Welcome to Living Streets Edinburgh

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Edinburgh, with its generally dense population and walkable distances, could be a European exemplar of a pedestrian-friendly city. But the many sensible walking-related policies of the City of Edinburgh Council too often don’t translate in practice into a safe and attractive walking environment on the streets. Motor traffic continues to dominate the vast majority of the city’s streets – yet there are clear economic, environmental and social benefits in prioritising pedestrian movement within a high-quality public realm.

Our overall aim is to:

Promote walking (including ‘wheeling’) as a safe, enjoyable, accessible and healthy way of getting around Edinburgh.

To this end, we want to see:

  • walking given the top priority over other forms of travel in all council transport and planning policies;
  • a reduction in the volume of motorised traffic and its impact on people using the street;
  • better designed and maintained pavements, road crossings and other pedestrian facilities;
  • more effective and joined-up monitoring and inspection of the walking environment by CEC;
  • planning policy which encourages dense, sustainable housing over car-dominated, dispersed development;
  • more effective implementation of pro-walking policies ‘on the ground’.

Our priorities for action in 2025 are to:

  • Campaign for increased budgets (capital and staffing) for the
    pedestrian environment by the City of Edinburgh Council, especially
    to:
    • widen footways;
    • tackle pavement clutter;
    • improve priority for pedestrians at signalled crossings;
    • improve accessibility by installing dropped kerbs and continuous
      footways.
  • Secure better enforcement of controls on parking (including new
    ‘pavement parking’ provisions) and speeding.
  • Support specific local campaigns for place-making and traffic
    reduction.
  • Develop our work on walk-friendly environments at and around
    schools.
  • Influence planning policy and practice to aid walking and wheeling
    and reduce motor traffic.
  • Grow the number of our supporters and range of our campaigns.

If you would like to get involved in our work in any way, please email us at:
 edinburghgroup@livingstreets.org.uk

 

Our call for fair and effective speed enforcement (Letter to Transport Minister)

Press Release, Road Safety

Dear Ms Hyslop

Safer Speeds for Scotland

We are writing to you to highlight a crucial road safety issue that is undermining Scotland’s Road Safety Strategy. Namely the fact that there is no effective enforcement system for Scotland to be able to ensure that safe driving speeds are achieved. 

Given the fundamental importance of safer driving speeds for collision speeds and the resulting casualties, this issue underlies all other efforts to improve driver behaviour. There is no possibility of approaching the ‘Vision Zero’ goal that our governments at UK, Scotland, and local authority levels claim to support, without reform of an enforcement system that is unfit for purpose. 

In Scotland we strongly support the proposed reduction of the national speed limit from 60mph to the more appropriate 50mph on single carriageway roads. This will help to reduce an appalling level of casualties on these roads, especially if followed up with further adjustments to set reduced speed limits that are appropriate to individual road sections. However it will do nothing to ensure that drivers keep to these safer speeds. Without suitably intensified enforcement efforts it is certain that many will not. 

As it stands there are no incentives for either Police Scotland or local authorities to make greater enforcement efforts. All the revenue income arising from fines and penalty charges for speeding currently revert to the UK Treasury, leaving a situation whereby more enforcement requires more expenditure at the expense of the many other pressing priorities for public services. Here in Scotland that income is in effect deducted from Scotland’s block grant, and so is unavailable for any public service purpose in Scotland. There is also no provision for local authorities to assist the police in providing better enforcement. So much for effective devolution of powers to the local levels at which they are needed!

Responding to a question from a Lib. Dem. MP in December, the UK Government minister, Lilian Greenwood, brushed it aside stating there were currently no plans for changes.  

It surely is time for the Scottish Government to demand a system that funds enforcement where it is needed, and at the levels that are needed, through the retention of income from fines and penalties. There is a gaping hole in the devolution of enforcement powers over road safety and it is one which must be fixed. We assume that fixing it commands your support and that of your SNP colleagues in government. So we hope that you will now help in bringing pressure to bear on the UK Government.    

We will also be writing to the UK Secretary of State for Scotland to request his support internally in pressing for this change.       

John Russell

Living Streets Edinburgh Group

Two-way cycling on Rose Street: Objection to TRO24/27

Consultation Response, Council Policy, Cycle Routes, , ,

We object to the advertised Traffic Regulation Order (TRO/24/27 bit.ly/3IFOQQ6) allowing two-way cycling on Rose Street. The idea of promoting two-way cycling on the street was raised in a report to the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) on 30 January 2025, as a means to facilitate cycling across the city while the CCWEL route through George Street is not yet in place.  We made our objection to this proposal at that time.

The Council’s own report recognised that “integrating cyclists into a space primarily designed for pedestrians presents challenges. The narrow width of Rose Street, combined with the high footfall at certain times, could lead to safety concerns between cycling and walking/wheeling. With no dedicated cycling infrastructure, conflict could be created between users.”

It is not appropriate in our view to encourage Rose Street – the closest thing Edinburgh currently has to a pedestrianised street – as a major cycle route. The proposal does not respect the Council’s agreed travel hierarchy which places walking and wheeling first. The TRO is especially inappropriate given that the TEC recently decided that two way cycle access should be maintained on George Street itself during any redevelopment works. 

Draft Minute of Living Streets Edinburgh Group (LSEG) Annual General Meeting 2025

Public Event,

Date:-  Thursday 29th May 2025.

Location:- Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Street, Edinburgh.

Present:-  Mike Birch, Roger Colkett, Robert Ainsworth, Patrick Miner, Johanna Jokio, Peter Brown, Mark Jacunski, Councillor Chas Booth, Andrew Heald, John McKenna, Rosemary Burton, Ruth Findlay, Jane Brown, John Russell, Isobel Leckie, Stephen Jenkinson, Harry Garrod, Mark Boggis, Morag Jones, Rachael Revesz, David Hunter, Hilda Sim, Kirsty Sangster, Ashleigh & Kirin (Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living), Rosie Sinclair & Mairi (Equal Footing Porty).

Meeting Started:-  18.35 hrs

David Hunter (LSEG Convener) chaired the meeting.

  1.  Apologies were received from Harald Tobermann (EBUG) and Anja Wolf.
  • The draft Minutes of the LSEG 2024 AGM were approved. There were no questions or matters arising.
  • The LSEG Treasurer Isobel Leckie presented the accounts. Isobel reported a balance of £680.61.  Expenditure over the year 2024/2025 was only £134.75 This was almost exclusively on room hire plus minimal bank charges.
  • David Hunter presented the Convener’s Report. The past year had been very busy with some successes.  Many opportunities also remained to be tackled. 
  • Rachael Revesz talked about the campaign she had been involved with over the last couple of years for the successful Leith LTN.
  • David Hunter summarised how LSEG had been organised over the last few years. A committee had been in place, but this had changed to a more informal network.  The plan for the future was to try to share the workload amongst a team. 

Names were noted of volunteers who are prepared to attend an initial team planning meeting:-  Mike Birch, Mark Boggis, Hilda Sim, Rachael Revesz, Roger Colkett, Johanna Jokio, John Russell, & Isobel Leckie.

Isobel Leckie was re-appointed as Treasurer.

David Hunter said he was willing to remain in the role of Convener but that he would like to transition out of the role across the next year.

Hilda Sim proposed a vote of thanks to David Hunter for his hard work on behalf of pedestrians. This sentiment was warmly applauded by the meeting. 

  • Councillor Stephen Jenkinson, Convener of the City of Edinburgh Transport and Environment Committee, gave a short talk about recent work undertaken by the committee relating to pedestrians.
  • Ashleigh and Kirin of the Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living talked to the meeting about the realities of travelling around Edinburgh if you use a wheelchair or have impaired vision.
  • Councillor Jenkinson answered about a dozen questions from the meeting on a variety of pedestrian related topics including Street Design Guidance, the lack of pedestrian data, Bus Stop improvement programme, TVL funding & vehicle idling fines

Meeting Closed:-  20.05hrs

Mark Boggis/30.05.2025

“We are all pedestrians”: Transport convener addresses Living Streets Edinburgh AGM

Council Policy, Public Event, , , ,

Following criticism about “vanity prestige projects” being prioritised over pedestrian access, Stephen Jenkinson addressed our AGM

Edinburgh Council’s Transport Convener has sought to reassure Living Streets Edinburgh Group supporters that pedestrian access is a top priority for his committee.

“We need to ensure that we keep [pedestrians] front of our minds and decision-making when we implement projects and developments across the city,” Stephen Jenkinson, Convener of the Transport and Environment Committee at Edinburgh Council, told the volunteer group.

The comments at our AGM on 29 May follow concerns that the committee has given the go-ahead to what our convener David Hunter named “vanity prestige projects”, rather than focus on less expensive but more beneficial, pedestrian-focused projects.

Jenkinson acknowledged the concerns and added: “I would challenge that in a little way. I think the City Mobility Plan, in a grand sense, is about delivering big projects. The scope of a lot of those projects will include pedestrian and public realm benefits.”

The convener said that when he took over from his predecessor, Scott Arthur, now MP for Edinburgh South West, he discovered a large list of proposed projects listed under the 10-year City Mobility Plan, and tasked council officers to prioritise them.

He explained that many schemes have to compete with other local authorities for external funding, and the funding framework has moved from multi-year to single-year.

“I want to reassure you that pedestrian priority is a priority not only for me but many members of the committee and the council. It isn’t a zero-sum game when it comes to moving people and vehicles around the city,” he added.

Helping everyone to get around the city

The need for pedestrian priority is urgent. Two disabled person’s rights advocates from the Lothian Centre for Inclusive Learning – Ashleigh and Kirin – told the AGM that floating bus stops, incorrectly placed dropped kerbs, a lack of space around disabled parking bays, and cycle lanes in the middle of pavements, all hinder those with sight and mobility issues.

Kirin, who has sight issues, praised the banning of advertising boards – a campaign led by Living Streets – but said there is still a lot of street furniture to navigate.

“I just want to get around the streets, just like you, but it’s trickier because I can’t see as well,” she said.

Kirin also joked about using her cane: “The pavement parking ban has been very helpful which has stopped us from scraping your cars!”

Positive noises from the TEC?

Jenkinson pointed out:

  • £4-6 million funding will be invested in the Granton Liveable Neighbourhood scheme, which will bring pedestrian benefits.
  • the 2025/26 budget for dropped kerbs has doubled to £400,000, thanks to Transport Scotland funding.
  • in response to concern that the council has frozen the footway budget this year, Jenkinson said the budget has increased 25% since 2022.
  • the success of the pavement parking ban means footways will generally see less wear and tear from vehicles.

Engine idling: Will the council act?

Jenkinson said he had also written to the Scottish Government to advocate for higher fixed penalty notices for engine idling, which currently stands at £20 and would not cover the cost of enforcing the fine.

In contrast, fixed penalty notices for pavement parking stand at £100 and have generated more than £244,000 in revenue for the 12 months ending February 2025 alone.

Living Streets Edinburgh convener David Hunter thanked Jenkinson for standing strong on no exemptions for pavement parking and for attempting to answer audience questions:

  • Will the Council monitor pedestrian movement, and use that data?
  • Will the Council follow other countries like the Netherlands and re-design junctions like Toll Cross before resurfacing them?
  • Will the Council re-consider removing the Braidswoods modal filters, which have successfully reduced daily vehicles from 10,000 to 6,000?
  • Will the Gorgie Liveable Neighbourhood retract its proposal to include floating bus stops?

Watch this space.