Edinburgh's most controversial street closures to be removed next week after years of bitter debate
The closure of the Braid estate has been arguably the most controversial in the Capital in recent memory
A date has been set for the removal of one of Edinburgh's most controversial street closures in recent times.
Traffic filters preventing through access for vehicles at two key points in Morningside's Braid estate will be dismantled next week after years of bitter debate.
Measures to reduce traffic in the area were first introduced during the Covid pandemic under the Spaces for People programme to make it easier for people to walk or cycle and maintain social distance.
But the Braid estate closures became arguably the most controversial in the Capital in recent memory.
Now two filters on Cluny Drive - one at the junctions with Braid Avenue and the other at the junction with Hermitage Gardens - will be taken out.
The work is due to start on Monday August 17 and is expected to take three days. However, another filter, on Braid Road at the junction with Hermitage Drive, will be retained.
The final decision to remove the Cluny Drive filters was taken in June by the city's transport committee by six votes to five despite pleas from a deputation representing five parent councils to keep them.
The parents claimed that taking away the filters would reverse five years of progress in making the area's streets safer. And they quoted council data showing through traffic was down by 40 per cent, average speeds had been cut from 27 to 15mph and cycling was up 160 per cent.
Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said there would be at least 12 months of traffic monitoring once the filters had been removed and the data collected would help inform decisions on any potential future traffic measures on the estate.
The transport committee had previously voted in March 2024 to reopen roads and the estate but install a new segregated cycle lane on Hermitage Drive and Braid Avenue after a survey showed that was the option with most support among residents.
But the decision was never implemented and, just as the work was scheduled to begin in January this year, it had to be called off because of complaints against two Morningside councillors who had taken part in the vote despite living in or near the area.
A Standards Commission hearing in March censured Liberal Democrat Neil Ross and Tory Marie-Clair Munro after ruling they had breached the councillors code of conduct by failing to declare an interest and withdraw from the meeting.
That forced the issue to be considered again, but a problem was discovered with the wording of the original traffic order introducing the filters on Cluny Drive which officials said meant they could not be made permanent.
And despite pleas to find a way of keeping the filters, the committee voted for them to be removed.
The council said the work next week would see the two affected junctions returned to their previous layouts and priorities, while road markings at several junctions within the Braid estate would be refreshed.
The council added: "While we expect that these dates will go ahead as planned, road marking works are heavily dependent on dry weather and there is a chance that these may have to be rescheduled."