So, Edinburgh's Circulation Plan is finally out!
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The CP set out to significantly rebalance our streets city-wide to meet our now - *extremely pressing* - 2030 Net Zero & 30% car km reduction commitments.
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The CP set out to significantly rebalance our streets city-wide to meet our now - *extremely pressing* - 2030 Net Zero & 30% car km reduction commitments.
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After almost two years of serious graft, the CP has evolved into a huge, sprawling, ambitious, highly complex piece of work that has involved CEC officers, consultants & stakeholders alike often grappling with approaches that are still genuinely novel in the UK context.
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The CP (& tram study) has now produced a wall of dense, highly technical reporting for consideration at TEC that includes many innovative policy proposals, reams of dense technical data & argumentation & *critically important* but challenging to interpret mapping..
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These outputs, while imperfect (almost inevitably so given the scale & complexity of the problem), do move the dial hugely on several critical issues, particularly:
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A. Enabling, spatially, the creation of an actually pretty extensive, & (fairly) coherent cycle network (via widespread roadspace reallocation on arterial corridors).
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B. Taking a serious look at how best to remove intrusive through traffic from the city centre (based on a Ghent-style sector plan)
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It's always tempting to look at a piece of work like the CP through a local lens: looking at this street, this path, this local area, will the CP make it easier or harder for me to walk/cycle/drive to work/school/the shops etc? - see Roseburn concerns.. but…..
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While this is totally understandable, it also risks distracting from the key, more strategic level questions about the CP that Councillors & the public alike should really be asking:
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Ie:
1. Does the CP do *enough* to improve the *quality* of the pedestrian network (particularly by ensuring ESDG pavement minimums have been achieved)?
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1. Does the CP do *enough* to improve the *quality* of the pedestrian network (particularly by ensuring ESDG pavement minimums have been achieved)?
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2. Does the CP go far *enough* in enabling the creation of a *genuinely* extensive, coherent & safe cycle network (the core of the new ATAP)?
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3. Does the CP do *enough* to improve bus journey times & reliability (essentially by increasing bus priority/reducing how often buses get stuck in traffic)?
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4. Does the CP do *enough* to tackle the constant deluge of polluting, noisy traffic lazily & selfishly rat-running right through our city centre (including up/down/all over the Royal Mile itself)?
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5. Does the CP do *enough* to reallocate roadspace away from cars to meaningfully contribute to urgently needed demand management?
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The answer to most of these questions is (in most cases) a (qualified) yes, but perhaps the killer question is:
6. Does the CP do *enough* for us to meet our 2030 Net Zero & 30% car km reduction commitments & does the implementation approach proposed in the CP actually get us there in time?
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Some key context for that question:
· CEC’s Net Zero & 30% car km reduction targets are now only six years away
· It took nine years to deliver CCWEL
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· CEC’s Net Zero & 30% car km reduction targets are now only six years away
· It took nine years to deliver CCWEL
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If we are to have *any* chance of meeting the incredibly challenging 2030 deadlines it’s critical we stop faffing about with piecemeal, incremental progress & focus squarely on solutions that are quick, cheap to deploy & above all seriously impactful.
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Including:
A. For the cycle network, this almost certainly means looking at much, much wider/routine application of quick/cheap/adaptable light segregation (ie something like the SFP networks, but with good/acceptable design solutions for bus stop bypasses & junctions)
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A. For the cycle network, this almost certainly means looking at much, much wider/routine application of quick/cheap/adaptable light segregation (ie something like the SFP networks, but with good/acceptable design solutions for bus stop bypasses & junctions)
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B. For the city centre, this really has to mean committing to the ‘Big Bang’ almost overnight approach to delivering the city centre (ie quick/cheap delivery using ‘pop-up’ bus gates and modal filters as was done in Ghent (see section 5.7.1 in the CP report)
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Continuing the business as usual, incremental (ie glacier pace) ‘Stepped Implementation’ approach to delivering the city centre (as sec 5.7.2) more or less *guarantees* we will not hit 2030 deadlines.
These issues & potential solutions urgently need to be discussed at TEC.
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These issues & potential solutions urgently need to be discussed at TEC.
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In summary, while not perfect, the CP has taken on a whole raft of really thorny & incredibly pressing strategic problems (demand management, roadspace reallocation, proper on-road cycling & extended tram networks etc) & it has been more successful than not.
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Finally, people (especially AT campaigners..) often give the Council a hard time for a lack of ambition, a lack of political will, an unwillingness to tackle the hard problems etc etc.
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On this occasion we need to give both the transport convenors involved in the CP real credit (ie @Lmacinnessnp for initiating it & @cllrscottArthur for seeing it through).
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@lmacinnessnp @CllrScottArthur Even more deserving of the public’s deep thanks are the incredibly dedicated officers who have worked quietly & doggedly behind the scenes to deliver this incredibly complex piece of work & always with an laser-like focus on the public interest.
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@lmacinnessnp @CllrScottArthur I hope the CP is fully adopted at TEC on Thursday, it is critical.
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