‘The plan is surprisingly level-headed’

there is always a delicate balance to strike when it comes to managing the traffic in and around Holyrood Park.

And time and again the various authorities involved have contrived to get it hopelessly wrong.

From road tolls to a “no taxis” policy and an outright ban on all traffic, a series of flawed plans have been dreamt up and then abandoned over the years.

No one seems to have grasped the importance of the park to the city as both a vital transport route and a green oasis . . . until now.

The latest city council plan to cut the speed limit to 20mph is, given recent history, surprisingly level-headed.

There is a speeding problem with more than one in eight drivers using the park being clocked at more than 40mph. That is simply too fast for a park which should be safe and welcoming to pedestrians and cyclists as well as motorists.

And something needs to be done to ease the pressure on Duddingston Village, whose narrow streets were designed for horse and carts rather than 7000 cars a day.

Yet the importance of the park roads as a safety valve which relieves the pressure on other cross- town routes should not be under- estimated.

The 20mph plan recognises all these pressures and strikes a happy medium which should ease traffic problems without choking up other routes.

And motorists will be particularly glad that the council has managed to resist the temptation to resort to the deeply unpopular sleeping policemen.

The reality of the 20mph zone being enforced by real policemen may be that most cars will drop to 30mph, but that is victory enough in changing the habits of many city drivers.

Top-flight sport

the prospect of sticking a seven-a-side pitch on the roof of the new Boroughmuir High School gives a whole new meaning to the phrase top-flight sport.

Of course, more all-weather pitches like this are exactly what the city needs to encourage young people to stay fit and active.

And the important thing is that they spend more time on the pitch rather than travelling to facilities that aren’t on the school campus.

This is an imaginative way of making the most of limited school space and well worth exploring.

And the young players will surely enjoy every game when they start three or four up.