Covid-19 used as a 'convenient smokescreen' to push through Edinburgh active travel plans, councillors claim

The plans were announced on Friday by Edinburgh City Council.

Councillors have criticised plans for active travel provision in the city

Opposition councillors have blasted plans for wide-ranging changes to streets across Edinburgh and accused the council of using the COVID-19 crisis as a “convenient smokescreen” to push through the proposals.

It comes after Edinburgh City Council announced plans to radically change how people in the city move around through an active travel action plan, designed to use emergency powers provided by the coronavirus crisis to implement temporary changes to road layouts.

The council’s plans include road closures, pavements being widened, segregated cycle lanes and the introduction of bus gates.

Victoria Street is among the streets set to close to through traffic

While cautiously welcoming the intentions of the proposals, opposition councillors in the City Chambers have accused the council of using the ongoing pandemic as an excuse to fast-track changes to streets without the appropriate scrutiny.

Plans ‘shoe-horned’ in to fit COVID-19 challenges

Tory transport spokesman, Cllr Susan Webber, said she was concerned large parts of the plan involved taking proposals designed to combat overtourism and re-engineering them for active travel.

She said: “They have taken the Edinburgh City Centre Transformation plan which was a plan developed to deal with overtourism and having too many people on the streets which is not something we are facing now.

“I am concerned that they have shoe-horned their plans to fit the challenges they are facing now.”

Cllr Webber also said the Conservatives will look to put forward their own motion focusing more on pedestrians to the Policy and Sustainability committee on Thursday when the plans are due to be approved.

She added: “To the administration, active travel means cycling and we want to put pedestrians at the very heart of the city.

“The roads they have closed and how they have used their own criteria to drive the decision making is not clear at all.

“We want to see this as an opportunity to help our local high streets. Lets give them the space and the ability to regenerate and flourish and make it easy for people to visit and shop.”

COVID-19 a ‘convenient smokescreen’

The Liberal Democrat’s transport spokesman, Cllr Kevin Lang, criticised aspects of the active travel action plan, including the reintroduction of plans to remove bus stops across the city.

He said: “It’s clear changes are needed to make it safer for walkers and cyclists. If done right, this growing popularity of active travel can become a positive, long-term trend.

“However, these are big changes being proposed, with little opportunity for community consultation or detailed scrutiny. In a mad dash for government funding, there’s a risk that well-meaning but badly thought out decisions simply create unintended knock-on consequences.

“Worse still, there are signs this emergency is already being used as a convenient smokescreen for SNP and Labour councillors to ram through some of their unpopular policies.

“Why have the widely ridiculed plans to remove bus stops been included in this response plan? Creating fewer, more congested places to access local bus services is totally at odds with improving social distancing.”

Raeburn Place omission criticised

Ward councillors in Inverleith have also written to senior council officers criticising the omission of Raeburn Place in Stockbridge from the plans.

In an email sent to the executive director of place, Paul Lawrence, and seen by the Evening New, Tory councillors Max Mitchell and Iain Whyte, along with Lib Dem councillor Hal Osler and independent Gavin Barrie, called on the council to develop proposals for Raeburn Place.

The letter said: “This is a local town centre with pavements narrower than those of East Fettes Avenue or Arboretum Place. The city centre is, as usual, centre stage in the PS report.

“We feel that a local town centre such as Raeburn Place should have been considered in order to ensure it is safe and can thrive again. It is one of the most densely populated parts of Inverleith Ward and yet there is nothing to support it.”

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