After months of gathering feedback and data, this Petition from South West Edinburgh in Motion (SWEM) calls on the City of Edinburgh Council to rapidly evolve a “bollard-free” approach on Lanark Road and Longstone that will create calmer, safer and more accessible streets for residents, visitors and all road users.

The aim is to address the serious issues caused by Spaces for People, and support more walking, bus use and cycling, with a permanent solution that ensures the needs of local people are not relegated below those travelling through the area.

Importantly, all suggestions are financially realistic so there is no reason they cannot be achieved quickly by the council following proper community consultation. They also avoid unnecessary spend on relocating parking outside Dovecot against community feedback.

WHERE DID WE GATHER INPUT FROM?

• an independent survey receiving 1,000 responses
• our own survey with 440 responses
• comments and posts within SWEM Facebook group with over 800 members
• emails to the SWEM inbox
• many, many conversations with residents, businesses, visitors and commuters
• advice from road engineers, safety experts and disability representatives
   

WHAT HAVE COUNCIL REPORTS AND DATA SHOWN US?

The council report on the Lanark Road Spaces for People scheme (from p14 of PDF) and answers to council questions have confirmed that:

• The schemes have failed. As well as council data showing the scheme has failed to increase cycling on Lanark Road, the levels of cycling on the Water of Leith have remained considerably higher than on Lanark Road. In spite of the council believing the off road routes have limited strategic importance, cyclists are voting with their wheels and creating the critical mass needed for off-road routes to feel less isolated.
• They have significant negative impacts. The council has officially scored the scheme as having a negative impact on disabled people, as well as for businesses and residents. The scoring of the positive impact for cyclists was done before data showed the scheme had failed to increase cycling.
• If the schemes proceed, the bollards will be permanent - these are not temporary “pop-up cycle lanes” as we were led to believe. Lanark Road and Longstone will never have a properly accessible, attractive and bollard-free scheme like the high-standard schemes seen in some European cities. There is no budget allocated for this in the recent announcement of £118m of funding for active travel. This funding is unlikely to ever be available for reasons including gradient and inability to have fully segregated cycle lanes or link with other fully segregated roads. (This is explained in more depth on our webpage.) 
• All council consultations and research show overwhelming community opposition to this scheme and the flawed consultation processes have led to legally questionable decisions. The recent survey in September 2021 was a case study in how to undermine local engagement and accountability, as outlined in the SWEM deputation to the Transport & Environment Committee from p17 of this PDF.
• This scheme does not meet official policies around transport hierarchy (pedestrians first) or 20 minute neighbourhoods as it was designed as a pandemic response to support cyclists passing through the area and if made permanent will be to the long-term detriment of pedestrians, cyclists and bus users within the area.

It is unethical for the council to proceed to permanency with this failed scheme which has not increased cycling from an average of 70 return journeys on peak term-time weekdays (the equivalent of a single bus load of cyclists) and has officially been graded as having a negative impact on disabled people, businesses and residents.

It is a waste of tax-payer money to continue and maintain this scheme. This could be used for more constructive permanent changes, as outlined in our vision, to benefit all road users, in line with official policy.

We hope some good can come out of Spaces for People, by uniting communities to create a genuinely inclusive, safe and practical scheme. Our vision incorporates pre-approved plans (delayed by Spaces for People) for a traffic island upgrade at Dovecot and toucan crossing at Hailes, combined with a new vision that may not have been seen as being possible prior to the Spaces for People pandemic response.

It also offers an opportunity to help the council achieve its formal commitment to the Equal Pavements Pledge made in September 2021 to “ensure all future streetspace schemes are delivered with accessibility at their core” and “move forward with accessible, inclusive, pan-impairment solutions which benefit everyone and the environment”, including dropped kerbs, blue badge spaces and reducing street clutter.

This cannot be achieved with their current proposals which block the opportunity to enforce speed limits and install sufficient accessible traffic islands that are needed for the full length of the streets for local pedestrians and bus users.

The only solution is to make the streets safer for everyone in a mixed road-user environment.

 

OUR COMMUNITY VISION

Create a calmer space with enforceable lower speed limits and reminders

Measurements on Lanark Road in August 2021, showed most traffic is breaking the new speed limit, with 1 in 6 cars travelling at 37mph in a more dangerous layout for travelling at this speed. This coincides with the speed cameras being deactivated and unable to be reactivated in the new design. To address this, we propose:

• Maintaining speed limit reductions at 30mph in Lanark Road and 20mph in Longstone.
• Bollards removed to enable reactivation of the speed cameras, preventing the current persistent speeding.
• Adding vehicle-activated speed reminder signs on Lanark Road and Longstone - evidenced to be effective nearby.
• Introducing central hatching in some areas to help keep the road to a single active lane in each direction and give space for broader traffic islands and right-turn lanes.

 

Prioritise pedestrians, bus users, local residents and children with better implementation of a narrower road

Without bollard cycle lanes, the width of Lanark Road can accommodate a central hatching in most sections, and Longstone Road in some sections which offers several advantages.

• Reducing the disorientating “slalom” which is unsafe for vehicles and pedestrians crossing the road, as the centre line moves all over the place and in winter, road markings may completely disappear. This can be solved by using a central hatching in key sections (in areas with no bus lanes) which also creates space for emergency vehicles when needed. 
• Wheelchair and buggy accessible traffic islands replacing the seven inadequate “traffic splitters” in Lanark Road and two in Longstone. These should be in the central reservation areas in relevant locations at least every 400m, including for families accessing child-centred businesses and for Kingsknowe, Redhall and Longstone residents accessing green space at Dovecot Park. They must include dropped kerbs at pavements, with double yellow lines keeping access clear from parked cars. 
• Supporting bus use will be a real benefit of proper traffic islands. Currently many local residents struggle to safely cross the road (as inevitably they have to do, either on outbound or home bound return journeys). 
• Right-turn lanes in the centre reservation areas, to improve safety for local people accessing their side streets, especially cyclists, who at present are “trapped” in the segregated lane.
• Kerbside parking so it is safe for children to access healthy activities and childcare at Dovecot Park, Inglis Green Road, Longstone Road and Cranley and Lanark Road nurseries.

Tradespeople and delivery drivers will be able to safely access homes and businesses again.

• Reinstating kerbside parking prevents many ludicrous and dangerous situations e.g. when it was recently suggested that tradespeople would need to locate a skip in floating parking on the opposite side of the road and repeatedly cross the road to access it, and where delivery drivers regularly need to block segregated cycle lanes to load and unload.

Some existing elements are welcome. 

• Timed bus lanes seem to be proportionate and effective but need to be monitored.
• Double yellow lines near side street junctions kept and enforced, ensuring parked cars don’t block visibility.
• Traffic light pedestrian crossing on Lanark Road near Hailes/Spylaw which is already proposed as part of the West Edinburgh Link should be progressed.
  
  

Boost inclusivity by removing disability discrimination, and minimising conflict with pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles

It's a fact that the layout on Lanark Road and Longstone has negative impacts on people with disabilities.

Many families in SWEM have commented about this and have written to the council with complaints related to the impact of the scheme on them or their friends and relatives. 

A senior council officer responded to a request for a blue badge space saying "...unfortunately, due to the proposed road layout I don't think it would be possible to consider the introduction of a disabled bay for a local resident...".    

Therefore it's not surprising that the council's own impact assessment rates the scheme as "negative" for people with disabilities.

We don't think it's acceptable or ethical to promote a scheme that has such detrimental impacts on people with disabilities, and, alongside the improvements to all traffic islands, we propose that this is addressed as follows.

• All parking to be kerbside instead of “floating” and located appropriately, ensuring safe access by residents and visitors throughout the area, and enabling the installation of EV charging infrastructure (if needed) in future. 
• Blue badge spaces allocated on request to guarantee availability because we realise that although the quantity of parking may increase, it may not return to that which was available in the original road layout, since other features (e.g. more double yellow lines to support traffic islands and improved junction sight-lines) may mean that some parking will be reduced.
• Longer-term, implement side junction pavement-build outs with dropped kerbs for wheelchairs and buggies to improve crossing for pedestrians and visibility for local traffic accessing the main road, at wide junctions, particularly Kingsknowe Road South (bus route), Spylaw Bank Road and Longstone Crescent.

 

Giving cyclists space to manoeuvre

Feedback from many cyclists in SWEM has informed our proposals, with the segregated lanes being criticised for several reasons. The layout we propose would remove the bollards to create more space that would allow cyclists to use the main carriageway.

• Safer right-turns for cyclists, who at present are “trapped” in the segregated lane. The creation of right-turn lanes will also give cyclists a place to stop safety while waiting to turn right. This is not possible in the existing scheme which prioritises cyclists travelling through the area rather than local people cycling within the area.
• The space to avoid road defects, debris and road gully coverings as the surface of Lanark Road and Inglis Green/Longstone Roads are very poor in places, particularly close to the kerb where cyclists are channelled by the bollarded lane. There appears to be no budget to enable complete resurfacing. 
• Easier overtaking for cyclists in the main carriageway than when corralled in the 1.5m wide cycle lanes.
• Restoring kerbside parking creates more space for cyclists to choose where to ride and to give themselves room to avoid car doors, driveways and pedestrians which is vital. The floating parking arrangement sets up a conflict between cyclists and pedestrians, as demonstrated by an accident in June 2021, where a cyclist collided with a pre-school child. 

 

Investing in the Water of Leith and Union Canal paths

In South West Edinburgh we have beautiful spaces that are already well used for active travel and recreation. But sadly, the Union Canal and Water of Leith paths have been allowed to fall into disrepair, with some footpaths and bridges being closed for more than a year. We believe these resources form an important part of our local travel and recreation network and should be invested in with appropriate measures such as:

• Widening paths at known pinch points to ease congestion.
• Pathway lighting installed (at key points if necessary), sensitive to the context.
• Drainage improved in places too muddy for cyclists and walkers.
• Surfacing improved in areas where improved drainage is not possible.
   

WHY WE ARE SIGNING THIS PETITION

The Council has recommended that the existing failed Lanark Road scheme continues under an ETRO (Experimental Traffic Regulation Order).

Instead, by signing this petition, we call on the Council to urgently undertake a proper community consultation, using this framework as a constructive and positive foundation to begin an immediate process for a permanent road design, which can be put through an ETRO first, to speed up the process and enable fine-tuning.

We ask the Council to remember that effective change is best achieved with the agreement of the citizens it serves, rather than imposed because it is covered by a blanket policy that is not site specific.

ABOUT SWEM

South West Edinburgh in Motion (“SWEM”) is a Facebook group of over 800 people, mainly residents, but also others with a close interest in the road changes on Lanark Road, Longstone Road and Inglis Green Road.

Unlike other pressure groups, we don't have a long-term ideological agenda, but simply formed as a reaction to local road changes that were introduced with no consultation under the pretext of preventing COVID transmission. These continue to be developed in the absence of majority support from the local community.  

We obtained legal opinion from a senior QC that these changes were legally questionable and remain in place unlawfully.

Email us at southwestedinburghinmotion@gmail.com