Proposals have been published for the future of Edinburgh’s Spaces for People schemes, which have been introduced to help people walk, cycle and wheel while physically distancing during the pandemic.
Members of the Transport and Environment Committee will consider recommendations on whether, post-pandemic, to retain on a trial basis or remove temporary measures like protected cycle lanes, widened pavements and traffic restrictions on roads outside schools.
Officer recommendations are based on a series of criteria including the impact of projects on encouraging walking and cycling, if they benefit the street environment and how they affect public transport or disabled road users. They also take into account longer-term Council objectives relating to climate change, health and the city’s economy, as well as responses received as part of a major public consultation. This attracted more than 17,600 participants and has been considered alongside the results of independent market research and comments from key stakeholders.
Amongst the schemes recommended for retention on an experimental basis are the pedestrianisation of Waverley Bridge, Cockburn Street and Victoria Street and protected cycle lanes on Old Dalkeith Road, Crewe Road South, Lanark Road and Comiston Road. Council officers have also recommended retaining projects that help join up routes for leisure walking and cycling, including the closures to general traffic on Cammo Walk and Silverknowes Road North.
Any projects to be retained on an experimental basis would be subject to reviews of their design, associated parking restrictions and local traffic. The reviews would take into account comments received since projects were installed as well as feedback received through consultation. There would be a focus on reducing any negative impacts, especially for disabled people, and seeking to address concerns around features like ‘floating’ parking (i.e. parking with a cycle lane between the parking space and the kerb).
A number of measures are expected to be recommended for removal, such as the majority of shopping street changes. These are facilitating physical distancing during the pandemic, but can impact on servicing, parking (including for disabled people) and, in some cases, bus services. Officers have also recommended removing pedestrian and cycle infrastructure on Forrest Road and George IV Bridge.
Transport and Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said:
Over the last year we’ve responded to an emergency situation, making great strides to provide families with protected spaces to exercise, to help people cycle safely to work and to give the public room to physically distance while spending time in local shopping streets. We know people have benefited from the changes and we want to see if we can keep as many as possible of the project benefits as we hopefully move out of the COVID pandemic.
As we look toward the end of the pandemic, we want to make a sustainable, successful recovery. By helping people to walk, cycle and wheel, many of the changes we’ve made to streets will support this, as well as our broader ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce air pollution and to improve the quality of life for all those who live in and visit Edinburgh.
Projects have been controversial, and some groups, notably those representing people with mobility and visual impairments, have raised concerns about their impacts, especially on parking. Other concerns include ‘floating’ car parking and impacts on traffic levels on some roads. I’m committed to making sure we listen to feedback and make improvements as we move into a new stage of trialling projects. I want the measures we keep in the longer term to get the balance right, working for everyone.
Transport and Environment Vice Convener Councillor Karen Doran said:
When we agreed to explore retaining some of these changes longer term, we recognised how beneficial they could be to encouraging active travel, improving road safety and reducing air pollution, amongst other positive impacts.
We’re committed to delivering these benefits, but we want to bring the public with us. By extending the life of any of these measures on a trial basis, we’ll be able to continue monitoring schemes and working with communities to shape and enhance them while they’re in place.
If approved, the majority of schemes would be implemented on a trial basis using Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs). This allows officers to continue monitoring and modifying changes if needed, in close liaison with the community and stakeholders, to make sure they’re working for as many people as possible. A report with recommendations on the next steps for each scheme would be brought back to Transport and Environment Committee in around six months after the implementation of ETROs.
Measures introduced under Spaces for People would be retained while public health advice continues to advocate maintaining physical distancing measures to manage the impact of the virus.
Some of the key recommendations for measures, once they are no longer required to maintain physical distancing, include:
Schools
- Retaining road closures outside Sciennes and James Gillespie's Primary Schools
- Work with the many other schools which have had part time vehicle prohibitions with a view to bringing forward proposals for new School Streets or, in a few cases, road closures, to replace temporary measures by the end of 2021
City Centre projects
- Retain pedestrianisation on Victoria Street, Cockburn Street and Waverley Bridge
- Remove the measures on George IV Bridge and Forrest Road, while retaining the uphill segregated cycle lane on The Mound
Shopping Streets
- Remove most of the measures on shopping streets, though give consideration to retaining some small lengths of footway widening, in particular where the existing pavement doesn’t provide enough space for people to walk
- Retain the measures introduced on Queensferry High Street
Protected cycle lanes
- Retain all protected cycle lanes, including on Crewe Road South, Comiston Road, Lanark Road, Fountainbridge/Dundee Street, Silverknowes Parkway, Ferry Road, Willowbrae Road, Old Dalkeith Road and others.
- Carefully review schemes during the development of the ETRO to minimise the impacts on disabled street users, also considering adjustments to loading restrictions and to ‘floating’ car parking
- Consider amendments to benefit bus services
Connecting routes for exercise and cycling and walking for pleasure
- Retain measures including the closure of Braid Road to northbound traffic, the closure of Cammo Road to motor vehicles and the Meadows to Greenbank Quiet Connection
- Retain measures on Silverknowes Road North, Silverknowes Road South and connecting streets, forming a connection to Silverknowes promenade
- Remove closure of Links Gardens, though consider reinstatement as part of proposals for a Leith Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
Members of the Transport and Environment Committee will consider the report, Potential retention of Spaces for People measures, on Thursday (17 June). The report includes information on a fraudulent attempt by one member of the public, who created a bot to submit more than 18,000 fake responses to the consultation, each strongly opposed to Spaces for People schemes. These responses were quickly identified and removed by officers and will have no impact on the outcome of the consultation. The incident has been reported to Police Scotland and as a result action has also been taken by the Council, in addition to existing measures in place, to prevent future fraudulent activity in Council consultations.
Read the report on the Council website and watch the discussion live via webcast from 10am on Thursday, 17 June.