Edinburgh Council’s direction of travel is clear, so get on board for the transport revolution – Steve Cardownie

The opposition to the council’s trasnport proposals would appear to be down more to presentation rather than any fundamental disasgreement, writes Steve Cardownie

The council administration’s proposals include the closure of Waverley Bridge to traffic (Picture: Ian Georgeson)

The council’s policy and sustainability committee will meet tomorrow and one of the items on the agenda will be a report under the fairly innocuous title of “Creating Safe Spaces for Walking and Cycling”.

It proposes some fairly significant changes to the way the public are expected to make their way through the city centre in future and has attracted some criticism from the opposition which has accused the council coalition of using Covid-19 as a “convenient smokescreen for SNP and Labour councillors to ram through some of their unpopular policies”. The unpopularity or otherwise of the administration’s transport policies is yet to be tested but what might prove to be unpopular for some can be the polar opposite for others.

The Conservatives intend to submit a motion focusing more on pedestrians as they “want to see this as an opportunity to help our local high streets” giving them “the space and the ability to regenerate and flourish and make it easy for people to visit”. The Liberal Democrats for their part are bemoaning the plans to remove some bus stops throughout the city whist recognising “it’s clear changes are needed to make it safer for walkers and cyclists. If done right, the growing popularity of active travel can become a positive, long-term trend”.

The opposition would appear to be down more to presentation rather than exposing a fundamental barrier against the direction of travel as indicated by the administration’s transport options detailed in this report. I suspect, therefore, that there may be some room for manoeuvre that may allow the coalition to accept some of the opposition’s concerns.

The council’s own statement refers to an action plan within the report which will set out “criteria for temporary walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as a package of short and long-term measures to establish safer routes for cyclists and pedestrians” – which include some recommendations which will impact on some of the city’s busiest streets.

Proposals include the closure of Waverley Bridge to traffic, temporary footway widening on Morrison Street, Morningside Road and Easter Road and temporary footway widening and cycle segregation on George IV Bridge. It also includes a recommendation to “accelerate the suite of proposals from the Edinburgh City Centre Transformation Development Plan on an emergency basis” and to supplement these proposals by closing Bank Street, North Bridge (or potentially another point on the same route), as well as “East Market Street and East Princes Street to through car traffic.” It also states: “In addition, it is proposed to bring forward other pedestrian priority schemes, eliminating through traffic and reducing parking provision on Victoria Street and Cockburn Street.”

Notwithstanding the issue of local consultation, many of these proposals should find favour with all parties, although there are one or two that are likely to raise collective eyebrows.

However you need look no further to gauge the importance that the capital coalition attaches to the transport strategy for the city than to see the council leader and deputy leader leading the charge on the issue, dominating the press coverage at every opportunity, obviously not wanting to leave anything to chance!