http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Getting Holyrood Park shut (more) en Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:17:28 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681&page=2#post-323631 Sat, 29 Feb 2020 15:12:36 +0000 crowriver 323631@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Sure, in theory. </p> <p>However, as ever, nothing really radical planned. Here are the key promises for "Sustainable Travel":</p> <p>• Our vehicle fleet will be reduced by 30% by 2025.<br /> • Where practicable, we will have a fully electric road vehicle fleet by 2025.<br /> • We will make it easier for staff to work remotely to reduce travel.<br /> • We will improve cycling infrastructure for our staff and visitors.<br /> • We will reduce use of private hire taxis by 80% by 2022.<br /> • We will develop integrated transport hub solutions and remove visitor vehicles from many of our top sites by 2028.<br /> • We will remove 50% of car parking spaces at our HQ by 2025 and create a new natural habitat in its place.<br /> • We will undertake a review of business flights with a view to reducing aviation emissions.</p> <p>Only mention of Holyrood Park in the entire document is a photo caption: "A ranger-led walk through Holyrood Park."</p> <p>If you look at the detailed actions planned, it's even worse, e.g.</p> <p>"Increase existing EV charge infrastructure across the organisation for staff and visitors"</p> <p>"Provision of EV charge points at sites to provide better access options to visitors"</p> <p>"Supporting the national plan for a system of EV charge points across Scotland (Switched on Scotland 2017)"</p> <p>"Provision of EV access to more HES sites"</p> <p>It does mention cycling, but mostly in the context of:</p> <p>- Employees travel choices<br /> - Improving cycle infrastructure at sites (What does this mean? Bike parking?)<br /> - Improving visibility of sites linked to the National Cycling Network</p> <p>So basically, while they plan to "invest" in EV vehicles and charging points, the active travel measures are a bit more wooly.</p> <p>In this sense, HES are pretty much in line with the Scottish government, i.e. showing very "modest" ambition despite the lofty rhetoric. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681&page=2#post-323611 Sat, 29 Feb 2020 10:52:01 +0000 chdot 323611@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I think this is relevant here</p> <p><a href="https://www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/news/new-plan-steps-up-heritage-response-to-climate-crisis/" rel="nofollow">https://www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/news/new-plan-steps-up-heritage-response-to-climate-crisis/</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681&page=2#post-307448 Sun, 26 May 2019 09:05:31 +0000 chdot 307448@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Anyone here?</p> <p><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/carfreeholyrood" rel="nofollow">https://mobile.twitter.com/carfreeholyrood</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-216218 Sun, 10 Apr 2016 16:51:46 +0000 chdot 216218@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"</p> <p>For a long time, Spokes has been concerned at the way the lower roads through the Park are increasingly dominated by commuter, motor traffic to the detriment of quiet enjoyment of this unique landscape by both residents and tourists. We are particularly concerned at the poor level of provision for cyclists.</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.spokes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1604-Holyrood-Park-Richard-for-circular.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.spokes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1604-Holyrood-Park-Richard-for-circular.pdf</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-155832 Wed, 04 Jun 2014 12:13:29 +0000 gibbo 155832@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>The coach may have been unaware of the ban, or may have obtained a permit.</em></p> <p>Probably the latter.</p> <p><em>But the trades vehicles were just flagrantly flouting the law for a short cut.</em></p> <p>Happens all the time. Just another of the driving laws the police don't enforce. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-155818 Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:20:48 +0000 crowriver 155818@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Well I cycled through the park this morning, about 10.30am. Not much speeding, as it was a bit congested. However I spotted three commercial vehicles on Queen's Drive between Commie Pool and Scotsman roundabout: a tour coach with tourist inside (turning from the High Road too!); a flat bed truck with a crane for loading pallets of building materials; and a plumber's van with logo and phone number clearly displayed.</p> <p>The coach may have been unaware of the ban, or may have obtained a permit. So benefit of the doubt given. But the trades vehicles were just flagrantly flouting the law for a short cut.</p> <p>So much for the ban on commercial vehicles, eh? E-mail to Historic Scotland/Police Scotland coming up... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-151373 Thu, 01 May 2014 14:55:22 +0000 chdot 151373@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Previous thread</p> <p><a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3023">Who do I contact about cycling in Holyrood Park?</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-151034 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:09:00 +0000 neddie 151034@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Good to see HS perpetuating the 'road tax' myth </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-151029 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:55:22 +0000 chdot 151029@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Questions and Answers regarding traffic regulations at Holyrood Park"</p> <p><a href="http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/faqs-traffic-regs-holyrood.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/faqs-traffic-regs-holyrood.pdf</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150943 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 12:39:55 +0000 acsimpson 150943@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Bikes don't have to have speedos and not subject to speed limits."</p> <p>You learn something new every day.</p> <p>Incidentally what are the current rules regarding cycling off the marked routes in the Royal Park? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150935 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:58:40 +0000 jdanielp 150935@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Ah, that's ok then - I was going fast but wasn't furious. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150931 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:55:33 +0000 chdot 150931@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"I suppose if the 20mph speed limit was enforced then bicycles would also have to stick to it as well"</p> <p>No</p> <p>Bikes don't have to have speedos and not subject to speed limits. </p> <p>However there are laws about 'fast and furious' etc. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150928 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:51:24 +0000 jdanielp 150928@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I suppose if the 20mph speed limit was enforced then bicycles would also have to stick to it as well... On the way back from PoP I recorded a record top speed for my hybridised MTB of around 35mph coming down the road.</p> <p>When I entered the park from the Commonwealth Pool end on Thursday morning I ended up briefly travelling the wrong way up the one way road to gain access to the green cycle path via the dropped kerb. Confusing. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150921 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:23:33 +0000 smsm1 150921@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>On Saturday I was cycling with family from Parliament to the Commonwealth Poll entrance, and the "cycle path" is far, far too narrow, and the integration with the road network is rubbish. </p> <p>It looks like a pavement and feels like pavement, and is a pavement with some cycle symbols painted on. It is far too narrow to pass another cyclist, never mind have 2 people side by side enjoying a conversation while someone overtakes, especially with the slow uphill and kids using it. The access on and off it is haphazard and feels like a pedestrian crossing, and not a nice transition from the legalised pavement cycling path on to or from the road.</p> <p>I agree with @acsimpson re leaving space for braking and some car just barges in, even when there is a roughly constant distance between you and the vehicle in front. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150896 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 10:07:56 +0000 acsimpson 150896@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The few times I've tried cycling down the path from the Commonwealth pool to Holyrood recently it's been so rough and congested that I wonder why I bothered.</p> <p>Although the road isn't much better. If you leave yourself any braking space between you and the car in front there's normally someone waiting to squeeze past you and fill it up. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150886 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:14:33 +0000 crowriver 150886@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Could <a href="http://www.livingstreets.org.uk/streetreviewguidance">this model of a 'Street Review'</a> from Living Streets be useful?</p> <p>Could "we" do a community review of Queen's Drive and other 'streets' in Holyrood Park as a starting point? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150885 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:09:22 +0000 crowriver 150885@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>We are developing a good wish list here.</p> <p>Also need a strategy to take this message to:</p> <p>Council<br /> Historic Scotland<br /> Scottish Parliament</p> <p>Petition to Council was tried last year. Didn't pass the threshold. Was it too "extreme"? Wrong wording? Wrong tactic?</p> <p>Needs some thought and political nous to achieve any of these aims. Experience of the Duddingston residents does not bode well! Have views within the Council and other bodies changed sufficiently in the past 4 years? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150879 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 08:23:38 +0000 chdot 150879@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm sure a lot of people (on here and elsewhere) would like HP shut to through traffic. </p> <p>2020 might be a nice 'target' to fit in with CEC's '15% by 2020' pledge. </p> <p>In the meantime it seems perfectly reasonable that -</p> <p>the top road should be shut to motors when the main section is. </p> <p>the roads shut be shut on Saturdays too - perhaps start with once a month. </p> <p>the pavements/cyclepaths should be improved - the cycle only one (which looks like/is a pavement to most people) isn't working. </p> <p>20mph isn't observed, so needs regular enforcement and/or more/bigger road humps (<em>not</em> to the edge of the carriageway, so bikes can pass easily. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150875 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 23:48:01 +0000 robyvecchio 150875@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I was reading about a 2010 report on restriction of motor traffic on Duddingston Low Road.<br /> <a href="http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/18073/duddingston_village_%E2%80%93_traffic_%E2%80%93_motion_by_councillor_ewan_aitken">Link</a></p> <p>If I understand it right after much debate restriction were not even considered except at off-peak times. Displacing 1000 vehicles a day is "unacceptable".</p> <p>Highlight is point 17: "Implementing the recommendations of this report would have no direct environmental implications."</p> <p>No s**t, Sherlock! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150834 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 19:48:15 +0000 ARobComp 150834@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>OR advise that we all take a tincture of heavily diluted car bumper to protect us if we're hit by a car... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150825 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 18:45:41 +0000 gkgk 150825@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It might be valuable to be able to show it's being used as a Sunday rat run. If that's happening, I think that's a problem people would find it easier to get behind fixing.</p> <p>A letter to Prince Charles might help. He's a bit unpredictable, might ban all vehicles all year. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150823 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 18:29:37 +0000 Focus 150823@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>In Cannes, there is a <a href="http://www.cannes-petit-train.com/uk_index.html">road train</a> that goes up to le Castre, the castle at the top of the hill. It's a tight and steep winding road and the train manages just fine. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150747 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:54:32 +0000 Charlethepar 150747@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I find that there are many more problems with impatient drivers on the top road past Dunsapie Loch on Sundays when the bottom road is closed. Stands to reason - some drivers will be using it as a way of getting to their destination, rather than as a scenic detour.<br /> [Incidentally, I cope with this by riding up the middle of the road, and only giving way at lay-bys. If the driver is a to$$er and either honks or revs, I just ride slower.] </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150743 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:43:53 +0000 Bhachgen 150743@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>As well as encouraging more traffic, the parking on Sundays is often blocking bus lanes, filter lanes at junctions etc, leaving the traffic with less space to work in.</p> <p>Has nobody thought of making the buses and trams free on Sundays instead of the parking?? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150740 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:39:45 +0000 crowriver 150740@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Last time we floated this idea the only place I heard the disability argument was on this forum. </p> <p>The majority of opposition focussed on two issues:</p> <p>1. - Why can't I enjoy driving through the park? (Answer: because you're spoiling it for others)<br /> 2. - Where will all the traffic go if it can't go through the park? (Answer: somewhere else, obviously. Maybe some drivers will leave their cars at home?)</p> <p>The second issue is potentially more tricky, as shutting the park on Sundays definitely increases traffic on London Road*, and probably turns quiet streets like Spring Gardens/Abbeyhill into rat runs. </p> <p>* - Another factor in this is the free parking in the city centre on Sunday which encourages more traffic. A few may be going to church, but most are probably shopping. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150734 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:29:55 +0000 acsimpson 150734@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>"Though that would mean more people going downhill than up"</em></p> <p>That would all be about getting the price right. I obviously think like an able bodied active individual but would be more inclined to try and get a small family to walk up with the incentive of free ride down the hill on the train than to pay for them to ride all the way round. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150712 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 11:20:16 +0000 kaputnik 150712@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>would be access to Dunsapie Loch area for those with limited mobility</em></p> <p>One could use the argument that there's already access to the 2 lower-level lochs for the less mobile, and that any closures would seek to make the upper loch <em>more</em> accessible for those not vehicle-borne and only for certain time windows. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150695 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:17:21 +0000 chdot 150695@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7331/14044206862_62cbedf31c.jpg"></p> <p>(Photographer unknown)</p> <p><a href="http://ibikelondon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/want-things-to-change-for-cyclists-in.html" rel="nofollow">http://ibikelondon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/want-things-to-change-for-cyclists-in.html</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150693 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:09:00 +0000 chdot 150693@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"If you charge able bodied people for the upwards leg but provide free descents it would even be possible to harvest energy and on a good day run it for free"</p> <p>Interesting idea!</p> <p>Though that would mean more people going downhill than up. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12681#post-150690 Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:04:26 +0000 acsimpson 150690@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Assuming that grip wouldn't be an issue it should be possible if the gearing is correct. If it was an electric/hybrid vehicle it would be able to store a lot of the downhill energy to get a boost on the way back up the hill.</p> <p>If you charge able bodied people for the upwards leg but provide free descents it would even be possible to harvest energy and on a good day run it for free. </p>