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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Public Meeting – City Centre Transformation - Wed 13th June
(48 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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Stand down everyone:
"Some proposals would need changes in legislation which would need to be explored in more detail. A wider, more detailed understanding of the use of the city centre network will require extensive traffic modelling to understand the implications of different scenarios."
Given that the most recent output from the marvellous black box that is "traffic modelling" is the Picardy Place gyratory, I'm not holding my breath.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Wow. This is very good.
I accept we are still at the 'words' stage and we'd all like to be at the 'digging' stage, but as a start this is excellent.
And if they can keep some form of coalition going for the remaining 4 years of the this administration we have every chance of seeing this come to fruition in some shape or other.
Posted 6 years ago # -
HankChief - I appreciate your optimism, but this isn't "a start". We already have:
National Transport Strategy
Long Term Vision for Active Travel in Scotland to 2030
Designing Streets
Designing Places
Cycling Action Plan for Scotland
SEStran Regional Transport Strategy
Edinburgh Local Transport Strategy
Edinburgh Active Travel Action Plan
Edinburgh Transport Vision 2030
Edinburgh Street Design Guidance
Gehl Report - Edinburgh Revisited: Public Space, Public LifeNot to mention a whole raft of planning/conservation/urban design plans, strategies etc.
Despite how this is being sold - it is really a boring old review of the Local Transport Strategy, a refresh of the 2030 vision and a reheating of the more palatable (to the Council) remains of the Gehl report.
I genuinely hope something comes of this, and I will be arguing for it in any consultation.
I don't know - maybe it's just consultation fatigue, or seemingly endless delays in minor projects such as Meadows-canal, or the impact of poor decisions such as Picardy Place but I'm finding it hard to be optimistic about this.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@Morningsider, indeed. All it will take is for the traffic modelling gurus at CEC to dismiss any pedestrianisation proposals as leading to "unacceptable queueing" (of motor vehicles) and they will be watered down to something less than useless.
The Picardy Place/Leith Street debacle really demonstrated that the council is unwilling to make meaningful changes, even where it has the power to do so. Also demonstrates that the various policies and visions on transport adopted by council over the years are worthless if poerful vested interests have other, contrary ideas.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“
We want a city where the layout actively encourages and promotes healthier – and cheaper! – transport like walking and cycling and where a truly integrated public transport system with smart, flexible ticketing enables residents and visitors to get reliably and safely from A to B.
“
(She’s only on secondment from Sustrans for one year.)
Posted 6 years ago # -
"(She’s only on secondment from Sustrans for one year.)"
Yeah, the worry has to be that as per usual, ambitious plans will get kicked down the road until after she's gone, and then quietly shelved or fudged into timid and quite useless compromises.
We'll see though.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Great stuff.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I cycled to the Grassmarket and up Victoria St this morning at rush hour.
By goodness, the Grassmarket was full of visible dirty diesel fumes (& other invisible fumes too no doubt).
Victoria St was parked up on both sides and had a queue of about 7 or 8 vehicles at the top and also stank of fumes. The setts of this street have also been damaged by motor traffic & patched over with ugly tar strips.
What a mess. World heritage site, my ...
The council need to put bollards at one end of this street today. Block it to through traffic and make it access only (& two way).
It needs to be done now. Not in several years time.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I started out with optimism about this, but that is being worn down.
The SNP/Labour coalition is looking shaky, Edinburgh SNP itself appears to be an unhappy place and the Conservatives will do anything to break this up, especially if it means standing up against the War On The Motorist. Outside the Greens, I'd be surprised if there was any kind of majority in support of this.
Add in the entrenched council attitude and it's difficult to see how anything beyond tinkering around the edges will happen, despite Daisy's best efforts. Seville's approach was the only way to get it done: barge ahead and leave the opponents behind. But TIE.
I hope to be proved wrong.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“Seville's approach was the only way to get it done: barge ahead and leave the opponents behind.”
And other examples.
BIG (still unanswered to my satisfaction) question is how much other cities are (not) constrained by rules/laws/consultation processes - presumably less than U.K./Edinburgh?
Even so, must be some - ignored or circumvented?
In other places, definitely strong officer leadership (that REALLY should have been Paul Lawrence’s mission). Sometimes in other cities officials ‘just did stuff without explicit political instructions.
Perhaps more importantly, some serious political fronting.
Arguably progress in London was Boris’ finest hour. Equally, arguably, he got lucky by appointing Andrew Gilligan.
Either way, some things happened, and unfortunately the current mayor seems less interested.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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@neddie, I predict Victoria St and Cockburn St (and maybe a few others) will be traffic free in 2 years. I might be wrong, but I hope I'm right.
Posted 6 years ago # -
BIG (still unanswered to my satisfaction) question is how much other cities are (not) constrained by rules/laws/consultation processes
Look at the time it takes to get a double yellow line painted.
How is a city centre transformation going to happen this century?
Posted 6 years ago # -
Round my way folk just paint their own no parking lines on the road to define their, unauthorised, driveways.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I predict Victoria St and Cockburn St (and maybe a few others) will be traffic free in 2 years
Sorry, but why do they need to wait 2 years?
1. Raise a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO).
2. Drop some concrete blocks at the bottom of Victoria St in the name of "terrorism".
3. Remove the one-way signs.
4. Remove all the parking spaces (or at least near the bottom) to allow vehicles to turn around at the bottom.
5. Leave a few loading bays to keep the shops happy in the interim.
6. Job done.Posted 6 years ago # -
Posted 6 years ago #
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