Edinburgh will get a new cycle route from the west of the city at Roseburn to Leith Walk, a route which is reckoned to be a key component of the council’s Active Travel plans. The route is promised to be family friendly with sections of protected lanes on the main streets. It will link other planned routes along George Street and the cycle paths to the north of the city which have a link at Roseburn.
The council’s transport committee has approved the public consultation process which will now begin. Spokes the cycling campaign group appear to be delighted at the news
Congrats @Edinburgh_CC! #CityCentre EastWest route gets closer. Here->https://t.co/nEpG8FAEu0@TransformScot@edfocpic.twitter.com/EPt32FDCzj
— Spokes CycleCampaign (@SpokesLothian) October 22, 2015
Spokes recently commissioned a report on cycling along with the council after which they claimed that Edinburgh residents wanted more money spent on cycling : “Three quarters (74%) of Edinburgh residents want more spent on cycling, according to the survey. The average amount people in Edinburgh would like to see invested from national and local transport budgets in cycling is £23 per person per year.”
Consultants appointed by the council last year looked at three key locations: Roseburn Terrace, the West End including Haymarket Terrace and the East End at York Place and Leith Street.
There is now an outline design in place and this has been discussed with key groups such as Spokes and Sustrans. It proposes a protected cycleway from Rosebery Terrace to Rosebery Crescent and a link from there to Melville Street.
There will be more protected cycle lanes along Melville Street and from George Street to Picardy Place but the report considered this morning makes it clear that this will rely on ‘significant external funding’.
The funding package will have to be sourced from bodies such as Sustrans, the EU Sustainable Transport Fund and the Lottery.
This might at long last address the issue of cycling around Haymarket where we prefer to use the back streets than the main road.
The council’s new proposals include a scheme to move the taxi rank at Haymarket Station – again! Councillor Barrie who is the city’s Licensing Convener wants this proposal examined carefully in relation to those with limited mobility.
Perhaps less popular will be the need to remove central parking from Melville Street, although the council hope to get round that by introducing shared use parking bays in the area.
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