Obviously the NEPN (North Edinburgh Path Network to those new to Edinburgh or unwilling to go north of Princes St…) is a key part of Edinburgh’s ‘cycle infrastructure’.
It accounts for a significant part of the ‘off-road mileage’ and is largely the result of accidents of history - significant amounts of railway lines built in the relatively flatter and more industrialised parts of Edinburgh, followed by the rise of road transport, line closures and subsequent calls by Spokes, the Cockburn (and others) for conversion to a walk/cycle ‘network’.
The bulk of the NEPN was developed and tarmaced under Lothian Regional Council. Phil Noble was a key officer. He has since worked on all sorts of Active Travel plans and projects in Edinburgh. His job has included dealing with the unhappy traders of Roseburn, calmly.
The next significant development will happen when the Powderhall to Meadowbank section becomes an important new ‘active travel corridor’.
Meanwhile there remain ‘issues’ - particularly maintenance and access.
As ever with CEC ‘responsibility’ is spread across different departments and teams.
I was reminded of this yesterday by
A local Cllr tweeted @edinhelp who passed it on to CEC’s “Forestry team” (they are particularly efficient so I presume the tree has been removed).
Unusually there hadn’t been high winds to blow this down, but there was significant rainfall the day before. Once again it demonstrated that there are trees without sufficient roots in various parts of the (former) railway cuttings.
As ever, there is the issue of ‘balance’ between ‘public safety’ and ‘amenity’ - plus ‘resources’.
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