A CAMERA pole has been vandalised in an apparent protest towards traffic calming measures in Edinburgh.
As part of the Corstorphine Connections trial bus gate scheme, cameras have been installed at the busy junction of Manse Road and St John’s Road to catch motorists disobeying new rules which close the road to cars between 8am to 10am and 2.45pm to 6.45pm.
Fines are being issued to those caught by the cameras.
However, over the weekend the pole upon which the cameras were attached was severed in two in what appears to be a deliberate act of vandalism.
Paint and graffiti has also recently appeared on road signs in the area.
Scott Arthur, City of Edinburgh Council’s transport convener, said the act had a damaging effect on the reputation of the local community.
This is reckless criminality, not protest. https://t.co/OOX6Wqns2c
— Cllr Scott Arthur 🌍🌈 (@CllrScottArthur) July 23, 2023
“There’s no excuse for dangerous criminal behaviour like this. We are lucky a member of the public reported it to us early on Sunday morning so that our crews could quickly attend and make the column safe, and I’d like to thank them for this.
“The trial road safety measures in Corstorphine aim to address the fact that the majority of local residents feel there is an issue with vehicles in the area. Given that context, this type of reckless criminal behaviour is shameful, and I know that local people both for and against the scheme are concerned about what’s happened.
“The damage to council property and the graffiti is completely unacceptable and all it achieves is disruption, expense and a damaging effect on the reputation of a great local community.
“We’ll be reviewing CCTV footage and speaking to police this week, and I’d urge anyone who knows who may be responsible for this senseless criminal act to reach out to the police too. Given the risk the damage posed to the people in the adjacent retirement housing, I hope those responsible are promptly brought to justice.”
The redesign of the traffic infrastructure followed the results of market research which found that 67% of people living in the area felt traffic was a problem.
But local community group Accessible Corstorphine for Everyone are against the new measures although deny anyone in the group was involved in the vandalism.
Jackie Conner, a member of the group, told STV: “We are against something being implemented that the community didn’t want.
“We strongly condemn the vandalism and we’ve put, myself and one of the other admins, have put up a couple of posts on Facebook just reminding people that this isn’t going to solve anything. I’m not saying it was anybody that was part of the group. I don’t know who it was, but we need to remain respectful.
“The council is not going to take anything seriously if they think we’re involved with vandalism and we would urge anybody considering anything similar to just pause and think, ‘what is it going to achieve?’ It’s definitely not the way to go.”
