Thread by @EdinburghSSC

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.

Due to the objection of heritage groups, the street trees included in the 2018 concept plan have been removed. That design was developed with those same stakeholders so why they've been excluded this time is unclear, especially since in the interim...

...the Council has declared a Climate Emergency & joined the Million Tree City movement, as well as the previous consultation finding 76% of the public were in favour of street trees on George Street, with 56% of respondents 'strongly' in favour.

Current landscaping proposals of shrubs in planters & clipped hedges will do nothing to combat & adapt the immediate environment to the impacts of climate change & fail to deliver the many environmental, cultural, social, health, aesthetic & economic benefits of street trees.

George Street is the flagship project for the wider Edinburgh City Centre Transformation. Adopting a timid landscaping approach here will set a depressing precedent elsewhere. If street trees cannot be accommodated within Edinburgh's widest & grandest street then where can they?

If you want to see street trees on George Street then contribute to the consultation (Question 5) while you still can: consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/bi/d76708f1/.

#GeorgeStreetTrees