🚲 edi.bike | issue 62 | 14th Oct ‘24
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
⛏️ Roseburn to Near a Canal - Target Completion Date November 25th
Independent Councillor for the Sighthill / Gorgie Ward, Ross Mckenzie, has been providing some valuable updates on the ongoing ‘Roseburn to (almost, nearly) Union Canal’ project this week:
The target completion date now looks to be November 25th [x];
Questions about some aspects of the route remain, and the councillor posted a few in this (unrolled) thread ahead of a tour of the project;
In a follow-up thread (unrolled), clarified a number of the questions and issues and also provided some new information about access from Duff Street.
💸 “Further £10 million confirmed for Active Travel Infrastructure Fund in 2024-2025”
National News - at the Cycling Scotland conference last week, Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop announced a £10m top-up for the country’s Active Travel coffers. However, as pointed out by Spokes [x]:
Whilst £10m is very welcome, the £145m total is:
…way below £220m previously budgeted
…less than half of the £320m originally promised
…just ~4% of transport cash vs. the promised 10%
You can read Spokes’ prior assessment from when the current year’s budget was initially set here;
📣 “Buccleuch Estates, Open Yer Gates!” - Protests over Dalkeith Country Park Accessibility
Green Councillor for Musselburgh Shona McIntosh posted this thread (unrolled) from a family-friendly protest at the ongoing failure to provide access for those walking, wheeling and cycling from gates at Old Craighall (pictured) and Smeaton / Whitecraig into the Buccleuch-Estates-managed Dalkeith Country Park.
Of course, on the day of the protest, campaigners arrived to find the gate unlocked - and of course, was locked again after they’d left by 3.30pm the same afternoon. According to posts on social media, currently the farm tenants — Edinburgh Equestrian Centre — are locking it for reasons of ‘security’, though assumedly that doesn’t include security from legal right of access claims against the landowner.
🔈 New Consultations Now Open for Leith Connections (Hawthornvale to Seafield) and Prestonfield / Priestfield Interventions
Two new consultations this week, reported on below in the last section of this digest — 🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations ⬇️
Also, a few notable consultation deadlines -
💬 Comments on the Lindsay Rd ‘Pride Bridge’ Planning Application close this Friday 18th October;
💬 Comments on the ‘Road and Footway Layout changes for Prestonfield Rd & Priestfield Rd close this Sunday 20th October;
💬 Comments on the ‘East Area’ Covid-era ‘Travelling Safely’ Schemes close 28th October;
🏰 Local Bits
⚠️ ERRATA from Issue 61 - we linked to a post on X by John Robson, with some follow-up from Spokes about the wider context / background for this short section of completed cycleway in Granton, but must apologise as we failed to make clear that the full route down from the Pennywell roundabout is not yet complete;
🪟 The Institute of Occupational Medicine are running a survey about Edinburgh’s Low Emission Zone, which will doubtless be attracting lots of people to respond very positively regarding the benefits of cleaner air and disincentivising the driving of private cars in the city centre. If you’d like to offer your thoughts, you can find the form here;
🔧 A post on the City Cycling Edinburgh forum this week highlighted a new cycle repair station with tools and a pump, installed at Fisherrow in Musselburgh - ”It is bright yellow and is located at the toilet block, which is on the west side of the main harbour dry side space, just off New Street, so hopefully handy and easy to spot”;
🗺️ Folks have been playing with this 15-minute City map visualisation tool this week, which is worth a look - here’s an explainer of the visualisation and the link to the map for Edinburgh and you can toggle between on foot, by bike and population map using the green icons at the top;
➕ Nationally
🍎 “Conservative government ‘pursued poisonous culture wars’ between cyclists and drivers, says new transport secretary – as Labour vows to ‘take back streets’ for all road users” — article at Road.cc
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
If you cross Bruntsfield Links at Whitehouse Loan be aware that the on-again, off-again relationship with having a functional toucan crossing there is… off again [x];
Ongoing: The questionable Network Rail ban on ebike parking at Waverley Station - best to make alternative parking plans if travelling from this station at present;
Part of Quiet Route 8 - Roseburn to Edinburgh Park is currently blocked as reported on X by John Robson;
Lawnmarket and Upper Bow: Road improvements are ongoing until July ‘25; be sure to read the Council’s page about the closures, which managed to completely omit arrangements for a certain human-powered transport mode so mind how you go;
Reader Robbie kindly got in touch to share an upcoming closure of Holyrood Park: 4 - 11pm October 31st for Samhuinn. Potential Cycle access until 6pm on Croft-An-Righ is being considered - some of the information on HES’ Events page is still to be confirmed;
Melville St at Walker St has some partial closures of the CCWEL segregated lanes for major works as part of the public realm improvements that runs until December this year;
Spokes shared the upcoming partial closure of NCN 196, on the Auchendinny-Rosewell railway path for resurfacing with ‘flexipave’ - an ongoing 6-8 week closure from mid-September, so around 4 weeks remaining. Details from Midlothian Council »
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📆 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🍂 Midlothian: “Get your bike or scooter serviced by a qualified mechanic for free at the Bike Tent. Woodburn Community Hub, Monday 21 October from 1:30-3:30pm. Check out the family craft stall for fun activities, try the Smoothie Bike and pick up cycling equipment freebies.”
✊ ‘Bring back our streets’ Webinar, Thursday 24th October, 8-9pm:
Hosted by Parents for Future Scotland and Bearsden Safe Streets, this webinar will explore the challenges we face in creating safe, liveable streets. We'll look at what we mean by a 'safe street' and how we can challenge the status quo to bring about cleaner, happier streets for everyone. The webinar will refer to both global and local challenges and is relevant to anyone who wants better streets!
🛠️ A Wee Pedal are hosting a Basic Bike Maintenance class at Bridgend Farmhouse on Friday 25th October, 10am-12pm - with all-inclusive, friendly small groups - book by email to admin@bridgendfarmhouse.org.uk;
🔁 Weekly Events
🍃 Mon, 12-2.30pm: Free, fun group ride on paths from Bridgend Farmhouse;
☕️Tues, 5pm: [National] Active Travel Cafe on Zoom
🛠️ Weds, 3pm: Bike Kitchen at Edinburgh Tool Library
✴️ Thurs, 5-8pm: Bike DIY Session at The Wee Spoke Hub
👪 Fri, 2-4pm: All-inclusive social guided bike rides from Bridgend Farmhouse (until 25th Oct);
⚙️ Sat, 2-4pm: ‘Bike Cleaning and Oiling’ drop-in session at The Wee Spoke Hub
🫂 Help Needed
✴️ The Wee Spoke Hub are looking for an Administration Volunteer:
“For a charity like ours to succeed, a lot of behind-the-scenes work needs done. If you are a super-organised person with a bit of time on a regular basis, please get in touch!
Bonus points if you have a passion for active travel or for the climate 🌱”
More on their website listing »
ℹ️ They’re also advertising office / studio space to sublet in their building;
🛠️ Scottish Cargo Bike maker Ariel Bikes are looking to get 1,000 responses to their e-cargo bike market survey, and if they do they’ll give away a bike:
“Win an Ariel e-cargo bike worth £5600, with ZF 112Nm motor system, plus Magura, Shimano, Halo, Schwalbe, Suntour and Spinner parts and components. All on a hand built 4130 chromoly steel frame fabricated in our Scottish workshop. Finished in glorious orange metallic fleck powder coat.
We want to understand the UK e-cargo bike market better. So we’ve created a short survey. Fill in the survey and if we can get to over 1000 responses, we will give away the bike.”
🛠️ SW20 and Edinburgh Tool Library are looking for project volunteers:
”We are looking to expand our team of amazing volunteers and offer additional services -- if you are interested, please complete this form and we'll get back to you”;
Ongoing: 🚴🏼 Help Funding the Skelf bike park | 🚌 Marshal for School Bike Buses | 🙋 Help with school programme ‘I Bike’ | 🗨️ Join Spokes’ Planning or Resources group | 🤝 Support SW20 via Co-op shopping | 🆘 Donate money or bikes to Bikes for Refugees
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
✨ New Prestonfield Rd and Priestfield Rd Improvements - Consultation Closing This Sunday, 20th October
Missed this when it launched at the start of November; includes street trees, footway widening and crossing build-outs, junction narrowing, and filtering of all but occasional refuse vehicle traffic in the vicinity of Prestonfield Primary School. Click through to view:
⏬ The filtering and layout plan for Prestonfield Road [PDF];
🌳 The PDF Plans for Footway Adjustments and Street Trees - Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3
📋 The Consultation Hub and Survey;
⚙️ This Response to the Consultation from Spokes
🚢 Leith Connections - New Consultation for ‘Hawthornvale to Seafield’ Open
🌊 Leith Connections Phase 3 - Hawthornvale to Seafield
Consultation now open - running until 17th November.
View the:
Consultation Hub Page (link at the bottom to fill out the survey before the deadline);
Detailed Design drawings (PDF) »
🦶 Foot of the Walk to ‘Ocean Terminal’ (actually Commercial St)
⚓️ As spotted by Harry Williams [x], 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' - construction start date has been updated to ‘start of November 2024’ (for ten months) - protected cycle route as part of Leith Connections, which promises to be a great continuation of the segregated routes slowly taking root in the city centre. Confusingly, a closer look at the project reveals that it doesn’t go to Ocean Terminal (shades of Roseburn to Union Canal here) and instead gives up at Commercial St, with the Commercial St to Ocean Terminal leg covered by the third phase of Leith Connections, ‘Hawthornvale to Seafield’ (above).
🛣️ Powderhall Junction Update
The Council have published a fairly thorough documentation of the consultation and design iteration process - showing the preferred design for the junction and its cycling affordances before and after consultation. More context on the project - including next steps predicated on funding and developer contributions - can be found over at The Spurtle.
🌈 Lindsay Rd Pride Bridge Reaches Planning Permission Stage - Closes for Comments this Friday 18th
”We've reached another milestone in the process of building the new Pride Bridge.
A Planning Permission Application has now been submitted to Edinburgh Council. Thank you to the entire team for the huge amount of work that has gone into this.” — Tweet / X
View and comment on the planning application at City of Edinburgh Council » which closes this Friday, 18th October;
See a gallery of imagery from the plans posted to Instagram »
📋 Travelling Safely Schemes - East Area ETRO Consultation Closes 28th October
ETROs for these schemes have various end dates (barring ‘South’, which is not yet published) and can be found for comment at the Council’s Travelling Safely Commonplace microsite;
This ‘East Area’ Experimental Traffic Order (ETRO/21/28A) covers a number of Covid-era parking suspensions used to facilitate bollarded cycle lanes around London Rd, Willowbrae and Duddingston, including cycle routes used by school pupils, teachers and parents to and from multiple primary and secondary schools. It is currently open for comments until 28th October by emailing TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk quoting ETRO/21/28A or using the Travelling Safely website form.
⚒️ Work ongoing, August to November - Lasswade Rd Cycleways
Spokes shared [x] the project page for a partial resurfacing of Lasswade Rd that includes a stretch of segregated cycle lane at each side, close to Gracemount High School. Spokes’ response makes mention of various interesting aspects and suggests changes.
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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