Edinburgh Dalmahoy junction: Funding agreed for full upgrade at notorious accident blackspot on A71

Officials promise action to speed up land acquisition for project

Funding has been agreed for a full upgrade of the dangerous Dalmahoy junction on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

And council bosses have promised action to speed up acquisition of the land needed for the project in a bid to get the new traffic lights and pedestrian crossing in place as soon as possible. There have been several serious accidents at the junction on the busy A71 road which includes the entrance to the Dalmahoy hotel and country club. And local residents have campaigned for more than 35 years for safety improvements.

In 2015 a council report said a fully-signalised junction was the only practical option, but costs increased and the council came back in 2021 with a cut-back scheme involving just a pedestrian crossing and a lower speed limit. The residents continued their campaign for a full upgrade and the issue was reopened when the administration at the council changed after last year's election.

Funding has now been agreed for a full upgrade at the Dalmahoy junction on the A71. Picture Ian Rutherford

A fully signalised junction was given the go-ahead by the transport committee in December at a cost of £1.55 million, but there was no decision on the detail of where the money would come from. The SNP and the Greens objected to plans to use £750,000 from the Scottish Government's Cycling Walking Safer Routes (CWSR) fund for what they said was not primarily an active travel project.

Officials came forward at last week's committee with a proposal to take £375,000 from the CWSR fund and the same amount from a new Scottish Government Road Safety Improvement Fund (RSIF). The SNP and Greens objected again, saying the bulk of the funding should come from RSIF but also any slippage in other road safety projects. The SNP's Danny Aston said: "The primary benefit here is going to be for the motor traffic." And Green councillor Jule Bandel said: "We are uncomfortable with spending active travel money on what is really a road safety project."

But Lib Dem group leader Kevin Lang said the proposal was about external funding and did not mean taking away any money which had already been allocated internally to projects. And he criticised the plan to use cash available because of slippage. "I don't want us to be basing decisions on a hope that other projects don't happen." Cllr Lang praised the perseverance of the local community in pressing for the full upgrade. "It is a credit to them that they didn't take no for an answer the first time or the second time and kept campaigning."

Officials were asked about delays in acquiring the land needed for the junction improvements from three different owners. Peter Watton, the council's director of sustainable development, said there had been "considerable delay" despite the landowners supporting the plans. He said: "The owners were very keen that the larger scheme was done and were therefore delaying selling the land when we were only proposing to do the smaller scheme. Now that is no longer an issue, but one of the owners fell ill and the solicitor acting on his behalf could not get instructions to proceed. I have asked this to be absolutely prioritised and we have decided to change our advisers who we felt were being extremely tardy in dealing with the matter."

Previously, plans for traffic lights at the junction were scaled back to a pedestrian crossing. Picture Ian Rutherford.

Transport convener Scott Arthur said there had long been concern in the local community about safety at the junction. “I said at the last meeting people in the local community did feel that in the past there has been political interference which has stopped the right result being achieved here. Traffic lights at the junction along with a pedestrian crossing will make it a whole lot safer for people.”