CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Forgot about this the other day. I tweeted Historic Scotland in frustration simply asking them to remove the 20 signs as they were ignored anyway, and the park would look prettier without them.
They did reply....
"hi there, which signs are you referring to?"
I agree with those who've said the starting point here should be road closure. Anything less would be hard to justify, for the sake of what is currently a scenic rat-run.
On the Sunday closure last week, I rode down the hill after going exploring Shawfair with chdot. Imagine my surprise (and the surprise of every other cyclist doing the same) when we found ourselves confronted by a car coming up the hill.
It wasn't until I got to the bottom that I realised that one of the barriers wasn't closed so it perhaps was an innocent mistake.
and both barriers at the top were closed, so the driver resorted to mounting the kerbs between the barriers to get out. It was a tight fit. I suspect not so innocent...
My photos from Holyrood park, including the removed zebra crossing - https://flic.kr/s/aHskhySYzX
It appears to have been removed around November 2005
For anybody who has despaired at the pedestrian and cyclist provision in Holyrood Park, you might like to reply to Historic Scotland's tweet. After all, HS wouldn't use twitter if they didn't want to chat now, would they?
https://mobile.twitter.com/welovehistory/status/646591214507151360
Not a single positive response to that tweet all day...
"
In 1999, virtually all the historic sites still held as ancient possessions by the Crown in Scotland were transferred to the ownership of Scottish Ministers as part of the devolution settlement. These included Edinburgh and Stirling Castles, Holyrood Park, Glasgow and St Andrews Cathedrals and Linlithgow Palace and loch.
"
http://www.andywightman.com/archives/2970
"
The Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP) sets out Scottish Ministers’ policies, providing direction for Historic Scotland and a policy framework that informs the work of a wide range of public sector organisations.
...
Queries should be directed to:
Scottish Government Historic Environment Policy Unit
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
"
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/heritage/policy/shep.htm
I did a storify https://storify.com/SRDorman/holyrood-park-fit-for-purpose
"
A Historic Scotland spokesman said: “Following a recent post from our social media account making reference to commuting within the Holyrood Park area, we received a number of comments from our followers.
“While we always welcome comments from the public and those who use the park including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and visitors, traffic management plans are in place and we will continue working with the city council and Police Scotland to review and reinforce these measures.”
"
"reinforce these measures"
Like the 20mph limit?
As for Councillor Stefan Tymkewycz
“I wouldn’t say traffic is a big issue and there’s plenty of room to avoid walking along the road. There’s a small majority of drivers who exceed the limit.”
No-one is saying they want to walk 'along' the road, but all the pavements are 'beside' the road, which kind of spoils the wild outdoor feel of the place, and people still have to cross that road, and there's only one pedestrian crossing.
Weird wording as well, a 'small majority' of drivers exceed the speed limit? Presuming he's been misquoted and meant 'small minority', in which case he's completely and utterly wrong. Anyone got a cheap speed gun camera?
Might be worth asking what the traffic management plans consist of.
Cllr Tymkewycz stays true to form for the "business as usual except on the constitutional question" Scottish Motorists' Party by completely missing the point: it's a park. Why should it be used as an inner city ring road? Why should pedestrians have to dodge speeding vehicles?
That said, I'm glad the EEN has stirred things up on this issue: there's hope yet.
3 seconds in the een commentators turn it into an anti cycling rant... Morons.
"Weird wording as well, a 'small majority' of drivers exceed the speed limit? "
Taken literally that's 'more than 50% speed', which is probably true.
Slightly more than 50%??
Tymkewycz is my councillor. Might fire off a "letter from your constituent" to him. We keep meaning to have a moan about Marionville Road raceway too.
"Slightly more than 50%??"
That's what I initially thought, then figured 'surely he can't be defending that as okay'. Maybe he is...
"'surely he can't be defending that as okay'. Maybe he is..."
Worth taking him to task on it? Isn't he your councillor too? :-)
While I live close to Holyrood Park, it's not in my ward. Might pester a councillor about it though: where's the harm?
"Isn't he your councillor too?
Don't think so. We sneak into Craigmillar/Porty ward by three houses. But I was still pondering asking if he'd been misquoted (as well as pointing out he's simply wrong). As you say, there's no harm in pestering about it!
"Surprised to see that nobody has yet mentioned the cyclists who use the park as the Hollyrood Velodrome...... clad head to toe in lycra, on their super light weight racing bikes with skinny wee racing tyres - pretty sure these wannabe Olympians are also guilty of exceeding the 20mph speed limit in the park - not that they'll ever admit to that or take any responsibility for it mind you..... after all, the laws don't apply to them..... Do they?!"
Some one needs to tell this one that no they don't apply.
They have. Actually, I think the cyclists are winning this comment stream.
It's the EEN.
It's impossible to win.
The same people will pop up at the next article to make exactly the same ignorant anti-cycling comments.
If I thought they were worth it I would register but there's no point arguing against someone who thinks the best solution to speeding cars is to ban people from walking. I admire those who take the time to point out to the ignorance in the posts. Hopefully someone reading the article will learn something from them.
yes, it's an exercise in futility - I don't know why they bother.
At the Parliament roundabout this morning, I passed a cyclist who was being attended to by ambulance crew. He was sitting up, and I’m hopeful it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t see what happened. Rotten start to the day for him.
I had sort of assumed these plastic mesh barriers around the hill-side of the lower Pollock roundabout were to prevent people walking across the desire lines so that the grass could re-grow.
Instead, though it's not particularly obvious as I was so surprised I didn't stop until I was around the roundabout, BEHOLD A PATH:
IMG_20151026_082921679 by wingpig, on Flickr
Still no pedestrian crossing, but a small bone for pedestrians to scrabbly over and gnaw on.
On the BBC website: Calls for Edinburgh's Holyrood Park road safety action
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34935616
I think it's time for Historic Scotland, CEC and Police Scotland to do the right thing and close the park to motorised traffic full stop. Make the carriageway for cyclists and mobility vehicles only.
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