Hi Everybody, All the cycle tracks in Edinburgh will be 50% funded by Government money through their QUANGO Sustrans, based at Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh. They have NCR1 at their back door and want to have the new Roseburn to Haymarket one at their front door. I think they're a tad greedy for wanting one at either side of their property, but they take exception to that idea. Did you know that all Scottish cities are competing for the Sustrans cash? I think Edinburgh are near the front of the queue with their request for £4.5M (that will be to partner the Council contribution of £4.5M- which is to cover the cost of whole scheme from Roseburn to Leith- which totals £9M.) Sustrans tell us if we want a meeting we must wait until the Council publishes the results of its consultation in late May. The problem with our waiting until late May to meet them is that as soon as the consultation results are published, I think Sustrans will award Edinburgh the cash- and that some of the other cities that are pitching for their part of the cash will be told to go hang. Just from reading between the lines of every e-mail and press release issued by Sustrans since January, it is clear to me that they are intent on giving Edinburgh Council the money for the scheme, whatever we say. I think the result of the consultation will be that the cycle track goes ahead, with minor changes. If the cycling officers were going to scrap the Roseburn to Haymarket stretch, they’d have published by now. The biggest change I think they might make, would be to take out the Roseburn Terrace stretch and use Roseburn Place for cyclists instead. Then run the route up the back of Tesco’s onto Kew Terrace. But that wouldn’t help the Wester Coates folk- or the Haymarket businesses and residents. It is a divide and rule tactic on the part of the Council and would be used to take the wind out of our campaign So I want to ask your support for two things. (The group that was going to meet Sustrans, met instead this evening at the Roseburn café - and we have a plan of action.) The first involves gaining political support. The Conservative candidate for Central Edinburgh (our constituency) was in Roseburn last week, at the Café. She is the Leader, Ruth Ferguson, and she is competing against Sarah Boyack (Labour) and Alison Dickie (SNP) for this City Centre ward. It is a key marginal- at the last election, the SNP took it by only 237 votes from Labour. I believe the voting will be as close again, this time. Now, the anti-cycle track campaign has 3,000 supporters. In theory, we might prefer to support a candidate that will oppose the track. And if one opposes it, any other candidate that wants some of those 3,000 votes will have to oppose it too. By this means we can force the parties to come out clearly on the cycle track matter. If the Lib Dem Holyrood candidate opposes the track, then one would expect that the party generally would be against it- and so we could hope the Edinburgh Council Lib-Dems will also have to toe the party line, and vote against it when it comes to the Transport Committee in August. My hope is that, in the scrabble for votes for May, we will be able to get some publicity and may even force some parties to support us. The worst this tactic might result in would be for the major players, such as the SNP, to sit on their hands, in which case we won’t really have lost anything. In any event, I do believe that if we say nothing, the lure of £4.5M of Sustrans/Gov cash in August might just silence the SNP Councillors at Transport Committee, especially if the cycling officers offer a compromise that saves the Roseburn shops. And thus the Council would forge ahead and we would be left looking like a gang of NIMBYs with nothing to offer but criticism. And this matter is relevant to the Parliament as well as the Council. For the Government, via Sustrans, is stumping up the half million pounds to match the Council’s half million for the stretch from Roseburn to Haymarket. And if we can convince them that this half million would be better spent elsewhere, then the Government need not give it to Sustrans to squander. Perhaps they might spend it on schools, or potholes, or the NHS, or some other vital service. So what I propose is this… When Ruth was here last week, all whom she spoke to sought to convince her the cycle track was the burning issue. (I wrote to her months ago about it, but I think my e-mail was filtered out by her advisors.) I think now, she is aware of Roseburn’s feelings on the matter. Last week she met Roseburn traders Kadir Kavan (owner of Roseburn Café) and George Rendall (of Art et Facts Gallery & Picture Framers) (who were at the Café this evening) and we think she is the most likely one to sign. We need for all of us to write to ALL the candidates asking them to sign the petition. We must make clear that we all work together (there are 240 on this e-mail circular) and that we will share information. Thus they do not need to reply to all of us- just a few will do – and then we can share the decision they make. Because with only 237 votes between the front-runners, there is every chance that we can be seen as kingmakers in this election. It is a story the papers will love, for Edinburgh Central is the most prominent constituency in Scotland. So can I ask you all, to write to the candidates- and copy me in- you can write to 4 at once, with me as cc. That way I can keep a tally of how many have gone out (for press purposes) and if any replies come back - can you let me know (also for press purposes)? The election is only 8 days away, so the sooner you write, the better. When you write, remind the candidates that over 3,000 voters want to know where they stand on this issue that threatens our communities of Roseburn, West Coates, Donaldsons and Haymarket. Send them the link to the Evening News letter from the 40 traders to Cllr Lesley Hinds, convener of the Transport Committee, that shows these plans will ruin our communities www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/haymarket-cycle-track-plan-will-ruin-businesses-1-4015647 Explain to them that we are not anti-cyclist and that we have our own scheme to improve cycling from west to east across the city, utilising the poorly- signposted and generally secret NCR1 path by Balbirnie. Explain we have costed our scheme (well, I have, anyway- I worked at the Council for 8 years in Regeneration and I know the price of a pedestrian crossing) and that it comes to around £100,000. Explain that we want the Council and the Government to put into the Roseburn to Haymarket kitty, not £500,000 each, but £50,000- this being the sum we have costed to sort out the Russel Road/Roseburn St/ junction and make some low-cost street improvements which would make access to NCR1 safer and more prominent. This brings us to the second part of my e-mail. We intend to put out our own cycle track scheme and release it on the same day that the Council launch theirs- in late May. It will be based around NCR1. We are going to be meeting every Tuesday at 5.15pm at Roseburn Café to hammer out the details of the scheme, which we shall ask the shops to help publicise, so the community can see them , comment on them, see them amended, then vote on them. We have about 4 weeks to do that. Tight, I know, but possible. Anyway, for today, can you write to the candidates asking them to sign the petition? Here are their e-mail addresses: alison.dickie@edinburghsnp.org ; ruth.davidson@scottishconservatives.com ; sarahboyack@gmail.com ; alison.johnstone@scottishgreens.org.uk ; hannah.bettsworth@scotlibdems.org.uk … and here is my one: postmaster@roseburn32.plus.com . You can do everybody at the same time and invite them to hit “reply all” when they respond- that way all the other candidates will see that your e-mail has been answered. These people plot feverishly against one another all the time, so you are only adding a new layer of excitement to their lives… Point out to them that you don’t want to see £500,000 of taxpayers cash spent on a scheme that will cause incalculable harm. Ask them to show they really care about us by signing. And that by signing they might get your vote. Our petition to be signed is on-line at www.change.org/p/city-of-edinburgh-council-petition-against-the-west-coates-cycle-track-in-favour-of-national-cycle-route-1-re-opened . There is all the info they will need to make up their minds there- with links to the Council site giving full details, along with every press article on the subject. Best of luck! I will take their decision whether the answer is yay or nay- straight to the Evening News. Before I say goodbye, I have one final request- if anybody on this mailing list is an architect, or a landscape consultant, and would like to assist our wee group setting out our own scheme, can they get back to me? A few hours of your time will make our pitch 1000% more professional. We need your CAD skills! Best wishes, Pete Gregson more at http://www.kidsnotsuits.com/stop-the-west-coates-cycle-track-petition-to-edinburgh-council/