An Edinburgh dad has thrown his support behind the new Low Traffic Neighbourhood measures introduced to Corstorphine by Edinburgh Council.
Christopher Young 52, who works as a landscape gardener but also volunteers as co-chair of Low Traffic Corstorphine and is a founding member of Better Edinburgh for Sustainable Travel, argues that the reasoning behind both the Featherhall Crescent parklet and the Manse Road bus gate have been misunderstood.
Having lived in the area for 20 years along with his wife and two kids, aged 10 and 13, Christopher also says that the changes will make the area safer and less congested.
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“I regularly drive and cycle as needs arise, both professionally and as a dad to my two busy kids,” he said.
“In my opinion the Featherhall Crescent parklet is a welcome use of a traffic filter which creates a place for people rather than vehicles.
“It can help people with limited mobility by giving them a place to stop and rest and it will hopefully bring a bit of greenery to the neighbourhood.
“Following complaints locally about rat running traffic - over many years this has been a concern voiced in community council meetings - between St Johns Road and Meadowplace Road, and Corstorphine High Street, this was a clear and early issue which needed to be addressed as part of the LTN.
“I’m aware many local residents of Featherhall Crescent are very happy with the quieter, safer environment the filter provides and the use of the road space, as a temporary parklet, I think, is great.
“This was never designed as a play park for kids, but more as a place to pause and meet. I think it provides that well.
“It gives pedestrians a chance to stop off the busy Meadowplace Road and sit for a moment's rest between destinations, which serves as a real support to those who need mobility help and regular rests on a walk between destinations.”
Christopher adds that the Manse Road bus gate is also an important addition to the community as it will protect a narrow village street from congestion as well as children going to and from school.
“Manse Road is a narrow village street with very narrow pavements, yet it has enormous flows of traffic.
“Vehicles are often travelling at inappropriate speeds, which is particularly dangerous with many children using this as a route to and from school.
“The narrow pavements are difficult to navigate for those with mobility aids and for families with buggies, prams and small children.
“Again, I am in full support of the bus gate, and personally would wish to see the gate in action 24hrs a day instead of the potentially confusing part time hours it currently operates under - or at the very least to operate ‘7,7,7’ (7am-7pm-7days a week) as the bus lanes across the city are proposed to be moving to shortly, so all bus measures are aligned.
“The Bus Gate allows for taxis’, buses and cyclists to exit to St Johns Road and is a means to reduce the dangers of fast and heavy traffic flow.
“Over 1,600 vehicles travel this every day on average and this change will help to reduce heavy traffic pollution at the times the road is used for school children to access their school.
“This is a measure to improve the safety of the youngest members of our community. My understanding is that Corstorphine Primary pupils and staff have been asking for an intervention to improve safety on this route for a long time.
“Bus Gates have existed in Edinburgh for some time such as at the The Jewel, Bankhead Drive, Prestonfield Avenue, Kirklands Park St and Little France - they are not a new experiment unique to Corstorphine.”
Christopher argues that there is far too much traffic using the Corstorphine High Street, Featherhall and Manse Road streets as a way to avoid major junctions in the area.
He says that there are many studies that show intrusive travel like this carries more risk for the local community.
He adds that the LTN interventions help to reduce high traffic across areas where community members are more at risk, thus reducing the risk of injury.
On LTN’s he adds: “Importantly, and contrary to some quite vocal misinformation, it does not prevent access for vehicles, but redirects it, often with little more delay than a few minutes, however, the benefit to enabling safer active travel within community life is enormous, both on a community and societal scale.
“Personally, and this is speaking as someone who drives, as well as walks, cycles and takes the tram and bus regularly, I wish the Low Traffic Neighbourhood changes went further.
“Cars have a place, of course, but for far too long they have been allowed to dominate every aspect of our lives and our neighbourhoods and we need to be focusing on how people move, not just cars.
“40 per cent of Edinburgh residents don’t have access to a car - how can it be fair that the overwhelming majority of the funding on transport is presently serving just over half the city’s population?
“Change is always difficult. It requires behaviour change and that, for a society or more locally, for a community, can sometimes be challenging.
“But humans are tremendously adaptable, and I firmly believe, like in so many places where this has been done before, people have, after the initial consternation has subsided, adapted.
“There is a wealth of evidence which shows initial vocal opposition to LTN interventions to be outnumbered, through a short adjustment time, by a quieter majority of the community who welcome the quieter, safer, less polluted streets these interventions always bring.
“There is always an initial period of pain when interventions come in as people get used to the new layouts - but this subsides as adjustments to routes are made over time.
“The only negative I consider is the measures aren't yet wide enough. I’d personally like to see similar filtering north of St Johns Road - where rat running will continue to be a problem meantime.
“Edinburgh, like most cities across the UK and Europe, have set targets to reduce the miles travelled by car substantially over the coming decade, Edinburgh’s target is a 30 per cent reduction by 2030.
“This is important because of the high emissions resulting from transport and the current climate crisis we are experiencing as a direct result of our unbridled burning of fossil fuels over the last couple of hundred years.
“We urgently need to dramatically decarbonise transport - increasing safe active transport spaces encourages people to think about changing the way they travel, ideally toward more active modes more often, which is, after all, cheaper.
“Whilst also being better for personal as well as societal health for many reasons and improves community interactions and local business at the same time.”
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