Here's my email to the Transport Committee members.
Dear Councillor,
I'm writing to you in your role as a member of the Transport Committee.
On Friday I went to view the plans for Picardy Place. and I was horrified. I had been under the impression that the city (and, finally, also the Scottish government) were seriously committed to active travel and reduction in car use. And then along come these plans, which are completely car-dominated. The addition of some disjointed cycle ways, and some pedestrian/cycle shared space (always a recipe for conflict) does not disguise the fact that this is in effect an urban motorway - three lanes of traffic in every direction, the whole thing designed around the car with some sops to pedestrians and cyclists around the edges.
At a time when many cities across Europe (and even in the US) are trying to reduce car dependency, this is going in completely the wrong direction. Evidence shows over and over again that traffic congestion cannot be relieved by more roads. More roads just produce more traffic, and everyone loses - pedestrian breathe polluted air while crossing 6 lanes of traffic, cyclists are forced into conflict with pedestrians or into danger from cars, and even car drivers themselves lose as the available road space soon fills up and congestion returns. Do you really want to turn this part of our historic city into a re-creation of 1960s Birmingham?
Not only this, but the lack of public consultation is outrageous. There have been extensive public consultations recently on relatively minor changes, but this massive development is to be imposed on us without any consultation whatever, and with the plans only made available for viewing at a very late stage.
I urge you to rethink the whole thing. This will be the future of the east end of the city for at least a generation - it’s not the future I want, it’s not even the future the council says it wants (remember the hierarchy - pedestrians > cyclists > public transport > cars? It seems that was just greenwash.)
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