More evidence Edinburgh businesses are low priority for council – John McLellan

Edinburgh Council’s new parking ban plan shows where business fits in Adam McVey’s ‘transport hierarchy of place design’, writes John McLellan.

Edinburgh's transport and environment convener Cllr Lesley Macinnes (Picture: Ian Georgeson)

You could bet your housekeeping money that local businesses would be the last to be consulted about Edinburgh Council’s plans to ban parking in Edinburgh’s nine “town centres” like Morningside and Stockbridge.

Transport generalissimo Lesley Macinnes said this week they had been “liaising with the Federation of Small Business, Chamber of Commerce and local business associations where possible throughout this process”, but then the FSB’s Garry Clark said they had “definitely not been consulted on these specific proposals”.

Someone’s not telling the whole truth, so maybe the answer lies in the “where possible” bit of Cllr Macinnes’s statement. Perhaps it wasn’t possible to share details, but then again if you’re in a hurry why consult with groups if you don’t want to hear the answers. Much easier to speak to those you know will be “extremely supportive”, as Cllr Macinnes says the cycling pressure group Spokes has been. No surprise there.

Equally predictable has been the angry reaction from traders in the affected streets, particularly those who sell more than just a bag of cakes and who have relied on building up online sales to see them through the emergency. Not everyone has responded to the twin threats of Covid-19 and global warming by buying an electric cargo bike, so their customers need car parking places to collect goods.

Last month, council leader Adam McVey said he “wasn’t entirely sure where in the transport hierarchy of place design businesses fit”, but now we know. At the bottom of the heap.

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