycle route from Hawthornvale to Seafield.

“There's also a masterplan at Seafield to turn it into a housing area and some people aspire to it as an extension of Portobello High Street. And at the Harry Lauder junction they are already looking at cycle lanes across that and narrowing it from four lanes coming in to two lanes coming in.”

He said another route using Niddrie Mains Road would also soon be ruled out as a main through route. “There’s a big project planned there which talks about bus lanes, cycle lanes, build-outs at junctions.”

And a route through the bottom of the Old Town and Holyrood Park would disappear if HES closed the roads in Holyrood Park.

Cllr Whyte said: “The council sneaks these plans through under innocuous sounding names like ‘Our Future Streets’ but never explains the implications because they know it would be widely rejected by the public. They use public views that support less traffic in their area to back up small plans one by one but never show the full picture created when the jigsaw fits together.

"These plans would mean even more congestion in all the wrong places, clogged bus routes and no way to get about in what should be an accessible city that gives residents the benefits of all its neighbourhoods and not just the one they live in.

“This plan needs an immediate review and the city must retain a viable primary traffic network."

Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said the projects in the council’s City Mobility Plan would be rolled out in a controlled fashion. “It’s not a big bang approach,” he said.

“And the projects have to complement each other. If there are changes made which are outwith the council’s control then there is scope to flex and change if necessary.”

And he added: “The Conservatives are against the principle of what we are trying to do. When we are potentially restricting traffic flows it’s done based on good gathering of data and evidence. The purpose of the City Mobility Plan is to move people and vehicles around the city in a way which is efficient, reduces congestion and enables us to work towards the targets we’ve set on the climate and reducing car kilometres.”