Latest [March 20]: Recording of meeting now available here–>https://youtu.be/aAN17Vw9v_g
Like many other Councils across Scotland and the UK, Edinburgh City has introduced a wide range of Spaces for People schemes, using government funding dedicated to that purpose.
Our meeting, on Thursday 18 March, asks: should they, can they, will they, be made permanent?
Edinburgh has seen town centre footway widenings, 40km of semi-segregated main road cycle lanes, and school-street safety measures at a remarkable 80 schools – from expanded footways to road closures. These projects aim to facilitate social distancing, including freeing up space on buses by transfer to bike, and to enable safer exercise.
However the schemes also contribute substantially to council and government objectives on climate, physical activity, congestion, etc; and therefore the Council, encouraged by government, is consulting on whether to make them permanent once the pandemic is over. Of course, improvements based on experience and on full consultations would be incorporated as the permanent infrastructure was developed.
At the meeting
- Transport Convener Cllr Lesley Macinnes and Council officer Phil Noble will enlarge on the consultation
- Three Spokes people from across the city will give 5-minute views on SfP…
- Jocelyn Dellar – from Spokes Porty
- Claire Connachan – also involved in Low Traffic Corstorphine
- Ewen Maclean – from Blackford Safe Routes
- A 45-minute QA will be chaired by Dr Caroline Brown of The Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University
- We expect the meeting to run from 7.30pm until roughly 9.15pm
- We are using GoWebinar software (kindly supplied and operated by Cycling UK Scotland). Your own microphone and video are automatically muted, and there is no chat function.
- Questions can be submitted in advance by emailing spokes@spokes.org.uk with subject line SfP meeting question. You can also submit questions during the meeting, using the questions box in the webinar’s Control Panel.
Joining the meeting
- If you wish to attend the meeting, please register in advance (though you can even do this once the meeting has started)
- Register by clicking here
- The registration page has a sentence about payment – ignore this, the meeting is free
- You will be sent an email with a ‘Join Webinar’ button. This link is unique to you, so don’t pass it on
- On the day, your link will be live from 7.15pm
- Click Join Webinar
- On the next page, click Open GoTo Opener
- If the meeting has not yet started, you will see a page asking you to wait – it will then automatically begin at around 7.30
- If you have problems with the registration process, or want a fuller explanation, see this step-by-stepguide.
After the meeting (and/or before!!)
- For more on the Spaces for People consultation, and how to respond, see this Spokes article. Please do respond – closes 5 April (extended from 21 March).
- We’d love you to join Spokes! You’ll receive a roughly-monthly all-member email covering the whole range of Spokes activities, including information about current consultations which you might wish to respond to if they affect you.
- The meeting will be recorded and available later on our YouTube channel
- Elections to Holyrood Parliament happen on 6 May and will determine who runs transport and environment policy in Scotland for the next 5 years!! Spokes will provide local info about the election, but please check out and support these all-Scotland campaigns..
Please help publicise the meeting
- Retweet here
- Like our facebook article (soon)
Thank you!
- A big thank-you to Cycling UK Scotland for providing and running webinar software for the meeting