Motorists facing Old Town ban under latest city plans
The revamped museum opening in July in Chambers Street, where parking may be banned
All traffic would be banned from one of the Old Town’s busiest streets under plans that have been branded as “horrendous” by motorists.
A new vision for the area between Holyrood and Haymarket includes a controversial proposal to remove general traffic and parking spaces from Chambers Street, directly outside the National Museum of Scotland – one of Scotland’s top tourist attractions.
A traffic shake-up is also proposed for the Royal Mile, with more sections facing possible pedestrianisation and a reduction in the speed limit to 20mph on other stretches of the historic street.
The proposals are part of plans to make the city more friendly to cyclists and pedestrians. It is also hoped that Chambers Street could be used for concerts, markets or exhibitions if traffic is banned.
But the moves have led to fears of traffic chaos across the historic Old Town.
Raymond Davidson, secretary of the Edinburgh Taxi Association, said: “It would be another horrendous carry on, especially with what’s going on now with the trams.
“Where will they put all this traffic, because South Bridge and North Bridge are already jam-packed, so it will be even worse if they close off Chambers Street because it’s an arterial route for George IV Bridge.”
The shake-up was revealed in a masterplan for the city centre’s “southern arc”, which will go out to consultation before being finalised in the new year.
Conservative city centre councillor Joanna Mowat said: “There has always been an aspiration to move parking on Chambers Street but that was to put it underneath, and I can see, from a streetscape point of view, why that was wanted.
“But we have to be careful that we keep a sensible amount of parking there because it is important for the museum and shops in that area.”
Residents on the Royal Mile have previously called for measures that are likely to reduce the amount of traffic, so the proposals to restrict access and reduce speed limits are likely to be supported by them.
However, Maria Pia, 36, who owns Bene’s fish and chip shop on the street, said: “If they go ahead with this we will have to close down – guaranteed. We had to fight against this before about ten years ago – everybody around here complained.
“The Canongate is not a tourist area. We get lots of taxi drivers in here – we would lose all that trade I really hope they don’t do this.”
Other plans include reviewing all one-way systems between Holyrood and Haymarket, attempting to revive proposals to make Haymarket a “major transport interchange”, reducing speed limits on the Cowgate and improving signage.
A council spokesman said: “These projects have been developed with community groups and we now propose to make them more widely available for comment.
“Together, the projects aim to create an environment where walking or cycling is an appealing, convenient and safe experience for everyone using this part of the city centre.”
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Comments
There are 207 comments to this article
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Incandescent
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 08:18 AM#206 Calm down dear.
Repetitive (Low Intelligence) Car Face
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 09:55 PMThis storey is now ONE MONTH OLD all of you still comenting are OBSESSED now STOP and find a more recent storey to INDIGNANTLY harp on about. ALso CEASE attempting to post INTERNET LINKS which do not work.
Incandescent
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 08:33 AMHappy to define "obsessive for you: (From Edinburgh Cycling Forum) - ---------------------------------------------------------------------Smudge, Member: "Spodding during the holidays (waves). Incidentally, I appear to have annoyed "Incandescent" on the Evening News forums to the point where he's gone searching and found my alt fule head thread. If he appears on here then my apologies in advance :-o"
Smudge H-S
Wednesday, January 4, 2012 at 10:17 AMTEN posts in a row! pmsl, thank you for defining "obsessive" for us :-)))
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 04:01 AMOK last try - "We don't need you breathing in our lovely oxygen..."
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:59 AM"our" lovely CO2.
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:58 AMSo actually, you live in West Lothian and commute into Edinburgh. We don't need you breathing out lovely O2 and exhaling all that nasty CO2 lust to keep fit.
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:57 AMSmudge Member @Anth, I had the same problem on the M90 works at Newbridge until I came through this morning with the average speed cameras in place. Nice steady traffic flow, all doing the same speed, loverly B-) In my experience they are very successful at modifying driver behaviour, so hopefully we are likely to see more of them around the place...
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:54 AMSmudge Member @Min, it certainly is, or was, apparently. Good news about the average speed cameras, should improve the traffic flow noticeably (and wind up "alternative petrolhead" on EEN. win, win :-))
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:46 AMBOOM!
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:43 AMFor those that can't be bothered with the link: Smudge Member Spodding during the holidays (waves). Incidentally, I appear to have annoyed "Incandescent" on the Evening News forums to the point where he's gone searching and found my alt fule head thread. If he appears on here then my apologies in advance :-o :- POSTED 1 DAY AGO # anth Member Ooh - t'was always a possibility. Which news story was that on? POSTED 1 DAY AGO # Smudge Member The one about the possible car ban in the old town, http:www.scotsman.comedinburgh-evening-newstransportmotorists_facing_old_town_ban_under_latest_city_plans_1_1991403 I've been answering him back and refusing to let him get the last word in and it seems to have really wound him up. He seems to reckon I'm a bully now! (as well as self obsessed for daring to challenge him) POSTED 1 DAY AGO #
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:11 AM#193 jings -------- If you actually read the thread, you'll see that my (attempted) conversation with megatroll Smudge referred at no point whatsoever to Fuel Head. I simply pointed out an interesting fact, which he proceeded to dogmatically object to and rubbish to the point of illogicality.
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:08 AM#191 Smudge ------- Google gave me, in a matter of a minute, the power to see you as you see yourself, which is often more important than how others see us. By your own words on Edinburgh Cycling Forum, you clearly far exceed the normal interest in bikes as a form of locomotion. It's hilarious that after being caught in the act of quite blatant cross-site trolling, not to mention incitement to trolling, you gave the gall to to attempt to turn that back at me. Simply ridiculous. Bye bye troll.
Incandescent
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 03:02 AMJingsmaboab ----------- I apologise. On reflection, we've had out tussles but they've always been fairly logic-based and, overall, quite enjoyable. This guy Smudge H-S, however is a nasty piece of work. A real cycling fanatic who actively incites his buddies on Edinburgh Cycling Forum to come here and gang up on folk with whom he disagrees. Now that really does reek of evengelism. I can only hope santa brought him that new frame made of alloys only found it meteorites that he so desperately wanted. :-) Have a read back on this thread to see how his mind works.
jingsmaboab
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 03:20 PMNo.189, so-called 'Incandescent', why are you so bothered about what people say or do to so-called 'Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head'? Could it be because both nicknames belong to one and the same person? I think we should be told!
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