Festival frenzy

Sweeping road closures and other safety measures will be rolled out across Edinburgh’s Old Town for more than a month to accommodate vast Festival crowds.

If folk get so lagered up enjoying the festival of cheaply produced standup comedy (and precious little else) that they can’t tell the difference between the pavement and the road, then that’s their problem, not the council’s.

John Gailey Once again it is all about visitors, walkers and cyclists, and to hell with the residents. While I realise that visitors bring a great amount of money into the city, there has to be a point where we say enough is enough. Throughout the years the council have allowed developments in the city centre, particularly Princes Street, that have turned a once noble street into a cheap shopping area congested with buses. Concentrate on sorting that out, repair the roads and stop acting like you run a continental city. You don’t, you run Edinburgh and it is unique, let’s keep it that way. All you are doing with this scheme is pushing the congestion further out and creating new pinch points and more areas of high pollution.

Bruce Middleton

2020 is to be the council’s ‘Year Zero’, when permanent Old Town residents will be forced to sell their homes to tourist letting agencies and all Edinburgh residents will be banned from the new ‘Festival Zone’ in August, unless they have bought a £1500 ‘Fringe Pass’.

Lucien Romano

Educate the tourists on how to walk in a busy city.

Michael Nicholson

Would it not make more sense to restrict the festivals if they can’t be run safely? A balance is what’s needed.

John Whyte

No wonder locals hate the festival and the tourists it brings. Absolutely no consideration for people who work and live in the city.

Tracy Munro

Everyone moaning about the Festival – move then. You don’t have to live in the city centre, and nobody is forcing you to live in Edinburgh. I know, we will have some numpty pipe up who is the very rare exception who has to live in Edinburgh because he has a condition that means he can only drink the water in Edinburgh and he’s trapped in this vicious cycle of this heinous Festival

Sha Ram

Like it’s not hard enough to try to get to work already.

Michael Michael

It’s hard enough getting