Council's Traffic Regulation Orders Sub-Committee meets on Monday
The meeting on Monday has what looks like a lightweight agenda, but the New Town and Broughton Community Council (NTBCC) would beg to differ.
The community council has written an article on their website which is almost an open letter or a replacement for a deputation – since they are not able to make a deputation to this quasi-judicial meeting. They say they have significant concerns about the council planning to make some experimental traffic regulation orders permanent.
NTBCC have concerns about the request to the committee to make Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) in two places permanent – on Waverley Bridge and on London Road. The community council believes the issues which they raised previously have not been properly addressed in the report before the committee and ask for it to reconsider what it might make permanent.
Waverley Bridge
The bridge was previously more or less a pedestrian zone apart from a taxi stand and the many delivery vehicles which continued to use it.
It used to be stopped up at Princes Street where buskers had an unofficial ready-made performance space.
In light of the continuing work at Jenners which spills out onto one lane of South St David Street, the decision was made to allow airport buses back onto the bridge and open up the road at Princes Street on a temporary basis.
The community council argue that this made streets such as Waterloo Place busy with buses to the danger of pedestrians. They also point out that there are two regulation orders which do not end on the same date and recommend that these are amended.
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London Road
This is possibly one of the widest streets in Edinburgh – it used to have four lanes of traffic – and there are wide areas either side for pavements and verges.
The council chose to put in black and white wands (NTBCC say these are unusable in the World Heritage Site) and create a segregated cycle lane. Except it is not completely segregated as cyclists have to rejoin the carriageway at several points to avoid bus stops and junctions.
The community council say that Montrose Terrace and Regent Road would have been the better option. They point out that the cycle lanes are not well used (although the council has not provided data on the use of this route) and are not connected to other cycling infrastructure.
The community council refer to the coach parking at Baxter's Place just down from the Playhouse which they say is connected to the loss of parking on London Road. They also object to the ETRO on the basis that the measures do not help cyclists or pedestrians and have a detrimental impact on surrounding streets.
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The papers for the committee meeting are here on the council website.
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Councillor Mowat was similarly concerned people had been misled. 'Lots of people said 'actually we don't want this' but they didn't really know what the alternatives were. 'I think people thought 'you can change or it's the status quo' and people thought 'I'm quite happy with a couple of communal bins' and they've come back and said 'it's going to be bin hubs'. 'What they don't know is what the bin hub is going to look like, where it's going to be, how much parking they're going to lose. In some ways officers didn't anticipate. 'I think I would be supportive of a pause and going back, saying 'this is actually what the alternative looks like - how do you feel about that?' Mowat is supportive of the council 'inviting people to meetings' to hear their opinions rather than running an online questionnaire. 'That's how we used to do it in the olden days,' she said. 'Because one of the problems we have is the recycling bins we have get contaminated on the street - So I've always thought there's an argument for this mixed economy of on-street residual waste bins and then people take responsibility for their recycling [with gull-proof sacks]. 'They'll recycle more if you give them space to do it, that's where the green gull-proof sacks come in. I would really like that to be presented as an option. Read more from our Edinburgh Correspondent: 'The trouble is it has gone on for so long that it may get quite heated. You have to manage expectations [...] I'm not sure having got to this stage now we haven't exacerbated the situation.' In a statement, transport and environment convener Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said the consultation responses 'have all helped shape the final recommendations which, as well as improving the service, intend to address the current misuse of communal bins'. In a briefing with journalists ahead of June's transport committee, he admitted things could have been made clearer during the engagement process. 'When we're talking about retaining the current service,' he said, 'their expectation is it's exactly the same as the service currently.' Jenkinson acknowledged that telling residents they would 'retain' their service was 'not strictly true'. 'We've not really been clear enough as to that retaining a service that's changing is different from changing a service', he said. 'But ultimately, it's bin hubs or gull proof sacks.' He stressed refuse collection was a 'statutory service of this local authority'. 'We have to pick up people's waste and have to do it as efficiently as possible,' he continued. 'I'm also a realist, not everybody is going to be happy about this 'We've got to take the city forward. 'Is everybody going to be doing backward flips through burning hoops of fire around the rollout of bin hubs in the New Town? No, but are we developing a service that's fit for the future? I believe we are.'
