Edinburgh's Roseburn traders fear council is backtracking on compensation

Edinburgh’s Roseburn businesses “angry, frustrated and disappointed” over council report

Traders who have suffered a massive drop in business because of major infrastructure works outside their shops fear the council is backtracking over a compensation scheme. Councillors agreed in September to look into the possibility of setting up a scheme to help businesses in Roseburn who have lost customers because of the difficulty accessing the shops after work started on a new cross-city cycle route in early February.

But now council officials say there is no money to fund a compensation scheme and helping the Roseburn traders would mean the council had to help “hundreds” of businesses along the new cycle route.

Niall Menzies, of Roseburn Shoe Repairs, said the traders were “angry frustrated and disappointed”. He said the work had been due to take seven months but had already lasted ten and was still not finished. Several shops had been flooded as a result of the works, some had closed and most had been “devastated” by the loss of trade.

Edinburgh's Roseburn traders fear council is backtracking on compensation

He said: “It feels like we're just collateral damage and we don't matter. They are trying to get out of an obligation to compensate traders. We're often told small independent businesses are the heartbeat of Edinburgh and that's one of the things people love about the city but it seems a different story when it comes to helping us when we need it.”

The report by officials toThursday’s (November 9) finance committee says some measures have been put in place to help the traders, including “short stay parking spaces at numerous locations throughout Roseburn on surrounding streets”. But Mr Menzies said: “A lot of he time the saces were taken up by Balfour Beatty's own vehicles so it didn’t make any difference and there was no signposting to tell customers where to park.”

Another trader, George Rendall, whp runs art gallery and picture framers Art Et Facts, said: “All of us were expecting some form of compensation – we were expecting a discussion about what they could give us, but it looks like we're not going to get anything."

He said some businesses had seen their trade drop 80 per cent and others could not afford to pay their rent. And even though the work outside his shop was finished he was still suffering. "My side of the road is fine now but folk are still not coming back because they can't find anywhere to stop in the area. I made £40 in the whole of last week.”

The report indicated there were 33 Roseburn businesses who might seek compensation. But Mr Rendall said not every business was affected. “The estate agents are not losing the money like the retailers and the cafe,” he said. “The council suggest they would have to pay hundreds of businesses compensation, but it wouldn't be like that at all."

Euan Davidson, Lib Dem councillor for Corstorphine/Murrayfield, who proposed the compensation scheme, said he was annoyed at the report. He said: “There's not even an attempt to quantify how much it could be. It starts with the assumption 'we can't do this'. A voucher scheme like they had on Leith Walk was one of the suggestions we made, but it doesn't attempt to look at that. There is clearly a reluctance among officers and the administration to sort this out.”