💯 edi.bike | our hundredth issue | 7th July ‘25
your weekly edinburgh cycling digest
📰 News this Week
🎉 edi.bike: Our Hundredth Consecutive Issue
One hundred is a satisfying number. This plucky little weekly missive has reached its hundredth consecutive weekly issue, and that’s worth celebrating - for the simple reason that it’s connected so many people to the work of some amazing cycling organisations and projects around this great Scottish capital. I had no idea when I sat down and put it together that it would have anywhere near the level of interest, traction or utility it’s grown into, and the feedback from folks reading has been hugely positive — and more fuel for the fire.
Many thanks to all of you for reading; thanks also to Michael Macleod whose Edinburgh Minute was a big inspiration, Andrew White for early contributions, Robbie Ainsworth for a steadfast supply of route and roads info, the supportive folks of City Cycling Edinburgh, Spokes and the myriad of other fantastic people I’ve met along the way, all in the name of connecting folks that bike with the things that matter to them. Sláinte, and here’s to the next hundred — Ben
🌞 Summertime Street Closures Announced
The City of Edinburgh Council have announced their ‘Summertime Streets 2025’ programme of full and partial road closures, to create safer streets during the festival period, on ‘various dates between 24 July and 7 September’.
Many of these are much the same as previous periods; the closures and restrictions on Johnston Terrace are interesting as they align fairly closely with the ongoing project to close it to through-traffic except for cycles, as part of the ‘Old Town Streets’ project.
Cowgate’s closure is notable by its fairly weak limitations - ‘closed to vehicles, except cycles from 3pm to 5am every day’. This is hardly ambitious on a street with pavements barely wide enough to roll a beer keg down, and isn’t going far enough to protect pedestrians during the heaving festival season at all.
🚐 Inner Forth Bike Bus - 2025 Season
By way of a reminder, this excellent service is back for its 2025 season, running every Sunday until 26th October:
Inner Forth Bike Bus - the route, between Alloa and the Forth Bridges, encourages cyclists to travel more sustainably within the Inner Forth. Walkers are still welcome to use the service, too.
The concept of the Inner Forth Bike Bus was developed to enable local people, and visitors, to help them cycle (or walk) part of the 'Round the Inner Forth' route, hop off at fascinating heritage sites, and return home or to a bus stop / train station for their onward travels. We all know that public, shared transport is a better way to travel than doing so by car, so our hope is that people continue to embrace this mode of transport, have fun, and choose a greener option on Sundays within the Inner Forth area.
You can find the information leaflet and timetable on their website »
🇬🇧 The Give and Take of National Cycle News
At a national level, a couple of big bits of news this week that are giving us pause in terms of potential precedents set for our government as a result; a commons committee looking to outlaw ‘floating bus stops’ from road layouts in England, and an announcement that twelve city mayors in south of the border have pledged to deliver a huge investment in a national cycle network (for England, as transport is devolved). You’ll find more on both stories in our ‘National News’ section below ⬇️
🏰 Local Bits
📺 Dan Abrahams is a musician, composer and cycling campaigner currently running a crowdfunder:
"After the success of ‘Our Streets’ and ‘Big Car’, I’m raising money to make an epic video for my new song ‘Amsterdam’ which celebrates cycling and cities which prioritise it. Check out the video explaining it all and please ask if you have any questions about the project. I’ll be looking for lots of cyclists to be extras in the video in July."
➡️ Back the project on Indiegogo »
🤔 It appears - not from their website, social media, nor any signs other than a completely empty premises - that chain cycle shop Evans Cycles, owned by the Fraser Group, have shut up shop in Edinburgh:
Strangely the store is still listed on evanscycles.com; hope that all the staff and local team manage to find new working arrangements easily, and have been treated fairly in the process.
🙋🏽♀️ BANZAI — the Bruntsfield Area Net Zero Action Initiative — have a couple of job roles available to facilitate the operation of their cargo bike library;
📣 Seeking passionate, reliable & community-minded freelance assistance for our e-Cargo bike library team! 🚲
🔧 Roles: Cargo Bike Librarian, Project Officer
📍 Location: Bruntsfield area
🕑 Part-time/Flexible hours, ASAP to Nov 2026 🌱💪
🕑 Apply by 08/07 (Tomorrow, Tuesday!)
For more information and to apply, see their application »
🧡 A whole host of July events on at Wee Spoke Hub, who also shared some of their current cycle stock on Facebook if you’re in the market for a summer steed;
🌳 Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route: with changes coming — to re-introduce rat-running traffic to the Braid Estate and attempt to mitigate the impacts for cycling with the addition of segregated cycleways through residential streets — Council Officers have advised that “The designs have now been completed and the relevant ETRO documents have been drafted. These need to be subject to legal procedures before they can be implemented, with an expectation this will take place during July and August. Due to the requirement to conduct pre-implementation traffic monitoring, which cannot meaningfully be undertaken during school holiday times, the works will not start until mid-September at the earliest."
⚙️ In September, Spokes will be hosting a Cargo-bike-focused event, showing the film Motherload and hosting a discussion;
A special Spokes public meeting, discussing further development of cargo bikes in Edinburgh – as always the meeting is open to all, but local groups who we know to be involved in cargobikes will be specially invited. The evening will include a screening of MOTHERLOAD, a 90-minute documentary film which captures a new mother’s quest to understand the increasing isolation and disconnection of modern life, its planetary impact, and how cargo bikes could be an antidote. The showing and discussion will be on Tuesday September 2nd from 7pm - 9.30pm at Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge EH1 1EL. Further information from Ian »
🏆 Spokes also recently launched their annual competition with a range of excellent prizes - entries welcome on the theme of ‘My favourite bike ride’. Details and lots of local Edinburgh cycling news can also be found in their most recent Action Update [PDF]
🍃 Sustainable transport charity Sustrans is producing a new iteration of the Walking and Cycling Index - are you keen to share your experience walking, wheeling or cycling in Edinburgh? Fill in the survey »
🇬🇧 National
🚴🏽♂️ “We fact check the claim no-one uses Glasgow's cycle lanes” - a reality check-in from the Glasgow Times »
🏴 Twelve of England’s regional mayors back plan for ‘national active travel network’:
Unprecedented move to focus initially on helping children to walk, cycle or scoot to school safely - exclusive at The Guardian, and a great thread from Laura Laker on Bluesky about what this could mean for cycling in England. The vision is incredible; as always the real test is whether and when there are shovels in the ground, but the folks pushing for this know their onions, and it could be utterly transformative;
🚌 On the legislative threat to ‘floating bus stops’ (or ‘bus stop bypasses’) as a cycleway design tool:
The reason why this Bill has started to attract interest from those interested in transport and streets is because the Lords stage introduced an additional section called “safety and accessibility of stopping places” – in other words bus stops. This section was looking to introduce a power that the Secretary of State would (essentially) provide guidance on bus stop design and it also proposed a clause to cover so-called “floating bus stops” where a cycle track passes between the footway and a footway being an “island” for boarding and alighting. It also proposed a duty for local authorities responsible for the streets to report on how they have consulted on proposals…
Now it is in the Commons Committee stage, there are moves to introduce clauses that would ban the use of floating bus stops and other restrictive and onerous processes on design in England (as this area is devolved elsewhere).
While this is primarily about their use in England, in Scotland a number of worried folks have taken to writing to their local MP, encouraging evidence-led policymaking in this regard - lest we see the same, largely baseless, pearl-clutching replicated north of the border. Transport for London’s extensive studies of their own stops [PDF] described a very low number of conflicts and crashes as a result of such infrastructure.
📄 More on the bill - and written evidence from a technical expert - at City Infinity »
Also worth a read on this subject is Disabled people’s mobility – why Bus Stop Bypasses are sometimes essential - guidance from Wheels for Wellbeing »
📣 Chris Whitty says culture-war coverage of cycling could harm nation’s health:
Chief medical officer for England urges people to set media cliches aside to focus on health benefits of physical activity at The Guardian »
🌍 Elsewhere
📰 Supporter Andrew shared with us - “I’ve nothing against newspaper columnists, but… do they all have to write about cycling?” — by Cian Ginty at Irishcycle.com
📉 “Within one month in office, Lores managed to pedestrianize 300,000 square metres of the city centre, filtered out through traffic, and removed significant amounts of on-street parking, as it was determined 60% of vehicles were circulating in search of a space—a significant contributor to congestion” — Amazing thread on urban changes in Pontevedra, via Blackford Safe Routes
🛣 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:
🚧 Crawford Bridge: Closed at Albion Terrace this Tuesday 8th July until 17th July for Scottish Water repairs, affecting Quietroute 20. Albion Rd may provide an alternate route.
🏫 Dalkeith Road: Works from today 7th July until 25th July to make permanent the footway widening outside Preston Street Primary School. The eastbound cycle lane on East Preston St may also be obstructed.
🏫 Gilmerton Road: Segregated cycle lane closed northbound at Liberton High School for Scottish Water repairs. Update: Works expected to be delayed until this Friday 10th July and additional works on 13th July expected to obstruct southbound segregated cycle lane at Kingston Ave.
🚧 Leamington Terrace: Closed in sections for resurfacing from 14th July until 12th September. If you’re travelling between Union Canal and Merchiston, Gilmore Pl may be an alternate route. Note Viewforth is closed and may not be an option.
🎪 Hill Square: Fringe Festival will close Hill Place westbound from 14th July until end Aug but cycle access will be maintained - Amazing! Be aware of temporary road signage in the contraflow cycle lane westbound and an increase in pedestrians.
🚲 Valleyfield Street: Road on NCR75 closed for Scottish water works from 14th to 31st July but cycles access will be maintained – Double amazing!
🎪 Summertime Streets: Expanded closures for the August festivals this year, to create pedestrian and cycle zones. Watch this space over the next few weeks for further good news!
Longer Term Closures:
⛰️ 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 currently possible. Update 7th July: Work is to begin 14th July to construct a 120m long fence to reopen the footway to pedestrians and dismounted cycles at the end of July. It’s been asked if cycle access can be maintained.
🚧 Viewforth: Closed for various works. If you’re heading between the Union Canal and Bruntsfield, Leamington Ter may be an alternative. Update 7th July: Subsequent works expected to delay re-opening through July.
🏗️ Craighall Road: Closed until May 2028 for the Refurbishment of Trinity Academy. Access to the Victoria Path is expected to be maintained. A diversion will be signed along Newhaven Road, however the removal of parking for improved traffic flow may lead to this being a wider and faster road, less suitable for cycles.
🌉 Harrison Road: two bridges closed due to structural concerns with micro-cracking in the original cast iron beams. Access to cycles is being restricted:
The north-west bridge over a small path is having its deck rebuilt and will be closed to pedestrians and cycles for rebuilding from this week 7th July until November. The path underneath will close from 28th July, with a signed diversion in place.
The south-east bridge over the Union Canal has been closed for investigations, with fencing placed across the bridge and a gap for cycles. The bridge is expected to re-open to vehicles in July.
⚡ Dryden Street: Link between footbridge and modal filter at Cambridge Ave closed until 23rd July for Scottish Power upgrades. Leith Walk segregated cycle lanes have largely superseded this route and may offer an alternate route.
🚧 Stenhouse Drive: road between shared use path along tramline and Water of Leith Path closed at Gorgie Road for SGN works until mid-August. Stenhouse Ave may offer an alternative route.
🏗️ Port Hamilton Cyclepath: Shared use path between Union Canal and West End closed until 2026/27 for building works. A diversion is advised via Gardeners Crescent and Semple Street.
🚂 Waverley Bridge - concrete barriers have been placed across the southbound lane with no gap. Council officers had planned to replace them with temporary barriers with a southbound cycle lane, however plans have stalled without explanation.
💧 Union Canal: Towpath improvement works are ongoing from Leamington Lift Bridge to Edinburgh Quay until Augustu ‘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 end 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.
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🎉 Events and Happenings
📆 Upcoming / Ongoing
🧘 More upcoming rides and movement / yoga sessions from Detour [IG]:
✨ Tickets are available now for the 30th August - book now to grab 2 for 1 early bird tickets - Yoga by Bike, Porty to Longniddry - 🎟️ Details and Tickets»
🚶🏻♀️ Wester Hailes Walk, Pedal and Thrive Project June to October Events at ScoreScotland - mainly based at 📍 Gate 55, 55 Sighthill Rd, and booking required - call / text Madhavi on 07496 190 752 or email madhavi@scorescotland.org.uk.
🚺 Cycle Training for Women Beginners: 5.15pm to 7.15pm, Wednesdays 9th July, 16th July;
🚸 Play Together on Pedals (3 to 6 year olds): Fridays from 2pm to 4pm;
🧭 Led Cycle Rides: Saturdays from 9:45am to 1pm;
🚲 Adult Beginners / Family Cycle Training: text for an appointment.
🎟️ Festival Show: ‘CADEL: Lungs on Legs’:
ONE ACTOR. ONE BIKE. ONE HOUR. Connor Delves is Cadel Evans. The epic true story of the first Australian to win the Tour de France, live on stage. — Tickets at Underbelly »
🖼️ 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;
⛰️ Bikepacking event Dirt Dash’s 2025 return continues in September - check out the gorgeous video they put out this week [IG] from a recent event too:
Lezyne Dunoon Dirt Dash is 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
🟰 Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council’s Edinburgh Cycling Club run weekly group rides and introductory classes;
🔁 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
🆘 Via Laid Back Bikes:
Latest Afghanistan fundraiser organised by Shannon Galpin. Every £€$ helps! Since the Taliban takeover she's organised life saving evacuations for 150+ Afghan cyclists (one recently arrived in Dundee, many others across the world!). Donate & pass on if you can 🙏
Their story, as written by Galpin, can be found here — along with the Fundraiser Link »
🧡 The Wee Spoke Hub are looking for a Comms volunteer [IG] and for other roles too;
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:
📐 Having had sight of draft plans, Merchiston Districts Community Council have a blog post on the changes coming to the somewhat infamous mini-roundabout junction in Polwarth after a lot of local campaigning, which sound extremely promising. Consultation coming later in the summer, which we’ll be sure to link to here.
📸 Thanks to ‘Dashed Lines’ on Bluesky for tagging us in their photos of a newly opened ‘missing link’ path built between Greendykes Rd and Hunters Hall Park in the East of the city, following their photos of improvements at Greendykes and construction shots earlier in the year.
📋 New Consultation in Meadowbank for Marionville Rd Cycleway, and Details on Smokey Brae
Following consultation in 2022, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has published new web pages (Issue 96, 9th June) detailing plans for protected cycleways on Smokey Brae, including Marionville Avenue and Restalrig Avenue. There are pages featuring visual before / after renders, and others with street layout plans.
These changes are part of an overall plan for the area which now includes a new section being consulted on, featuring a bi-directional protected cycleway on Marionville Rd. The associated consultation is open until the 17th of August, with CEC no doubt hoping to deliver both sets of improvements in tandem in the near future.
📋 Open Consultation: “Walking, wheeling and cycling improvements in Currie” is now open for comments until 6th July. The plans include junction and crossing improvements, and additional cycle parking and access at Curriehill railway station, as well as access into some of the new developments in the area. There is a drop-in session about the plans at Currie Library on 16th June from 2-5pm;
🌳 Progress at Elm Row - with the new combined downhill / uphill section of cycleway behind the bus stops finished up, pending the pavement being reinstated at the former downhill lane - photos from John Robson (Issue 95, 2nd June);
📸 Some great construction photos from Martin (Issue 95, 2nd June), documenting progress on the ‘Foot of the Walk to Dock St’ protected cycleway;
🔭 As spotted by Harry Williams and others, some movement on the ‘Longstone Link’ bridge (Issue 95, 2nd June): a Boundary Map [PDF] and Pre-application Screening have been published on the planning portal, which reads:
The proposal is for a new 5m wide shared-use bridge over the Water of Leith between a new housing development and New Mart Road. The bridge will link on the north east to a 3.5m wide shared-use path that will be widened to 5m wide connecting to New Mart Road in HRA. On the south west, it will connect to a new path to be delivered within the land of the new residential development. On the north west, the existing wooden boardwalk will be altered to connect to the new infrastructure. The location and alignment of the bridge has been selected to minimise the impact on trees, flooding management considerations and to retain the desire line for users crossing the Water of Leith.
🚌 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 above, it looks like this may now have been addressed
🌸 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;
Thanks for reading - ride safe 🚲
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