🚲 edi.bike | issue 93 | 19th May ‘25
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
✍🏽 50 Organisations Say Get More People Walking, Wheeling and Cycling: 2026 Election Manifesto
Fifty organisations from across Scotland have come together to urge all political parties to enable more people to walk, wheel or cycle, ahead of the run up to the 2026 Holyrood election.
The ‘Joint Active Travel Manifesto for 2026’, supported by a range of health, environmental and road safety organisations, calls for parties to commit to multi-year budgets, link public transport and improve road safety, in order to build on ongoing success and bring the benefits of walking/wheeling and cycling to more people.
edi.bike is proud to have co-signed this manifesto along with other Edinburgh-based organisations like Blackford Safe Routes, Critical Mass Edinburgh, Edinburgh Festival of Cycling, InfraSisters, Pedal on Parliament, Porty Community Energy, Spokes and The Bike Station; it’s great to also be alongside many other organisations from across the country in calling for greater investment in safer streets and vital infrastructure, as the Scottish Parliamentary Elections loom in 2026.
📄 Read the Manifesto [PDF] »
📝 City Mobility Plan Priorities Released with TEC Agenda
Ahead of the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee (‘TEC’) meeting this Thursday 22nd, the meeting agenda and associated reports have been issued. Included in the documents is the long-awaited and pithily-named “City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Plan Prioritisation Outcomes”. In short, TEC voted to approve the City Mobility Plan (‘CMP’), as a vision for transport in Edinburgh, and as part of breaking down how it will be funded have listed and scored every Active Travel and Public Realm project on their books and whether it will proceed, or be put on pause to make way for the projects that score more highly according to the investment plan’s criteria. Essentially - the funding landscape doesn’t allow everything to go forward, so this is an attempt to be realistic about the next phase of delivering the CMP.
This was a significant piece of work for council officers - and sets out how the council intends to fund the various projects on the table over the next decade or so. Committee Convener Cllr Stephen Jenkinson published an article this week marking a handful of transport milestones for the city, and this plan got a mention there too:
“Prioritising allows us to work smarter with the resources we have available - making sure we have a clear and achievable path to achieving our objectives.” — Cllr Stephen Jenkinson
More details, including links to the list of projects, below in our TEC Agenda section ⬇️
🏴 ScotGov ‘Just Transition’ Consultation Ends Today
The Scottish Government:
Between now and 2045, we need to transform how we travel in Scotland.
Maybe actually fund Active Travel then, and don’t lump it in with bus funding, while simultaneously slashing your commitments to it being 10% of the overall transport budget and claiming it’s a rise compared to 2021?
Anyway, they’d love to hear from you in their ‘Just Transition’ consultation, which ends today. Let ‘em have it.
Via Spokes
🤔 Carefully and Controversially, Now: TRO Sub-Committee Delays Approval of A1 Corridor Cycleways Becoming Permanent
For reasons still unclear to the majority of commentators, decisions on whether or not Traffic Regulation Orders (Temporary, Experimental, or otherwise) can be made permanent, now sit with a separate sub-committee at the City of Edinburgh Council who met on Monday of last week. 🔗 Meeting page »
Up for review were two ‘Travelling Safely’ ETRO schemes - ‘City Centre’ (ETRO2126A) and ‘East’ (ETRO2128A) , recommended to be made permanent by the Officers Report. The details of these schemes are laid out on page 3 & 4. You canwatch the session - these measures are discussed from 10m 39s in.
These were changes first made under ‘Spaces for People’ during the COVID-19 pandemic, then subsequently extended under experimental orders to monitor their safety and impact on transportation in the city over the subsequent years. The ‘City Centre’ scheme largely served to pedestrianise areas and make certain streets one-way for motor vehicles, and after some wrangling this was passed by the sub-committee (which won’t meet again until after the City Centre ETRO expires in August).
The ‘East Area’ ETRO, which includes a range of measures supporting segregated cycle lanes from Portobello along the A1 Corridor (including London Road, Willowbrae Road and Milton Road
West) and measures in the Duddingston area, came under scrutiny when Lib Dem Councillor Kevin Lang ( also on the Transport & Environment Committee) raised what on the surface seemed like a reasonable concern. Essentially, the funding of a rolling five-year programme to replace temporary infrastructure — like the black and white striped, rubber-footed ‘Orca’ bollards providing most of these experimental segregated cycle lanes in the city — is part of the City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme Prioritisation (‘CMP CIP’) set to be approved by the Transport Committee this coming week. The concern appeared to be, were this programme not to be approved and funded, councillors on the ‘TRO Sub’ would have made the East Area segregation a permanent feature made up of temporary materials.
And therein lies the rub. A number of the objections to the ETRO made mention of the bollards as a potential trip hazard; there have doubtless been cases in the city where someone has indeed tripped over the base of an orca bollard, being as they are much the same colour as tarmac. Officers advised that the Orca bollards were top for visibility when specified; and that to make them even more visible, they were frequently painted in with a white line not just down one side, but both sides on the carriageway.
All of a sudden, this seemed to be the basis for not going ahead; when asked repeatedly whether the East Area order being made permanent would mean it was upgraded to permanent materials, officers referenced the rolling five-year programme of works in the CMP CIP; Cllr Lang would then point out that there was no guarantee the East Area materials would be upgraded as part of that programme, which covers all temporary schemes across the city.
This gives rise to many questions I have about this process; namely, if Orca bollards are a trip hazard at all, they’re a trip hazard everywhere. If we want rid of them - but to retain the benefits and significant levels of usage these COVID-era cycleways have shown in Council monitoring - then that means making schemes permanent, so why delay doing so? And why the concern over the East Area specifically needing upgraded materials - are residents on the A1 corridor statistically more likely to trip over bollards, or are they more important than the other constituent areas covered by the proposed rolling programme? Is the fact that supportive comments outnumbered objections considered at all?
I sincerely hope that this was just a case of being sure the approval of CMP CIP means there’s guarantees in place about the funding of a programme to upgrade temporary materials, and not another Lib Dem play to hamper or even remove popular — and essential — Active Travel infrastructure in Edinburgh.
📆 The TRO Subcommittee will next meet in September, where the East Areas ETRO will be considered again as confirmed by Spokes - one month out from its expiry in October.
🏰 Local Bits
✊🏼 Critical Mass protest at the City Chambers this Thursday:
70% of Edinburgh Council's active travel projects are delayed. Now the council is deciding which schemes to "pause" entirely. Join us outside the City Chambers this Thursday (May 22nd) at 08:30am to tell them that these delays cost lives!
🚌 Good to see changes underway at Elm Row, where the downhill cycle lane in front of the bus stops is being combined with a newly widened two-way lane section behind the shelters, reducing conflict with bus passengers (and also reconfiguring some of the parking at Elm Row in a way that hopefully makes a dent in some of the atrocious excesses being committed in the name of vehicle storage). Initially no diversion was provided - on Scotland’s busiest cycleway, well done everyone - but as per Robbie’s excellent Route Closures info below, it looks like this may now have been addressed ⬇️
☀️ Job opportunity from Porty Community Energy:
PCE are looking for a summer weekend worker to hire our electric bikes and cargo bikes and staff our Active Travel Hub at the bike library on Porty Prom during our busy season
Do you:
Love cycling?
Love getting other people and families out on bikes and having a great time?
Enjoy being outside and working with volunteers?
Then this is the job for youThe job is for 4 months June – September 2025, 16 hours per weekend (includes paid lunch break each day)
We pay the Real Living Wage (£12.60 per hour or £100.80 per 8 hour day before tax)Email us at portycommunityenergy@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Application deadline: Saturday 31 May, midnight. Interviews to be held Tues 3rd June 11.30am to 3.30pm
📷 Another glorious batch of ride photos from Joy Rides Edinburgh:
What an awesome start to the season! Such happy times for everyone 😀 Travelling to places from childhood and meeting up with pals not seen for decades ❤️❤️
Check them out on Instagram »
💪 An update over at Cycling Weekly:
Dr Sarah Ruggins has broken the overall record for riding the length of Great Britain and back - John o' Groats to Lands End to John o' Groats - in an estimated time of 5 days, 11 hours and 14 minutes.
It is yet to be verified by the record keepers, but the 37-year-old completed the ride faster than the previous record holder, James MacDonald, according to her tracking data, by six hours and 39 minutes. He had set a time of five days, 18 hours. She also set a new women's record in the process, beating Louise Harris' 10 days, five hours.
An incredible feat - see the tracking stats - Ruggins’ efforts have also raised nearly double her original £10k fundraising goal for The Bike Project and Scottish charity Bikes for Refugees.
📗 A new book released recently from Markus Stitz (bikepacking route planner, filmmaker, photographer, organiser of Dirt Dash, Edinburgh Dawn Patrol [IG] and author of many other great cycling books!) — “Gravel Rides Cairngorms & Perthshire”:
Covering routes from 14 to 77km in length, the guidebook includes a mix of easy, straightforward and challenging rides across some of Scotland’s most spectacular and remote landscapes. From the fast gravel tracks of the Deeside Way and the Southern Cairngorms to the iconic Burma Road and hidden gems like Little Glen Shee, the book offers something for cyclists of all levels.
⏩ Buy online directly from Markus »
🗳️ Transport & Environment Committee: Meeting Agenda for Thursday 22nd May
Links:
🔗 Meeting page »
🔗Agenda » [PDF]
🚲 7.1 Cycle Hire Scheme Update
📄 Report » [PDF]
Following two days of workshops with electric hire bike providers Dott and Lime back in March (issue 82), this report lays out the next steps for engaging one of the two companies in the running for a two-year pilot programme of ‘dockless’ hireable e-bikes, with GPS-bound or ‘geofenced’ parking spaces where hires can be started or ended.
There’s a procurement exercise to choose between the available suppliers, and according to The Edinburgh Reporter, we should see 100-200 bikes on the streets by August, rising to between 600 and 800 in the months to follow.
The report is otherwise fairly scant on information - and doesn’t address any of the concerns that come from similar schemes elsewhere, such as bikes becoming street clutter (which geofencing is supposed to address, but still an issue elsewhere), or serious injuries being blamed on these heavier-than-average cycles in the hands of casual users.
🚶 7.2 Local Traffic Improvement Delivery Programme
📄 Report » [PDF]
This programme of road safety interventions was put together by the Council to prioritise changes being requested by local communities across Edinburgh, and this report outlines the projects for the 2025-2026 financial year. There’s a list of the projects — mainly focused on footway widening, pavement build-outs and safer crossings — on page 3 of the report, and it also includes reconfiguring the terrible junction at Polwarth Gardens that Merchiston Community Council have been campaigning to have addressed.
⏩ 7.5 City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Plan - Prioritisation
📄 Report » [PDF]
As covered in our headlines, this long-awaited document outlines what the Council believes to be a pragmatic and feasible programme of work for the next ten years. A complex scoring exercise, outlined in the report, resulted in a long list of projects across the city to either proceed in developing, or pause for the time being - found from page 12 onwards and well worth a browse through.
There are links for a good number of the routes / schemes to further information and project websites - including some that weren’t meant to be live yet (oops!). And in all honesty, we were impressed by how much of the project list appears to be going forward - in an ideal world, all of this would happen (and at about a tenfold faster pace than Edinburgh’s glacial rollout of safer infrastructure has been going so far), but there’s a lot of promising projects here moving forward. Wiser and more seasoned activists have looked askance at the budgeting side of things here, and quite rightly questioned whether this is really only a decade’s worth of work - but we’re choosing to be hopeful. If nothing else, the completion of a prioritisation of one’s to-do list is the last possible procrastination before you actually start ticking things off.
The details of the various schemes - both proceeding and paused - can also be perused on this interactive map.
🌳 8.1 Offered for ‘Scrutiny’: Entrance to Holyrood Park Road and Strategy Update – Response to motion by Councillor O’Neill
📄 Report » [PDF]
As a report offered for ‘Scrutiny’, this item may or may not be debated by TEC, depending on what Councillors decide on the day.
Sparked in part by a motion from October 2024 by Cllr Kayleigh O’Neill, looking to clarify which roads around the park are the council’s responsibility, work with Historic and Environment Scotland on supporting nature within the park, and address safety and access via Holyrood Park Road - including the “possible addition of updated and safe segregated cycle infrastructure and road reduction or traffic calming measures to tackle the issues around Holyrood Park Road”. Sprinkled in are some pieces of background information on the current state of proposed Active Travel route Holyrood Park to Ratcliffe Terrace (‘Quiet Route 30’), and the scope for needing to plan with HES for the closure of the Bridges corridor to through traffic.
📝 9.1 Motion by Cllr Booth - Delays to delivery of ATIP
🌐 Motion »
This motion follows on from Cllr Booth’s question to full council in December 2024 addressing that “27 of the 39 projects in the Active Travel Investment Programme have slipped beyond their original estimated completion date, with some delayed by more than a decade” - and with the question of funding at least partly addressed by the CMP Capital Investment Programme prioritisation outcomes (above), requests a report from officers about delays resulting from internal processes (including Traffic Regulation Order processes) and how these can or have been addressed.
📆 You can tune in to the Council’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting on Thursday at 10am via their webcast, or watch this space for a round-up next in next week’s issue of edi.bike.
🇬🇧 National
🏴 England / UKGov
👏 “Just ignore all the myths about low-traffic neighbourhoods: they’re popular, effective and here to stay” — The Guardian
♿ Wheels for Wellbeing’s excellent response to the Parliamentary enquiry into ebike safety and its intersection with accessibility rights for disabled cyclists;
🌍 Elsewhere
🚘 “Cars are rewiring our brains to ignore all the bad stuff about driving” — The Verge finds out about Motonormativity
🛣 Route Closures and Issues
ℹ️ Encountered unexpected road issues? Find out how to report them with this guide from Spokes. The team at Edinburgh Travel News are also keen to hear about cycle path alerts and can be contacted on Threads or Facebook.
🦋 On Bluesky? Follow the #EdTravCyc feed - anyone can use the #EdTravCyc hashtag to share route issues they encounter;
📪 The week’s road closure info - many thanks to regular contributor Robbie for collating and preparing these:
🚧 Leith Walk: Segregated Cycle Path at Elm Row closed for improvement works. It is possible to pass some of the works via Elm Row, for which signage is being added. However, nearby SGN gas works require dismounting to pass. Works may finish this Friday 23rd May.
🏞️ Holyrood Park: Roads Closed including cycles from 5pm this Friday 23rd May for EMF event setup works. It will be required to dismount to access the offroad shared use cycle path around Holyrood Park. The High Road loop will also be closed.
🏃♀️ Edinburgh Marathon Festival: Various road closures this Saturday and Sunday 24-25th May - details available here. The 5k and 10k races will be taking place on the Innocent Tunnel NCR1 cycle path all of Saturday Morning, for which it is advised to exercise caution and consider dismounting if you are able to.
🏗️ Port Hamilton Cyclepath: Shared use path between Union Canal and West End closed until 2026/27 for building works. A diversion has been signed via Gardeners Crescent and Semple Street – look out for diversion signs with the red number 7.
🚧 West Coates: Segregated Cycle Path CCWEL may be closed by Scottish Power works on the footway from the 26th May to the 6th June, near Wester Coates Road.
🕳️ Telfer Subway: Orwell Terrace closed at Dalry Road from the 26th May to the 6th June, for Scottish Water manhole repairs. The next street over, Orwell Place, may provide alternate access to the Telfer Subway.
🌊 West College Street: Closed at the pass under Potterrow for Scottish Water sewer repairs. Barriers were reduced to allow cycle access at the weekend but be aware of excavation work restricting access. UPDATE: Works continue to overrun, and the road remains closed but passable by bicycle.
🚧 East Fettes Ave: Closed until the end of May for resurfacing on Comely Bank Rd. Comely Bank Ave may also be closed. If you’re travelling between Stockbridge and Ferry Rd, Inverleith Park or Crewe Rd may be alternatives.
🌉 Harrison Road: two bridges closed due to structural concerns with micro-cracking in the original cast iron beams. Until works begin, a pleasant temporary low traffic area has been created; however, access to cycles is being restricted as works begin.
- The west bridge over a small path is having its deck rebuilt, though the footway remains open. A closure of the path underneath is expected, which may include a signed diversion.
- The east bridge over the Union Canal has been inspected and may also require repair works. Fencing has been placed across the bridge to prevent motorists from moving cones, though there is a gap for cycles.
⛰️ Duddingston Low Road in Holyrood Park: Ongoing inspection works have identified a risk of rockfall, resulting in a closure until further notice. Dismounting to pass is not possible.
🚂 Waverley Bridge - concrete barriers have been placed across the southbound lane with no gap. Council officers are planning to replace them with temporary barriers with a southbound cycle lane. Be aware a faulty sensor is causing airport buses to enter the ‘bike box’, further restricting access.
🧱 Ellen’s Glen Rd, a quiet link in Liberton, closed at the modal filter to repair flooding damage until late May ‘25. Closure includes pedestrians and a diversion is signed via Malbet Wynd;
🏡 Leith LTN: Closure of Duncan Place until the end of May ‘25 for footway resurfacing. During this period, traffic will instead primarily access the LTN via Links Gardens, with the bus gate suspended. The modal filter on Wellington Place may provide quieter cycle access.
💧 Union Canal: Towpath improvement works are ongoing from Leamington Lift Bridge to Edinburgh Quay until June ‘25. A section of towpath is closed with diversion across the lift bridge and along the southern side of the canal - more info at Scottish Canals.
⚡ 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;
🏹 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.
📣 Help edi.bike ✍🏼
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💜 Join the Supporters Club for £1/month to help us cover costs and promote to a wider audience. More info below.
🎉 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🎉 From the fine folks at Hart’s Cyclery, this week on Saturday 24th May:
Our inaugural Spring Bike Jam. We'll have a morning gravel ride (30ish km in the west) in the morning; and an MTB ride in the afternoon (family friendly up Corstorphine Hill).
In between at 12-3pm, we'll have all the fun of the fair in the back car park, with Danny doing shows, loads of very cool bikes on display, bikes to demo, bike games, bike stuff raffle, burgers and a wee tuck shop and bike jumble.
🟰 Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) have an Edinburgh Cycling Club and are running beginners cycling classes:
Spring has sprung, it’s time to ride!
New to cycling? Join our FREE beginner classes every Saturday at NKS!
Where?
7 Gillespie St, Edinburgh EH3 9NHWhen?
- 10 am Beginner Class
- 11:30 am Intermediate Class
All levels and backgrounds are welcome, bikes are provided!
Please register on Meetup »
🎻 27th May (Edinburgh Pianodrome): “Sarah Small's 'Good Again?' concert cycling tour will see her perform in a total of 26 venues, pedalling approximately 4,000 km (2,500 miles) in distance” /via Spokes;
🧘 Yoga by Bike - booking for June now available:
Join Detour [IG] for a social bike ride and yoga practice in East Lothian, on the 8th June!
We will meet by 📍 PATH (Portobello Active Travel Hub, on Porty Promenade) at 9am. We’ll ride around 12 miles to Longniddry, with plenty of stops to chat, hydrate and enjoy the scenery.
Around 11am we will arrive at Fern Bothy, where snacks and hot drinks will be provided. Jorja will then lead a 1 hour Vinyasa Yoga class, suitable for all levels.
Option to jump on a train home from Longniddry, or ride back to Edinburgh together!
🎟️ Tickets for 8th June »
🖼️ New Venue: The ongoing ‘Pedal Power’ exhibition about cycle campaigning in Edinburgh co-curated by Spokes, Infrasisters, Bike Buses and Edinburgh Critical Mass has moved on from Duncan Place, and can now be found at Norton Park (📍 57 Albion Road) — having been transported across by cargo bike (of course!) in April;
🏴 Save the date for She Pedals Scotland:
On 14th June 2025 we want to see how many women and girls in Scotland can ride their bikes in one day. Whether it's 1 mile or 100 miles, off road, on road, racing, cycling round the park, e-bike, BMX, handcycle, it doesn't matter. Let's create a buzz around women and girls riding their bikes outdoors!
⛰️ Bikepacking event Dirt Dash’s 2025 return continues in July - check out the gorgeous video they put out this week [IG] from a recent event too:
Stans Yorkshire Coast Dirt Dash on 6 & 7 July, and concludes with the Lezyne Dunoon Dirt Dash on 27 & 28 September. Organised by round the world cyclist Markus Stitz, these self-supported rides are designed for cyclists who love off-road riding and are seeking new experiences on their bikes, whether for seasoned gravel riders or anyone new to bikepacking.
💙 Riding LEJOG in memory of Tim McKenna — and raising money for charities Mind, Sustrans and Flight Free UK in his honour. Passing through in August, folks can join for some or all of the route by reviewing the itinerary. Thanks to John Robson for the link;
🎉 For six months starting in September, the ‘Towpath talks’ team will be returning:
Cycling community Talks are back - with the closure of Biketrax in January, the regular cycling talks by MacKenzie Barker (@rekrab82 [IG)] and hosted by Izabela Murtagh (@iza.murtagh [IG]) will be making a return in September using a new venue — Gamma Transport Division in the Comely Bank / Stockbridge area"
Great news. Announcements currently via the Towpath Talks account on Instagram, and we’ll publish dates when available!
💯 Edinburgh RC celebrating its hundredth year in 2025 and have an ongoing challenge encouraging 100 women of all cycling abilities to ride 100km - offering help to anyone who needs it along the way;
🔁 Weekly Events
- 🍃 Mon, 12-2.30pm: Free, fun group ride on paths from Bridgend Farmhouse;
- 🌅 Tues, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol - Meet St. Andrew Square, same route each time - more info on their Instagram;
- ☕️Tues, 5pm: [National] Active Travel Cafe on Zoom
- 🛠️ Weds, 3pm: Bike Kitchen at Edinburgh Tool Library
- 🌅 Thurs, ⏰ 5.40am: Edinburgh Dawn Patrol (same as Tues, details above);
- 🪨 Thurs Evenings: Edinburgh Gravel Cycling Club social group rides;
- ✴️ Thurs, 5-8pm: Bike DIY Session at The Wee Spoke Hub
- ⚙️ Sat, 2-4pm: ‘Bike Cleaning and Oiling’ drop-in session at The Wee Spoke Hub
🔁 Monthly Events
- 🚲 First Friday of the month: Inclusive social bike rides with A Wee Pedal, 1-3pm, from Bridgend Farmhouse;
- ✊ Last Saturday of the month: Critical Mass Edinburgh, Family-friendly mass protest / group ride, 2pm, Middle Meadow Walk;
🫂 Help Needed
🔧 The Bike Station are hiring:
- 👥 Cycle Trainer Ride Leader - 0.5FTE
- 🔧 Community Mechanic - 1FTE
More details on their Vacancies page »
⬆️ Parents for Future Scotland are hiring:
Seeking an Edinburgh-based climate enthusiast who can work closely with 12 Edinburgh schools as part of our schools air pollution programme. This is a self-employed role, provisionally up until 31st March 2026, but may be extended — Job Listing »
🧡 The Wee Spoke Hub are looking for a Comms volunteer [IG] - if that could be you, drop them a line!
🍅 SHRUB is looking for food distribution volunteers and Cargo Bikes:
We need anyone available any evening from Monday to Friday with a cargo bike or other transport to help us at SHRUB, picking up food from various supermarkets, that needs sorting and delivering to SHRUB in Bread Street. We are a zero Waste Hub charity and work for community environmental stuff!
We need to keep collecting and giving out for free a lot of waste supermarket food! This project has existed for 3 years any many of our people are vulnerable, disabled and/or elderly and rely on our free safe fresh food that would otherwise go in a bin
Can you help? If you can lend us your bike any day a week or even do the collection? Please email kai.allen@shrubcoop.org
Ongoing: 🚌 Marshal for School Bike Buses | 🙋 Help with school programme ‘I Bike’ | 🗨️Join Spokes’ Planning or Resources group | 🆘 Donate money or bikes to Bikes for Refugees | 📦⚡️ Hire Community Cargobikes, E-bikes or Trailers from SW20, Porty Community Energy or Banzai | ♻️ Donate old bikes to The Bike Station, The Wee Spoke Hub or ‘Brake the Cycle’.
🌈 Infrastructure Progress & Consultations
✨ This section of the digest will receive a revamp in the coming months to move long-running, detailed consultation information onto web pages, and instead publish a list of links for open and recent consultations (along with summaries for anything actually new). In the meantime, anything new or changed is found near the top. ✨
In Previous Updates:
🌸 Thursday 8th May saw the meeting of Edinburgh’s full Council, and tabled amongst its business were some clarifying questions to the Transport Convener on the safe implementation of the changes coming to the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route by Green party Councillor Chas Booth; the answers are worth a read through [PDF, Page 17] in terms of some previously unseen detail, including different widths of planned protected cycleway on Braid Avenue depending on whether travel is in an uphill or downhill direction;
⛔ Charlie shared that the Brunstane Road and Coillesdene scheme — TRO/23/14 [PDF] — has works underway presently to make it permanent, which is great to see;
🚶 Pedestrianisation and Cycling Project to Close Lawnmarket to Traffic
Via Harry Williams on Bluesky, news of a new City of Edinburgh Council project commencing in July will see an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) close Johnstone Terrace and Lawnmarket during daytime, with deliveries and loading taking place outside of those hours:
Restrictions will be between
- 10.30am and 7.30pm, Monday to Saturday
- 12.30pm and 7.30pm, Sunday
Lawnmarket’s former black vehicle barriers have been removed during works, to be replaced at the end of the current work with mechanised retractable bollards. In addition to this filter, the following changes will be put in place:
Johnston Terrace:
- Restricted access for large vehicles when pedestrian and cycle zone is in operation
- Removal of existing coach parking
- Taxi and private hire pick-up and drop-off areas
- Additional blue badge parking
- Public and resident parking
- Turning area for smaller vehicles including taxis and vans
Castle Terrace:
- Coach pick-up and drop-off on Castle Terrace
- Relocated residential parking to make way for Coach spaces, at the cost of
Being an ETRO, over the eighteen trial months the council will be looking to monitor the impact and any changes needed before making the scheme a permanent change - including six months of public consultation. There’s also an extensive page of current arrangements, ahead of the ETRO commencing, including changes to through traffic on Castle Terrace.
These welcome (and long overdue) changes are seemingly part of a series of new projects under the heading ‘Improving Old Town Streets’ which starts with Johnstone Terrace and Lawnmarket, and also covers Victoria Street, High Street (west), Cockburn Street, High Street (east) and Hunter Square - all earmarked for changes under the various themes already established by the Transport Committee:
The strategies and plans guiding our proposals
The project reflects our ambition to be net zero by 2030 and the wider vision for the city as set out in our key strategies including:
- City Mobility Plan 2021 – 2030: a 10-year strategy to transform the way people, goods and services travel around the city;
- City Centre Transformation: an ambitious plan to provide a people-focused city centre, which is a desirable place to live, work and visit.
- Our Future Streets (Circulation Plan): a long-term approach for planning transport and improvements to outdoor spaces across the city.
🌸 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route: ‘Option 3’ Detailed Plans (At Last)
Last Spring, the Labour Administration sided with Tory and Lib Dem colleagues on the Transport and Environment Committee and voted to remove traffic filtering from the Braid Estate, forming a key part of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route - filters that had reduced through-traffic in the neighbourhood by as many as four thousand cars per day, a vote in direct opposition to several of the councils’ own policies. After a long design process, the plans for ‘Option 3’ (in a strange, consultation-as-referenda programme of stumbling around local objections and procedural glitches) have finally been made available, providing instead a series of protected cycleways through the streets forming the Braid Estate. Recently, Cllr Ben Parker asked for an update at Full Council and received a number of clarifications from Officers.
Neither pro-filter campaigners nor their pro-through-traffic counterparts are particularly thrilled by the plans, which will be implemented using temporary materials under a new Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO). However, thanks to Labour having tabled a last-minute caveat at the time, the ETRO will include the option to revert and reintroduce filters on the estate without requiring further legal process (e.g. another ETRO design and advertisement), so there is still hope if a case can be made that the goals of the project are deemed to have been compromised by reintroducing through-traffic to a liveable neighbourhood…
You can download the plans here [PDF].
📋 Consultation: Edinburgh BioQuarter Active Travel Gaps - Sheriffhall Park & Ride to BioQuarter Campus Route
Now closed (2nd March at 23:59): Consultation spotted by Spokes this week; seeking to connect up both some missing internal links in the active travel pathways around the Edinburgh BioQuarter site at Little France, and also deliver protected cycleways and quiet routes between the site and the Midlothian Council park and ride facility at Sheriffhall:
“Edinburgh BioQuarter partners (City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian, Scottish Enterprise and The University of Edinburgh) are in the process of improving active travel routes and facilities in and around the campus…
The improvements being looked at within this project will see the development of a new active travel route to Edinburgh BioQuarter from Midlothian in the south to plug a 'gap' in the infrastructure. Eliminating the 'gap' will improve accessibility for walkers, wheelers, and cyclists during everyday journeys.”
Detailed Plans and Rationale on the project’s StoryMap »
🗺️ East Lothian Council are carrying out consultations on proposed improvements between Prestonpans and Levenhall; there is of course some local resistance, and it would be great to see folks who feel able to comment responding to the consultation.
Download the (muckle!) combined plan [PDF] or browse the list
🍃 Spokes recently highlighted a new consultation from Midlothian Council to create Active Travel provisions along the A7:
The aim of the project is to improve active travel connections within the study area making it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for their everyday journeys and to connect to public transport services more easily. Currently, there is no or limited provision for walking, wheeling and cycling along the majority of the A7 corridor.
The consultation has a deadline of 30th March for comments and input;
📋 Following the recent deadline for the ETRO (Experimental Traffic Regulation Order) consultation for the Northern ‘Travelling Safely’ areas, Spokes shared their final response [PDF] to the various areas and schemes covered - as always, thoughtful input on taking the schemes forward and potential improvements;
📃 From lurking in Community Council mailing lists, I spotted this rather handy document listing upcoming City of Edinburgh Council consultations and their approximate launch dates for the coming year;
🏞️ Via Spokes - in an update from Friends of Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park the start of a new project to improve the valley is ongoing:
Burdiehouse Burn Restoration - Concept Design
“For the Burdiehouse Burn to become a successful and notable blue-green regeneration project, restoring approximately 5 km of the burn and surrounding habitats”
Core project objectives:
- Sustainable river restoration
- Habitat restoration in the surrounding landscape ✨ 3. Active travel connections
- Placemaking & access improvements
- Education & engagement of people and organisations local to the burn
- Net zero gains
- Improve the resilience of the site to climate change.
More in their newsletter »
🏚️ New plans for 21 flats on the site of the derelict Longstone Inn - damaged due to local flooding - have been published, featuring a ramp and alley access to the Burnside path; in addition, the council have now progressed with identifying who owns which bits of land and wall where the Burnside path sinkhole is situated, so discussions with the landowner will be ongoing to come up with a plan for remedial works here to fix not only the sinkhole, but hopefully the underlying cause too.
⚒️ Merchiston Community Council are back on the campaign trail to improve Polwarth’s worst junction. News of the Council commencing a redesign, and more background on the project, can be found on their website;
📋 Dalry ‘Living Well Locally’: the council have published an Initial local resident feedback Report on the Dalry Town Centre proposals [PDF]. There is a summary on the main Consultation page.
🕳️ Photos shared by Longstone Community Council show recent works have provided “Some improvements to the diversion path surface and the gradient made on the Burnside path. Barriers also secured more robustly stopping access to the sinkhole.”;
⬆️ The statutory process for a handful of one-way street cycle exemptions have been published by the Council - available here as a list and more detailed plans: ‘TRO/24/27 - One-way street exemptions for cyclists - Various Roads - Ending on 31 January 2025’. Just one part of a city-wide project over the next 18 months or so to make more one way streets legal for contraflow cycling.
🚧 Works on the West Edinburgh Link project look to be starting at the end of May according to the listings on the Scottish Road Works Commissioner web portal spotted by Longstone Community Council;
🚢 Leith Connections: Foot of the Walk to Dock St Construction Underway, Schedule Shared
🦶Foot of the Walk to ‘Ocean Terminal’ (actually Commercial St)
⚓️ 'Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal' - construction is underway on the Great Junction St cycleway, with work on Henderson St recently started too, for around ten months - a 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.
This Leith Connections works leaflet [PDF] outlines the rough timeline for construction of the route.
Confusingly, the project 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 (below);
⚓ Leith Connections Phase 3 - Hawthornvale to Seafield
View the:
Consultation Hub Page (now closed to responses);
Detailed Design drawings (PDF) »
🌳 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route
Some recent movement on the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, in an update from Blackford Safe Routes and this update from Cllr Ben Parker;
📋 Travelling Safely Schemes (Various)
ETROs for these schemes have various end dates can be found for comment at the Council’s Travelling Safely Commonplace microsite; also by emailing TRO.Consultations@edinburgh.gov.uk quoting the relevant scheme.
🌊 Musselburgh Active Toun Consultation
Updated plans over on Musselburgh Active Toun with further consultation ongoing: these may be of particular interest to Edinburgh residents as they cover the East Lothian section of Edinburgh Road that would eventually facilitate the long-held ambition of a tie-in to Joppa and Portobello prom, as well as the rest of the North Edinburgh network.
Comments on the consultation can be emailed to musselburgh.uki@aecom.com
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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