John McLellan: George St plans mean congestion charge may be revived

The man with the cycle helmet firmly stuck his comment to the fronds of yellow Post-it notes gathered at the George Street traffic consultation this week: 'No daytime deliveries under any circumstances.'

boulevard: George Street would make a lovely avenue, but what happens to the traffic?

He was far from alone in his views about clearing vehicles from the heart of the New Town, but the responses showed a predictable split between those backing a total vehicle ban and residents who want to run a car like everyone else.

“Remember this is where I live” and “Residents need somewhere to park too” were typical and entirely reasonable reactions.

I’ve never doubted that George Street would make a lovely avenue of trees, benches and fountains, but the problem which this plan doesn’t address, and previous attempts have never cracked, is what happens to the cars and vans when the No Entry signs go up. One of the emerging themes in the arguments over tourism growth is that Edinburgh’s success owes much to the city centre remaining a place where real people live, so that means car ownership is unavoidable if the city centre is to remain an attractive residential district.

And as the cyclist illustrated, how do you ensure that the businesses which make George Street what it is can receive the deliveries they need to trade? Maybe some sort of Billingsgate Fish Market-style early morning drop-offs, but what would residents think if columns of trucks rumbled beneath their windows between 3am and 7am every morning? Dray deliveries aren’t renowned for their sensitivities, after all. The well-meaning but botched Central Edinburgh Traffic Management Scheme of 2005 had to be reversed because of the confusion it caused throughout the New Town. It successfully diverted private vehicles from Princes Street but the rest of it was chaotic, and from what I saw this week answers are as far away as ever.

A car ban on George, Hanover and Frederick Streets will put more pressure on Queen Street and taking traffic off Charlotte Street would make Randolph Crescent impossible. Ban cars from Queen Street?

Now, as then, a transformed city centre is a core part of the city’s economic thinking, and a draft strategy document will be discussed at today’s housing and economy committee. The document is 27 pages long, but only two detail-free paragraphs are devoted to the section titled “Create a transformed city centre fit to power Scotland’s economy”.

It promises a new project to guide development, but the only clue about what it might contain is a commitment to “improve the public realm in the city centre with the aim of improving conditions and prioritising access for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users”.

So if car use is to be limited but residents need to be able to drive and businesses need to be serviced, what’s the answer? The spectre of congestion charging could be back on the agenda and indeed Richard Dixon of Friends of the Earth raised it in the Scottish Parliament last year. The 2005 two-ring scheme is unlikely to be revived because too many people had a reason to oppose it; the outer ring meant that, for example, Liberton people nipping over to the Straiton Sainsbury for a morning shop would be hit with a charge driving home.

Had it been only the city centre it might just have squeezed through, but if it’s eventually proposed don’t expect a vote this time. The question is whether any politician is brave enough to go for it.

Lothian Buses needs to go into reverse
The attention was on the fare hikes, but amongst Lothian Buses’ changes announced this week is one which isolates elderly people in North Craigentinny who don’t drive. The 69 is reverting to an old route so there will be no bus service between Portobello Road and Seafield Road. The bus company says there was low demand, but that’s no comfort to the Fillyside people who relied on it. Reverse, please.

Craigentinny’s shooting hoopstars

If you’re good enough you’re big enough, so well done to the two P4 kids who represented Craigentinny Primary School’s basketball team in the recent Junior NBA tournament, which is mainly for P7s. The team had just two players from the highest age group and was the only side with a 50:50 gender split, yet finished third in their group of four. Coach Kerry Costello will go far.