CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh

Holyrood Park Petition is Online

(79 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from Wilmington's Cow

No tags yet.


123

  1. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Yes it's nothing to do with cycling, and it's not about driving into the park, it's about it being a heavy-duty through road shortcut between northeast of city and southside and the complete and utter lack of respect for the speed limits.

    It should be pointed out to those that advocate the "path" as a reason why there should be 25,000 vehicles a day rumbling through a unique beauty spot (how many other cities have extinct volcanoes slap-bang in the middle of town?) that the path provides no alternative round the south of the park to Duddingston.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    "
    scotbot (@scotbot)
    15/03/2013 11:18
    @glenntait Of course, it's a silly idea to have traffic going through a park. That was the point of the remark. /cc @CyclingEdin

    "

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. crowriver
    Member

    Bizarrely the proposal is also coming under fire from the pro-driving crowd on the.....Edinburgh Green Party discussion list! Exactly the same arguments.

    Still, all good practice for when the local paper decides to launch a broadside against it...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "Yes it's nothing to do with cycling, and it's not about driving into the park, it's about it being a heavy-duty through road shortcut between northeast of city and southside and the complete and utter lack of respect for the speed limits."

    This.

    Why are people so blinkered into the 'but it's safe already' mindset. Okay, extra safety is a by-product, but it's about a park being a park....

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Shaun McDonald (@smsm1)
    15/03/2013 11:27
    @glenntait @scotbot @CyclingEdin @Robert_Drysdale You might be happy,but what about potential cyclists?Is it good enough to get them cycling

    Shaun McDonald (@smsm1)
    15/03/2013 11:31
    .@CyclingEdin Maybe there needs to some form of weekly event to get people out cycling on the closed roads on Sundays. A weekly carnival?

    "

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Maybe there needs to some form of weekly event to get people out cycling on the closed roads on Sundays.

    There is. I think it's called "Sundays".

    Trouble is, some people won't have the time, the stamina, the experience, the confidence, to cycle to somewhere that's closed just to enjoy the lack of traffic. They'll put the bike in the car and drive there.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. neddie
    Member

    Signed!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. crowriver
    Member

    Total signatories 46

    Not too bad considering it's been online for 14 hours only. We need a lot more though.

    Come on folk, let's drum up some more people!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. PS
    Member

    I'm in.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. crowriver
    Member

    Oh, and during a lively debate today on the Edinburgh Green Party mailing list, this interesting snippet from Andy Wightman:

    "Holyrood Park is owned by Scottish Ministers not the Crown. It was transferred in 1999 to Secretary of State for Scotland then inherited by SM under Scotland Act 1998."

    I didn't know that, but now I do.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. thewavecry
    Member

    It didn't accept my post code - must be a local survey for local people. Which is a shame because I have worked here for 11 years and I am just about to move to a new office next to HP.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. riffian
    Member

    Good work getting this up and running, WC. I've signed.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. crowriver
    Member

    Total signatories 54

    We need ten times that number if the Council are going to take notice of the petition. If you have signed already, please consider sharing the link to the petition on Facebook, via Twitter, on your blog if you have one. The more people know about it, hopefully the more that will sign.

    You may face some criticism from folk who don't agree with the proposal, so be prepared to argue if necessary!

    The link is here: Close Holyrood Park To Through-Traffic

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. gembo
    Member

    55

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. chdot
    Admin

    Curious collection

    http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/petitionsdirectory

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. crowriver
    Member

    Yes, it's still early days for the CEC petitions system. Note that a fair few petitions have been rejected as invalid by Council officials, as they don't comply with the criteria: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20232/petitions/1829/petitions/3

    Clearly, something in the governance of Holyrood Park must fall within the competence of the Council (I presume the TRO) otherwise no doubt this one would be declared invalid too.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. gembo
    Member

    Indeed, I also appear to know four of the people putting in petitions. All of whom have put in valid petitions. Several people I don't know have put in invalid petitions. I am slightly concerned about this knowledge of valid petitioners. Only one of the three cycle petitioners is known to me, the others are all disconnected from cycling. My worry is that I don't know that many people but it would seem a good percentage of my acquaintances are petitioners. Also would appear to be some correlation between cycling and petitioning?

    due to a typo on the date one of the petitions has been addressed nine months before the closing date.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    Still says 54.

    Must be a delay(?)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  19. crowriver
    Member

    @gembo, sounds like you're a fully paid up member of the awkward squad then. ;-)

    Join the club!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  20. crowriver
    Member

    @chdot, it's a bit random like that. Maybe try again tomorrow and see what it says? I noticed something similar with the Princes Street petition...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Lizzie Rynne (@CityCycling)
    16/03/2013 22:26
    @CyclingEdin think we need to clarify the issue re TROs in Holyroodpk. Enforcement is down to CEC, HS and LBP. Revision is down to ScotParl.

    "

    Profile -

    "
    Cycling? Lost my way in six years of remote rural living and now back in city to find myself again. Urban Planning, Transport Policy, Outdoor Access. With Bike.

    "

    Posted 11 years ago #

  22. gembo
    Member

    Still says 54, maybe needs a manualupdate

    Posted 11 years ago #

  23. Tulyar
    Member

    Glad I have a long term 'landlady' and a flat in Edinburgh. One more vote.

    Not totally happy with wording - only for kids with 'new bikes'? What about all of the kids who get s/h clunkers or build their own.

    Best to start with every Sunday and then every weekend then starting on Friday afternoons .....etc.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  24. crowriver
    Member

    @chdot, yes I've subsequently discovered, thanks to some feedback and advice from Spokes, that the TRO for the park is amended via a Statutory Instrument, secondary legislation from the Scottish Parliament.

    I still think that raising a discussion at Council level will be useful. The park is in Edinburgh, after all. Apart from anything else, the number of signatures needed to force a debate is much lower than the threshold for the Parliament.

    If the Petitions Committe in Council do discuss traffic in Holyrood Park, this can form a springboard for petitioning the Parliament, which will need more widespread support, and may require different wording too.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  25. chdot
    Admin

    "If the Petitions Committe in Council do discuss traffic in Holyrood Park, this can form a springboard for petitioning the Parliament"

    Makes sense.

    I was a bit surprised that CEC accepted the petition.

    But it has.

    Just needs the signatures...

    Posted 11 years ago #

  26. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "Not totally happy with wording - only for kids with 'new bikes'? What about all of the kids who get s/h clunkers or build their own."

    That's not the wording of the petition - it's what Historic Scotland said was good about the park being closed for the festive period (because some kids will have got new bikes for Christmas). The petition is in no way suggesting kids can only take new bikes there, but is rather saying that the park should be safe all year round, whereas Historic Scotland is saying it only needs to be safe at that festive period.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  27. crowriver
    Member

    Total signatories 122

    Must be a manual update, work days only.

    Only another 380 signatures or so required! Please spread the word if you can.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  28. minus six
    Member

    Done, with the usual Fife / Edinburgh grumbles

    " I would, however, like a cycle lane on Queensferry Road "

    The day that this transpires, would be the day that i take City of Edinburgh Council seriously on cycling matters

    Posted 11 years ago #

  29. crowriver
    Member

    Total signatories 139

    I've been trying a few forums for hillwalkers and so on. If anyone can think of other places to share the link to the petition, please feel free to do so. Pedestrian forums or bloggers? Maybe more mainstream cycling forums like cyclechat?

    Posted 11 years ago #

  30. crowriver
    Member

    We're up to 144 signatures. Still a long way to go, need more.

    I've been promoting the petition around the place, and getting quite vociferous criticism/opposition from some people, who seem to be outraged by the very idea of closing the park to rat runners.

    It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I see I've stirred a hornet's nest by posting on the UKHillwalking forum. A few supportive and/or sympathetic messages, but most of the folk replying on that forum are implacably opposed. It's starting to get a bit nasty even. Folk are also digging around the internet to try and find out more about me (presumably for ammunition for further ad hominem attacks), and they have also found this discussion thread.

    As a result, one poster opposed to the petition is making accusations of "falsification" of signatures on the petition, and encouraging others to write to the Council to complain.

    See here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=542767

    Posted 11 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

123

Reply »

You must log in to post.


Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin