Crossing scheme delays are an eye opener - Sue Webber

Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP Sue Webber

A year ago City of Edinburgh Council published a waiting list of 87 pedestrian crossing schemes “under development”, each one representing a safety concern.

We all know the local authority can act very quickly when it wants to close streets or narrow roads, so when local people raise issues, it might be expected that at least those at the top of the list would be a matter of priority.

In this column shortly before Christmas, I highlighted one such case, number nine on the list, a crossing for Lanark Road West which has been promised since 2014, not least because children must cross an extremely busy street to get to and from Currie Primary School.

“I don’t like not being able to get home safely,” said Primary Six pupil Magnus. “I also can’t get to the safe route to school safely. Mum has to cross me over the road every morning, sometimes we have to wait for 50 cars to go by and Mum usually has to step onto the road to stop the traffic,” he said.

It was supposed to have been built in 2021-22 but was pushed back to 2023-24 as the traffic department switched priorities onto the Spaces for People programme. So, while Currie people were waiting for their crossing, the council was busy installing bollards further down Lanark Road where residents didn’t want them.

Now eight months on, how closer is Magnus to getting that crossing? I’ve been following this up regularly and for anyone waiting for one of those 87 improvements my correspondence with council officers is an eye-opener.

November 29: Thank you Ms Webber. I’ve sent this on to the team and we’ll come back to you as soon as possible.

January 13: Please accept my apologies, I know there were discussions internally and I assumed that you had received a response quite soon after your email. I will follow up right away.

April 14: Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding to you on this. Unfortunately, the officer within the Road Safety team who is managing the project is currently absent from work. I’m afraid the only information I’ve been able to find on the current status of the project is that design work is still ongoing and that delivery of the crossing is expected to take place later this year.

June 29: The council remains committed to delivering this crossing improvement. Unfortunately, the level of staff resources within the Road Safety team has historically been insufficient to progress the various workstreams that make up the council’s extensive road safety programme within the timescales that we would have hoped for and there has been considerable slippage across the programme. There has also been a high level of staff turnover within the team over the last 18 months that has caused additional disruption. Unfortunately, I am not therefore currently able to provide you with an anticipated date for the implementation of this crossing improvement.

So, no delivery of the crossing later this year, after all. All I have been promised is an updated report to the transport committee after the summer, and if we are very, very lucky, this small but vital improvement might happen a decade after it was first promised. No wonder people have little faith in Edinburgh Council.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP