South Queensferry boy racers: Council approves traffic calming measures to help combat problem

A deputation from the Dalmeny Park estate in South Queensferry took a petition to Edinburgh council's transport committee in December, calling for urgent action to combat the problem which they said had turned their streets into a race track.

Now the council has come up with plans for speed tables, bollards and other features which it says will be put in at the end of April or beginning of May.

Scotstoun Avenue has been used as part of a racing circuit by anti-social drivers | Google

There will be two large raised table features with pedestrian crossing points on Scotstoun Avenue, with additional physical traffic calming features on Burdock Road, and bollards within the estate.

And there are also plans for traffic calming measures at the Hawes car park on the front at South Queensferry.

In December, one resident described how groups of cars, some with noisy modified exhausts, regularly gathered near the Hawes Inn, then raced up to Dalmeny station, through the Dalmeny Park estate and down Scotstoun Avenue at speeds of up to 60mph.

He said there seemed to be about 40 altogether, but they would drive around in groups of up to 12. They included male and female drivers, not all of them young, and some came from as far away as Newcastle.

And he said many residents - especially those with young children, cycling children or pets, as well as elderly residents - felt themselves terrorised.

SNP transport spokesman Danny Aston told a meeting of the transport committee on Thursday that he recalled vividly the evidence from residents who presented the petition. "Their street was being used as part of a racetrack around South Queensferry on a regular basis, which is clearly awful.”

But Cllr Aston asked: "Can we be confident that the measures outlined are going to be sufficient to stop that? I have some doubts about that.

"I did raise the question when we were considering the petition about whether possibly more far reaching measures, such as closing of the road at one end or the other could be explored."

Traffic calming measures are also planned at the Hawes car park | Google

Gavin Brown, interim director of operational services, said the council was working closely with the police and community council on the anti-social behaviour issue.

He said: "The road safety improvements will do a little, hopefully, to trend against that type of behaviour, but more importantly they will provide for road safety, so the bollards on the estate will ensure vehicles do not enter onto the footway, the speed tables will hopefully reduce speed."

Lib Dem group leader Kevin Lang, whose Almond ward includes Queensferry, welcomed the move but said it had taken too long. He said: "I remember first speaking with officers about traffic calming on Scotstoun Avenue the first year I got elected, which was eight years ago." He welcomed reassurances from officers that there was now a more co-ordinated approach.

And he said: "My hope is these measures will make it less attractive as a racing circuit and I do hope these measures will deter people who are coming in from outside Queensferry to do this.

"And I hope the bollards will make it safer because we've had a number of near misses in terms of pedestrians almost being hit by vehicles that were cutting round corners which do not have any pavements.

"I'm hoping this will make a difference. If not, we're going to have to come back to this again."

Tory councillor Marie-Clair Munro welcomed the "long overdue" traffic calming measures, but said the cycle of delays had been "unacceptable".

She said: "Since 2013 residents have been told that progress was coming, only to face setbacks due to poor external design works, scheduling conflicts, capital maintenance schemes, staff shortages and later the introduction of an active travel scheme that forced a redesign. We cannot afford for this to be the norm."

Transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said he agreed with teh sentiment that t had taken too long, But he added: "From the very powerful deputation we had at the tail end of last year, to get to an implementation in April/May isn't bad. It shows things can move forward at pace if enough focus is put on them."