Four major cycling-relevant consultations are now underway in Edinburgh: Local Policing Plans; a Meadows-Innocent link; further work on the Leith-Portobello route; and closing the missing link between Edinburgh and Midlothian’s route to Roslin and Penicuik…
Please respond to any of these consultations which affect where or how you cycle, or where you would like to. Click the headings for consultation details.
Local Policing Plans – by end November
The police are seeking input from the public into how they should prioritise their time and resources. Most of the public consultation drop-in sessions are now over, but you can still email your comments to EdinburghLPP@scotland.pnn.police.uk.
For more details on the consultation, and some of our ideas, see our Nov 4 article.
Edinburgh Council consultations
Submit your ideas to the council on any of the consultations below using the address cyclingprojects.consultation@edinburgh.gov.uk. Use a separate email for each project on which you comment.
Spokes also would very much like to hear suggestions, from members or others who know these areas, for possible inclusion in our own submissions. Please email spokes@spokes.org.uk, or copy us your comments to the council. We would need your comments no later than end November.
Meadows to Innocent – by 16 December
Initial plans for this long-promised connection are now out – they will be modified as a result of this consultation, before the necessary Traffic Regulation Orders are published giving a chance for further public input.
The route will probably be used as much or more for local trips as for the full connection. People have long complained, for example, how awkward it is to get by bike from the Meadows to the Southside shops and tenements, with a difficult crossing of Buccleuch Street, then bins and a fence at the end of Gifford Park.
It is not an easy route to create and there are several points where the proposals are certainly not ideal – please send us your suggestions for improvement.
Portobello to Leith – by 20 December
The council is planning further improvements on either side of last year’s work; including a wider/resurfaced path from St. Mary’s Primary School to the new ramp, and an improved connection between the railway and the Prom.
NB – these plans are not online at this time, but promised in the next week.
Gilmerton to Loanhead [Edinburgh to Midlothian] – by 20 December
Another long-promised and requested route, linking quiet roads in the Gilmerton area to Midlothian’s excellent existing railway path leading on to Roslin and Penicuik.