Edinburgh transport: Council claims it has 'broad support' from public for plans to cut traffic and parking

Consultation results show majority for more bus lanes, less traffic in city centre and new parking restrictions

Council chiefs claim there is “broad support” from the Edinburgh public for their controversial transport plans, including more bus lanes, less traffic in the city centre and new parking restrictions to make more space for people walking and cycling.

Transport convener Scott Arthur said the findings of a consultation were “quite a stark contrast” with comments made on social media. And he said the council would now reflect on the responses before deciding how to take the policies forward.

The council report on the consultation said there was overall support for the expansion of Edinburgh’s cycle network, which aims to ensure every household is within 250 to 400 metres of a high-quality cycle route; improving footways to provide safe smooth pavements free from trip hazards and widening narrow footways in the busiest locations were the top priorities to make streets accessible for everyone; bus priority at traffic signals was the highest priority to provide faster and more reliable bus services; and the provision of reliable real-time bus updates, including information on available wheelchair spaces, was the highest priority to make travelling by bus more accessible.

The council claims it has broad support for its proposals to tackle the city's traffic problems Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

The 12-week consultation on a series of action plans drawn up by the council – for active travel, public transport, air quality, road safety and parking – was carried out earlier this year and the results are being reported to this week’s meeting of the transport and environment committee. The consultation included an online survey which was open to all, market research which used a representative sample of the city’s population.

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Councillor Arthur said there was “broad alignment” between the findings of the two exercises, although the survey tended to be “quite polarised” with people strongly for or against the measures, while the market research results were “often a bit more nuanced” with broad support often tempered by some concerns.

He said: "This is not a green light for us to roll out plastic bollards across the city, starting on Monday. What it does say is that people do trust the council on the direction of travel and do want us to engage with businesses and residents about how we take forward these schemes.

"There is broad support for things like decluttering pavements, bringing in a pavement parking ban, work at major junctions to improve safety, reducing traffic and parking in the city centre, getting shopping streets to be safe and more places for people to sit. Over the last ten years, Edinburgh has grown by eight per cent, and over the next ten we're going to build up to another 37,000 houses, so we have to change how the city works in response to that. This report shows people understand that and are with us on that journey.”

But he noted that the survey did not show majority support for making bus lanes operational from 7am to 7pm, although the market research found a small majority in favour. “There is a fear it may cause more congestion,” he said. “But the reason we're doing it is to reduce congestion. Maybe rather than going city-wide overnight, we should trial a route where there is broader support just to reassure people it’s a step in the right direction. But there is broad support for more bus lanes – people get the need for them and the value of them.”

The report shows that similarly, the online survey did not produce majority support for investigating more restrictions on through traffic in the city centre or a targeted reduction in kerbside parking within the city centre, although a majority of the market research sample did back both measures.

The committee will be asked to decide how to move forward in the light of the consultation findings at tts meeting in February. Cllr Arthur said: “In the past, the council did a consultation, the report was published and we spent no time talking about the results, just how we would respond to it, so what we’re doing this time is a report will come to committee and there will be time purely to focus on the consultation responses and then it will come back in February with how we are going to deliver against these aspirations. This is about a level of trust and people are asking us to get this right.”

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