'Utterly stupid' - Edinburgh business owners voice concerns over plans to temporarily ban parking in 9 city high streets

Business owners across Edinburgh have been voicing their concerns about plans to temporarily ban parking in nine high streets across the city with less than a week's consultation in order to aid social distancing.

Edinburgh City Council is looking to suspend all parking places apart from loading bays and disabled spaces on main roads in Corstorphine, Easter Road and Great Junction Street, Gorgie and Dalry, Minto Street, Morningside and Bruntsfield, Portobello, Queensferry, Stockbridge and Tollcross.

Plans are being considered to "widen footways and remove guardrails and street clutter" in these locations in order to aid social distancing and, if approved, parking bans will be implemented by the local authority under emergency delegated powers using Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders.

The parking spaces are being removed to safely accommodate shops opening up again with social distancing in place, allowing room for things such as queuing on pavements and outdoor cafes.

Donald Nairn, who runs Toys Galore in Morningside Road, is concerned by the council proposals.

But several shop owners have raised concerns about the trade impact of such changes and question the need to extend pavements which they claim are already wide enough. Specific concerns include ensuring receipt of deliveries, customers being unable to access their establishments without the use of a car or bus and customers being able to collect larger items.

A number of shop owners we spoke to in the Gorgie Road area were also unaware of the proposals, which have at this stage been put to “key stakeholders” like councillors, emergency services and travel and equality organisations along with maps detailing where parking bans will be enforced. Stakeholders have been given five days, ending Friday this week, to respond with any issues they may have.

‘All it will do is cause problems’

Donald Nairn, who runs Toys Galore in Morningside Road, believes the changes are “futile” because the number of Covid-19 cases here will be so small by the time they are implemented.

He said about a quarter of the available parking spaces outside his shop would be removed under the plans which means customers - particularly older people with mobility issues - will be more inclined to drive out of town to places like Fort Kinnaird or Straiton.

The business also started up a website and is running 'click and collect' which requires ease of access to nip in and pick up products. He says larger toys won't be so easy to carry home if people are walking there which makes the space outside so important for cars.

He added: "It's also utterly stupid because most pavements are 2.5 metres in width here. These measures are coming in after the horse has bolted. The virus numbers are very low and they are bringing in extreme measures when there is no need. It's like they think there will be huge queues going into shops but that's not how it will be, we're not a supermarket.

"At this stage of the game it will do nothing and all it will do is cause problems.

“As a keen cyclist, I’m all for encouraging people out of their cars and onto bikes, but all our councillors want to do is make it all but impossible to drive anywhere, except out of town retail parks.

“Retailers are going through a very difficult time right now and we need our councillors to be supportive, not to see this as an opportunity to make a name for themselves.”

Roddy Watson, who runs the Gifted gift shop in Raeburn Place in Stockbridge, says he is "horrified" by the proposals and the impact they might have on his business. He says one of the biggest problems is the lack of feedback from shopkeepers and that "no one knows" what is meant to be happening.

He says nearly half of his customers are older people and if they want to buy a few gifts they would need the car to do so, and that his business has already suffered during the first part of 2020 because of gas works restricting vehicle access at one end of the road.

Mr Watson said: "If Covid comes back again we would probably have to shut the shop. We can not sustain this. In 11 weeks of running online sales during lockdown we have taken £1,500 to £2,000 - but we would usually take that in four days. If they keep hitting Stockbridge, eventually people will decide to close up. I can see tumbleweed running down the street in a few years."

‘No one size fits all’

Lewis Ritchie, an independent councillor who also owns the It's All Good cafe in Easter Road, said the hospitality industry faces a potential crisis, unless there is decisive action from all levels of government including input from business owners and other stakeholders such as the Federation of Small Businesses.

He highlighted how important it is that businesses are able to receive deliveries and stock without delay and stressed there is not a "one size fits" all for everyone affected. He says there is evidence that promoting active travel is good for cafes and shops, however, the infrastructure has to be in place to support that - there are no spaces to lock bikes outside his cafe and the upheaval of the tram works may keep cyclists and pedestrians away altogether.

Mr Ritchie believes his own business may benefit because their customers are younger and are happy to walk there and eat their food out nearby but, if it were a more traditional cafe used by tradesmen who tend to stop off in vans for takeaway, this could be a problem.

He also suggested that, although moving towards more active travel is part of the city's wider ambitions, the council should perhaps be focusing on more "seismic issues" such as getting schools back open, dealing with longstanding issues in health and social care services and helping to keep people in work throughout the lockdown easing process.

Larah Bross, who runs bagel shops in affected areas like Stockbridge, Portobello High Street and Bruntsfield, is more positive about the changes and says they fit in with the direction other countries are moving in – to use more open public space with outdoor seating.

She also suggested that businesses in the affected streets could work together to arrange for deliveries to happen at certain times of the day.

She continued: "Taking action is the right way to go about helping the current situation and maybe certain things just have to be decided for us right now.

"Let's embrace it. There are going to be positives and negatives for us but, as a universal movement to stop driving cars and using more bikes and getting more people walking in outside space, it's a good thing for the planet."

Councillor Lesley Macinnes, transport and environment convener for Edinburgh City Council, said previously that full consultation is not possible due to the emergency nature of these actions and that they are consulting with “as many groups an organisations” and they can.