Furious residents hit out over parking restriction 'nightmare' on busy Edinburgh street

Locals are calling for the proposed parking exclusion zone to be scrapped.

Furious residents have hit out at plans to stop all parking on a busy Edinburgh street, amid safety fears over a damaged wall.

A parking exclusion zone has been proposed on Royal Park Terrace by Historic Environment Scotland after it found the wall along the south side of the street needs significant repairs.

Under the expansion of controlled parking zones permit and metered parking was introduced on Royal Park Terrace last year, welcomed by residents who said it helped tackle problems parking at the busy spot which is often used for parking by visitors.

Locals said it used to be a 'rat run' at weekends when Holyrood Park is closed.

Following the discovery of the damaged wall several months ago a metal fence was put up along the Holyrood park side of the road.

But HES has confirmed it is pressing ahead with proposals to put an exclusion zone in place by the end of February, after they said repairing the wall was the 'preferred option'.

One local said putting a stop to all parking on the street will create 'an absolute parking nightmare'. They argue that the current fencing panels in place are sufficient to address safety concerns without the need for removing parking spaces.

Colin Flinn has lived in the area for more than 30 years. He said: "We have bitter experience here, look at Radical Road. It has been left closed for years. Our fear is that parking will be stopped here indefinitely. There are pieces of fencing attached to the wall currently. So it's not clear why they have to take away residents parking altogether.

Residents said parking on Royal Park Terrace is 'already a nightmare' at weekends. It's feared an exclusion zone will make things worse.

"HES told us someone tampered with the panels. We challenged that as we think it's false. With an exclusion zone the fencing would extend out from the wall by about 10ft, to the edge of the parking lines. Passing traffic would only be a few cm from the panels. It would be hugely dangerous."

"It has been horrendously difficult to communicate with HES. We have written to them to express concerns and say we support repairs being carried out to the wall but why does it have to mean stopping parking altogether? It feels like the concerns have been singularly ignored. It's going to create mess and mayhem and will have a huge impact on all the residents here."

It comes as parking restrictions in Edinburgh city centre and surrounding areas are to be extended into the evenings and weekends as part of the council's shake-up of transport in the Capital.

Residents on Royal Park Terrace were recently told that barriers and signs are expected to be erected in the coming days. More than 20 have now submitted formal complaints.

Mr Flinn, 65, added: "This is going to make things worse. Abbey Lane is closed now. We've just hit a brick wall. HES told us it's the council's responsibility to consult with residents as they will be closing the road. It's not clear if an impact assessment has even been carried out. Once barriers go up we know it will be difficult to get them removed and reverse the decision. We are calling on HES to meet with residents and the council to discuss the best solution."

A spokesperson for HES said: "Historic Environment Scotland has to undertake work on the section of Holyrood Park’s boundary wall running parallel with Royal Park Terrace. This is due to loose and fallen masonry along the length of the Royal Park Terrace boundary wall that has the potential to collapse even further, with a risk of injury to anyone in the immediate area.

As is our statutory duty, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) made the landowner, City of Edinburgh Council (CEC), aware of the potential risks to their land, as well as to persons and property on their land from our adjoining boundary wall. Given this information, CEC has suspended the public parking bays on their land. HES has been granted permission by CEC to erect a fencing system on its land to exclude the public from the area of potential risk for their safety, as well as to allow HES working area to undertake the necessary repairs. We expect to put this exclusion fence line in place in early March.

We will repair, and where necessary, rebuild for the stability and durability of the boundary wall along the length of Royal Park Terrace. Where it is feasible to do so, it remains our intention to release sections of the parking bays back to the CEC as our work progresses. Our primary concern must remain the safety of all concerned and our actions to mitigate the risk are necessary and appropriate while we undertake this required work and further continued assessment.