If you want to see street trees as part of the redesigned George Street then the George Street 2025 consultation (runs until 26th March) is the last chance to make it happen.

Suggest them as an additional feature on Question 5.

#GeorgeStreetTrees

consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/bi/d76708f1/
At the 2018 George Street public consultation, the concept design included some trees, albeit informally positioned & v small specimens.

Unlike the current consultation, in 2018 specific questions were asked about the inclusion of street trees and the results were conclusive. ImageImage
76% of respondents were in favour of the introduction of street trees on George Street, with 56% of respondents 'strongly' in favour of the concept.

Undeniably, a large majority of the public want to see street trees on George Street.
With such overwhelming public support you would expect the current design would have increased, or, at v least, retained the trees from the previous proposal.

Instead, they've inexplicably been removed from the scheme entirely.
A few recent events which make the decision even more baffling:

May 2019 - the Council declare a Climate Emergency and set a target for the city to become carbon neutral by 2030, placing sustainability & climate change at the centre of strategic and policy discussions.
September 2019 - Edinburgh City Centre Transformation (ECCT) approved.

Among its many excellent priorities is greening public space & introduction of green links.

George Street 2025 is a flagship project for ECCT and its centrepiece.
Jan 2020 - Edinburgh joins the Million Tree City movement, with target to plant 250,000+ trees within next decade, including prioritising planting of street trees.
Climate Emergency declaration, ECCT, Million Tree City, on top of overwhelming public support for street trees in previous consultation...

Shouldn't all this lead to the inclusion of trees in the new George Street 2025 design?

@lesleymacinnes
@KarenDoran3
@adamrmcvey
If you want to see trees on George Street then please follow @adamrmcvey's advice.

Despite public support for street trees at every stage, it needs one final push to make it a reality.

Make an otherwise great project even better.

#GeorgeStreetTrees

consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/bi/d76708f1/

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with SSC Edinburgh

SSC Edinburgh Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @EdinburghSSC

26 Mar
Today is the last day of the consultation on the George Street 2025 proposals: consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/bi/d76708f1/.

Whatever your views on the project, this is a last chance to have your say.
There's a great deal to admire & support in the current proposals - pedestrian priority, increased accessibility, largely traffic-free, active travel infra, removal of street clutter, high-quality materials, etc.
It's a bold & transformative plan in nearly every way with one glaring exception - the soft landscaping/street greening, which is underwhelming to say the least, under-scaled, incongruous & not designed to meet the environmental needs of future generations.
Read 8 tweets
23 Mar
This is the last week to respond to the consultation on the George Street proposals.

Despite overwhelming public support & the Council's obligations on climate change & tree-planting, the street trees from previous proposals have been inexplicably removed.

Why?
The technical challenge of excavating tree pits in an historic city centre site shouldn't be underestimated but, as other cities have repeatedly demonstrated, the problem is definitely surmountable.
The only real obstacle is the opposition of 'stakeholders' such as Edinburgh World Heritage & the Cockburn Association. They argue that street trees were not part of James Craig's original vision for the First New Town and, of course, that's perfectly true.
Read 15 tweets
19 Mar
The George Street 2025 public consultation ends in just one week: consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/bi/d76708f1/

Lots of good aspects to the design worthy of support, but the absence of street trees, despite consistent public support for their inclusion, is very disappointing.

#GeorgeStreetTrees
The environmental, social & economic benefits of street trees are well known:

• Increasing biodiversity, encouraging wildlife, providing food, shelter & connectivity for urban fauna;

• Creating healthier urban environments, improving air & water quality;
• Improving mental wellbeing & physical health by encouraging physical activity & reducing stress;

• Improving energy efficiency of neighbouring buildings,
increasing pedestrian safety, baffling noise & reducing crime;
Read 8 tweets
4 Mar
Another quick #GeorgeStreetTrees thread...

Edinburgh is rightly proud of its green credentials, with more trees per head than any other UK city & regularly winning 'greenest' accolades. But there's one league table where it languishes at the bottom, and that's street trees.
Edinburgh has only ~8,500 street trees (a 22% decline since the 1990s) & barely 1% of its urban tree total. Similarly-sized Sheffield has ~36,000.

CEC recognises this & has prioritised street tree planting, yet there are still no trees in the current George Street redesign.
Historical perspective:

Systematic street tree planting in UK cities began in the 1860s, but Edinburgh's early progress was painfully slow & largely driven by the Cockburn Association, which encouraged the Council to plant more streets with trees with only limited success.
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!