Agenda item

By Councillor Neil Ross - Quiet Route from Greenbank to the Meadows

“Council

Notes the proposal for a Quiet Route from Greenbank to the Meadows involving six road closures in Morningside.

Notes the proposal has been made without notifying any residents living on or near the proposed route or permitting residents the opportunity to express their views on the proposals, either positive or negative, by way of public consultation. 

Notes the proposal claims to tackle rat-running traffic but does not address speeding traffic on Hermitage Drive or Midmar Drive.

Notes the proposal includes two options for Braid Road, either to remain closed or to re-open for southbound traffic only.

Notes that the Council is proposing to implement the scheme by means of a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order despite the fact that there is no evidence that local residents and users of the route have any difficulties meeting the social distancing rules on this route.

Notes that the Council’s Commonplace online ideas tool collected twice as much support for protected cycle lanes on Whitehouse Loan than for closing that road to motor vehicles.

Notes the condition of the road surface on the proposed route, apart from Whitehouse Loan, is generally poor, especially on Canaan Lane, Cluny Drive, Braidburn Terrace and at the Braid Avenue/Cluny Gardens crossroads.

Believes that the level of danger of the transmission of Covid-19 infection between cyclists and other road users on the proposed route is so low that it does not justify using the Council’s emergency powers to implement this scheme.

Believes that local residents should be allowed to express their views on traffic management and road use proposals in their communities and that their views should be taken into account before a decision is made on whether to implement such proposals.

Therefore proposes that the implementation of the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route using a temporary traffic regulation order should be paused and

instructs officers to hold an informal public consultation in the next three months with residents living on or near the proposed route and the school communities of James Gillespie’s High School and Primary School and NHS Lothian to identify levels of local support for

1)         the existing proposals for a Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route; and

2)         an alternative proposal for the same route, not involving road closures, to

i)                 install segregated cycle lanes on Whitehouse Loan from Astley Ainslie to the schools; and

ii)                prioritise future road re-surfacing of Braidburn Terrace, the Braid Avenue/Cluny Gardens crossroads and the relevant sections of Canaan Lane and Cluny Drive that are part of the route; and

iii)               introduce traffic calming measures along the length of Hermitage Drive and Midmar Drive;and

iv)              re-open Braid Road and use the time available before re-opening to re-surface the sections that are in poor condition and to install appropriate traffic calming measures, such as raising the road surface at road intersections and installing a pedestrian and cycle crossing near the entrance to the Hermitage and a chicane at the corner below the hotel.

3)         to gather any other practical suggestions from local residents with regard to this route that can be managed within existing budgets; and

4)         to draw up a report to the Transport and Environment Committee to present the results of the informal public consultation for consideration and further action.”