Councillors shelve decision on the layout of cycle corridor
A HOTLY-ANTICIPATED decision on the layout of the most ambitious cycling project ever planned for Edinburgh has been shelved.
Members of Edinburgh City Council’s Transport Committee voted in favour of building the proposed eastwest cycle corridor, but postponed a final decision on the most contentious section of the route – through Roseburn in the west end – after concluding that there was a “strong division of opinion” on how it should be designed.
Councillors had been expected to choose between two layouts but have instead voted by a majority of 13 to two to create a cross-party stakeholders’ group which will act as a “sounding board” for planners.
It will bring together all sides including cyclists, environmental campaigners, traders, councillors and community groups.
Lesley Hinds, convener of the Transport Committee, said she hoped that they would be able to “thrash out the remaining issues”, stressing that the council remained “100 per cent committed” to delivering the cycleway.
She said: “Given the strength of feeling out there about certain aspects of the plans, there’s clearly still work to be done before the final route design is agreed.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland air pollution campaigner Emilia Hanna said she was disappointed by the delay.
She said: “There are question marks now on when a final decision will be taken and concerns that the scheme could be bogged down in analysis paralysis.”
The move followed a hearing in which councillors were told the debate over the Roseburn section of the cycleway had become “too polarised”.
The so-called “cycle superhighway” is the most ambitious cycling project ever planned for the capital and would ultimately enable cyclists to journey direct from Roseburn to Leith Walk on a route largely protected from traffic. However, plans to reduce Roseburn Terrace from four lanes to two to accommodate the cycleway caused an outcry among traders and local residents who said the loss of parking and loading bay spaces would threaten businesses and create a traffic bottleneck, exacerbating pollution and congestion.
This led the council to put forward an alternative Option B, re-routing the cycleway via Roseburn Place and Roseburn Street.
However, cycling campaigners argued that a less direct route would be a turn off for experienced cyclists and that Option B increased the risk of collisions with pedestrians and other road users because cyclists would have to navigate three road crossings instead of one in Option A.