Neil Gordon who lives on East London Street has raised not one, but two petitions with the council.
One asks the council to repave the cobblestones on East London Street which Mr Gordon points out are a tripping hazard for pedestrians and could cause cyclists to slip. He also points out that this would create a longer stopping distance for vehicles. The other petition asks the council to repave the central part of the road with tarmac and use cobbles in parking bays as they do on London Street.
One petition is here and the other petition is here
We met Mr Gordon on the street to talk to him about why he has lodged the petitions and what he hopes to achieve.
“The noise in the early mornings from the buses which come along here is keeping me awake. I wondered why we could not have a tarmac arrangement as elsewhere on London Street so that the road becomes quieter for the residents, the school, the mosque which are all on this street.
When I started looking beyond local residents it seemed there were other reasons to repair the road which is very run down in places. In some places there is about an inch of tarmac over cobbles which is a very short term repair. It lasts about two years and then gets ‘kicked up’ very quickly. The result is very unattractive and harder to repair in the long term. My solution to the noise and the traffic would be to tarmac the centre of the road and keep cobbles in the parking bays which would be a compromise solution.
“There are those who enjoy cobbles and we are still in a conservation zone on this road.”
There are no bus stops on the road but there are about 60 buses which use the road in the early morning according to Mr Gordon. They are distributing from the nearby depot to the start of their routes.
We asked Lothian what they thought but they declined to comment on this occasion.
Mr Gordon also pointed out that Avis Car Rental which has an office on the street gets cars delivered here too, meaning that there is a lot of HGV traffic on the street.
He acknowledges that repairs to setts are expensive and hopes that the council could be persuaded to treat the road a bit more functionally by putting tarmac in the centre which would be more easily and quickly maintained.
Claire Miller, Green councillor for the City Centre Ward, said: “East London Street really needs attention, the road surface is in a poor state.
“I’ve been in touch with Lothian Buses in the past about using alternative routes to and from the depot, but sadly there are still a number of buses travelling along East London Street. It would be great to see the roads repaired and maintained to a good standard here.“
Both petitions are open until 14 January 2019 for you to show your support. Any petition has to have at least 200 supporters before it will be considered by the council, or if it is deemed a local issue it might be considered with only 50 supporters.
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