Leith low traffic neighbourhood: Residents say latest proposal would 'make things worse'

The city council had faced calls to scrap a controversial bus gate which stops westbound traffic going along Links Place.

But now city officials are instead proposing to move the bus gate to Links Gardens with a ban on vehicles in both directions, which would effectively force traffic to use the road along the south side of Leith Links - Vanburgh Place, Hermitage Place, East Hermitage Place, Gladstone Pace and Claremont Park.

The existing bus gate which has been in place on Links Place for more than a year - the community council recommended its removal | supplied

Councillors are due to decide on Tuesday, February 18, whether to make the Leith Connections low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) permanent.

The bus gate has been a key feature of the project, but if it is to be moved that part of the scheme would have to go through a fresh consultation process for a new Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).

But Leith Links resident Allan Davidson, 72, says closing Links Gardens to traffic has already been shown not to work.

He said: “It was tried before - during Covid they did close it off and it was chaos. It was extremely unpopular and caused real problems at the bottom of Restalrig Road and Leith Links and also Seafield Road, which is really busy anyway.

“It just forced more traffic into these areas - you could be sitting for 15 minutes and going nowhere. So why they would want to do that again absolutely defeats me. The councillors are not listening to the people who live and work here.”

And he said the existing LTN measures, which have been on trial for more than a year now, have caused enough problems. “I'm disabled, I've got to use my car to get about. Journey times are much longer - places I go on a regular basis, like the gym or the shops, take much longer than they did two or three years ago.”

A survey by Leith Links community council found residents in the area were more or less evenly divided about the future of the LTN as it stands, with those inside the LTN more likely to back the measures than those living around the perimeter.

And the community drew attention to the increase in traffic on some of the perimeter roads, including a 53 per cent rise in afternoon peak traffic on Vanburgh Place.

Community council secretary Sally Millar said: “There is a feeling it's not very fair that some people get a lovely quiet road, a little quiet enclave to themselves, whereas the majority live on roads which are now more traffic laden than they were before.”

The community council recommended removing the bus gate from the scheme, saying Links Place should become two-way again since the bus gate did not protect St Mary's Primary School from traffic and had also caused a new rat run.

Ms Millar said the plan to relocate the bus gate to Links Gardens rather than removing it would make the situation "a million times worse".

The bus gate on Links Place is said to have created a new rat run and led to an increase in traffic on nearby roads | supplied

She said: “That would block off the whole area and make the traffic on the perimeter roads much worse. If the bus gate is moved to Links Gardens, all the traffic coming from the east and the south would have to go along the other side of the Links, which is East Hermitage Place, Hermitage Place and Vanburgh Place up to the Duke Street junction. That is a highly residential area. and it has already been damaged a lot by increased traffic.

“During Covid they closed off Links Gardens as one of the Spaces for People measures and it was very unpopular and it was clearly increasing traffic to an unacceptable level and so it was shelved when Spaces for People came up for review.”

Karen Greig, who runs the Destined for Home gift shop on Constitution Street, says her business has suffered as a result of the traffic measures in the area .

The Destined for Home gift shop in Constitution Street | supplied

She said: “Most of my customers say they just can’t figure out how to get here if they're driving because the streets are all shut and they don't know which ones are no entry or a bus gate or whatever. They find it very stressful.

“And those who live in the area say that instead of it being better for the environment it's making more problems. One customer told me her journey to the dentist used to take 15 minutes and now it takes 40 minutes because she has to go completely around the LTN and she gets stuck in traffic and the emissions go up and up.”

Marshall Bain, of the Queen Charlotte Rooms, which do function and funeral catering and afternoon teas, said his business had been badly hit by the traffic measures, as well as parking restrictions and the loss of buses when the trams started.

He said: “They’ve put double yellow lines outside our door, there’s no disabled parking, they don’t seem to care about businesses in Leith.

“We’ve been here for 30 years. But we’ve gone down from three or four funerals a week to one, so we have been losing thousands of pounds because it’s so difficult to get here from Warriston, even taxis have difficulty because the roads are all closed. And now it seems they’re going to make it even harder.”

The report to Tuesday’s TRO sub-committee says: “Given the nature of objections received to the current bus lane/bus gate, it is proposed that a new bus lane/bus gate is instead implemented further to the east, on Links Gardens.

“This would be taken forward by commencing a new Traffic Regulation Order process to revoke the current restrictions on Links Place and introduce new two-way restrictions (bus, taxi and cycle only) on Links Gardens.

“All properties on Links Gardens would remain accessible by motor vehicle. The statutory TRO process which would be required to implement this new measure would include a consultation period where people can comment on or object to the proposals.”