Public Meeting, 30 April: Cycling as part of Edinburgh’s Transport Policy

Your first opportunity to hear the Council’s new(ish) Transport Convener, Cllr Stephen Jenkinson speak on Edinburgh transport policy and, specifically, the role of cycling. He will be accompanied by Deborah Paton, a senior officer with responsibilities including transport strategy, and with considerable previous active travel experience.

At the start of his convenership, Cllr Jenkinson said there has been a great deal of consultation and policy development in the last few years, resulting in the Mobility Plan and other excellent policies under Future Streets … and that his priority would now be delivery.

This is your chance to hear what is happening, and put forward your priorities, ideas and concerns in the QA.

Speakers

• Cllr Stephen Jenkinson City Council Transport & Environment Convener – Cllr Jenkinson took over when Cllr Scott Arthur was elected as an MP last year. He will speak on the place of cycling within Edinburgh’s overall transport policies, and what we can expect to see happening this year and onwards
• Deborah Paton, Head of Transport, Strategy and Partnership – As a senior officer, whose remit includes active travel, she is knowledgeable both on detailed active travel issues and on how individual projects fit into overall council transport plans. Deborah has a wealth of relevant experience, including preparing Glasgow City‘s Local Transport Strategy, preparing West Lothian Council’s Active Travel Action Plan, and in consultancy AECOM. She also was a keynote speaker at last year’s Cycling Scotland conference.
• … followed by our always-anticipated one-hour panel QA, chaired by Helen Todd, chair of Planning Democracy and former Ramblers Scotland policy manager – your chance to interrogate and challenge the speakers

Arrangements

• Where Augustine United Church 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL
• Date Weds 30 April
• Time  Starts 7.30, Ends 9.30.  Doors open 6.45 for coffee, stalls and chat, including a special stall to join Spokes or renew your membership
• Questions Questions for the speaker, can be emailed (at least a day in advance) to spokes@spokes.org.uk. However, questions in person from audience members are likely to have greatest priority on the night
• Online We hope to live broadcast on our youtube channel – confirmation nearer the time – and make the recording available a few days later
• Social media If posting about the meeting, use hashtag #SpokesMtg
• More info If you have any queries about the meeting, email spokes@spokes.org.uk or phone Emma, 07982278936.

Some of the many topics you might like to raise…

• On February 1st, 2024 the Transport Committee approved the ‘Future Streets’ policy [see below for further links] which includes the City Centre Transformation, removing through motor traffic from the city centre. Originally this was hoped for in 2025. Many other cities have already done it, including Paris.
• Future Streets also includes the Mobility Plan, one element of which is the new policy that the Primary Cycle Network will mainly be segregated lanes on main roads, because these are “the most direct, flattest, most socially safe routes.” The top example given is bus and cycle priority on the A8 from CCWEL at Roseburn through to Gogar, with St John’s Road due to become a pedestrian-friendly shopping street. When will this happen? [We had suggested this route as a priority in our comments [para 3.3] on the 2023 ATAP consultation].
• Leith Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) has been a great success. When and where will we see more?
• The Princes Street / Waverley Valley consultation feels negative on a Prince Street bike lane – but the whole strategy has been widely criticised for being unimaginative, including by Richard Murphy architects and the local community councils. Many, notably the Richard Murphy vision, along with Spokes, argue for reducing the traffic domination to provide wider footways along with bike provision – after all, that’s what other major cities do, and what world-renowned architect Jan Gehl proposed back in 2010!
• Bike Hire – Edinburgh desperately needs a new scheme in place. Few other major cities are without one.
• Edinburgh has a target to cut car-km 30% by 2030 (and become net zero by 2030). Research commissioned by the Scottish Government shows that traffic reduction is possible, and in an “equitable way,” but only if any of several forms of road user charging is instituted. But Edinburgh has ended further consideration of a Workplace (or wider) Parking Levy, and is doing nothing on road user charging until the Scottish Government acts…
• Impact of high quality infrastructure. Edinburgh’s recent segregated bike infrastructure in Edinburgh is achieving great success, for example, CCWEL and Picardy area. Let’s see more of this!

Please help publicise our public meeting…

• pass on the link to this article
• like on facebook
• repost on bluesky
• download & print our A4 poster for your local shop – or ask us for printed copy/copies

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Background – the ‘Future Streets’ documents

The (massive) Future Streets documents were released as reports for the 2024 Feb 1st Transport Committee. The main documents are…

• 7.1 City Mobility Plan 1st Review This includes the entire Active Travel Action Plan (ATAP) as appendix 6 !
• 7.2 Our Future Streets a circulation plan for Edinburgh and part2 Including what modes will have priority on what streets; ‘liveable neighbourhoods’; a proposed cycleroute network map; and a much-strengthened City Centre Transformation. See here (para 2402) for relevant maps in hi-res.