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Council links

Scotland

Basic links for all Scottish Councils, from the WalkCycleVote campaign.  Gives links for councillors/ consultations/ cycle-walk strategies/ local groups/ etc…

Edinburgh Council

Home pageedinburgh.gov.uk

Councillors – find/contact your councillors (you have 3 or 4).  Unfortunately in the new council website (2020) you can no longer just type in your postcode.   First you must go to Find Your Ward, then back to the above page and Find Your Councillor.  If you feel strongly about something, ask to meet your councillor(s) rather than just emailing.  You can also find your councillors using the Council Atlas (below).

‘Report It’ page – report almost anything which has gone wrong – potholes, overhanging vegetation, dogs, street lights.  In particular it includes reporting Abandoned Bikes, illegally parked vehicles and potholes.

Roadworks, Road Closures – current and planned – a list, a map and pdf’s (including maps of diversions) – very useful page!  Includes any installation of bike onroad facilities.

Traffic regulation orders covering parking/loading/waiting for the entire city – now also includes temporary orders (TTRO).  This unfortunately does not include an archive of old orders, even if they are still in force.

Parking standards for new developments  section 2.4 (p53-66) of Edinburgh Design Guidance.  This covers both car and bike parking; the first pages are descriptive and the tables covering minimum/maximum levels are on pages 63-66.  In late 2021, the accompanying Factsheet C7, Cycle Parking, was published and is on the council website in the Street Design Guidance factsheets.

Current major & planned Edinburgh developments   NB – the web page is by SkyScraper City, not by Edinburgh Council.

Street Design Guidance and associated factsheets  The Street Design Guidance is now included as section 4 of the wider Edinburgh Design Guidance above.   A set of ‘Street Design Factsheets‘ goes into detail (click  Factsheets link, then A to Z)

Bike sheds in gardens – see our ‘Bike Storage – gardens‘ page for info about planning permission

Edinburgh Council cycling/walking web pages

  • Main cycling/walking web page
  • Cycling & walking projects – includes links to major project pages and downloadable pdf of all current AT-team projects [note that this does not include cycle projects run by other teams/depts, such as cycleroutes associated with the tram extension]

Winter gritting [for background see this 2013 news item]council gritting home page – prioritisation system – interactive gritting map*
*Gritting map – note that offroad cycleroutes on the map use the ‘pavements’ code [purple colour indicates priority 1 pavements and cycleroutes].  Also note that the priority cycleroutes are more extensive than the generalised wording in the ‘prioritisation system’ page suggests.

Localities

[2018] The Council is in a process of decentralising some of its powers (including some transport powers) to 4 ‘Localities,’ NE, NW, SE, SW.  Each Locality area is comprised of several Neighbourhood Partnership areas (see maps below).  NPs are advisory bodies to the Council, Localities have decision-making powers.

There is an element of ‘try it and see’ in deciding which powers work best at local or central level, so current responsibilities may change.  Useful sources…

  • Locality Committees – each Locality is run by a Council Committee, which includes all councillors for wards in the Locality.  Committee info incl. membership   Committee Minutes & Papers – the Minutes give an idea of current concerns/ activities.
  • Localities Directory – Map, some background, and structure of each Locality.  NB this is a 2017 document, so will be some changes.
  • Locality Improvement Plans – Localities are required to draw up plans for their area.
  • Council report [23.11.17] creating the Locality System
  • Maps – See Council Atlas below for how to find a map of Locality Boundaries … and how to create combined maps of Localities with a wide range of facilities/options such as cycling, transport, education, ward boundaries, community council areas, etc.

Council Facilities maps

Council Atlas … for most purposes, including cycle facilities and ward boundaries, use the Council Atlas, as follows…

  • Click the Layer List icon in top right. To get more boxes click the right-pointing arrow so that it becomes down-pointing.  Cycle facilities come under Transport, and electoral boundaries such as Council Wards come under Admin Boundaries.
  • Now tick the box(es) of interest to you.  The features should now appear.  Under transportcycle facilities, you can select cycle parking, quiet routes, and/or National Cycle Network.
  • To get a key to the features, click the down-arrow beside the box – or click the Legend logo at top right.
  • You can also click on the features shown in the map.  For example, selecting the Council wards box and then clicking on a ward in the map gives you a More info option, which then shows the councillors for that ward.

Edinburgh Council links still to be checked/updated

Note – In May 2014 Edinburgh completely changed its website.   Many of the web links in the section below no longer work, and much information was completely lost.

Council papers online since May 2003 [CPOL] – committee reports, minutes, etc
Search council papers for any word or phrase
Traffic Orders – explanation and current orders
Edinburgh Council transport web pages
Local Transport Strategy 2007-2012
Planning policies [includes site briefs, area briefs, planning guidelines, streetscape policies, parking policy, and many more]
Consultations – Planning – current and past
Consultations – all council consultations [in theory!]
The workings of the council [links to everything relevant]
Sustainable development
Neighbourhood Partnerships and map of NPs [12 for the whole city]
Community Councils and map/search for your CC [46 for the whole city]
Planning Applications – click at left for weekly list or search for individual application
TellMeScotland – map and auto-notify for traffic orders, planning applications,… (not complete)
Reporting and requesting things…
Clarence – reporting defects in road, paths, lights etc
Road/paths maintenance satisfaction survey – but use Clarence to report defects
Community Safety Teams – report anti-social behaviour e.g. on paths
Assorted other – including planning breaches, noise, …
Assorted more – including Freedom of Information request, …

East Lothian Council

Home page – www.eastlothian.gov.uk
Transport
Cycling [and other things]
Transport policy and contacts
East Lothian Cycle Forum [This ELCF is a yahoo discussion group.  The council also has a regular liaison meeting called ELCF – all welcome – details are posted to this yahoo group].

Midlothian Council

Home page – www.midlothian.gov.uk
Transport [see left and right columns for links]
Transport policy documents
Offroad paths
Cafes, attractions, bike shops, etc

West Lothian Council

Home page – www.westlothian.gov.uk
Transport policy documents
Cycling page
Road and footway maintenance
West Lothian Local Plan [+ other plans.  LP is downloadable at bottom of page]
Council and Committee papers and agendas
Councillors – [see arrow beside ‘representatives’] – also local MPs, MSPs, etc

Parking standards in new developments [link to Word doc]

Cycle Maps

If you are looking for bike maps of any of the above areas, remember you can purchase the excellent Spokes maps of all 4 of the above Lothians councils.