Parking plot?

Edinburgh Council has a great new plan to virtually wipe out short-term parking in Bruntsfield Place, Morningside Road, Easter Road and a whole raft of other busy shopping streets in the city.

At the very time when businesses are closing regularly – just look at the To Let signs in the affected streets – and shops are struggling to keep going, the council wants to narrow the streets and restrict parking. Shoppers in these areas

will not be able to park and businesses will take another hit on their ability to keep going.

Yet more shopping parades will have shops and offices sitting empty.

It’s frankly rare for me to concede that Glasgow has a better solution – but it clearly does.

Buchanan Street and other main shopping streets are about to have one-way pavements with signage showing pedestrians in which direction to travel. This is effective, inexpensive and quick. It works in Cardiff already and it could and should be working here in Edinburgh.

Perhaps Edinburgh Council has an ulterior motive – an “emergency” plan railroaded through in double-quick time without proper consideration and scrutiny by councillors.

Less short -term parking and narrowed lanes for cars and delivery vehicles penalises businesses and their customers; it produces significantly increased congestion on the road and – surprise – a shot in the arm for the council’s aspirational congestion charging scheme.

So I say no to Edinburgh Council’s wholesale suspension of parking spaces on our busy, essential shopping streets and suburbs in the plan.

They should take a leaf out of Glasgow’s plan instead.

ALASDAIR SEALE Managing director, Trinity Factors,

Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh